Chisoxfn

Here's the link to the chat NS: http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/?1242663718 Starts right now

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 18, 2009 -> 11:06 AM) So here is a weird question for you guys who know more about college ball than I do... I went to Iowa State, and flirted with the idea of trying to walk on there. Didn't do it. I looked into the program there a bit, and it looked like (at that time) they were pretty much the bottom of the Big 8 (now Big 12). How would I look into seeing what, if any, Iowa State players have been drafted? Made it to the majors? And does anyone know anything about the current state of the program? Sorry for the tangent. Matt, that would be a really good question to put into one of the free Q&A's Baseball America does. You might even be able to get it in today as BA is doing its college chat right now. I personally have no idea on any guys that were drafted out of Iowa State. Another good spot, check out Iowa State's baseball page cause it usually tracks alumni especially this time of year. Oh and more specifically, I rarely follow baseball in the big ten because aside from a few teams its just not very good. Indiana has a few good guys this year, Ohio State is decent, Michigan has its years, Minnesota has had some solid squads, but rarely if ever do I see a team that is a legit playoff contender or is fulled with top talent.

That might be a little too much to ask for at this point, given he might only have 2 more starts this season, which does mean there is at least a decent shot he's available with our compensatory pick.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 18, 2009 -> 10:15 AM) In yesterdays game thread or somewhere within the site Cowley talked about Ramirez shagging fly balls and putting on a show at chasing everything down. It truely is amazing what can happen when you let a pitcher who is not ready to start get themself in trouble. Interesting. Glad to see they are least testing him out in CF.

Dyson is a name that wasn't called during the 1st round of Baseball America's first mock draft. However, he's a name that might end up going in the first round on draft day and this weekend (May 16th, 2009) he had one of his best collegiate outings of the season against a strong LSU squad. Whether he climbs as high as the Sox pick at 23 or if he stays at the current projections, which would have him going sometime in the supplemental to early 2nd round (again, where the Sox could target him), your talking about a guy that prior to this weekend, most scouts saw as a future reliever. However, this weekend might have changed my opinion and made him a better prospect who has the upside of the rotation but the safeside of being a valuable reliever. Why I'd target him? It's his stuff, plain and simple. Dyson features a very hard fastball, which sits in the mid 90's and his second to last outing he touched 97-98 multiple times, and that includes his final two pitches, which were a 98 and 97 MPH fastball (to end a strong 7 inning performance). The velocity didn't shock the scouts, it was his secondary stuff which shocked them. Dyson has been a fastball pitcher all season, rarely showing any secondary pitches, but this week he broke out a very good looking (albeit raw) hammer curve, some of which were plus pitches. The velocity good on the hammer curve upper 70's to low 80's and I think its something the Sox minor league pitching coaches can ideally help him further develop that pitch. He also flashed a decent change-up, one that could turn into a very solid 3rd pitch. So as a whole, in a matter of a start, Dyson went from being a one pitch reliever to a potentially three pitch starter, one of those pitches being a very very plus fastball. While the 23rd pick is probably too early to take him, unless he really shows further development with that secondary stuff in his conference tourney and in the playoffs, I wouldn't look passed him being a solid pick in the compensatory rounds. Below is a quote from him, via Baseball America:

What do you mean, ramirez puts on an OF show?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 18, 2009 -> 09:54 AM) You make him sound a lot like Aaron Poreda. Similar fastballs, but this guy has a much better feel for his breaking stuff and in general has far better and far more projectable secondary stuff. He also has a much more fluid delivery, which is why I think he's got a better shot at making it as a starter. I just don't consider Poreda a starting pitching prospect but I keep hoping that secondary stuff gets there and it might not takes as much as expected since he does get great sink on his fastball.

You might be wondering why I'm about to spend the time to do a write-up on a potential 10th or even 15th round prospect, but its because this guy has a lot of tools, but hasn't put it together (see a quote from a scout further on below in this post). Every scout I've seen talks about this guy as having a top 2 or 3 arm round and a 1st round fastball. He was also the #3 ranked prospect in the Northwoods Summer League (a collegiate summer league). But those same scouts seem to indicate he's either going to be a star or a bust, all depends on what happens with his secondary stuff and as of now, the switch hasn't flipped as he's been repulsive at Long Island (College) and the scout quote below isn't old, his stuff is still there, just a matter of stuff clicking. The big reason I want to talk about him is that the Sox have done a good job finding this guys who didn't produce in college but had pretty big time arms. Some of them have panned out or looked like decent picks (Hudson/Carter), others (see Nick Lemon), haven't. But bottom line, these are the type of picks that can make a draft truley stellar and Jones has a low to mid 90's fastball with action from the left side. He also throws a slider and curve, but both are considered major project pitches and I read one scout's take who said he needs to just give up on one because its preventing him from finding any consistency as he tends to open wide and really has no feel for either pitch currently (although he'll throw one or two good ones a game). His 2nd best pitch is his fringe change-up where he currently slows down his delivery so he definately doesn't have a feel for it, but scouts feel it could be a solid 3rd pitch in time and he actually shows decent command given the trouble he has had finding secondary stuff. He was pre-season #30 on Baseball America's top collegiate prospect list. He's also a very good collegiate hitter who plays 1B and OF and was widely regarded as the top defensive Cfer in the Eastern League. His everyday play also makes him a great sleeper candidate as he's yet to really focus on pitching. Bottom line, this is the type of guy you take and let your coaches work with him and if he pans out, great, if he doesn't, your talking about a latter round pick so its not the end of the world. From One Scout: Player Profile (Long Island) http://www.liuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp...p;path=baseball Season Stats (as of 5/18/09): 1-9, 7.40 ERA, 12 GS, 69.1 INN, 94 H, 64 K, 28 BB

James Paxton is a very projectable, hard throwing collegiate lefty out of the University of Kentucky. He's a Canadian that was highly touted back in 2006, but was passed up on as teams were concerned about his elbow soreness, which turned out to be nothing but growing pains (According to BA). So as Paxton was passed up in the draft, he opted to go to Kentucky where he was seldom used as a Freshmen and than took on a large role working as a swingmen/mid-week starter as a Sophmore. As a Junior he's really put things together and is the Friday starter (ie, collegiate #1) at Kentucky. The velocity on his fastball has increased from the low to mid 90's, into the mid to upper 90's as he consistently pitches in the 94 MPH range now and will throw the ocassional pitch 97. The more important thing or impressive thing is the action Paxton gets as his fastball shows good sink and movement. He also features what is a good and his second pitch is a very slurvy curve-ball, but Paxton features a decent change-up and his pitching coach said he's been developing a tighter curve to go with the slower slurvy curve. As a whole this is a guy that is climbing draft boards and at 6-4 he has the nice frame you look for in a pitcher. A lefty with this type of stuff is rare in a system and if he can develop his secondary pitches your talking about a potential high impact arm from the left side and an exception value at the 23rd pick. With it looking like Brothers won't be there, Paxton is starting to become my guy, although there is definately a shot that he'll be gone as well, but most boards have him projected between 18 and 25. BA's first mock draft had him going to the Jays at #20.

His slider is definately better than I thought it was. I'd have a bit less problems if the Sox took this guy. I was able to see some video clips and he looked a bit more impressive. Especially when I heard some of the things the college analysts were talking about him. I don't love the guy with our pick, but I hate it a bit less, cause he does have upside. HE's a 2 pitch pitcher (FB/Slider) and his slider is a good pitch (went from average to good and it's flashed signs of being plus). Ocassionally throws a splitter but its completely raw and per his college coaches they have not worked with him on any other pitch, which to me means the potential is there for him to learn more. His velocity has also increased every season at IU and his last couple starts he's been hitting 94 deep into the games, which is a very good sign.

Here's some info on the guys Danks is usually compared to the most, his Texas teammate Drew Stubbs: From Baseball America

He's at least the 3rd youngest players and Alderson was only the youngest for one day as his teammate Madison Bumgarner was promoted to AA Eastern and made his start the very next day. Two very very good Giants prospects.

Good for him, but man, he was one crazy and entertaining bastage. I don't think anything made me laugh more than Jackass and Viva Le Bam.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2009 -> 08:17 AM) Thankfully no Lillicurse. Still, someone explain to me why Betemit is even on the roster anymore? Unless he's going to DH he doesn't have a spot cause he's a complete butcher on the field and I don't know if he's good enough offensively to make up for that woeful defense. Than again our defense sucks anyway.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2009 -> 08:47 AM) The one thing I have seen this year is how he approaches his breaking pitches. Last year he had a slow yacker that had a lot of depth to it and threw it a lot. This year it looks like he sped up the pace on it. He has a tighter rotation, yet he starts it out low in the zone, and it bottoms out before it can appear hittable. Once he gets behind, he abandons it and then goes to his fastball and gets rocked. He needs to attack the zone more, use his big hook to offset his fastball and then use his slider with 2 strikes to wipe out the right handers. I agree, I was commenting in the game thread on Sunday how the big thing he has been lacking is his big slow, throw it for a strike curveball.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 08:56 PM) It's a shame so many people stopped watching Prison Break, as tonight's series finale was the best finale I've ever seen. I liked the Scrubs finale, but this one was a million times more memorable. Ya, it was f***ing awesome. I couldn't give up on Prison Break and it finished really strong after getting pretty hokie for a while. I give Fox credit, they said it was going to end and than gave the directors time to put together a real good ending that wrapped things up.

Steve-O from Jackass right?

Pretty cool story.

This is pathetic. It's not going to be because the refs are on Cleveland's side that the Magic are going to lose its because the Magic are the worse team. Magic will lose in 5, maybe 6, but it won't be a series, imo. There will be some close games but the series to watch is the Lakers/Nuggets. LA played awful against the Rockets but they are a much better team than they showed and if they take care of business against Denver everyone will quickly forget the Houston debacle. All of the momentum starts right now. I think if Denver can pull game 1 though, than its there series to lose. I expect this to go 6 or 7 but if someone told me it ends in 4 or 5 than it means LA showed up and just whiped the floor with Denver. But in 6 or 7 I'm taking Denver. But Denver is going to have to play D like they've been playing it. And all in all, this is going to be a very very exciting, up-tempo series.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2009 -> 08:37 AM) It looks fixable for both. Their stuff passes the eye test. The same tilt, same bite, same movement. Bad location and getting behind is catching both of them. The key is to attack the zone. Maybe it was here, or maybe it was on cheats site. But there was someone who brought up the fact that according to pitch track data, Gavin was up in velocity. Maybe he is doing something with his mechanics differently, or he is getting too amped up and sacrificing location. The biggest thing is to make sure that they both keep their heads in it. And they start to attack the zone. Gavin's also had statistically bad luck judging by the statistics.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 18, 2009 -> 08:37 AM) It looks fixable for both. Their stuff passes the eye test. The same tilt, same bite, same movement. Bad location and getting behind is catching both of them. The key is to attack the zone. Maybe it was here, or maybe it was on cheats site. But there was someone who brought up the fact that according to pitch track data, Gavin was up in velocity. The biggest thing is to make sure that they both keep their heads in it. And they start to attack the zone. I agree, both look fixable and I think its more a confidence, tempo, minor adjustment to the mechanics type of deal (and I haven't seen anything glaringly wrong with either's mechanics). I wouldn't be shocked though if they did have a bit of an up and down year just given last years workload and the enormous expectations on both of there shoulders. Still, long term, I like them both a lot and I still think Floyd ends up having a big time second half of the season, but it might be all meaningless.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 18, 2009 -> 07:43 AM) Brothers, Sanchez, and Miller would be a really sexy draft. Unfortunately, I don't see either Brothers or Sanchez falling to either of those picks. Well, Sanchez has a chance, but Brothers is looking more and more like a top 10 pick. Lefties with his stuff who can start don't last a long time come draft day. Ya, I wouldn't be shocked if he just flew on the draft boards. Paxton is a bit more realistic target.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 18, 2009 -> 07:26 AM) Check in the Future Sox forum, its our best forum on soxtalk. There is already a ton of write-ups on potential draft picks and the database is growing on a daily basis.

Coop, I hope you can get them both back on track cause they are a huge part of this franchises future and if they flop, this team is in serious freaking trouble (not just this year, but more specifically long term).