FanPost

Altoona fun to watch.

After going to the last two Curve games, I have to disagree with the preview to the season saying Altoona is the least interesting.

The main reason I wanted to go was obviously to see Tallion pitch. He pitched well, however would have liked to see a little more movement from his fastball. He struckout 10 in 6 innings mostly because his curveball was nastier than the Senators have seen before. When he mixed up the fastball and kept them off balance they were simply guessing up there. The problem was when they guessed right on the fastball they teed off pretty well. Basically anything hit in play was hit square, including a bleacher clearing homerun.

Paulino called a decent game behind the plate, and I sure hope his bat comes around because he has an absolute cannon behind the plate. The first night the Senators ran all over Charlie Culter. Against Paulino, they were scared to get off the base(he gunned down a man at second who didn't even have a big lead).

Another guy with a plus arm the surprised me a little was Mel Rojas Jr. I know he has been touted as 5 tools, but that is overly used these days. He is very strong defensively, and has great speed. He does however have trouble keeping his weight back at the plate. He has pretty much been lost in the discussion of OF, in part because more than one OF prospect has blown right by him. He does however still have all the tools and only a bit of tweaking could turn this guy back into a major prospect.

Cunningham has surprising power to all fields. He seems to get good wood on the ball more often than not and goes with the pitch well.

Curry looks like he can just roll out of bed and smack the ball into the gap. He reminds me a lot of a Jim Thome in the making. If he can develop a little more power, he could finally be the 1B of the future that the Pirates are looking for. I would put him ahead of Dickerson at this point. Should be fun watching them push each other this year.

Lambo seems like a mixed bag. He shows flashes where you want to get behind the guy and think he can turn that talent into something. Then the next day he comes out to his (say my name) theme music and waves at strike three. Granted I might be a little harsh based on his theme music. My wife and I decided he must have lost a bet.

The most exciting player to watch was Gift. He is just fun to watch on the defensive side. He is quick and smooth and it just comes easily to him. He reminds me a little bit of Ozzie which is pretty spectacular praise. I am not saying he will ever sniff the same success, but he is pretty fun to watch at this point. He also provides a little pop at the plate. He also has great speed. Still looks quite raw at the plate, but wouldn't be surprised to see him become a decent hitter. His defense will be what carries him to the major leagues, and I fully expect him to make it for someone at some point.

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