on three specific players.

Disclaimer – I’m not a pro scout, so my thoughts are based on limited experience and intuition rather than vast experience and training.

Grossman – Everything I’ve read praises this kid and his across the board tools combined with youth and projectability. Personally, I think he’s slow (slower than I expected from reading. It doesn’t seem like he has CF speed.) and lacks discipline. The upside is he has a high IQ and is still very young.

Latimore – I haven’t read anything on him because no one seems to care. I don’t get why. Hes fast (faster than Grossman easily), shows plenty of power, looks well-adjusted in the field, and is also very young and has a good draft pedigree (3rd round, 2007).

If I had come in and seen both players with no prior influences (complete stranger to the system) I’d consider Latimore more promising without a doubt. Granted I’ve seen only 4 games. I hope to get to 3 or 4 more before the summer is out.

Sanchez – Four letters, one word. S-T-U-D, stud. He’s what I expected and much more.

What I expected – He looks comfortable behind the plate and shows a strong arm with good accuracy. It is obvious he loves playing the game and is a strong character guy and will be a fan favorite. He loves to autograph anything you bring him.

What I was unsure about – Three letters, one word. B-A-T, bat. He can hit. He knows how to hit. He shows excellent plate discipline. He pokes singles through holes. He hits line drives in the gap. He hits homeruns. He walks. I’m excited.

the KD shout show tonight and IIRC it was Pompeani who made the statement that the team spent $10 mil on the draft last year and has committed to spending $10 mil on the draft this year AND NEXT YEAR. That’s the first I’ve heard that, but I don’t read DK’s stuff much. Is that where it came from? Although if it is, I thought I would have seen it noted here.

I think that news came out yesterday, possibly during NH’s radio show. He was defending Nutting and stated that $25m to $30m total has been allocated for the ’08, ’09 & ’10 drafts, which he thought may be a record for the entire industry, let alone a low revenue team.

Good day.

Nice to hear about the promising prospects that are currently being developed in the minors. I love that all Pittsburgh minor league players are required to wear their socks high. I wish the big league club required the same.

I now live in Charlottesville VA, which is about an hour from Lynchburg, and I’ll provide some Hillcats pictures from their upcoming weekend series: 8/14-16 vs. Myrtle Beach and 8/21-23 vs. Winston-Salem.