A Day at Fitch
I took in a couple of minor league spring games today. The teams were presumably players that will be in Boise and Lansing this year, though for now, their squads are called Lansing and Daytona since the final roster moves have not trickled down yet.On the "Lansing" side, I was pleased that Justin Jones got the start on the hill. This was the first time I got to watch Jones, and he pitched 4 1/3 innings of solid baseball. For someone that young, he showed excellent command of his pitched and an advanced knowledge of the mental side of the game. Jones has three above average pitches - a fastball in the low 90s, a solid change, and what at times is an above average curve ball. When he missed, he would miss up in the zone with his fastball, so he did get hit a few times, but he was smart enough to keep pitching inside with his fastball. His curve ball was solid, though at times he would baby it a little too much to left handers in an effort to get a called strike (babying it is just basically guiding it through the zone instead of throwing it hard and snapping it off). Most left handers struggled against his deuce, but a couple of times he'd leave it in the zone and it got hit. He didn't throw a ton of changes, but he threw enough to keep the right handed hitters off balance. He often followed up a change with a high fastball and usually just threw it by the hitter. All in all, it was a successful outing for Jones. I can see why officials are excited about him, as it is rare indeed for a pitcher his age to have command of three solid pitches. If he can improve the command of his fastball a bit and work more down in the zone, he will move quickly. I liked him. He had a good demeanor and good pace and has smooth mechanics. He might just push his way into the Lansing rotation after all.
Jones was followed by F. Baez, a wirey right hander with a decent fastball. I didn't watch him as closely as I was watching the other game more at this point (see below).
After Baez was a right hander named Marmol, and I'm not sure if this is the catcher of the same name that had been in the system. Marmol isn't a big guy, less than six feet tall, but had a pretty live arm and flashed a nice breaking ball at times. I wouldn't guess he threw more than about 90, though I'm not sure since the Cubs were not marking the radar on this particular game. He threw 2 relatively easy innings without incident.
Finally, big right hander jason Wylie came on for the 9th inning. This was the first time I watched Wylie throw, and he made a very, very good impression. He came in throwing very hard, and I would guess 94,95,96 or so -- easily much faster than any of the other pitchers of the day. He blasted fastballs by the first hitter (a lefty), got a jam shot grounder to short, then gave up a ground ball single up the middle before picking the guy off to end the game. His fastball is clearly his best pitch, but he did flash at least a decent breaking ball for a called strike to one hitter. It looks as if Wylie might be a closer this year for Lansing, given the croweded nature of the rotations in the Cubs system.
The only hitters I watched during this game were Brian Dopirak and Felix Pie, and neither had very good games. Dopirak is a pretty massive guy with a huge swing. He struck out both times I watched him. He was not overmatched at all, but he saw some tough breaking pitches in each at bat. He looks very intimidating and certainly has a very powerful stroke, but I hope he's able to adjust to the breaking pitches he'll be sure to see.
Pie was 0-3 for the day. He faced a left hander once and hung in well against fastballs, but waved at a curve for strike three. He also grounded out and popped to left. He's still fast as heck, though.
In the "Daytona" game, the starting pitcher was Chadd Blasko. This was also the first time I've been able to watch Blasko. My initial impression is that he just looked very rusty. He was inconsistent with his command and alternated throwing good pitches with bad ones pretty regularly. His velocity was anywere from 89 to 94 in the 6-8 pitches where I watched the gun. Overall, he's good pretty easy mechanics, throws with a bit of a short arm, and gets a little sink on his fastball. He flashed a good slider a few times, but he also hung a few that got whacked into the alleys. He looked as if his third pitch was a BP fastball or maybe a change and at times he changed speeds very well. He pitched inside a fair amount and was mostly successful doing so. He has a nice, live arm and I am sure will have better command the more he pitches, but I'll confess that it's tough to say much more about him after an outing like this. Assuming that he smooths out the edges, I think he'll have success, but part of me kept comparing him to former Cub Ben Shaffar, which may or may not be a good thing.
Brett Benik followed with a real short arm delivery that produces alot of sink on his fastball and a nice 12 to 6 deuce. Unfortunately, lefties hit him pretty hard in his 2 innings. Other pitchers that followed were Ramirez (right hander) and another tall right hander whose name escapes me at the moment.
Luis Montanez had a nice game both in the field and at the plate. He ranged far up the middle on one play to get a grounder, and also hit two solid line drives that were caught in the outfield. Other players included Soto (C, replaced by McKnight), Donnie Hood (3B, replaced by Slavik), Bacon, Mejia, Esterlin, Welsch, Cameron and O'Toole. Antoine Cameron launched a deep double in the only at bat that I saw.
Tomorrow I'll be back and hopefully I'll catch the AA/AAA guys, or else some of the other A ball arms I didn't get to see today.
If there's anybody you'd like me to watch in particular, feel free to write and let me know.