Down on the Farm: Report From Lake Elsinore

I finally made it to a Cal League game last night. Wouldn't you know it was a blow out game that the San Jose Giants lost? I wasn't sure I was going until the last minute, and went alone. I arrived at the ballpark just as the game was starting due to heavy traffic in the 15 Fwy south of Corona. I bought my ticket at the ticket window and got Section 101, Row C, Seat 4 directly behind home plate. I got to my seat just as the bottom of the first inning was starting. The Giants had gone down 1,2,3 in the top of the first, so I didn't miss much.

Justin Fitzgerald was on the mound for the Giants. He's a big burly kid who looks like a power pitcher. His fastball ranged from 88-92 MPH on the stadium radar gun, which I believe was pretty close to accurate. At it's best, the fastball seemed to have some sink to it, but Justin's command was off a bit. He also showed a nice, tight curveball that he was able to throw for strikes. He threw a changeup less often and it really didn't make much of in impression. Fitz labored through 5 innings with runners seemingly on base the whole time. He didn't really get hit hard except for an opposite field HR by LH hitting 3B Vince Belnome on a pitch that looked like some kind of hanging offspeed offering. I'm inclined to believe it was a change that stayed up. Fitzgerald certainly has major league size. I'd call his stuff borderline, or fringy. He just needs to keep pitching to see if he can sharpen up his command and polish up his secondary stuff.

The Giants offense as pretty much non-existant against LE starter Anthony Bass. Brandon Belt led off the second inning by lacing a double that skipped by the RF and banged off the tall RF "monster" wall. The ball came straight back at the fielder who turned and fired to 2B. From where I was sitting, it looked like the throw beat Belt, but the ump called him safe. The Storm infielders and manager argued vehemently to no avail. Culberson followed with a sharply hit single through the left side of the IF with Belt stopping at 3B. That was the only hint of a threat by the offense all night.

I looked up Storm SP Bass' stats. He doesn't look as historically dominant as he looked last night, but he sure appeared to have big league stuff. FB ran 91-94 MPH with a variety of offspeed secondary pitches. Except for Belt and Culberson, he seemed to have the Giants hitters intimidated. They were flailing at pitches way outside the strike zone all night.

Brian Anderson followed Justin Fitzgerald to the mound for the Giants. He did not look good at all. Max velocity I saw was 87 MPH. He seemed to be mostly throwing some type of sinking offspeed pitch, either a splitter variant or a knuckle curve. I'd guess some type of splitter from the looks of the pitches. He got 4 outs on hard hit balls right at OF's, then the law of averages caught up with him. He left the game with 1 out in the 7'th, 1 run in and the bases loaded.

Jason Stoffel relieved Anderson and immediately ran into bad luck. Stoffel had a good fastball, 91-94 MPH with a lot of armside run. The first batter was late on his swing but shot a hard grounder that was helped by the velocity of the pitch right between Culberson and Belt. The next two batters hit bloopers that fell short of the OF's to plate the rest of Anderson's runners plus one of Stoffel's. Jason then settled down to strike out the next two batters and get out of the inning, all with the hard running fastball.

Stoffel got the first batter out in the 8'th inning, but then his stuff started deteriorating. His fastball, which started out mostly 92-94 MPH, dropped to 91 MPH and then to 90. It's a good fastball, but not enough to get hitters out as a single pitch at 90-91 MPH. With a runner on base, Cody Decker hit an absolute bomb way beyond the 425 ft sign in left-center field. Stoffel walked the next batter and that was it for him. Kyle Woodruff cleaned up by getting the last two Storm batters of the game.

Stoffel has a long way to go, IMO. His fastball is good, but not nearly good enough to be a one-pitch pitcher in the majors, even as a closer. He needs to forget about closing for awhile, get stretched out to build his stamina and to learn at least one viable secondary offering.

Brandon Belt is a big man. He appears to be quite athletic for his size with a well-proportioned body. He and Culberson were the only Giants hitters who did not appear to be overmatched by Bass. He had a lot of balls hit his way on defense and appeared smooth and quick as a fielder. He made two very nice throws to 2B on grounders to get the lead runner, but in both instances the return throws were too late for the DP, likely because the balls weren't hit that hard in the first place. He did come up empty on a dive for a ball hit about a foot inside the bag down the line. Brandon appeared to shake himself up a bit on the play, maybe knocking the wind out of himself when he belly-flopped the ground. I thought maybe JT might have had that ball, but then that's what I tend to think about almost every ball hit down the first base line!

Charlie Culberson has great size for a second baseman. I thought his actions on the field looked a bit non-fluid, but he made all the plays as far as I could see. He certainly looked confident at the plate, working the counts and drilling two hits through the left side of the infield. On his SB, it looked like a good throw from the catcher would have had him by a mile, but it was way high and Charlie was able to slide in under the tag. In fact, I don't think a tag was even attempted as the fielder had to jump to keep the throw from sailing into CF.

If baseball success was based on how good you look in a uniform, James Simmons is, by far, the best prospect on the team. Holy moly, does that guy look like a ballplayer? Unfortunately, athleticism does not necessarily hit a baseball, and that's a pretty darn important part of the game. He sure gets down the line to first base fast, though! Simmons also showed off his speed in the OF by streaking all the way into LF and almost colliding with Fairley on a ball Wendell caught up against the wall just to the right of straightaway LF.

Speaking of Wendell Fairley, he looked good in LF covering a lot of ground and going back on two balls he caught at the wall that I don't think every LF would have caught. He looked a bit lost at the plate though, and appeared to be taking a lot of defensive slappy swings. Bass made him look helpless in his first AB in which he struck out.

Adrianza is a good looking player at SS, but I didn't see him make many plays. Peguero was the DH. Biery didn't look good at the plate at all.

That's about it for scouting reports. I'm planning to go back tonight with my wife and will post any further observations tomorrow.

I'll just add that if you go to a minor league game and sit anywhere other than behind the backstop screen, you'd best take a glove and pay attention to the game. One guy fairly far up the the stands, and not that far up the first base line from the screeen got skulled right on the frontal top of his head by a ball that shot off the bat of a RH batter on a late swing. He held his head in his hands for quite awhile while stadium staff attended to him. He finally walked out without assistance, but looked a bit dazed. I hope he got checked out at an emergency room and is OK.