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Every once in a while we are each of us blessed with a day, a week,
a month -- some period of time -- wherein almost everything seems to go right and you look back with nothing but fond memories
and a desire to find your way back to a similar place in the future. The past ten days have formed just such a period for
me. Without boring you with all of the details (and thank you for allowing me these few non-baseball-related sentences), the
ten days included my wife and I attending the wedding of two great friends, both of whom graduated from our alma mater, our
closing on our first house (having rented through law school, medical school and my wife’s residency years), informing
our parents that their first grandkid is on the way, and being able to catch-up in Chicago with some of our closest friends
(and their new kids) who couldn’t make it down to the wedding in Orlando. Last Thursday my wife headed back to New York
and I was fortunate enough to cap off my whirlwind trip with the three-day Houston College Classic, which included six talented
collegiate programs matching-up for nine games (all but one of which were highly entertaining).
Hopefully, many
of you were able to follow updates throughout the weekend via the PnR Twitter page. The plan was to provide write-ups each night, but due to some complications with my set-up at the hotel this was not practical.
Instead, I’ve compiled my notes by game, beginning here with Day 1 (class year in parentheticals for each player). I’ll
continue with Day 2 and Day 3 on Wednesday and Thursday and will be posting a piece later this week ranking the Top 20 players
I saw (combining weekend performance with draft potential). In addition, I took over five hours of video over the course of
the nine games -- much of which I’ll be posting at the YouTube Channel over the next week or two. The video will also appear in each player’s scouting report as it posts here at PnR. Thanks
for your patience with the slow-churning content this last week-and-a-half; things should be getting back to normal by the
end of this Week 4. Now, on to Day 1 of the College Classic notes.
Day 1
Texas Tech vs.
TCU (11-2, TCU)
This was my third look of the season at former Tech
closer and current Friday starter Chad Bettis (2010), and my first in person since
seeing him work out with Team USA this past summer (he didn’t pitch in the two USA games I attended, but I got a short
glimpse of him throwing during workouts). He finished the day with a mostly unimpressive line of 6 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 2 BB and
9 SO. While he wasn’t at his best, several bad break hits really wreaked havoc on his start, extending innings and resulting
in at least a few of those ERs. Bettis (pictured) was generally low-90s, working primarily with his two-seam fastball, as
usual, occasionally elevating his four-seam and dialing up to 94 mph. His slider was a hard 83 - 85 mph flashing good depth
and tilt with hard bite, though it was not as effective as it has been in his two previous starts. Most impressive was his
increasingly frequent use of an upper-70s change-up. Each week he seems to get more and more comfortable with the pitch and
he flashed good arm speed and solid fade on Friday. It’s still developing, but his willingness to use it is encouraging.
While it is obvious that Bettis is most useful to Tech and its thin staff as a starter, the pen still seems like a better
ultimate fit as a pro. Either way, he’s still a definite Top 50 arm for me at this point -- probably late-1st to early-2nd
round.
At the plate, a couple of Red Raiders got the weekend off to a good start. Left fielder Michael Reed (2010) was 2-4 on the day, including a double over the head of TCU center fielder Kyle Von Tungeln (2012) in the first Tech AB of the game. Freshman Barrett Barnes
(2012) was out in right field and had another impressive showing at the plate, squaring consistently and showing a
good understanding of the strikezone. While Barnes’s quick bat, power potential and overall athleticism are impressive,
what really stands out at the plate is his his ability to pick out pitches to drive. He makes consistent hard contact and
is one of the most impressive freshman I’ve seen this year. He also played a strong right field, including laying out
on a dead sprint to the gap to rob an extra-base hit off the bat of TCU catcher Bryan Holaday
(2010). Reed also played a solid corner, including an assist to the plate on a single to shallow left. Behind the plate,
Jeremy Mayo (2010) clocked a sub-2.0 pop in-game, 2.05 to 2.17 between innings, and
showed good blocking side-to-side.
Opposite Bettis, TCU starter Steven Maxwell
(2010) went six strong innings, striking out four and allowing seven hits and two walks. Most of the Tech damage was
done early, as Maxwell went five scoreless after allowing two in the first. His fastball was upper-80s and he also mixed in
an upper-70s change and what looked like a “spike” curve. The execution of his curve improved as the game wore
on, and though he altered his arm action slightly with his change and curve, he mixed both well and kept the Tech hitters
off-balance.
 TCU’s Holaday had a solid showing at the plate, driving the ball consistently and notching two extra base hits while
missing out on a third only due to Barnes’s spectacular play in right. His bat speed was average, but centered the ball
well. Behind the plate, Holaday (pictured) showed adequate hands, some agility and good footwork, as well as a willingness
and ability to throw the ball around behind the runner at any base. He was a clear leader on the field with a high energy
approach. Left fielder Jason Coats (2010) showed some strikezone command, working deep
into a couple of counts, and also stood out making an excellent read off the bat on a hard hit, low-liner to left. First baseman
Matt Curry (2010) showed big raw power, putting one into the second deck (finishing with a little pose as he admired the bomb) off reliever Neely as part of his three-hit day. Finally, second baseman Jerome Pena (2010) was smooth in field and chipped-in with a couple of hits.
Missouri vs. Houston (3-0, Houston)
Houston’s Chase Dempsay (2010)
danced in and out of trouble, scattering four hits and four walks over five innings. His fastball was in the upper-80s, showing
good life, and was most effective down in the zone. He also threw a mid-70s change-up with some tumble, getting good deception
out of the same slot as his fastball with solid arm speed. Dempsay projects as middle-reliever, lacking a pro-quality third
offering, and could find some success if he continues to blend his fastball and change effectively. Houston’s Matt Creel (2010-Soph.) came in to close out the game after spending time in right and at
first base. He fanned two in 1.1 innings, utilizing a mixture of fastballs, sliders and change-ups. His FB/CH combo was the
most effective, with his slider flashing average potential, but generally coming with softish bite.
The best showing of the game came from Houston shortstop
Blake Kelso (2010)
(pictured). He displayed good arm strength in the field, as well as solid footwork around the bag and clean actions all around.
His range could be fringy for shortstop as a pro, but he handles himself well and flies around the field with good quickness.
At the plate, he has quick hands and good bat control, profiling as a potential top-of-the-order bat with an ability to shoot
the gaps. He was 2-4 on the day with his second double of the year, and clocked a 4.09 to first on a bunt. Left fielder Caleb Ramsey (2010) and center fielder Joel Ansley (2010)
each added a triple, with Ansley also showing some speed with a 4.22 to first from the right side.
Mizzou freshman
Eric Anderson (2012) had a quality outing, though his velo was on the low side sitting
mid-80s and dropping as low as 81 mph more than a few times. He also threw a slurvy curve in the low-70s out of the same slot,
and mixed in a change-up and what looked like a splitter, which flashed good drop. He finished with a line of 5.2 IP, 6 H,
2 BB, 1 SO and 2 ER. Another frosh notable was center fielder Blake Brown (2012), who
tracked down several balls, though not with the same quality of reads/routes that Barnes displayed in the opening game. At
the plate, Brown (pictured) did a good job of letting the ball travel and making good, hard contact. Another young Tiger,
Dane Opel (2012), showed a strong arm in right and plenty of range for the corner.
He tracked the ball well, including a tough over-the-shoulder catch in the corner, and showed an ability to stay inside the
ball at the plate. Reliever Tyler Clark (2010) pitched a strong 9th, notching two strikeouts.
He worked primarily off a fastball with some boring action, and added an average change-up and 11-5 curve with decent shape.
He showed a slider in warm-ups that I didn’t see in-game.
 Texas vs. Rice (2-1, Texas)
Texas righty Taylor Jungmann (2011) (pictured)
was outstanding, showing power in all three of his offerings and (as I mentioned during the game via Twitter) allowing everything
to play-up by throwing each of his offerings to zones. He has a long frame and throws with an easy arm action and excellent
arm speed, which generates velocity and some life on his fastball and excellent spin on both his curve and his change. His
fastball was low-90s, touching 94, and he moved it around to all quadrants. Jungmann’s secondaries were impressive,
beginning with a low-80s curve that has a slurvy shape but comes with so much tight spin he gets incredibly late bite to go
along with good depth. It’s one of the better breaking balls around and he hit his spots with it, consistently. Jungmann’s
third offering is a change-up that he turns over to get fade. He throws with such good arm speed, however, that the fade produced
by the heavy spin ends-up generating fringe-breaking ball depth to the arm side (Jungmann acknowledges this heavy action with
his hand signal for the pitch during warm-ups, which features the standard palm-down glove indicating a change-up, followed
by a rolling over of the glove to the arm side). He finished with a line of 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 SO and 1 ER, picking-up the
no decision. In three match-ups with fellow 2011 top-5 hopeful Anthony Rendon, Jungmann
walked away with an issued walk, a 5-3 and a high pop-up fielded by Texas shortstop Brandon
Loy (2011) on the edge of the outfield grass.
Catcher Cameron Rupp (2010)
looked solid handling Jungmann, showing good hands and moving well side-to-side on a few balls in the dirt. He also displayed
good footwork and a quick transfer, popping 2.09 and 2.16 to second between innings. At the plate, he knocked in the first
run for Texas on a hard-hit single up the middle. Loy showed incredibly soft hands at short, in addition to a strong and accurate
arm, and also knocked-in the game winning run on a double to the left-center gap in the 8th inning. After a sketchy .2 IP
in the 8th, closer Chance Ruffin (2010) struck out the heart of the Rice order, utilizing
a 90-92 mph fastball and late-breaking slider combo. Center fielder Connor Rowe (2010)
turned in a solid performance in the field, grabbing a couple of hard hit balls and shining on two plays in particular --
first, tracking down a deeply-driven ball in the left-center gap off the bat of Rick Hague
(2010), and then potentially saving the game with a half-diving-half-falling grab on the center field hill on a late-inning
ball struck by right fielder Chad Mozingo (2010).
Opposing Jungmann was Rice lefty Taylor Wall (2011)
(pictured). His stuff was in sharp contrast to Jungmann’s across the board, beginning with a fastball that sat in the
mid-80s. His best pitch of the night was a mid-70s change-up (almost 10 mph slower than Jungmann’s) with tremendous
deception in his arm action and big late tumble and fade. He threw the pitch to both sides of the plate and was particularly
effective working it in and under the hands to righties, consistently buckling them with the late fade catching the inside
corner of the plate. His breaking ball was a tight, cutter-like slider that had little depth but enough movement to prevent
hitters from centering the ball on the barrel. He stuff wasn’t overpowering, but the execution on this particular night
was close to flawless, resulting in a line of 7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 8 SO and 2 ER and a hard-luck loss.
The first
thing I noticed on the Rice position player side was how sharp Hague and Rendon looked during infield. Not as flashy as Texas’s
left side of Loy and Kevin Lusson (2011), but both were clean and comfortable. Hague
in particular showed a very quick release and deliberate but effective actions both at short and on his pivots around the
bag. In-game, he was hot and cold, looking smooth and effortless on one play and shaky and uncertain on the next. At the plate,
Hague squared-up Jungmann twice, with neither falling in, but the potential for some power is clearly there. He may be living
a bit too much in his head (as indicated by some of the inconsistencies in the field, and in his approach from AB-to-AB),
and teams could have trouble assessing the collection of tools if he continues to intermix 1st-round potential with head-scratch-enducing
mistakes. Jeremy Rathjen (2011) played a good center field, making a diving catch and
running down another ball in the gap, and freshman Tyler Duffey (2012) threw .2 IP
in relief, flashing a very lively two-seamer down in the zone.
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