Down on the Farm: Special Report From Lake Elsinore 4/10/2011

Well, I went to the game in Lake Elsinore today. What a day, what a game! The San Jose Giants players lived up to their promise, and then some, dominating the Lake Elsinore Storm in every phase of the game, 10-0.

It was a bright sunny spring day in Southern California with temperatures hovering right around 70. I arrived about 30 minutes before game time and got in a ticket line. An older lady(she was actually probably about my age, but I like to think she was older) came up to me and asked if I was buying a single ticket. I said yes. She said she was there with her mother and her father was not able to attend and they were looking to give away a single ticket. It was in Section 101, row D Seat 7 directly behind home plate! I offered to pay face value for the ticket but they wouldn't accept. So I got one of the best seats in the house free. On to the game! Key Lines:

Gary Brown- 1 for 3, 2 BB, SB(6), CS(1). BA= .333. Brown did not look as big today as I remember him from Spring Training in Arizona. The walks look good in the box score. I couldn't tell if they reprsented good plate discipline or not as none of the pitches he took were at all close to being strikes. From his stance and approach at the plate, he looks like he will be more of a groundball/line drive hitter with very little power. He is very aggressive on the basepaths. The most significant play scoring easily from 3B on a passed ball that only got a short way away from the catcher, but Brown saw it immediately, got a great jump and was already crossing the plate by the time the catcher got to the ball.

Ryan Cavan- 0 for 4. Cavan is even smaller than Brown. I doubt his power holds up at higher levels.

Chris Dominguez- 3 for 5, 2 HR's(2). BA= .389. We'll see if he can maintain it for a full season, but right now, Dominguez is red hot. He is both huge and athletic looking. He seemed to have a surprisingly good approach at the plate. He struck out swinging the first two AB's, but in his next 3 AB's really found the range. He took an outside pitch on a line to right-center for his first HR. The Diamond has a short RF with a "monster" fence. Dominguez' HR was over the 348 ft sign where the wall is shorter. Would have been a double in most ballparks. It was hit hard enough, and on a line, that I think it would have gone through the gap though. Later he shot a grounder down the RF line and then purposely stopped between first and second to try to get into a rundown to allow a runner ahead of him to score. LE foiled that plan by picking off the runner trying to come home for out #3. Wierd play! The last AB Chris crushed one to dead LF, which is about 390 ft away in that park. No doubter, that one is out in any park! Chris looked surprisingly nimble around 3B too with a strong throwing arm. I know he has his warts, but based on what I saw today, I would say Chris Dominguez might be one of the most underrated prospects in all of baseball! The upside is enormous! He may not have more than a 10 year MLB career because he has developed so slowly, but those 10 years could be jaw dropping!

Tommy Joseph- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1), BB. BA= .412. Tommy Joseph has a massively compact body. He also has a very compact, powerful swing! He also struck out his first time up, but later in the game put on a show! The HR was back-to-back with Chris Dominguez' first shot. Tommy's was a line drive down the LF line that got out in a hurry and was a no-doubter. Gone in any ballpark. The double was probably hit harder but farther right to straightaway LF and it clanged off the LF fence that is at least 390 ft away at that point. That ball is out of most ballparks! Man, what a powerful righthanded power duo in the middle of the San Jose lineup! Joseph played catcher and I thought he handled himself well catching some pitchers with premium stuff. He may need some work on the mechanics of getting off a throw but his arm looked strong. He's no speed merchant on the basepaths but seemed to run OK when he came home on a hit after his double.

Jarrett Parker- 2 for 5. Parker is kind of tall and lean. He doesn't appear to have much power. He had one nice hard-hit grounder up the middle for one hit and easily beat out a broken bat slow grounder to 2B later in the game. He looks like he can cover some ground in RF.

Carter Jurica- 0 for 2, 2 BB. Jurica is big for a SS. He was not particularly impressive at the plate. He made a nice charge on a slow roller in the first inning and gunned it to first in time after kind of hesitating on the throw. He also went back nicely on a booper over his head that he ended up catching easily in short LF. I did not see any difficult lateral plays so can't really say if he has the range to play SS at higher levels. I would say he has the arm, though. Now we'll have to see if the size translates into hitting.

Zack Wheeler- 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. I was a bit worried when Zack walked leadoff batter Rico Noel on 4 pitches in the first and then went to 2 balls on the #2 hitter. He really settled down after that, though. The stadium gun was not working at first. A couple of stadium employees fiddled with it for an inning or two and finallly got it working with numbers that were believable. Zack was throwing mostly fastballs in the 92-95 MPH range. The most frequent number I saw was 93. His secondary stuff looks to to be rather primitive at this point and he seldom threw it. He was able to just blow the FB by the LE hitters. It must have had late sink because they mostly beat it into the ground, although he did get 3 pop fly outs. There were no balls hit hard off him in the 5 innings he pitched. Zack looks like an ever so slightly slimmer version of Matt Cain. He holds his glove in front of him with the ball in it and his arm at his side while he's getting the sign, just like Cainer. The delivery is also similar with a deliberate start and then exploding directly to home plate. Maybe Cainer maintains his leg kick a bit longer into the delivery, but other than that, Zack could be Matt's mini-me out there, though not so mini! I've seen Cain, Merkin Valdez and Tim Lincecum pitch in the Cal League, and Zack certainly held his own with that group and more. Very impressive performance.

Jose Valdez- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. I really wanted to see Valdez pitch and wasn't disappointed. He is huge out on the mound. Some of the LE fans were commenting on his size. He featured a sinking, running fastball that was 90-94 MPH, mostly at 92. He complemented that with a very nice sharp slider that he used to keep hitters off balance and as a put away pitch. While the velocity readings were not eye popping, he is so long he delivers the ball closer to home plate so the FB is effectively faster. Some of his pitches looked like they were being released halfway to home plate!

Jose Casilla- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. Jose again had a sinking fastball at 89-92 MPH. Ironically he had more FB outs that GB's in this one. A couple of balls were hit hard but at fielders. One thing I noticed is he brings the ball back and extends his arm behind him, then hesitates with it out where the hitter can see it. I wonder if he loses deception and hitters can track his pitches longer making him more hittable? Just an observation.

Heath Hembree- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. This was really the treat of the day and I would have missed it if I had left early. Hembree gave up a ground ball hit and a bloop hit to open the bottom of the ninth inning, but then really settled down. Hembree featured a hard, overpowering fastball that ran 93-95 MPH. The last pitch of the game was a 96 mph seed that was called strike 3 by the ump. The batter looked helpless! If you ask me right now who the Giants closer of the future is, I would say Hembree without very much hesitation at all!

All in all, from a purely scouting/future potential standpoint, I would rate this San Jose team the most impressive I have seen, and that's saying something when you think of some of the names that have come through there in recent years.