Instructs was a long time ago, but my best guess was it was from Kiley McDaniel on fangraphs or crawfish boxes.
Okay I found this was from Kiley McDaniel - "He has a below average arm and bad defensive instincts that limit him to LF, but the Astros are working with him to see if he can play CF while also giving him the green light to steal bases, which he wasn’t really allowed to do in college." So I guess we will see how well it turned out when the season begins.
Since we're allegedly talking draft here: Dillon Tate, in his first year as a starter after being one of the best closers in DI and then again on the whatever US Team played in the whatever World competition, has been lights out so far. In his 3rd career start he gave up his first couple of runs of the year against a ranked Oregon team, after he no-hit them for 5+ innings. RHP with big FB, big SL and developing change. The weather has screwed up a bunch of games/rotations the past week or so. Very interested to see what Matuella does coming off his little bout of arm soreness. Several of the other big name college starters are getting off to a slow start, baseball ain't meant to be played in the snow.
Well, I'm bored, it's cold as hell outside, and this Blanton's ain't gonna drink itself, so I figured I'd do a little googling: Before the draft: The physically striking Fisher currently patrols left field for the Cavaliers, not because his skill set relegates him to a corner, but rather because Virginia has superior options at other positions. A pro club will at least give the 6-foot-3, 210 pounds. Fisher a look in center field as he has the requisite speed and arm strength for the position. The legs grade out just beneath plus-plus –- I had Fisher timed at 4.03 and 4-flat down the line from the left side, albeit with a little bit of a jailbreak –- more than enough to run down balls in the gaps, while his arm grades out around average. There’s room to solidify that throwing grade if Fisher’s sometimes-awkward throwing mechanics are made to be more efficient. Despite Fisher’s up-the-middle physical capabilities, there are serious questions about his feel for defense. His reads don’t always come instantaneously and his routes to balls are often circuitous and inefficient. Whether or not the ills Fisher displays at times in left field follow him to center or right remain to be seen — some players just read the ball better from different spots in the outfield — but it would obviously be a boon for his value if he were to stick in center. http://prospectinsider.com/scouting-derek-fisher-uva-prospects Another: Fisher is a bit of a tweener. Not the immediate profile of an impact prospect. He's not an impact guy but he could be an excellent MLB player. His floor is much higher than almost anyone else in the draft but defensively he may be limited to LF. He has the speed to handle center field at this point but lacks the instincts and the route running to make that work. His arm is usable but not the level of a good right fielder. Aggressive runners would test him and win in the majors often enough to be frustrating. I doubt he will stick there at higher levels of pro ball. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/2/2/5365054/2014-mlb-draft-profile-derek-fisher-of-virginia Interesting that most of the things they downgrade him for - reads off the bat, routes to balls, jumps, throwing mechanics - are things that can be fixed.
Typically the reports have focused on how breaking the hamate bone sapped his power. It's common for players who break their risk to take a year or so for the power to come back. Haven't heard much about how it affected his throwing.
Another scoreless start for Tate. Shut out Sacramento State 2-0 this afternoon. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Gauchos improve to 10-3 as James Carter closes out the 2-0 series opener. Dillon Tate: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K <a href="http://t.co/DoAm9ry0D0">pic.twitter.com/DoAm9ry0D0</a></p>— UCSB Baseball (@UCSB_Baseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/UCSB_Baseball/status/574005956310253568">March 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yup. Big Rodon fan. I really didn't like how much NC State threw him...they were continuously throwing him 120+ pitches...not sure how much that factored into our decision. Granted, we wont know how these draft decisions look until 3-5 years from now.
The money wasn't far off, so I'm guessing due to his college coach running Rodon's arm into the ground had plenty to do with it. Also, Brady Aiken looked like a "can't miss" type of prospect.
Rodon got the most money as the #3 pick... chances are he would have possibly requested more as the #1 pick, which would have affected their overall pool distribution (which ended up getting ruined anyways). There is documented evidence that HS and college pitch counts can ruin arms faster (or basically that a human's arm has a "finite" amount of elite pitch-making capability in it... some have more, some have less... before they require surgery or are just "done"). The Astros did follow that evidence in their decision making... but then made a decision on Aiken that is not currently backed up by any documented evidence (that small UCL's lead to arm break down). All things considered equal, Aiken was certainly the more enticing prospect and very well could be the #1 pick this year.
Is there publicly available information that shows small UCLs don't involve higher risk for guys throwing faster than 95 mph? It would seem the people that have this information (i.e. teams) aren't allowed to share it with the public based on privacy laws.
There's been no case reports or meta-analysis done on the topic. You can search all medical journals via pubmed, and the Ortho docs interviewed at the time of the draft confirmed as much. They really don't know how serious of an issue it is... Just that it "could" be something to worry about down the road. Just like the pitchers with apparent normal anatomy can require surgeries and have ligament tears, etc. From the docs I've talked with, and comparing it to an area that I have far more knowledge in, it's sorta like being born with one kidney. You can live a perfectly normal/healthy life (like as if you had donated a kidney to a loved one).., but diseases such as Hypertention and diabetes need much stricter control and monitoring. It's partly why the astros were willing to still give him up to $5 million to sign. It's also why he could likely still be the #1 pick again.
Wanted to save money to sign extra players All about depth instead of just taking the best available We should have Buxton, Davis and Rodon on the way right now
I would love to see that documented evidence you love to talk about Not saying it doesn't exist, but never heard anyone talk about it but you Care to share?? I tend to believe that individual situations have a huge effect on health and injuries, but if you can show your proof about an arm simply has a finite number of pitches in it I would certainly be intersted in seeing it
