Prospect Report:
Bloomin' Young'uns

David Cameron

This column is dedicated to the memory of what should have been Ryan Anderson’s career. I’m disappointed that another injury has derailed what could have been a Hall-of-Fame career. At this point, Anderson’s just trying to not become the next Carl Pavano or Jaret Wright.

This week’s Prospect Ten focuses on the best relief prospects in baseball. They didn’t get much consideration for the Top 100 because relievers are the least valuable commodity in the game, but these guys all have good chances at becoming solid major-league bullpen help.

Welcome to the sunburned Prospect Report, as I just returned from a weekend in Arizona. While I generally beat you guys over the head with statistics on a weekly basis, this week we’re going to the other side of prospect evaluation: scouting reports.

While I put a lot more weight on what a player does over the course of a full season regardless of whether or not I was there to see it, I do believe we can find valuable information in watching a player perform. Over the past three days, I got a chance to see around twenty of the best prospects in baseball play. This week, I’ll focus on the guys who really impressed me and raised their standing in my eyes.

The first game I attended was the Brewers-Mariners matchup on Sunday in Maryvale. I was thrilled to find I had picked the correct split-squad game for the M’s, as they sent half of their top prospects to play Milwaukee. The one player who I was most excited to see was Chris Snelling (#27 on the Top 100). He started in left field and played the entire game for the Mariners. His final line would read 1-4 with a triple, but in person he couldn’t have looked better.

His arm has been questioned in the past, but he made a perfect throw in the second inning to cut down a run at the plate. It was my first opportunity to see Snelling let loose on a throw, and he showed a very solid arm. He doesn’t have the Raul Mondesi howitzer hanging on his shoulder, but there’s no reason to believe you can take the extra base with Snelling in the outfield.

He followed that up with a line drive triple down the right-field line off quality major-league starter Glendon Rusch. Generally, a triple will occur when a ball takes a weird hop or the fielder misplays it. However, Chris went from home to third in around eleven seconds, and it wasn’t even close. He went in standing up and there was no thought of getting him: this was a pure speed triple.

Considering the biggest knock on Snelling so far has been his "tools" and not his performance, seeing him flash major-league arm strength and speed was encouraging. We already knew he could hit, and he did nothing to dissuade me of that. He hit everything hard and with terrific bat speed. He really whips the bat through the zone and gets around on fastballs, while having the discipline to lay off most breaking pitches. He didn’t do anything poorly on Sunday, and he’s been opening eyes in camp. There’s very little question that he is positioning himself for a run at the Mariners left-field job in 2003.

I also liked what I saw from Brewers shortstop Bill Hall. He’s a powerful shortstop, but not necessarily in the large SS mold. He reminds me a lot of Miguel Tejada. He absolutely stung every pitch he saw, eventually lining one into the gap for a base hit in his only at-bat. He showed some weaknesses at the plate, chasing pitches way off the plate in hitter’s counts. He needs to work on his discipline, but his skills are there to be an offensive force.

Defensively, Hall showed solid footwork and a shortstop’s arm. I didn’t see any reason why he’d need to move from the position, and his bat has a chance to be above average. He needs a few years in the minors, but he's one to keep an eye on.

I caught the Padres-Rockies on Monday, and three players really stood out. Sean Burroughs (#3 on the Top 100) looked bigger than when I saw him last year, having added probably 10-15 pounds to his upper body. It looks like a positive gain for him though, as he showed increased power, launching a Dennis Stark fastball onto the grass in right field. He also ripped a line drive to center field for a base hit. I don’t see any reason to doubt Burroughs will hit for power at the major-league level. He’s added more loft to his swing and he’s filling into his body. There’s very little he can’t do.

The man playing next to Burroughs was shortstop Ramon Vazquez (#94 on the Top 100) and it was easy to see why the Padres gave up Ben Davis to acquire him. The knock on Vazquez has been that he doesn’t do one thing well, but I believe that ignores his abilities at the plate. He doesn’t look physically impressive, but he’s got a compact swing with few holes and can make solid contact. He’s not a slap hitter who needs a mistake to get a hit.

Vazquez hit everything square and got a couple solid hits, and also showed more speed than I’ve seen before in stealing second base. He was a poor baserunner the past few years in the minors, but he got a good first step on Monday. He’s not fast, but he could contribute 10-15 steals. The Padres will definitely get an upgrade at shortstop with Vazquez patrolling the area this year.

After Stark got lit up pretty good, the Rockies turned to Aaron Cook, who really opened my eyes. He looked like he was sitting in the 91-94 MPH range and showed solid command of his fastball. He didn’t use much of an offspeed pitch, but he didn’t need to.

Stark mixed locations with his fastball and varied the speeds enough to keep the hitters off balance. His mechanics were smooth and he looked comfortable on the mound. If he can develop an offspeed pitch to complement his fastball and escape Coors Field, he could turn into an interesting pitcher.

I only got brief glances at young pitchers Clint Nageotte and Mike Jones, but both showed signs of major-league stuff. There were, however, some players here that I liked more before I saw them take the field. We’ll deal with the disappointments here next week.

about the author

David Cameron personally endorses Aloe Naturale-brand aloe vera ointment, and is particularly impressed with how it soothes even his second-degree sunburn. Suggest a sombrero for his next outing at dac@strikethree.com.