Strasberg

O44,

Do you know if he's scheduled to start Friday night against TCU? I live in the area and would love see him pitch.

quote:

Originally posted by What A. Game!:
O44,

Do you know if he's scheduled to start Friday night against TCU? I live in the area and would love see him pitch.

I can pretty much guarantee he will be pitching that evening. TCU is a top 25 program and Strasberg is their Friday night guy. I have heard no reports that he is injured, thus I would bet the farm he is pitching that evening. Perhaps you can update this thread after you have seen him pitch

I saw Nolan Ryan pitch late in his career at old Cleveland Stadium and he was impressive. Probably the hardest throwing guy I have seen in person was Goose Gossage. Kyle Farnsworth also threw hard when I saw him but not as fast as Gossage imho.

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Personal experience in the Mountain West Conference tells me to check the schedule. For some reason, over the years, MWC teams do not always play the same as other leading D1 college programs, and pitch 1, 2, &3 in order.

Always worth a check, especially if you are driving any distance to the game...

cadDAD

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http://insidecorner.dmagazine....ne-in-person-friday/

According to this blog, he will be pitching Friday, get there early to get a seat in the grandstands.

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If you can wrestle one away from the scouts and the Boras people/entourage...try to get behind the dish and as close to the field as you can...gives you an opporunity to really see what kind of amazing pitcher he is, not just a thrower...

BTW a couple seeks ago against UNLV, Gwynn Stadium was filled to the gills on Friday....Saturday/Sunday you had your choice of seats...

44
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The Stephen Strasburg story sure is a dandy. It kind of shows just how difficult scouting can be sometimes. It also shows what hard work can do.

We saw a few indicators that Stephen might have a chance to be pretty good, but what has happened is nearly unbelievable.

We first saw him as a high school pitcher in 2005 at the PG WWBA Championship in Jupiter. He played for the Braves Scout Team in that event. He also played for the San Diego Show in the PG WWBA 18U Championship. He was just another guy at both those events.

Checking the notes in our database on Strasburg and from that event…

Here was a report in the database we got from a Southern California scout before we ever saw Strasburg pitch…

86-88 Big strong thick mature kid that has a lot of mentally growing up to do. Body a little soft and shows some arm strength but has to learn to work and improve. Chance to be a Div 1 college pitcher. Not a draft prospect.

This was the consensus from most that we talked to. Tom Battista worked with us at that time and actually liked Strasburg the most of any of us. Oddly enough, Tom is now the Atlanta Braves scouting supervisor in Southern California. He still talks about the overweight Strasburg in high school.

Here are our scout notes from the event in Jupiter.

11/5 CB looks good, probably end up throwing slider, arm action all over, jerky, 90 from stretch, topped out at 91 mph, CB 71, CH 80. Body is large, thick and soft. Backward projection guy, if he gets in better condition, could be very good. Raw but has a chance to be a sleeper in college! Could easily throw better down the road. Doesn’t repeat at all yet, but when it comes out right it’s pretty. Needs a good pitching coach and a good conditioning coach. He is worth following.

Since he has been in college things have sure changed a lot.

PG,
I love reading that stuff and getting some perspective.

Thanks

As a freshman at SDSU his nickname was slothberg

CPLZ,

I too really enjoy looking back and seeing what we had on players. Makes me feel good when we were right and keeps us humble when we were wrong.

My favorites are when everyone including us are proven wrong. Strasburg was just a big heavy bodied kid with a good arm. We did have him ranked #138 in his class. That was probably higher than most anyone would have had him, but truth is... the art is in the projection... and so based on that, he really should have been ranked #1. Anyway, he is now! Man, it's hard to predict just how good some kids can get.

quote:

Originally posted by dswann:
As a freshman at SDSU his nickname was slothberg

I wonder what clicked for him to motivate him?

I know we've had threads on this subject before, but I find it interesting the transition that happens psychologically that unlocks the unseen potential that rockets a kid upward.

Slothberg! That is hilarious. Obviously something changed for the young man.

Nice piece on him on Baseball Tonight today. He has to have the smoothest mechanics I've seen on a high MPH guy since Nolan Ryan.

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Spoke with OfcrKID#1 tonite about this kid as he faced him his Senior year (Strasberg's frosh year). He told me that as a reliever, the guy was throwing 95/96, but what was wicked was his breaking stuff.

cadDAD

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quote:

PG,
I love reading that stuff and getting some perspective.

I'll second that emotion! Very, very interesting to read the scouting reports from a few years back.

Julie

The strength and conditioning coach at SDSU told him to quit after his first week. Maybe that was what motivated him.

LHPMom

While he is an amazing pitcher, has come a very long way, he is definetly in a league of his own. I would love to see him pitch against the top hitters of the country.

BTW, there have been a few other college pitchers hitting 100, 101, not as consistant, drafted high.

Most have had serious shoulder issues.

I hope that things work out well for this young man and that he doesn't get caught up in the Boras/MLB draft game.

He should be fine---apparently since he is such a late bloomer he was not burned out in HS

The NATS are a great organization with their best years just ahead of them. I am sure they will make the right decision with the 1st and 10th picks of the draft. The numbers being thrown out here in the media are not feasible in my humble opinion. The risk is too high and money is too tight. If the asking price by his agent Mr. Boras is as high as they say (15 million), so many other factors begin to weigh in heavily. My philosophy is to get a pitcher the organization can readily afford with the #1 pick then a couple of natural premium position players for their well-versed coaching staff to work with in the next picks.

Of course the ownership family can get this player if they want him with the Learner family and "Stan the Man" running the show as he did in Atlanta. I love all of their passion for this game. NATS have a lineup that can win games. Keep an eye on them

blessings,

Nats have drafted and signed some bona fide pitching prospects the last few years, too. Adding Strasburg to the mix would really give fans a future to look forward to.

Strasburg may be a late bloomer, but he pitched a lot in high school and had a very good arm. He changed his body and his mechanics and his attitude in college. Tony Gwynn has to feel good about all of this.

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Can echo all that when it comes to his talent...

Maybe it is the late blooming as TR says, that is the most "live": arm you'll ever see...I have never seen such easy velocity, does things that defy the laws of physics - not possible to throw the ball that hard with such little effort.

And I agree with Academy Dad and OfcrKID#1, Strasberg's breaking and off speed stuff are so good that when I watched him throw he didn't even need the fastball, in fact rarely even threw it in the strike zone, didn't have to...used the 99 as a "chase pitch"...."you can't hit any of the offspeed stuff in the strike zone?...you want/waiting on the fastball? Fine but the the only ones you see will be 99 and out of the strike zone. Try hitting a 99 up around the shoulders, or off the black"...hopeless.

Love the scouting reports PG, while you guys often take some heat, sounds as if you had a great deal right...

CLPZ...good questions, what changed? I have seen some of these up close...one, a kid who shed 80 lbs to become a specimen....Couple things worth mentioning, many big kids come into phsycial and emotional line late, the current problem being that given the current athletic culture fewer coaches, or parents or players are willing to develop or wait. Fewer are willing to wait it out, operating on faith and work ethic..we want/demand our "love" and we want it now, otherwise we move on. Don't start? change schools, change teams, change sports, change caoches....it's an "instant gratifcation" culture. IMO, we ae no longer mentally/emotionally conditioned for the longer haul.

44
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quote:

Originally posted by observer44:
the current problem being that given the current athletic culture fewer coaches, or parents or players are willing to develop or wait.

OB44,
Spot on my friend. I see fewer and fewer coaches "projecting" the way pro scouts are supposed to (I only said supposed to, because I don't have first hand knowledge of whether they actually do or don't)

When I was running a developmental program for middle school kids, it was my job to project. I quit the program when the directors made a decision to make the 8th grade a competitive program, playing the top players only, giving less physically mature but more projectible kids very few opportunities.

From that particular class of kids, when I quit, none of the top 7 kids, that got all the minutes, played varsity basketball.

What's so hard about looking at dad, seeing 6'7", knowing he was a D1 player, and seeing junior who is obviously a couple of years of physical maturity behind the kid who's shaving in 7th grade, and saying "let's keep this kid around and make a project out of him and see what happens," Duh?

Many coaches these days are so caught up in the athleticism and look of the player, rather than the skill sets the player possesses. I've seen fat guys high jump, skinny guys knock people out in the boxing ring, sloppy droopy kids pick it and whack the snot outta the ball.

Coaching isn't about putting the best players on the court/field.

He was an excellent pitcher in HS according to what I have read. PG is correct, he pitched alot in HS.

I do admire that loose arm. I don't get the talk about projecting higher velocity, isn't he just fine with what he has now? Why push the envelope. What is amazing is that with the velo he is so in command.

PG, do you have a HS report on Chris Perez, I remember reading he was also very overwieght and didn't project well, yet two years out of UM, trimmed down, change in mechanics, he has made the ML team. He also I do beleive threw in the 98-99 range?

TPM,

Thanks for bringing up one of my many personal favorites.

I absolutely loved Chris Perez when he was in high school. Maybe more than anyone liked him. In fact, he was one we were right about. Had him actually ranked and projected as a first rounder even in high school. We get the luxury of seeing kids a lot. Connor Graham (whose dad posts here at times) is another kid that was very similiar body type to Chris and Strasburg in High School.

Even though I loved Chris from the beginning it was in the WWBA Championship in Jupiter that sold me the most. His team made it to the finals, but all the catchers had to fly out before the championship game. Without anyone asking Chris told the coach that he used to catch years ago and he could do it. I found out about this and told the coach I didn’t think he should do that. I talked to Chris who had pitched last 3 days earlier. I thought his arm would be OK but catching was dangerous, let alone for someone who hadn’t caught in a long time.

I wouldn’t have let him, but he and the coach did it. He caught the entire championship game (which his team won) catching two pitchers throwing in the 90s and even had a big hit in that game. Was it stupid? Probably! But it told me everything I could ever want to know about big chubby Chris Perez. I already knew he was going to be a special pitcher, especially if he lost that baby fat. I didn’t know what was in his heart… Until that day!

TPM, Your gonna love this one. Here it is... be sure to scroll down.
Chris Perez Report

If I think of it on Monday, I'll search our database and post the actual scout notes we entered.

quote:

Love the scouting reports PG, while you guys often take some heat, sounds as if you had a great deal right...

O44,
At the risk of sounding over confident. Most of the heat we take happens before all the results are in. Oddly enough, we don't get much heat in the end. The proof (results) is always an important thing.

That said, we are wrong at times.

PG,
Yup I remembered that you said that but couldn't find it. Thanks.
I could go on to name a few other pitchers who made it, but didn't project well physically. I think that it happens more than we realize. I saw him pitch in college (a trimmer, high velo Chris), and there was no doubt he was the real deal. I am not a scout, but sometimes you just know it when you see it.
Unfortunetly he has some issues, but minor, and hoping he will be back up and running before gameday. Not sure if he has won his spot as closer.

Just to be clear, so that no one is confused... Those issues were a sore arm. Hope it's nothing more serious.

I give up. I'm back. I think PG has a pretty good track record of identifying players who don't get the recognition or playing time they deserve simply because they aren't making mistakes in the name of winning today and of course because they have a ton of experience at what they do. They take the bias, preference for a given style of play, and favoritism out of the picture.

The ability to see talent and develop talented players who need development rather than simply sticking with the players who are doing better at the moment is what separates the good coaches from the mediocre ones. One coach will take a high 80s kid who has control issues and will make sure they get the innings and positive reinforcement necessary to develop into an ace. Another coach will take the same kid and sit him or limit his innings and beat into him that he has a control problem that he may not have really had, rather than lose some non-league games. Guess which coach ends up winning playoff games? Guess which coach ends up sending kids directly to D1 programs? You can really see it in pro ball where at times they'll take a hard throwing pitcher they intend to eventually use as a closer and have him be a starter in the minors because he needs the innings to develop properly.

On the other hand, nobody gets them all right. I sat next to one of the best judges of talent in college baseball, a coach who has spotted top talent that eluded everyone else, and watched him seemingly (They could have made the kid an offer that wasn't accepted for all I know. It's an expensive school.) ignore a pitcher who was pitching extremely well in tough conditions simply because he wasn't throwing hard enough that day. That school was the kid's dream school and he ended up signing elsewhere in the same conference. He's now considered to be a potential 2nd round pick.

Even PG misses them sometimes. I watched a kid I knew was a top notch sophmore underperform at a PG showcase. He ended up rated as a 7.5 and even that high of a rating had to be based mostly on projection given his numbers during the showcase. A few months later he committed to a top D1 program and a few months after that showcased again earning a 9.5 rating.

They also aren't insecure and afraid of talented players who don't strictly follow the party line. Look at Trevor Bauer and imagine how his HS team would be doing if he had remained there this season given that he's been one of the more effective pitchers in college baseball so far this season. My impression, admittedly from talking to only one of the people involved, is that was that there were misunderstandings on both sides of the issue but that things could have been worked out so that he played HS baseball this season. Fortunately, that situation has worked out well for Trevor and for UCLA. UCLA is going to be scary good in short order and will be so for a couple years to come.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Just to be clear, so that no one is confused... Those issues were a sore arm. Hope it's nothing more serious.

I think he has a foot problem too, and I know that can really screw things up.

CADad,

Welcome back! This site just got a lot better!

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
CADad,

Welcome back! This site just got a lot better!

Even though I don't post often anymore, I read the HSBBW daily. And PG,

WB CADad!

CADad:

So glad you came back!!! Stick around awhile - we missed you!!!

08

Great postings..one of the best stories I ever read in Baseball America about this kid. Thank you Tony Gywnn and staff for bringing out the best!

The latest news....

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...t/index.html?eref=T1

The latest is that he and his agent will be looking for 50 million


Amazing though how the NCAA looks the other way while agents/advisors talk during the NCAA season

Yeah, I'll bet Andrew Oliver is wondering, "Why me and not him?"

Methinks the NCAA may be a bit slower on the trigger than the past, considering that the damages portion of Olivers lawsuit remains unsettled.

There is nothing the NCAA can do, he hasn't been drafted and I am sure there is no written agreement. The circumstances are a lot different for college players, he's certainly not returning next fall.

Here's a look at Strasburg pitching in the 2008 Olympics...



This particular pitch only registered at 94mph. It must have been an off-day.