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<!--Generated by Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.159 (http://www.squarespace.com) on Thu, 23 May 2013 15:16:16 GMT--><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><title>TexasLeaguers.com - The Mechanics of Baseball - Scouting</title><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/</link><description></description><lastBuildDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 05:03:26 +0000</lastBuildDate><copyright>&amp;copy2008-2009. All rights reserved.</copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.159 (http://www.squarespace.com)</generator><item><title>See you in October</title><category>News</category><category>PITCHf/x</category><category>Scouting</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:00:33 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2011/3/11/see-you-in-october.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:10632428</guid><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-10632428.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Notes, news, and something else to read</title><category>News</category><category>Read This Stuff</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Strength</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:00:29 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2011/2/4/notes-news-and-something-else-to-read.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:10350035</guid><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-10350035.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Draft Prospect: Tyler Matzek, LHP, Capistrano Valley HS</title><category>2009 MLB Draft</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Tyler Matzek</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:00:14 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/6/5/draft-prospect-tyler-matzek-lhp-capistrano-valley-hs.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:4186295</guid><description><![CDATA[Unlike Matthew Purke, Tyler Matzek is routinely regarded as a pitcher with an easy, repeatable delivery. Matzek is able to throw 90-94 mph with ease and has recently been as high as 98 mph according to several reports. He throws a curveball that has plus potential, but scouts from the Major League Scouting Bureau have a lesser opinion of its current quality than Baseball America does.

Dr. Mike Marshall weighed in on Matzek in his Questions/Answers 2009 file. If you are at all familiar with Dr. Marshall's view of the 'traditional' pitching motion, you'll recognize that his comments border on praise. Dr. Marshall had the following to say:

    Mr. Matzek's version of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is not as injurious as many I have seen... I doubt that he will suffer a serious pitching injury. However, he will never be as good as he should have been.

As with Purke, I was intrigued by the reports of an easy, repeatable delivery, and the comments from Dr. Marshall further piqued my interest. I dug around and found a video similar to the one I used for my Purke article.

[Video.]

[continued]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-4186295.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Draft Prospect: Matthew Purke, LHP, Klein HS</title><category>2009 MLB Draft</category><category>Matthew Purke</category><category>Scouting</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:00:45 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/6/2/draft-prospect-matthew-purke-lhp-klein-hs.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:4163139</guid><description><![CDATA[Spring, TX - a suburb of Houston - has produced quite a number of early-round draft picks over the past several years. It looks like Klein's Matt Purke will join a list that includes former Klein players Josh Barfield, Chris George, and David Murphy, as well as Josh Beckett, Sam Demel, and Daryl Jones from Spring High School.

Purke stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 180 pounds. Scouts like his projectability and believe he could add velocity as he gets stronger. He already sits at 92-94 MPH, occasionally throwing a tick or two harder. His primary off-speed pitch is a slurve-type offering called a slider by Baseball America and a curve by the Major League Scouting Bureau. Whatever you call it, it's one of the best breaking balls in this year's high school draft class.

Conflicting reports from the same two sources have his change up somewhere between "unknown" and "good."

Purke is believed to have a strong commitment to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, so signability has become a concern for some clubs. Rumors of his signing bonus demands have ranged from $2 million to $7 million, but the most recent rumors have him in the neighborhood of $3 million.

Almost every report on Purke has mentioned something about questionable mechanics. Typically, high school deliveries are full of flaws and quirks, but rarely do these scouting reports go out of their way to mention them.

Baseball America mentions Purke's slinging action, saying that it is neither violent nor smooth. I guess that would be... Average? Typical? Expected? Outside of this specific mentioning of a flaw, I could only find generic references to his mechanics. I wanted to have a look for myself.

[continued]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-4163139.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Robbie Ross and Joseph Ortiz</title><category>Joseph Ortiz</category><category>Robbie Ross</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2009 12:00:39 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/5/27/texas-rangers-prospects-robbie-ross-and-joseph-ortiz.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:4092628</guid><description><![CDATA[Robbie Ross. LHP, 5' 11", 185 lbs, Born: June 24, 1989. The 2008 2nd round pick of the Texas Rangers was said to have 1st round talent. Some minor signability concerns allowed Ross to slip into the early 2nd round where the Rangers selected him and eventually signed him for a reported $1.575 million signing bonus. He has yet to make his professional debut, but Ross could be in line to join the Spokane rotation in less than a month...

[continued with video and mechanics]

Joseph Ortiz. LHP, 5' 7", 175 lbs, Born: August 13, 1990. When Ortiz debuted with the Low A Clinton Lumberkings last season, he was only 17 years old. Definitely one of the smaller players in the league, Ortiz pitches beyond his stature. Even as one of the youngest players in the league, Ortiz's only statistical fault was a high walk rate - 4.5 per 9 innings. He struck out just over 7 batters per 9 innings and allowed just under 6.5 hits per 9 innings...

[continued with video and mechanics]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-4092628.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Joseph Wieland and Matt Thompson</title><category>Joseph Wieland</category><category>Matt Thompson</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2009 12:00:37 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/5/20/texas-rangers-prospects-joseph-wieland-and-matt-thompson.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:4036233</guid><description><![CDATA[Joseph Wieland. RHP, 6' 3", 175 lbs, Born: January 21, 1990. Normally, when you talk about a skinny high school pitcher with an 88-91 mph fastball, you expect a certain amount of projection. A scout for the Major League Scouting Bureau said, "There isn't much to project; he's not going to be a very physical guy." I'm definitely not a fan of the overly generic and often hedged Scouting Bureau draft reports, but this comment left me confused.

After being drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 4th round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Wieland had a very strong debut with the Arizona Rookie League Rangers. By the time fall instructionals arrived, Wieland's fastball was consistently 90-93 mph - a modest but solid 2 mph gain in only 4 months. There may or may not be more where that came from, but there's definitely room for projection. [continued]

[Video.]

Matt Thompson. RHP, 6' 3", 210 lbs, Born: February 10, 1990. A 7th round pick in last year's draft, Thompson recieved a signing bonus worthy of a 2nd round pick. He impressed the Rangers in a pre-draft workout at Rangers Ballpark with a fastball that flashes into the mid-90s and a sharp curve in the 74-77 mph range.

Thompson is a local product from Burleson, TX and attended Grace Preparatory Academy in Arlington, TX - practically in the Rangers' backyard.

He had an awful debut statistically. In only 8.1 innings, Thompson allowed a staggering 25 hits. He walked 4 hitters as well but struck out 12 to maintain a 3:1 K:BB ratio.

Thompson was really impressive at spring training, but he might not make his 2009 debut until Spokane takes the field in June.

[Video.]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-4036233.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Martin Perez and Juan Grullon</title><category>Juan Grullon</category><category>Martin Perez</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2009 12:00:52 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/5/13/texas-rangers-prospects-martin-perez-and-juan-grullon.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:3968232</guid><description><![CDATA[Martin Perez. LHP, 6' 0", 165 lbs, Born: April 4, 1991. Venezuelan Martin Perez has been the left-handed pitching prize of the 2007 Latin American free agent class. The Texas Rangers won the bidding for Perez and held him back until the unleashed him on the Northwest League in 2008 against players that were typically 3-4 years older than the then 17-year-old Perez.

Walks were a small problem for Perez, and he was hit at a .274 clip, which isn't bad but isn't anything to brag about either. This resulted in a 3.65 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. His strikeout rate was very good.

He threw only 61.2 innings in 2008, so I don't expect him to jump past 100 this season. That said, he's already surpassed 25 innings in 2009. In that short sample, still against players much older than he is, Perez has lowered his walk rate (4.1 per 9 innings to 3.0), dramatically lowered his hit rate (9.6 per 9 innings to 5.7), and improved his already solid strikeout rate (7.7 per 9 innings to 10.5).

Still only 18 years old, Perez has some serious projection left.

[Video.]

Juan Grullon. LHP, 6' 0", 185 lbs, Born: March 4, 1990. I dug around for information on this guy, and there simply isn't much to be had outside of his 2008 Dominican Summer League statistics which are pretty exciting.

The Dominican lefty threw 48.0 innings and allowed only 37 hits while striking out 67 and walking 25, a few too many. Grullon did not allow a homerun. His efforts were good for a 6-1 record and a 2.44 ERA.

We could see Grullon stateside this year with either Spokane or the AZL Rangers. He will be 19 years old all year.

[Video.]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-3968232.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Wilmer Font and Evan Reed</title><category>Evan Reed</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><category>Wilmer Font</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2009 12:00:41 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/5/6/texas-rangers-prospects-wilmer-font-and-evan-reed.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:3903381</guid><description><![CDATA[Wilmer Font. RHP, 6' 4", 210 lbs, Born: May 24, 1990. The Texas Rangers signed man-child Wilmer Font out of Venezuela during the 2006 signing season only a couple of months after he turned 16. Font is an extremely raw talent still, but parts of his game are starting to show signs of polish.

Font can run his fastball into the upper 90s, and he has shown very promising off-speed pitches in his change up and curveball. The part he has struggled with to this point has been control. In just over 65 innings of stateside work, Font has allowed only 53 hits while striking out 82, but he has also allowed 35 walks. That's not all. More than 20 batters, possibly 30 or more, have reached base via hit-by-pitch against Font.

There's no questioning his stuff, though. Still not quite 19 years old, Font has plenty of time to work on refining his stuff. Those signs of polish I spoke of? Over Font's last two appearances (both of them starts,with limited pitch counts) spanning 8.2 innings pitched, Font allowed only 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8, hitting 0 batters, and throwing only 1 wild pitch.

This 210 fps video is from a March 19, 2009 spring training appearance in a Low A game.

[Video.]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-3903381.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Brandon McCarthy and Ezequiel Rijo</title><category>Brandon McCarthy</category><category>Ezequiel Rijo</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:00:49 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/4/29/texas-rangers-prospects-brandon-mccarthy-and-ezequiel-rijo.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:3831949</guid><description><![CDATA[Brandon McCarthy. RHP, 6' 7", 200 lbs, Born: July 7, 1983. Okay, he's not a prospect, but I'm not renaming my series because of one guy.

Since coming to the Texas Rangers, McCarthy has struggled with two things: health and command. It's a little early to declare either of those as "overcome," but so far this season he looks healthy and strong.

[Video.]

Ezequiel Rijo. RHP, 6' 4", 190 lbs, Born: September 12, 1990. Rijo pitched in the Dominican Summer League in 2008 and posted from pretty interesting numbers including 48 hits (only 2 homeruns) and 41 strikeouts in 71.0 IP. I don't remember much about his stuff, though his numbers suggest a fastball with decent movement but not overpowering velocity...

[Video.]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-3831949.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>Texas Rangers Prospects: Michael Main and Kyle Ocampo</title><category>Kyle Ocampo</category><category>Michael Main</category><category>Scouting</category><category>Texas Rangers</category><dc:creator>Trip Somers</dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:00:13 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/4/22/texas-rangers-prospects-michael-main-and-kyle-ocampo.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">287274:3340280:3765008</guid><description><![CDATA[Michael Main. RHP, 6' 2", 170 lbs. The Texas Rangers selected Michael Main 24th overall in the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft. An extremely athletic two-way player in high schol, Main was on several draft boards as an outfielder.

I became a Main fan well in advance of the draft and thought the Rangers missed their chance at him when they selected Blake Beavan with the 17th overall pick. I was thrilled that he was still on the board at #24, and I was ecstatic when they called his name.

[Video.]

Kyle Ocampo. RHP, 6' 3", 195 lbs. Another right-handed pitcher, Ocampo was also a member of the 2007 draft class. Taken in the 13th round, Ocampo was raw pitching talent with some herky-jerky mechanics. He signed too late to play in 2007, and made his debut in the Arizona Rookie League as a 19-year-old in 2008: 52.0 IP, 47 H, 19 BB, 56 K, 3.29 ERA, 1.27 WHIP.

[Video.]]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/rss-comments-entry-3765008.xml</wfw:commentRss></item></channel></rss>