By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
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…)
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Tags: Jordan Kutzer, Jordan Kutzer Video, Stanford
By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
March 2, 2013
Riley Moore is my kind of ballplayer and has been ever since I went up to San Marcos to see him play a few of those dreary Channel League games. I never forgot the Area Codes BP before his senior year, nor did I forget that I had to wait like five days to see him get a start. It just goes to show you that sometimes the guys with the most upside get completely ignored when it’s between a guy on media lists and a guy not on media lists. The media does not scout. The baseball industry scouts. And that’s why in the long haul, Riley Moore is going to win.
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Tags: Arizona, Riley Moore, Riley Moore Video
By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
February 23, 2013
Trent Gilbert is a guy John Stevenson wanted. One day when the original old man ran into the hitter’s old man, he said he wanted his kid. John had instincts. John knew what lean, quick, whispy left-handed hitters who were slow blooming white boys looked like. He coached the original South Bay model himself.
I miss old John, but I’m glad he got his 1,000 wins, and I’m even happier that I went off script at that rubber chicken lunch to say so. I mean, I guess I could have just creeped out all the softball players by leering at them, but that’s what the other guy was there for, and I was reading my Tris Speaker book while he was leering anyhow.
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By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
February 15, 2013
Travis Radke is a guy I’ve seen quite a bit of the past few years, from those high school days when he was out to prove he was better than a small school pitcher, to the first year at Portland where he pitched like a Blues Brother, which is to say, on a Mission from God.
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By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
February 1, 2013
David Berg is a guy I liked the first time I saw him pitching for Amat. I’d tell you that story, but pretty soon, everybody would be telling that story.
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Tags: David Berg, David Berg Video, UCLA
