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Scouting Video: Andrew Thurman, RHP, UC Irvine (2013 Draft)

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June 4, 2013

Andrew Thurman is seen here in vintage style, from way back when.

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Scouting Video: Phil Bickford, RHP, Oaks Christian (2013 Draft)

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June 3, 2013

Bickford. Well, he can’t be any worse of a pro than Gretzky.

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Prospect vs. Prospect, Mark Appel (Stanford) vs. Ryon Healy (Oregon)

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May 31, 2013

It’s been quite a while since we rolled out one of these on Beginnings, so let’s go to the video and hear what Ye Ole Beginnings Guy has to say.

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Scouting Video: Joey Martarano, 3B, Fruitland (ID) HS (2013 Draft)

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May 30, 2013

Joey Martarano is a guy I only saw a handful of times. So I’ll watch the video with the six readers this site has, then follow with my comments.

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Scouting Video: Reed Reilly, RHP, Cal Poly (2013 Draft)

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May 24, 2013

Reed Reilly profiles in a set-up role, at least that is what my eyes tell me from this recent look up at SLO. Have a look at the video and then I’ll write.

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Scouting Video: Nick Vander Tuig, RHP, UCLA (2013 Draft)

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May 21, 2013

Nick Vander Tuig has had a pretty good season in that UCLA program, where you throw strikes or you sit while others throw strikes.  To the video:

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Scouting Video: Trey Ball III, LHP, New Castle (IN) HS (2013 Draft)

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May 14, 2013

Trey Ball is going in the first round. OK then. Gonna bet people have Chris Sale on him.

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Scouting Update: Ryon Healy, 1B, Oregon (2013 Draft)

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May 14, 2013

As a man of a million stories, here’s another one. Ryon Healy’s senior year, I go see a night game. I can’t even remember who Crespi was playing anymore. I had seen Healy at Area Codes, where the broken bat didn’t dissuade me because the long double sold me. I had seen him at Brewers fall ball, and damn I loved the power. Then I went to check on him in the good old C.I. of F. Ran into an area guy I know. What do you think of Healy, I ask? College guy, comes the answer. I’m like, “Da (expletive)?”

Hey, I learned long ago never to doubt myself when I look at players, and I don’t care if the guy next to me thinks the guy we’re looking at is a college guy. People make mistakes in baseball all the time and they make them because they fail to take into consideration all the present variables that you might have to dig for in order to identify why or why not a guy is a major league prospect. This is why I don’t like the amateur baseball machine, the beauty pageant baseball, the pimping off of kids to travel teams, the collecting of hats and freebies along the way. That doesn’t make you a major leaguer. What does? Let’s have a look at Healy now.

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Scouting Video: Jordan Kutzer, RHP, Stanford (2014 Draft)

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May 8, 2013

Jordan Kutzer. Who is this guy and why haven’t I seen him in a game? It’s not very often that I see a guy throwing a flat so well that he actually looks like he is throwing off the mound, and it’s even more rare when it’s a guy who can whip it down low from that submarine slot. But the truth is…I have seen this guy before. Where?

Brookside Park, Pasadena. Spring 2010. I’m there with 800 other scouts to see Dylan Covey. The guy pitching for Pasadena Poly is a junior wearing those orange-and-white uniforms. I remember walking up the right field side and seeing this tall dude getting loose. At the time, he wasn’t throwing all that hard, but he was just a junior growing into his body. I made a note, I saw one pitch, I liked him. Then I went and watched Covey.

Fast forward and I’m working my beat. I see this dude throwing for Stanford, and I’ll be damned, it’s Kutzer — but now with new and improved submarine slot. And what gets me is this — this guy is a nightmare waiting to happen for right-handed hitters. I mean, this guy has the potential to be Ewell Blackwell death to right-handers, and hey, just like old Ewell from Bonita High, he is from the 626 Sidewinders bloodline. Yes, Indiana Jones chased the Grail Bloodline. Old Beginnings guy is chasing the 626 Sidewinders. (more…)

Scouting Video: Kohl Stewart, RHP, St. Pius X HS (2013 Draft)

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May 7, 2013

Kohl Stewart probably has a lot of ink and eyes on him this spring and I haven’t seen him since August. So when I saw him, he was a big, strong physical kid with a good arm. Beyond that, well, any sort of hyperbole on my part would be pre-draft jocksniffing journalism, and that ain’t my style. Big kid, throws hard, let’s see what happens next. All I can really tell from this video is that at the time it was filmed, he was a thrower and not a pitcher.  Or that’s all that I will say in public that I can infer from even the quickest look at anyone I see.

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