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Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 7, 2013 19:40:27 GMT -5
@alexspeier: Allen Webster again dazzled. One 2-pitch sequence underscored the idea that his stuff is as good as any Sox prospect t.co/TPCnj6swVaHe finally showed the curve. The reaction from Farrell: I hope Speier was standing far enough back so that he didn't end up covered in drool.
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Post by bluechip on Mar 7, 2013 22:41:25 GMT -5
I love this kid. His ceiling looks higher than I thought. We owe Lon Joyce (the Dodgers scout who signed him) a huge debt of gratitude. I mean its not quite to the level of Home Run Baker getting lost in rural Maryland and discovering Jimmie Foxx when he stopped to ask directions, but it was a great find.
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Post by afineline on Mar 8, 2013 9:15:18 GMT -5
All good with guys having the mid 90's Velocity.
How heavy is the fastball? Are all the pitches coming from the same "window"(i.e sell the changeup)? Is the command consistent enough to spot the 4 corners of the strike zone? At what "effort" level generates 95mph? How "downhill" does the pitcher throw(mechanics)?
Does the 2 seam and changeup look the same to the hitter initially? (down and in to a RHH)
Does the 4 seam have late life and some lateral movement (away from the RHH)
How much depth to the curveball?
We have all seen several pitchers fire 95-96mph fastballs, many at max effort, straight as an arrow that hitters square up consistently.
It will be interesting following the minor leaguers in the system that have the velocity. More fun following those that distinguish themselves of that group who have the aforementioned skills also.
As far a "he was a high school shortstop". Pretty much every player in Pro baseball was once a shortstop.
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Post by bluechip on Mar 8, 2013 9:35:01 GMT -5
As far a "he was a high school shortstop". Pretty much every player in Pro baseball was once a shortstop. Some are, but he was not a high school pitcher (not really), nor was he going to be drafted as a short stop. Most guys who are converted position players are position players are two-way players. Webster was a mop-pitcher in high school.
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Post by afineline on Mar 8, 2013 10:22:48 GMT -5
Solid stuff it appears
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Post by James Dunne on Mar 8, 2013 10:34:44 GMT -5
Indeed: www.soxprospects.com/players/klafczynski-ben.htm Converted to pitching in the Frontier League. I'm not sure it's fair to say the Cubs didn't give him much of a chance as a position player - he was a 20th round pick who didn't hit at all - .236/.296/.293 across two levels in 2011. The roster crunch is always tough, and fringe players like him really need to perform to gain any traction. He's certainly an interesting story. At 24 he's getting a very late start, so it's likely to always be an uphill battle for him. Still, he apparently throws an easy 94 and he doesn't have the wear on his arm, so he's at least worth keeping an eye on.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 8, 2013 11:18:49 GMT -5
All good with guys having the mid 90's Velocity. How heavy is the fastball? Are all the pitches coming from the same "window"(i.e sell the changeup)? Is the command consistent enough to spot the 4 corners of the strike zone? At what "effort" level generates 95mph? How "downhill" does the pitcher throw(mechanics)? Does the 2 seam and changeup look the same to the hitter initially? (down and in to a RHH) Does the 4 seam have late life and some lateral movement (away from the RHH) How much depth to the curveball? We have all seen several pitchers fire 95-96mph fastballs, many at max effort, straight as an arrow that hitters square up consistently. It will be interesting following the minor leaguers in the system that have the velocity. More fun following those that distinguish themselves of that group who have the aforementioned skills also. As far a "he was a high school shortstop". Pretty much every player in Pro baseball was once a shortstop. Those are great questions, a scout's questions. Some of them have answers. He has a very heavy fastball when he keeps it down and he can sell the changeup. Moreover the delivery seems quite effortless. That's from video only. On the other hand he hasn't shown that he can consistently spot all his pitches on the corners. From reports only, he would sometimes have a very good start to games then the wheels would fall off. The walks would start and there would be big innings. Other questions will have to be answered through scouting reports now that he's in the system. The curveball was a rumor to me until yesterday. I hadn't seen any video of that pitch. All I have is the anecdotal evidence from Speier which did make it sound like a knee-buckler. I hope lots of posters will take the time to head down to Pawtucket for a few games this year. And I'm really looking forward to Mellen's extended reports.
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Post by gregblossersbelly on Mar 13, 2013 7:56:52 GMT -5
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Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 13, 2013 10:20:01 GMT -5
From the story, this quote from Farrell: Nieves goes on to talk about the tweaks: working from the middle of the rubber and adjusting the plane of his head as he throws. There's a lot of optimism. This is part of harnessing all of the power and deception he has at his disposal, of getting the "stuff" under control. Looks like it's a happening thing. Here's Nieves at the end of the article:
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Post by wskeleton76 on Mar 13, 2013 10:28:34 GMT -5
Alex Speier is the best.
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Post by jdb on Mar 13, 2013 21:02:07 GMT -5
Tweet from Maureen Mullen
Without being asked, a scout volunteered to me that Allen Webster is the best pitcher he has seen anywhere this spring. #redsoxtalk
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Post by bluechip on Mar 13, 2013 21:21:55 GMT -5
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Post by wskeleton76 on Mar 21, 2013 22:11:51 GMT -5
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Post by jmei on Mar 21, 2013 23:21:59 GMT -5
On that link, in the comments, Skorupa compares Webster to Appel. He says he prefers Webster and that he's "reasonably comfortable projecting Webster as a 1-2 type starter."
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Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 22, 2013 0:26:33 GMT -5
What's interesting here, is that depending on who sees him and on which day, one or the other of his secondary pitches has a starring role in the subsequent write up. One day it's the changeup, this time the slider, even the curve got some serious buzz from Farrell via Speier. The picture is rounding out. His repertoire is outstanding, all of it.
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Post by jrffam05 on Mar 26, 2013 10:54:21 GMT -5
I have not heard anything about Webster since he was optioned, and I am very interested. Has he played in games since, or been scouted?
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Post by hammerhead on Mar 26, 2013 11:07:38 GMT -5
Whats even more mysterious is that Rubby DLR was the talk of camp along with Webster and after two poor performances Rubby vaporized and we haven't heard a whisper about him since.
So sox prospects reporters where are our two new shiny toys???
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Post by wskeleton76 on Mar 26, 2013 11:17:27 GMT -5
I have not heard anything about Webster since he was optioned, and I am very interested. Has he played in games since, or been scouted? Webster is the prospect for me to keep following. As far as I know, Webster pitched twice since being optioned to AAA. I think Al Skorupa's scouting report was about his first outing while soxprospects staff scouted his second outing. Also you can find his interview in milb.com. He sounds very humble.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Mar 26, 2013 11:35:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the post. I added a link to that milb interview. He's just a kid, really. Seems like a very nice person, albeit one with a very nice pitching toolkit.
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Post by bluechip on Apr 23, 2013 21:23:12 GMT -5
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Post by hughlangin on Apr 24, 2013 6:49:17 GMT -5
When we first made the LA trade I thought RDLR was the better arm and Webster was just....ok. A good prospect, but not as good as Matt Barnes. Don't get me wrong I think both Barnes and RDLR have very high ceilings and the homer in me wants to believe RDLR puts it all together and becomes an ace but Webster is definitely the best pitcher in our system right now.
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Post by jrffam05 on Apr 24, 2013 9:39:44 GMT -5
Ok so I have not seen a ton of Webster, and I hardly consider myself an expert, but what is the difference between his rank now as a middle-back rotation pitcher to a top of the rotation pitcher. He is a ground ball pitcher who has good strikeout numbers, 3 solid pitch mix with reports of a passable curveball, tops out at 99, and has had good control in 2013. He also has a good track record of not giving up home runs. Maybe we are still talking small sample size in 2013, and I know projecting to be a #3 is a complement, but from the little I saw of him he seems closer to a top 25-30 prospect. He just seems like a better pitcher this year than last year. I'm chalking it up to the learning curve of a HS SS turned major league pitcher.
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Post by brendan98 on Apr 24, 2013 10:46:32 GMT -5
I think he has top of the rotation stuff, but is held back a little bit by fringy command. By that, I do not mean that he is going to walk too many hitters, rather that if he is missing his locations in the MLB he might not live up to the top of the rotation stuff.
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Post by ray88h66 on Apr 24, 2013 10:59:23 GMT -5
I was really impressed with his curve in his last outing. I watched him a couple of times this spring and didn't see him throw one. Nice sharp break and he threw it for strikes.Look forward to following his progress.
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Post by bjb406 on Apr 24, 2013 13:15:03 GMT -5
I don't pay too much attention to projections like that because they are deeply flawed. When scouts make those judgements they tend to forget that there are 30 #1 starters in the league and probably about 3 of them coming into the league every year. The only people that get projected as a #1 are people like stephen strasbrug
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