By John Klima
January 23, 2012
Davidson in the Day. (photo: Baseball Beginnings)
I remember the first time I watched Matt Davidson. This was in 2009 and we had just started the site. I had heard about him and so I drove all the way out to Yucaipa, smeared on a ton of sunscreen, and brought out the old video camera that weighed about five pounds.
I always remember the orange metal bat he was hitting with and I remember how he looked like he hated swinging the thing. But back in the days when scouts used to be able to work out players after high school games, you might get real lucky and see a high school kid hit with wood. I learned a lot about Davidson that day, starting with the video of the wood BP you can revisit after the jump.
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Category: Baseball Beginnings Exclusives |
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Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks, Matt Davidson, Matt Davidson Interview, Pro Interview
By Jen Marder
January 19, 2012
We just wanted to let everyone know that we have added a little something to the site, over to your right. Yep, just over there on the right sidebar near the top.
We will periodically be sending out news and updates. There might even be some tidbits that won’t be available on the site and you can only get if you subscribe. So, don’t forget to look over to the right and add your name and email address to our list so you won’t miss out!
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By John Klima
January 16, 2012
Back when Luc Giolito was a youngster, say about 15, not the wrinkly old man of 17 he is today, I saw him wear No. 34 at the Area Code Games as a sophomore. I wisely cracked he was the “Giolito Express.”
Now, it is a fact that I often wise crack and Giolito often expresses. The truth is that I’ve actually been watching him since 2009, when I first saw him one fine day at Birmingham High warming up on a mound that resembled the city dump before they fixed it up. I think he was probably throwing 89-92 that day and he looked skin and bones.
On Saturday morning here in the year of Giolito’s Draft and the Mayan Apocalypse, I had a fresh look at Giolito at Former Dodger Owner Field. Since there’s no box on the scouting card marked HUMOROUS BUT SAVVY BASEBALL OBSERVATIONS, I’ll just fill it out right here. These days, I’m disposing of the scout cards in favor of the Spider Jorgensen method – gimme a pen and a cocktail napkin and I’ll whip ya’ll.
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Category: 2011 Draft |
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Tags: Lucas Giolito, Lucas Giolito Update
By John Klima
January 10, 2012
The beautiful book cover here should answer most questions. Say hello to “Bushville Wins: The Wild Saga of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and the Screwballs, Sluggers, and Beer Swiggers Who Canned the New York Yankees and Changed Baseball.”
I’d like you to meet the guys from the corner bar in 1950s Milwaukee. This is the first full narrative treatment of the Milwaukee team that featured the very young Henry Aaron and Eddie Mathews, as well as the veteran pitchers, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. Basically, the Braves were a bunch of screwballs and misfits, but they could play. The Milwaukee Braves became the team that snapped the New York baseball dynasty with an epic seven-game World Series victory, capped by one of the best pitching performances in World Series history. The Braves also were the first team to move west (leaving Boston for Milwaukee in 1953), sparking the expansion to the West Coast, the ballpark boom, and the expansion of major league baseball markets across the country. The 1953-1957 Milwaukee Braves are easily one of the most historically significant teams, a fact that has been lost in the New York-focused “golden age” of baseball. It’s about time Wisconsin gets its due. These guys could drink with the Yankees, play with the Yankees, and fight like the Dodgers. It’s a wild ride, indeed.
The book is from Thomas Dunne Books (an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, New York) and will be released on July 3, 2012.
I did speak to Henry Aaron for this, and yes, he did give me the time of day and help out considerably, as did several other players and Milwaukee announcer Bob Uecker. One thing I want to say about this book – it has lots of beer drinking, lots of drinking stories, lots of brawling, headhunting and a very healthy dosage of F-bombs. I’m so proud.
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Tags: Bushville Wins!
By Jen Marder
September 15, 2011
We have posted a new recruiting profile. Take a look at the profile for Cole Crosby here. Cole is a 2014 outfielder and left-handed pitcher out of Sierra Vista High School in Las Vegas, NV. So take a look at the profile and hitting video.
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By John Klima
August 14, 2011
The way I figured it, I had three group 1 pitchers, nine group 2 pitchers and seven group 3 pitchers. Since I’m borrowing from the pro structure, I’ll say that your group 1 guys are expected to be major league front-end rotation starters, your group 2 guys should be middle rotation starters or potential closers, and your group 3 guys are fringy college guys, roster fillers, bullpen types, and eventually employable yet interchangeable arms.
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Category: 2012 Draft |
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Tags: 2011 Aflac All-American, Addison Russell, Austin Fairchild, C.J. Hinojosa, Carson Fulmer, Clate Schmidt, Cody Poteet, Corey Seager, Duane Underwood, Hunter Virant, Jameis Winston, Joey Gallo, Kayden Porter, Keon Barnum, Lance McCullers, Lucas Giolito, Lucas Sims, Max Fried, Mitchell Traver, Nelson Rodriguez, Ryan Burr, Ryan McNeil, Taylore Cherry, Trey Williams, Walker Weickel
By John Klima
August 9, 2011
I woke up this morning to pick up a newspaper (for those of you reading at home who might be too young to remember what a newspaper is, it was like a text message, but with sentences) to find a wire story about the soccer club Real Madrid signing a seven-year old prospect to a contract. Yes, seven years old.
Then I headed over to Blair Field to watch all the old geezers, the 16, 17 and 18-year olds, play Day 5 of the Area Codes, the last full day. Man, how it must stink to be over the hill at age 17. Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you. Satchel Paige said that. No, I don’t have time to explain who Satchel Paige was, other than to say, there ain’t no Satchel here this year. (more…)
Category: 2012 Draft |
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Tags: 2011 Area Code Games, Austin Aune, Austin Dean, Chris Shaw, Clint Coulter, Dylan LaVelle, Felipe Perez, Grayson Long, Hunter Virant, Joe Munoz, Michael Rucker, Riley Ferrell, Taylor Jones, Tim Lopes
By John Klima
August 8, 2011
By the end of the fourth game of the day, my hand was molded in the shape of a stopwatch grip. My finger was pressing the button with each pitch. One problem — no stopwatch in the hand. That’s what 29 innings in one day will do to a guy. It took three phantom timings for me to realize, oh, my watch is on my lap, not in my hand. It’s time to time out.
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Category: 2012 Draft |
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Tags: 2011 Area Code Games, Austin Rei, Braden Bishop, Bralin Jackson, CJ Saylor, Clint Coulter, Cody Poteet, Drew Jackson, JP Crawford, Kyle Twomey, Mitchell Aker, Rio Ruiz, Shane Watson, Tim Lopes, Trevor Megill, Tyrone Taylor, Vance Vizcaino, Zach Green
By John Klima
August 7, 2011
Sunday we learned more about right-hander Lucas Giolito, one of the big high school arms in the 2012 draft, than all the radar guns in the world can teach us. The moral of the story is pretty simple – audacity means as much as velocity when you want to pitch in the big leagues.
If I’m a pitcher, and that hitter is spitting where I’m eating, he’s gotta get off the dish. A guy like Giolito has the big arm, the velocity – he was “ez” 93-96 today, he can run it up to 96-98 – so for the teams that are watching, it becomes either, well, you can show us status quo, or you can show us something more.
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Category: 2012 Draft |
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Tags: 2011 Area Code Games, Carson Kelly, Clint Coulter, Cole Irvin, Logan James, Lucas Giolito, Mark Mathias, Ryan McNeil, Seth Lamando, Stryker Trahan, Tyler Buttrey, Zach Elfin
By John Klima
August 6, 2011
I like Max Fried’s name. Namely because I can play with it – is it “freed,” as in, I would have been freed at 7 if they hadn’t stretched the last game of the night to nine innings – or is it, “fried,” as in, I am fried after digging through prospects. I’m not sure.
I can say that Fried, who might be coming to a High School near you, improved significantly since I saw him here last summer. Thinner, taller, smoother and you can’t give a guy a breaking ball. Another Southern California lefty, Kyle Twomey is smooth and sneaky fast, which is what it says on my scouting cards, but could also be the name of a band. And a couple of California right-handers, Chase De Jong and Justin Garza, get results in different ways – one guy growing into his arm and the other sneaky quick.
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Category: 2012 Draft |
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Tags: 2011 Area Code Games, Austin Fairchild, C.J. Hinojosa, Chase De Jong, Clint Coulter, Courtney Hawkins, Justin Black, Justin Garza, Kyle Twomey, Leon Byrd Jr., Lucas Giolito, Max Fried, Riley Ferrell, Ron Miller, Sheldon Neuse, Stryker Trahan, Tanner Rahier, Teddy Stankiewicz
