Portland Seadogs vs. Binghamton Mets April 17, 2009 Report

This was my first trip of the year down to Binghamton to watch some AA ball. The prospects that I was most interested in seeing were Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick, and Angenis Diaz as these guys were in the Redsox Top 20 prospect lists. At the time, there were no standouts playing for the Mets as Ruban Tejada and Josh Thole had days off. Pitching for the Mets was Dylan Owen a short right hander with average at best stuff. This day, he didn't show anything other than throwing batting practice to the SeaDogs. Owen only lasted three innings allowing 6 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He did manage to hit 93 on the gun which surprised me, but he was 89-91 most of the game. The one guy who surprised me though was Mark Wagner who struggled greatly in AA in 2008. In the first inning he ripped a shot to left center that was a no doubt homerun. Later on he added a double, but struckout on a breaking pitch from a reliever in for Owen. Wagner could be a nice backup catcher somewhere in the majors. Reddick played solid in this game as he was working the count nicely and nearly hit a homerun out to right center. He laced a triple down the right field line and showed solid speed. Reddick might steal 7-10 bags a year in the majors. However, I noticed he is a pull hitter and will have to learn to hit the ball the other way better. His defense in centerfield was okay, but not great. He got a ball hit over his head for a double, but his arm is a cannon as no one would test his arm to advance a base. Lars Anderson may have had a terrible 2009 season, but he hit a ball harder than anyone I have seen this year. Now granted the pitch he hit for the homerun was an 87 MPH Batting Practice Fastball but he hit it well over 400 feet dead center. Anderson felt like he got a monkey off his back after he hit the homerun. Anderson was almost to patient at the plate and ended striking out chasing a pitch out of the zone and showed frustration in the dugout. He slammed his bat and other items in anger. He also got in an argument with a fan before the game for not signing baseball items and was cocky about it. Anderson played a solid 1st base and scooped a throw out of the dirt, but he is not going to be anything else but a 1st baseman. He has below average speed and not much range in the field. Argenis Diaz, looks like a future utility player and will likely not hit for power or average. He is very good in the field and has very good range to get to balls that most fielders don't get to. Overall I thought that this was a good game to watch, but here were the first of Anderson's frustrations on a rough season for him.

Chris Tillman Pitching Report from May 12th

I went to this game looking forward to watching Chris Tillman, Matt Wieters, and at the time the hot hitting of Nolan Riemold. Tillman stole the show this night. He started out the game pitching in the 92-93 MPH range with a good hook, but he got stronger as the game went on. Tillman at times in this outing was sitting 93-94 and hit 95 MPH numerous times in his outing. His curve ball was a plus pitch, bordering on plus plus at times as it was falling off the table. The pitch would drop straight to the ground a few feet away from the catchers glove. Tillman didn't throw his change up a lot in this outing, he didn't need to. When he did throw it, it was an average pitch but didn't have great control of the pitch. The weather conditions were very cold for even Syracuse in mid May. Tillman got a lot of his strikeouts on high fastballs and batters chasing his curve ball out of the zone. His numbers from this outing were 6 IP 5 H 0 R 2 BB's and 10 K's.

On a separate note, Matt Wieters looked very uncomfortable at the plate this night as he went 0-5 with two GDP. Nolan Riemold however, was on going 3-5 with two doubles and a monster home run that would have been out of any park. He did show some weakness for the breaking pitch as he struck out twice on breaking pitches. There was a very sparse crowd for an AAA ball game. There was a bunch of drunken college kids mocking Wieters for most of the night. Wieters wasn't even catching this night and was the DH.

Jenrry Mejia pitching report from 6/6/2009

Jennry Mejia 1st AA Start 7 IP 5 H 0 R 3 BB 5 K's against the Defenders.

Top pitching speed: 96 MPH

1st inning: Fastball sat at 92-94 MPH
2nd inning: Fastball sat at 94 MPH
3rd inning: Fastball sat at 94 and hit 96 MPH
4th inning: Fastball sat at 92-94 MPH
5th inning: Fastball sat at 92-94
6th inning: Fastball sat at 92-94
7th inning: Fastball sat at 91-94 fastball varied from 90 to 95.

Changeup: Sat anywhere from 86-88 MPH
Curveball: Sat in the upper 70's, threw two very good ones and about 10 total.

This was his best start of this season for him. Fastball sat in the low to mid 90's with nasty movement breaking in to right handed hitters and also had his best command of his curveball. His curveball got a couple of K's in this game and had an 11-5 break on the pitch. His changeup, was not used as a strikeout pitch in this game, though he did get one swing and miss on it for a K. This pitch moved down and in on right handed hitters and they beat it into the ground.

Top 20 Northeast Prospects from 2009

Okay my criteria for the Northeast is Erie, PA east and anywhere north of the Pennsylvania boarder. Anyways, here is my top 20 prospects from the northeast in 2009. Remember the homes of these players teams has to be in the Northeast.

1) Pedro Alvarez 3b (played in AA Altoona, PA)
2) Jesus Montero C/DH (played in AA Trenton, NJ)
3) Madison Bumgarner LHP(played for AA Connecticut)
4) Domonic Brown OF(played for AA Reading, PA)
5) Jenrry Mejia RHP(played for AA Binghamton, NY)
6) Ryan Westmoreland OF(played for SS-A Lowell, MA)
7) Kyle Drabek RHP (played for AA Reading, PA)
8) Josh Reddick OF(Played for AA Portland, ME)
9) Aroyds Vizcaino RHP(played for SS-Stanton Island)
10) Michael Taylor OF(played for AA Reading, PA)
11) Fernando Martinez OF(played for AA Buffalo,NY)
12) Alexander Colome RHP(played for SS-A Hudson Valley, NY)
13) Austin Jackson OF(played for AAA Scranton/WB, PA)
14) Ike Davis 1b(played for AA Binghamton, NY)
15) Wilson Ramos C(played for AA New Britain, MA)
16) Sebastian Valle C(played for SS-A Williamsport, PA)
17) Brad Lincoln RHP(played for AA Altoona, PA)
18) Junichi Tazawa RHP(played for AA Portland, ME)
19) Kyle Lobstein LHP(played for SS-Hudson Valley, NY)
20) Jose Tabata OF(played for AA Altoona, PA)

Honorable Mentions Zach McAllister RHP, Trenton, Alex Avila C, Erie, Scott Sizemore 2b, Erie, Ruban Tejada SS, Binghamton, and Josh Thole C, Binghamton.