West Virginia Power Double Header - 7/05/09

Cloudy and overcast skies decided not to rainout the Power for a second consecutive night and I became the beneficieary of seeing a doubleheader for only eight dollars (hooray for good, cheap entertainment), which was less money than my cheeseburger and fries for dinner (at least it was an actual restaurant quality burger from the Power Alley Grille).  The Power won the first game 7-1 but saw the Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies affiliate) win the second game 9-3 in a virtual reverse mirror of the first game.  

Here are my notes, thoughts, and comments on the two games.  As seen below I wrote about individual players based.

DISCLAIMER - I didn't write about players of the Power who seem to have little to no chance of ever having an impact at the Major League Level. Also, these are mainly my observations which have been influenced (positively I believe) with information between a limited and exhaustive level.

-- Rudy Owens --

Report - Rudy did it again, pitching his fifth straight shutout and earning his fifth straight win.  This was my first time seeing Rudy pitch, and wasn't sure exactly what kinda stuff he brings.  I didn't really focus on what or how Rudy was actually pitching until I moved behind homeplate to start the fourth, so I only got to see him pitch two innings while focused.  Using a gun (a scout I sat near, not the park gun) he seemed to hover around 88-89, hitting in as high as 91 with a fastball that showed slight movement, but one that Rudy had excellent control over.   On the following I could be dead wrong, but Rudy also seemed to throw a change and curve.  If he was not throwing his fastball, Rudy's other pitches ranged exclusively from around 74-78.  Once again was my focus wasn't complete and my eye far from trained, but I definitely saw more than a few big curveballs that Rudy used to keep his opponents off balance.  I believe the threw a change because some of his slower pitches barely had any movement.

Strengths - Ultimately, Rudy's strengths seemed to be the movement on his curveball, his command (specifically on his fastball) and the fact that he would throw pitches that didn't necessarily fit the count.  He often led off batters with an offspeed pitch and jumped ahead in several counts.  The only two batters who got good wood on his pitches were the two hits he gave up.  All of his outs were high fly balls or weak grounders. 

- Great command

- Good curveball

- Good pitching approach

Weaknesses -  He doesn't have an overpowering fastball, and so the strikeout boom he's had (that is now starting to trail off) might not be sustainable, especially as he gets promoted.  

- Below average to average fastball velocity

Additional Notes - Rudy is 6'3, 215 and still only 22, so maybe he has room to improve velocity.  Rudy was pulled after only 5 innings with no apparent trouble in regards to his pitching ability or health concerns.  He has had long starts recently.  This is simply speculation but obviously his performance could warrant a promotion and I wonder if the Pirates brass are waiting to sign one of our highly touted draft picks and place him straight in WV to replace Rudy.

-- Robbie Grossman --

Report - Robbie played only in the first game, playing LF and batting second.  His strikeout was half his fault and half the ump's fault.  Robbie was passive and watched two good pitches to hit go by and then was victim of a strike call that was clearly inside.  To his credit he kept his temper and walked back to the dugout.  To be honest, his RBI may have been the product of a sacrifice or groundout, but I'm fairly certain (let's say 94%) that he watched 4 straight balls go by to walk in a run.  I also distinctly remember a weak ground out to second, so needless to say Grossman didn't impress me at the plate.. didn't disgust me, but didn't impress me.  He also made no bad plays in the field, but didn't look all that fast, certainly not fast enough (at least to me) to play centerfield.  I never got to see him use his arm either.

Strengths - Pretty much what the scouting report told me.  No specific tool stood out, but he seemed to have a good approach, attitude, and solid tools in every area. 

- Good attitude

- Nice, compact swing

- Smart in the field

Weaknesses - Although my sample size is small, he looked mildly uncomfortable at the plate.  He also seemed  to only have speed barely above average, even for a corner outfielder.

- Slower than expected

- Possibly too patient at the plate

Additional Notes - Not much to say.  He's actually younger than me, which is obviously good for him and the Pirates, but makes me feel old.

-- Tony Sanchez --

Report - Sanchez didn't play in the first game, which at first struck me as strange, but I came to realize made sense.  Using my intution and reasoning (scary concept) I figured they wanted Rudy pitching with a catcher he's comfortable with and obviously that would work because Sanchez wasn't going to catch 14 innings in one night.  Anyway, Sanchez's Power home debut was delayed 24 hours, but I still enjoyed watching him play.

Sanchez looked comfortable behind the dish and standing next to it with a bat in his hand.  To my disappointment, the Power were unable to get any runners on for Tony when he came to bat.  Even without a hit, he looked impressive.  Both walks he drew were good AB's and he showed a nice compact swing.  Defensively, he let one ball get by that I would characterize as a wild pitch, but blocked a few others well.  He attempted to throw out one runner and the throw was a smidge to the right, but still should have been an out, but the second baseman overran it and let it escape into the outfield.  Sanchez was visibly upset (in a way I liked, showing his competitive side) but didn't let it affect the rest of his play

Strengths - Sanchez played well.  He stayed on an even keel at the plate and showed a mature approach.  He looked like a veteran at catcher and calmed his pitchers (who got tagged) down well.  Not knowing much about how the Power operate specifically, I would be very slow to blame Sanchez for the Power's pitching woes, so I'm not concerned about his ability to call games (the pitchers he caught for weren't exactly tearing up the SAL league).

- Smart

- Mature

- Defensively solid

Weaknesses - He could have made a better throw to second, although it was a cannon and could have blocked the ball he let get passed, although it was pretty wild.  He also looked a bit unsure standing at first both times he was there, but I don't think we drafted him for speed.

- To be expected

- Lack of base running and projectable power

Additional Notes - He looked like he was really having fun and enjoying himself, which in turn was fun for me to watch. 

-- Starling Marte --

Report - I was very interested in going to see Starling play, especially since he had recently been promoted and had been tearing it up at the plate so far (although he has shown no power at all, with only one extra base hit. He can also fly, so its not lack of speed that has led to his lone double).  Starling started both games in center and hit out of the five slot in both games as well.  Having not seen any video or commentary on his first several games with the Power, I quickly came up with a guess on his early success, a guess I consider very plausible.  The man swings at everything.  He swung at every first pitch in all seven of his at bats.  He looked ugly chasing breaking balls, but showed decent pop when he made contact.  Both of his hits were infield singles and he ran the bases well, getting tremendous jumps on his 3 SB's, making it to second twice without a throw.  He showed good lateral movement in the field, covering large amounts of ground, but misplayed a ball that went over his head and nearly misplayed another.

Strengths - Aggressive, fast and exciting would be three words to describe Starling.  He showed more pop than I was expecting and looked impressive on the field and the basepaths.

- Elite speed; He made Quincy Latimore and Grossman look like they were standing still out in the field

- Good basestealing instincts

- Solid, workable fundamentals in his swing (fairly short and flat)

Weaknesses - Alarming lack of plate discipline or patience.  Looked flat out atrocious striking out on a curveball that started out of the zone and broke further out of the zone.  Misjudged a few balls over his head in the outfield.

- Significant lack of plate discipline

- Made false steps in on balls going over his head and was slow to react and correct

Additional Notes - Made an interesting play at home when he tried to score from second on a single.  He failed to slide and was called out, but from my take on the play, he actually did the right thing.  The catcher got pulled off his block of the plate, and had to flop over and stretch to tag Marte.  Starling actually tried to mini hop over the tag and I think he was safe, but the ump didn't see it the same way.

--Calvin Anderson--

Report - Because I wrote about Anderson before here, my comments here will be brief.  Calvin looked much more impressive than his stat line suggests.  As I have hinted at earlier, the ump had no clue what he was doing.  His idea of a strike zone had no consistency and was often wide as the grand canyon.  Big C was the victim of the umpire's failures more than once.  He displayed raw power, hitting a few foul balls a long way.  His first AB resulted in a sharply hit ground ball that made it through the gap between first and second easily, giving Calvin his 47th RBI of the season.

Strengths - Calvin displayed good raw power similar to what I witnessed at the all-star game.  His swing is relatively short for a man his size and he also displays decent speed and good hustle on the basepaths. 

- Legitimate power

- Big, strong body and frame

Weaknesses - I haven't seen him play in the field, which lends that he may struggle, even at 1b.  Although he laid off breaking balls outside the strike zone, he seemed to have trouble with the couple of breaking balls that were thrown in the strike zone.

- Potential problems in the feelings

- Trouble hitting breaking balls

Additional Notes - His parents were right behind me in the stands and from my experience he seemed to be brought up well, which makes me believe we won't run into any character issues.

--Quincy Latimore--

Breaking a bit from my above mold, does anyone know anything about Quincy Latimore?  He's young and has draft pedigree (4th round in 2007, according to his Milb.com profile).   He's been tearing it up recently, showed a good stick, good plate discipline, and good speed.  He did look a bit lost in the field, nearly breaking himself on the right field wall.