Draft Dish: March 30
Prep pitchers tuning up in fine fashion
| By Alan Matthews |
| March 30, 2007 |
The same weekend that Josh Vitters was proving his mettle in Orange County, across the country a French-Canadian sought the warmth of Florida, and made his own heat by blowing 95 mph fastballs in his first taste of game action in 2007.
Phillippe Aumont, a 6-foot-7 righthander whose English is as broken as the bats many of his opponents leave at the plate, teed up an unofficial tour with Team Canada's junior national team with an overwhelming performance at the Cocoa Expo near Daytona, then followed that up with another strong showing less than a week later in South Florida.
"He threw pretty well," said a scouting director with an NL club, who was clearly trying to keep his enthusiasm in check. "He has a good arm, and he's a big, physical kid with a live fastball and breaking ball, and a pretty good delivery. He has shown well both times he threw."
Aumont, who jumped up draft boards last summer in showcases and again with Team Canada in a matchup against Cuba, works from a low-three-quarter arm slot, which makes it difficult for him to stay on top of his secondary stuff consistently, but his pitches have life and his frame gives his stuff plenty of projection.
Another senior righthander with a power arm, Michael Main, was off to a fantastic start this season. The Deland (Fla.) High product has also flashed mid-90s velocity with his fastball, which is far less significant that the location and life of the pitch. He's such a good athlete and runner that some scouts had posited he might be better off as an athletic, speedy outfielder, but he's making it harder to ignore him on the mound.
"Main was unbelievable. Best I have ever seen him," said a crosschecker with an American League club after catching one of Main's early-season outings. "Last summer, he was always getting hit, and the difference (this spring) was he was down in the zone. His fastball was 94-96 with a hard, powerful and late-breaking curveball. Then he had the changeup, too."
DRAFT DOPE
• Entering the spring, the depth of the nation's lefthanded pitching crop was considered one of the draft's potential strong suits, and that trend held up through the end of March. A pair of high school southpaws from the Peach State was making a move up draft boards, as Calhoun High's Josh Smoker and Nathan Vineyard of Woodland High in Emerson, Ga., were off to strong starts. "What separates them for me is the breaking ball," said a crosschecker with an American League team. "I've seen some good lefthanded pitching in this class, but with Vineyard's slider, even though he's only pitching around 88-90 mph, and Smoker's breaking ball, I would have to think they're ahead of (North Carolina prep lefty) Madison Bumgarner. Smoker's (curveball) is the best weapon I've seen all spring, with unbelievable power and late (break). His curveball was, 'wow'. It was in the upper-70s and low-80s, and he showed great command of it."
• The No. 1 amateur prospect, Vanderbilt lefthander David Price, was living up to his lofty reputation, steadily carving up opponents with his powerful, polished three-pitch repertoire. The only downside could be workload, as he threw close to 140 pitches against Mississippi and already had thrown three complete games. "I don't see how the Devil Rays could walk away from that guy," said a scout with an NL club who watched Price pile up 14 strikeouts in the 10-inning outing against the Rebels in late March. "He's got the looseness, the life, the slider, the feel, and when he needs to reach back for 94 mph, it always seems to be there for him." Price already had 71 strikeouts and just nine walks in 46 innings.
• Another pitcher from the Southeastern Conference took advantage of a matchup with Price to improve his stock among scouts. Mississippi righthander Will Klein went toe-to-toe with Price in the opener of the Rebels' three-game series in Nashville, striking out six and scattering four hits while pitching into the ninth inning of a 3-2 Vanderbilt, extra-inning victory. The 6-foot-3 junior was among the SEC leaders in ERA with a 3-0, 1.63 record in six starts. He allowed 25 hits with 14 walks and 51 strikeouts in 42 innings. "He reminded me of Todd Jones," said a scout with an NL club. "He showed a lot of moxie out there, he seemed to really enjoy the challenge of going up against Price and that was refreshing. His secondary stuff can get (outs) and his fastball is enough--up to 92, pitching at 88-91 with a dead-fish changeup he throws to lefthanders and righthanders. This guy's got enough stuff, in combination with his pitchability, to go out and be a reliable (professional) starter."
TOP 10 LEFTHANDED STARTERS
After unveiling a glimpse at the top 10 righthanded starters in the 2007 draft class (BA, Mar. 26-Apr. 8), shuffling the deck of the class' top 10 lefties is much more intriguing, as many of the top pitchers in the class are lefthanded. "There is probably a greater number of lefties out there at the top of this draft, more quality lefthanders than we're accustomed to seeing," a National League scouting director said. "But maybe a factor is that there are not as many quality righthanders, so it makes it seem like all the good ones are lefthanded."
| Rank | Player, School | Draft Projection |
| 1. | David Price, Vanderbilt | First round |
| 2. | Joe Savery, Rice | First |
| 3. | Brett Cecil, Maryland | First |
| 4. | Ross Detwiler, Missouri State | First |
| 5. | Daniel Moskos, Clemson | First |
| 6. | Madison Bumgarner, South Caldwell HS, Hudson, N.C. | First |
| 7. | Josh Smoker, Calhoun (Ga.) HS | First/Supplemental |
| 8. | Jack McGeary, Roxbury Latin HS, West Roxbury, Mass. | First/Supplemental |
| 9. | Tanner Robles, Cottonwood HS, Salt Lake City | Supplemental/Second |
| 10. | Nick Schmidt, Arkansas | Supplemental/Second |