Posts belonging to Category High School Baseball

It’s Friday.  And this season, Friday has been a day highlighted by the MLB debuts of baseball’s best and most exciting prospects.  On June 10 it was Mike Moustakas.  A week later it was Dustin Ackley.  On July 8 we celebrated Mike Trout’s arrival.

And today, July 22, 2011, The Golden Sombrero once again celebrates the debut of another top-notch prospect: Jason Kipnis.  Kipnis announced his arrival yesterday on Twitter:

This debut carries a bit more significance than the others, surprisingly, as Kipnis and I have a long history on the field.

A year younger than me, Kipnis and I both played in the same high school conference outside of Chicago.  While I manned shortstop for Deerfield High School, Kipnis was my counterpart for rival Glenbrook North.  In 2004 we were both named All-Conference shortstops in the Central Suburban North.

These days I’m writing, scouting and coaching baseball while Kipnis is, well, playing in the Major Leagues.  In the end, I’m going to say that he came out on top..barely.

Anyway, prior to his call up, The Golden Sombrero’s No. 26 prospect was slashing .281/.363/.849 with 15 doubles, nine triples, 12 home runs and 54 RBI for Triple-A Columbus.  He also swiped 12 bases and coaxed 43 walks compared to 71 strikeouts.

With Orlando Cabrera struggling for the Tribe, it seems as though Kipnis will almost exclusively play second base, although he does have plenty of experience in the outfield.

Here are some videos of Kipnis in action:

Welcome to The Show, dude.

We hold Liveblogs for Sunday Night Baseball, so obviously we’re going to have one for the MLB Draft tonight.  So if you have absolutely nothing to do but watch the draft–which I’m guessing is the case if you’re reading this–then come hang out and gush about prospects with us.  Mevs from Diamond Hoggers will be there like always, and the same goes for those goofy bastards over at Off-Base Percentage.  The Sombrero should have our own prospect guru, Dee, stopping by, too.  If we play our cards right, maybe we can get Dylan Bundy to drop by to punch something.

With the draft quickly approaching and in light of the incident with Buster Posey at the plate a week ago, I think it makes sense to look at the catcher position and the future of it within the draft.  Granted I probably would not even have considered this if the two best catchers in baseball weren’t currently on the disabled list, but that hardly makes anything about the inherent risks of the position less true.  No reader of this site requires an explanation of these risks and the dangers of the catcher position, but I am skeptical many would disagree that it’s about time the offensive catcher disappears from baseball, and it starts with the draft.

(more…)

With the 2011 MLB draft very quickly approaching, I wanted to take a little bit of time to write about a New Mexican kid not named Blake Swihart.  Alex Bregman of Albuquerque Academy and the Albuquerque Baseball Academy, of which Swihart and Max Walla (2009 2^nd Round, Brewers) have helped make famous around club baseball circles, is already a 2-time All-State 1^st Teamer.  He likely will be selected to his third one in the next couple of weeks after a monstrous 2011 with Academy that ultimately ended in crushing defeat to Farmington’s Piedra Vista High in the title bout at Isotopes Park two Saturdays ago.  Bregman had a nice day at the plate with multiple XBH’s, but a costly error in the first inning which saw him turn an easy 2-ball into a 2-base throwing error.  Nevertheless, he was the best player in AAAA and will likely be in 2012 barring a meteoric rise from PVHS’s CF Shilo McCall.

(more…)

The back of the first round this year features a couple of high-upside prep righties in 6-foot-5, 235-pound Jose Fernandez (Alonso HS, FL) and Searcy HS’s (AR) Dillon Howard.

I had the opportunity to see Howard throw last summer for the Midland Redskins, and he was quite dominant.  Howard flashed mid-90s a few times and consistently worked in the 91-93 mph range with an easy, athletic delivery and good sink.  He showed a quality 12-6 curveball that featured plenty of tilt to get right-handed hitters out.  He did not really feature a usable third pitch, but his athleticism suggests that he should pick one up with time.  Howard is 6-foot-2 and 195-pounds and projects well physically.  Considering there is at least a chance he slips into the supplementary round, I would not be surprised if he comes associated with a great deal of signability risk headed into June.  He is committed to Arkansas and has a chance to open the spring as their Friday-nighter.

(more…)