By Kiley McDaniel

I’ve been all over the state the last week, and while that has meant less frequent posting, it also means tons of stuff is in the hopper for the next few days.

This is a very busy for scouts with crosschecker season in full effect for top draft prospects and the minor league season hitting it’s stride when “it’s still early in the season” is no longer an explanation for poor performance.

This article will cover the first batch of games I saw last week, starting with an awkward 10:30 AM start for a Clearwater-Sarasota game.

Also in this update: a Tampa-Fort Myers matchup, and reports on Yankees RHP Ivan Nova, Reds LHP Travis Wood, Reds 3B Juan Francisco, and Phillies RHP Edgar Garcia, all after the jump…

(Pictured Right: Yankees prospect RHP Ivan Nova)

Kicking off this update as mentioned in the lead-in is an awkward 10:30 AM start for last Wednesday’s Clearwater-Sarasota matchup. It was something that happened at most FSL stadiums that week, and the crowds for each game consisted of about 1,000 screaming kids for the first 5 innings (then back to school, I suppose), along with 12 confused seniors and 5 scouts staying for the full 9 innings, for obviously different reasons.

As for the game, it was a bit of a letdown as the top hitting prospects Drew Stubbs and Adrian Cardenas didn’t play, and you’d have to think the start time had a lot to do with it, as each lineup was littered with backups. As for the pitching matchup, it featured two intriguing prospects with Clearwater RHP Edgar Garcia and Sarasota LHP Travis Wood.

Edgar Garcia, RHP, Clearwater (Phillies)

Garcia worked from 87-89 and touched 91 with a flat four-seamer that lacked movement and he frequently threw up in the zone. His out-pitch was a slider that flashed above-average with late bite at 78-81. He didn’t really throw his changeup much, and it was below-average at best. Garcia’s command was below-average; he relied on fastball command that wavered and a slider that was inconsistent (lots of fringy sliders mixed in). He has a simple delivery, good leg drive, and great arm action from a high 3/4 arm angle, but lacks deception and has a maxed-out thick build. If he can be continue to progress, based on this look, this package should play in a middle relief role at the big league level.

Travis Wood, LHP, Sarasota (Reds)

Wood sat a 86 mph for the game with good sink on his fastball. His go-to pitch was a 72-73 mph changeup that flashed plus at was at least average every time he threw it, which was very often. His third pitch was a loopy curve at 70 with good depth that flashed average, but lacked bite, and was also thrown at a slightly higher arm angle at times and was easy to spot. Wood’s command was fringy as he had no choice but to throw the changeup very frequently, but it was good enough that FSL hitters still had trouble squaring it up. He has a maxed-out smallish frame, similar to Greg Maddux, and hides the ball well in the back of his delivery. His big league prospects, based on this look, are limited to a #5 starter if his command plays at higher levels, but more likely as a high-minors pitchability starter and extra big league arm.

Juan Francisco, 3B, Sarasota (Reds)

The one solid hitting prospect in this game was Reds 3B Juan Francisco. He had some buzz coming out of the Midwest League last year as a source of left-handed power with some holes, youth, and upside. He was all of those things today, as he’s got a complex swing with a lot of moving parts and marginal at best plate discipline. He was lunging and flailing at bad pitches and couldn’t square up good pitches.

He also has a thick build and lack of footspeed, particularly coming in on slow grounders that makes me think he can’t stick at third. The good news for Francisco is that he does have big power even when his front side leaks open, the flaws look fixable, this was just one game, and one at 10:30 AM to that point, but I wasn’t too impressed.

That night, I was able to catch a rare FSL doubleheader with a Tampa-Ft. Myers matchup, featuring righties Ivan Nova for Tampa (Yankees) and Alex Burnett for Ft. Myers (Twins).

Alex Burnett, RHP, Ft. Myers (Twins)

Burnett is a somewhat anonymous prospect for the Twins, but is a 20-year old starter in Hi-A (21 in July) and has some solid stuff. He worked at 88-90 and touched 91 in this outing and lacked movement, but commanded the fastball well. He had two versions of a curveball, with a harder one around 75 mph with late snap and flashed solid-average along with a slower show-me pitch at 68-72 with more depth and less bite meant to change the hitter’s eye level and give them something else to think about. His go-to offspeed pitch was a changeup that flashed above-average and is a present solid-average pitch with depth and fade that he could bury to get swings and misses.

He has a good idea of what he’s doing and solid command, but would fight his mechanics at times and lose the zone. I also saw him later this week in a side-work outing with similar stuff that fell off quickly after about 20 pitches, as expected. Similar to Wood, he has a maxed-out, but more solid build and if the command plays at higher levels and he continues to improve, could be a big league #5 starter, but again, is more likely to be a high-minors starter and spare arm.

Quick Aside About FSL Pitching Prospects

As you can imagine, a lot of guys in this league fit the Burnett/Wood/Garcia profile: fringy fastball, good out-pitch, average third pitch, fringy command, no fanfare. There’s probably two or three on each team and only a few make it to the big leagues with little separating them at this level. Some never improve and retire after 3 years in the FSL, but that’s why this league, as a last filter before AA, is important to look at results for a tangible view of which guy’s command and feel is working at this level, as they’re more likely to be that 1 in 100 guy to be a solid MLB starter. For example, Ian Kennedy’s stuff last year wasn’t that much better than this population of guys and he shot through the minors on his command.

Agents particularly scout this league a lot to figure out which under-the-radar guys will go from obscurity to possible MLB time (and more importantly for the agent, potential arbitration) based on their performances at this last level before AA. In AA, pretty much every decent player is represented, and in no time I’d bet the competition between agents increases and that filters its way down to the Hi-A level as well.

Ivan Nova, RHP, Tampa (Yankees)

Nova is a Yankee prospect from the Dominican Academy that has been getting a lot of buzz for his youth and stuff, but frustrates the easily-frustratable Yankee prospect watchers with results that don’t match the buzz. I mentioned in an earlier article’s comments section that Nova is a great guy with solid makeup, evident from just a short time talking to him while he charts pitches in the stands, and despite the language barrier and comical spanglish we spoke.

As for on the mound, Nova worked at 90-91 and touched 92 with a fastball that had above-average movement down and in to right-handed hitters. He would sometimes overthrow his curveball into more of a slider, but the pitch was beween 76-80 and flashed above-average with late snap, but lost bite as the game continued. His changeup also flashed above-average with great deception and late depth. So, you can see why there is buzz: the potential for three above-average pitches from a projectable 6′4 frame.

That being said, his fastball would drop to 87-90 late in the game and lost some life, his curveball wasn’t always the same pitch and lost bite, and he would hang his changeup at times. As with most young starters, he would fight his command and seemingly could use a better approach to attacking hitters, as they seemed to know what was coming at times. His mechanics are solid, his frame has room for more bulk, he’s a solid athlete with good makeup and arm action, and he has simple, repeatable motion from a classic high 3/4 arm angle.

Overall, Nova is an intriguing young arm with upside as a #3 starter if the command plays and everything develops. For the time being, he has solid-average stuff with some consistency issues but lots of upside. Developing more of a plan, some command, and a consistent out-pitch will be the things that decide Nova’s fate.

Other Notes

- Anthony Slama was pitcher that stood out of the cavalcade of boring relievers from these last two games. He has some funk in the delivery and a 3/4 to low 3/4 release point that helps give life to his live 89-92 mph fastball, sharp sweeping 76-78 mph slider, and deceptive 75-77 mph changeup. All have a chance to be above-average pitches, but he lost the zone at times and the velocity fell to 86-90 pretty quickly. That being said, scouts love to dream on what they see, and he showed us three 55 potential pitches with some deception; stamina can be learned.

He has a profile similar to Yankee prospect RHR David Robertson, who put up crazy numbers in the FSL last year and had funk as a slim righty reliever and three potentially above-average pitches that darted all over the place, but had fluctuating velocity and command problems.

- Wilson Ramos is a somewhat controversial young catching prospect for the Twins that some say is a future above-average starter and other say is just another young catcher we’ll have to wait-and-see on. From what I’ve seen in 4-5 games, he shows some tools with an above-average arm, solid defense, and pop to all fields, but has some trouble making contact due to some plate discipline problems, and doesn’t consistently show above-average defensive skills in game situations like he can. This to some degree is to be expected for a young catcher, but he’s more tooled-up prospect with a questionable bat than a fast-track sure thing at this point.

- I’ll be compiling these mini-scouting reports of FSL players from the News & Notes columns and sticking an OFP with them, then including each one in the FSL Prospects page (link at the top) to keep an ongoing list. We have also mentioned in the comments about getting the Draft Top 100 link active soon as well.

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