Player: Brenden
Webb
Position: OF
Bats/Throws:
Left/Left
Hometown/School: San
Diego, CA/Palomar Junior College (Calif.)
Height/Weight:
6-3/190
Drafted: 30th
round and 896th overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2009
Background/Stats:
Webb was undrafted coming out of high school so he stayed close to home,
attending Palomar Junior College in San Diego County. His freshman season at Palomar
was impressive enough to earn him a spot at the University of Southern
California, but the Orioles nabbed him in the 30th round of the 2009
draft and offered him a well-above slot bonus of $250,000. Webb signed close to the deadline in 2009 and
only got 43 at-bats for the Orioles Gulf Coast League affiliate. In 2010, as a
20-year-old Webb hit .244/.348/.412 in the Appalachian League. Webb began the
following season in Low-A Delmarva, where he struggled. He hit just
.218/.344/.288 in his first taste of the South Atlantic League. Given his
struggles with Low-A pitching, the Orioles assigned Webb to the Delmarva roster
again in 2012. The 22-year-old spent the vast majority of the season in the
Sally League, hitting .251/.422/.457, before a late-season promotion to High-A
Frederick in mid-August. Webb hit .270/.382/.500 in just 74-at bats with the
Keys.
Firsthand
Observations: I saw Webb play in Hickory, North Carolina against the Texas
Rangers Low-A affiliate Hickory Crawdads on July 7th. I had no prior knowledge of Webb and made the
trip out to Hickory to watch a number of other guys, specifically Rougned Odor,
Jorge Alfaro, Luis Sardinas of Hickory and Nicky Delmonico, Jason Esposito, and
Parker Bridwell of Delmarva. However,
Webb immediately caught my eye pre-game. Simply put, Webb looked good in the
uniform. No, we’re not selling jeans here, but listed at 6-3, 190 pounds, Webb
has the tall, loose, and muscular frame that you tend to see at the highest
level of professional baseball. Although
it would be foolish to read too much into pre-game calisthenics and warm-ups,
Webb’s movements were smooth and he appeared to be the most athletic player on
the Delmarva roster. His arm appeared strong and his arm action mechanically
sound, although I did not get to see him air it out in game action. Webb played RF in the game, as he did for the
overwhelming majority of the season, and showed some defensive chops and solid
instincts when he quickly and correctly read the ball off of the bat and
flashed impressive closing speed to nab a bleeder of the bat of a right-handed
hitter near the RF line.
At the plate, Webb did a good job of staying balanced and
tracking pitches. Utilizing a slightly open stance, Webb stayed balanced
throughout his load and weight transfer. In his first two plate appearances
Webb faced Hickory starter, LHP Kevin Matthews. He did a fine job of tracking
sliders and some close fastballs below the knees to work a walk in the first
inning. In the second, Webb struck out on three pitches (took a CRV, fouled off
a FB, and swung through a nice CRV), as Matthews had settled in during the
third frame. In the fifth, against reliever Arlett Mavare, Webb grounded out to
third base on a low and away CH and turned in a well-below average 4.5
home-to-first split, although he got a late start out of the box and did not
appear to be running full speed. Webb flew out to CF in the eighth and worked a
walk in the ninth. All in all, the results were nothing to truly write home
about, put I was relatively encouraged by Webb’s set up, quiet hands, and
ability to track pitches.
Going Forward:
Webb’s 2012 season was a solid albeit unspectacular campaign. When looking at Webb’s career statistics, it
is evident that the young man has a propensity to strike out (with a career K
rate of 28.4%). However, Webb has also clearly
improved his plate discipline, as the 22-year-old drew a career high 98 walks
and raised his OBP nearly 80 points in the process. Furthermore, Webb began to
tap into some of his power potential, hitting a career-high 14 homeruns.
Overall, I was pretty happy to stumble upon Webb, and surprised to learn that
he was a 30th round selection, given his impressive size and
athleticism. In that same vein, I completely understood why Baltimore was
willing to go way above slot to get the young man to sign. His absolute ceiling actually appeared higher
to me than that of his more high-profile teammates (Nicky Delmonico, Jason
Esposito). With that being said, like so
many other young, athletic corner outfielders, Webb’s ability to hit will
determine how far he progresses. Webb will be 23 years old come Opening Day,
and I would expect him to start off 2013 in High-A Frederick in what figures to
be an extremely important year in his
developmental process.
Ceiling:
Solid-Average RF
Feasibly: 4th
OF
Floor: Double-A
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