2012 Draft Pitching Prospects at MLSB Showcase
By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
February 13, 2012
A fine Saturday was had at Major League Baseball’s Dominican Republic facility in South Los Angeles. I took some time away from my duties editing my “Bushville Wins!” typeset pages from my publisher, St. Martin’s, to put on the old scouting hat and go see what the Disco Dan Spectacular had in store for us here in 2012.
My first comment is that 2012 is vastly better than 2011. I’m glad, because last year nearly crushed my will to live. I mean, there are guys starting at schools in the Pac-10 as freshman who weren’t invited to this thing last year, so I always enter the thing with a little bit of a grain of salt and half a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich to get me through. And I don’t have black wingtip shoes on, so I know I’m not an agent, and none of the kids are mine, so I know I’m not a dad. I’m not even a snarky shrimpy scouty sniffer type. Hey, look at me. Man of the people.
OK, my usual social commentary aside, here’s the deal. It’s a good year for right-handed pitching. It’s an OK year for defense at the skill positions. Save for one dude, there is virtually no raw power. There’s not a whole lot of speed to go around. There are only a few hitters I would really feel confidant dreaming on at the major league level. In other words, it’s a pretty typical year save for a few real obvious prospects and the right-handed depth.
What I’m going to do in these two stories is recount everyone I saw. I have notes on everyone and I have tons of video. I’m going to depart from the norm and do a top 10 prospects list off this thing, but not here. This is to encourage new readership, since many people find us for the first time because of coverage of events like this.
We will run a top 10 list, forthcoming, with video, in the coming days.
And as for the new readers, kids and families and fans, etc. – yes, this is how I write this site. I absolutely play no favorites like the pay-to-play world does, though I often am harder on guys I like the most. Yes, I do enjoy my voice. Just don’t crush my will to live. Thanks.
First the pitchers, in no special order:
