Rice vs. USC 2/27/11

Yesterday I posted the Anthony Rendon photos from Sunday’s game… Here are some more photos from the game including USC Star Ricky Oropesa. In a nutshell, Rice won the game 3-2 and swept the series from USC. The pitching matchup consisted of USC senior starter Logan Odom versus Rice super freshman John Simms. Both starters pitched well, Simms going 5.2 and allowing 1 earned run in getting the no decision, Odom on the other hand went 6.2 and gave up 3 earned runs on 4 hits. With the score 3-1 in the 8th, USC started a rally scoring a run and had men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs but pitch hitter Kevin Roundtree flew out to leftfield ending the threat and Rice held on for the 3-2 victory.

I’ll be taking the next few days off to do some “family” things but hopefully I’ll be back up and running on Thursday then the College Classic on the weekend. In the meantime, enjoy the photos and remember to click on them to see them in full resolution.

Anthony Rendon vs. USC 2/27/11

Anthony Rendon went 0-2 with 2 BB in Rice’s 3-2 Win against USC today at Reckling Park. As it’s already been documented, Rendon hit in the 3 spot and played DH. Here are a number of Rendon photos from the game. Click on the photo to see it in a higher resolution. Also, I have a number of other photos from today that I’ll be post over the next few days.

Enjoy!

Houston vs. Ole Miss 2/26/11

Following the junior college game I took spare time I had and grabbed a bite to eat. If I told you I was prepared for the Houston/Ole Miss game, I’d be lying; I wasn’t expecting to see Houston play until the College Classic and not expecting to see Ole Miss at all. My plan was to hit the San Jacinto/Blinn game and call it a day but one of my in-laws had tickets that evening for the Houston game so I figured I’d take full advantage of it. So with that said, I grabbed what info I had and made the trek down to Cougar field in the Houston to see the Rebels take on the Cougars.

Giving a little background information, the Cougars have a nice history with the Pirates. As we all know, Brad Lincoln was a former Cougar All American as was Chris Snyder but what I wasn’t aware of until I was there was the Doug Drabek was the first player whose number was retired by the Cougars. Much like the Pirates, the Cougars are in the process of rebuilding and currently are in the first year under a new head coach. Some of the fans that I had pleasure of taking with generally seemed very excited about the season but openly admitted that it was a rebuilding year for them and were very optimistic about the recruiting class they had assembled and that would be coming in next fall. In a way the same could be said for the Rebels of Ole Miss, one fan that I spoke with said it was definitely a rebuilding year from them as well. As for the game, Cougars starter Jordan Lewis went 4 innings giving up 2 runs, 1 in the 3rd and 1 in the 4th. He got into trouble in the 4th but managed to work his way out of it. He Houston bats seemed to wake up in the 6th when they put up a 4 spot and in the 7th added on 3 more to take an 8-2 lead the managed to hold up.

As for prospects, there really isn’t a lot right now for Houston; probably the most decorated player on their team is Caleb Ramsey a senior outfielder who ranked as the 92nd best player in the Cape Code League. He’s probably not that sexy player that most teams look for but he should be a solid organizational player. Perhaps the top underclassman for Houston is Chase Jensen who ranked as the preseason number 12 prospect in Conference USA. Just a sophomore, Jensen went 2-5 with 2 runs scored on Saturday night. At 6’3, 185 he’s looks very tall and skinny out there playing SS but he seems to have nice range and a strong arm at the position. As for Ole Miss players, like I said earlier, this game was more of a spur of the moment thing so I didn’t have a chance to put anything together on them so my apologizes on that. Anyway, like I said in my previous post, it’s off to see Anthon Rendon today along with big USC 1st baseman Ricky Opressa.

San Jacinto vs. Blinn JC 2/26/11

I arrived in Houston late Friday night and decided to waste little time getting to work checking out games. My first stop Saturday was to San Jacinto Junior College to see the San Jacinto Gators take on the Blinn Buccaneers in a doubleheader. To get an idea of the kind of talent a school like San Jacinto has one only need to look back to the 2010 draft where they had 9 players drafted, 6 of which signed pro contracts. This year’s version offered another collection of intriguing players as did Blinn.

Today’s first game had an intriguing pitching match up between San Jacinto top pitching prospect Miguel Pena and Blinn lefty Trevor Seidenberger. Some may remember Pena as the highest drafted player from the 2009 draft who did not sign; he was also drafted last season by San Diego yet returned to San Jacinto for his sophomore season. Pena didn’t seem to have his “A” game today, as he struggled some early putting men on base on going to full counts on a number of occasions but like any good pitcher, he battled and found a way to get out of a number of jams he got into, going 6 innings and only giving up one run. His counterpart on the other hand, Seidenberger seemed to work quickly and managed to keep the San Jacinto players off balance, getting a number of them to swing early and often at bad pitches. He got into trouble in the 4th inning and the Gator hitters finally seemed to get to him, executing a text book hit and run to put men at 1st and 3rd with no outs and later bunting home a run. The inning ended with a 4 spot on the board and a 4-1 Gator lead. The Buccaneers came back in the top of the 7th loading the bases against Gator pitcher Tommy Collier (University of Houston recruit) but with no outs and the bases loaded, Collier proceeded to strike out the side to ensure a 4-2 Gator victory (the first game was a 7 inning game).

The second game was the pitching matchup I was really hoping to see when LHP Tyler Wright of San Jacinto (University of Arkansas recruit) took on LHP Matt Hernandez (University of Houston recruit). Much like Seidnberger, Hernandez worked quickly and was 1 hitting San Jacinto through 4 innings. Wright seemed to match him every step of the way going 8 shut outs innings. The Gators bats seemed to settle down late in the game much like they did in the first game scoring 5 runs in the 8th inning and propelling them to a 7-1 win and a sweep in their first conference games.


Thoughts from the games:

1) Between the 2 games, all 4 of the starters were lefthanders.
2) Blinn 1st baseman Matt Baca, a transfer from Alabama, looked an awful lot out there like former Pirates prospect Ron Wright at 6’1 255 pounds.
3) San Jacinto catcher Ryan Hornback, an Ole Miss recruit, threw out 1 of 2 attempted base stealers in game one. The runner that he did throw out was trying to steal 3rd.
4) A couple players I had hoped to see but didn’t were San Jacinto LHP David Rollins and Blinn catcher Nick DeSantiago (University of Texas transfer).


Top 5 Prospects:

1) Tyler Wright LHP San Jacinto
2) Miguel Pena LHP San Jacinto
3) Trevor Seidnberger LHP Blinn
4) Matt Hernandez LHP Blinn
5) Ryan Hornback C San Jacinto


Following this game, I made a stop at the University of Houston for the Houston/ Ole Miss game... Those photos are on the way. The goal for Sunday is to head over to Sugarland to catch a few of Anthony Rendons at bats since it doesn't sound as though he'll be playing third. I'll get those photos up as soon as possible.





Miguel Pena- San Jacinto





























































Tyler Wright- San Jacinto














Matt Hernandez- Blinn
















Seth Hornback- San Jacinto

Houston College Classic

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be attending the Houston College Classic the weekend of March 4-6. The main reason that I’ll be going to this is for the opportunity to see Rice 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon in action and to see what all the hype is about. This is a great opportunity to witness some of the best amateur players in the nation and to get some firsthand knowledge on them.

While down there along with the College Classic, I’m hoping to take in a variety of games and see as many potential prospects in action as I can. This is something that I’ve been kicking around doing over the last few years but there always seemed to be something that came up preventing me from making this happen but now the time finally seems to be right. Hopefully this will be the start of seeing talented amateur players in action this spring.

Over the next few months it’s my hope that I’ll be able to check out some of the best players the northeast has to offer and bring back photos and thoughts on them for everyone on the site. With any luck, we might get a glimpse of a few potential Pirates prospects.

Slow News Day?

It must have been a really, really slow news day as the Post Gazette ran a story about the Pirates players that have had concussions and how that must correlate to Sidney Crosby's concussion. The story tried so hard to shoe horn in another sports team, that I had to wonder if I was reading Pirate coverage or Pens coverage.

On top of that, these guys are ballplayers, not doctors, so who cares what their thoughts or opinions are on it. It is Pirates spring training, write about the Pirates' spring training. I am sure that one day I will read a story trying to make the case that when the Steelers were calling themselves the Pirates, due to the popularity of the team, someone will try to make the cases that it was the other way around. The Pirates baseball team took the name from the football team, or heck even one of the many minor hockey teams from the regions past that had that name.

Why could we have not gotten an article about why Neil Walker will repeat his performance this year? You know typical spring stuff.

Charlie Morton Coming Back

Can Morton Harness His Stuff?

Rob Biertempfel writes an "I will not suck" article about Charlie Morton. I could not wait for this type of article to be written as it was pretty plain as day we would see this one coming from a mile away, sort of like hitters last year with Morton's pitches.

In all reality, if Morton was able to get back on track we could have something special. A lot has been said that he might have the best stuff on the team, of course a lot of that was said pre-James McDonald. Even with McDonald, Morton might have some of the best stuff on the team.

Many will deride the 'he has good stuff' line. How can he have good stuff when he gets hit all around? Maybe if they would take a moment and watch the baseball when he does have it, you see what the stuff is. It is a fastball moving in ways that you cannot teach. It is a breaking pitch, breaking in ways that only God can make happen. It is fun to watch. Unfortunately with Charlie Morton, getting that consistently has been a huge problem.

Perhaps it is all the changes that he has experienced. New teams. New coaches. Perhaps he has some growing up to do himself. He seems to at least mentally think he has changed some, according to the article. Sometimes thinking differently is all that is needed, as baseball is a very mental game.

What Morton does this spring could tell us quite a bit about the success of the team in the coming season. If he can start back on the track of where he once was, we could have something special in the fifth spot of the rotation. He might have some of the best stuff of any fifth starter, but to use that stuff is another story. Hopefully he puts it together.

Newspeak

I have to laugh sometimes about the words or phrases that get thrown around organizations or groups. I am sure that you in groups of friends or family have words that take on different meanings. Whether it be a nickname or a phrase that an uncle may repeat all the time. It is part of the vernacular of your group.

It sometimes borders on the absurd when you deal with work environments. You have some sort of manager or some higher up at work that tries to distill culture of the company in some phrase. Sometimes I think that certain people have no idea what the words mean, they are just repeating them to sound smart.

This year with the Pirates there are quite a few words or phrases that are being thrown about that you can get a glimpse of what the leadership group is thinking. One, of course, comes from Clint Hurdle's new conference, All In. I don't know how many times he uttered the phrase "All In' during that news conference. "I wanted to know if they were all in." I believe Hurdle has already been quoted a handful of times this season as being, all in.

One that is gaining traction is one from the suits in Coonelly and Huntington, that one being "this is a doing league". Huntington also refers to it as a 'can do league'. Obviously from that line the Pirates are trying to set the tone that there are no more excuses and things need to be done. Start doing them.

While there is not much to go on but words there, but hopefully it is a sign of the team actually looking at results. Looking to who is playing and who is not. There are now officially "no more scholarships" to steal another popular Pirate phrase. Maybe this year is indeed the start of a different perspective. Only time will tell, until then I am all in.

Rendon Gets Advisor

Via MLB Trade Rumors from Dejan, possible first overall pick Anthony Rendon of Rice, has selected Scott Boras to be his advisor leading up to the draft. We all know what that news means. Rendon, who was probably going to wait until the last day to sign, will now definitely not sign until the deadline and will have long drawn out negotiations.

Of course last season the Pirates were able to work with the Hendricks brothers to get both Taillon and Allie, so maybe they are getting more accustomed to working with the super agents on high profile guys.

I just hope that the fact that Rendon is advised by Boras does not scare them away.

Bullpen Battles Settled?

I found some of the news that Pirates had already named a good portion of the bullpen to be a little surprising. Not surprising in that they already sort of know who they want in the bullpen, but surprising in that they have voiced their choices.

Every spring, every team goes on and on about how they are going to take the best 25 north. It is a bunch of crap, they sort of know 23 or 24 of the guys that they are taking north before spring even begins. I believe Bob Walk espouses this view as well.

That being said it should be no surprise that the team wants to have Joe Beimel in the bullpen. The team badly needed a lefty. That was evident last season when Javier Lopez was dealt.

Adding Veras was not a surprise either as the team likes his power arm and his experience.

In the bullpen you have:

Joel Hanrahan
Evan Meek
Joe Beimel
Jose Veras

That leaves 3 more spots with Chris Resop, Scott Olsen, Justin Thomas, Brian Burres, Tyler Yates, and Jeff Karstens competiting for them.

I would go ahead and add Resop, as he pitched well down the stretch for the club last season. Jeff Karstens probably has an edge for that long reliever role as that seems to be his niche.

That leaves Yates and a trio of lefties, Olsen, Thomas, and Burres. Yates is still working back from injury, so we as fans don't have anything to look at, so I would put him as a question mark. I think Yates' right arm puts him at a disadvantage anyway, as the club might want another lefty.

Since they are already going to need to add Veras and Beimel to the 40 man, I'd say Olsen, if he is not the fifth starter, is the front runner, as he is already on the 40 man, thus elminating the need to add him.

It is rather easy to see the bullpen coming together like this. Why some may say it is surprising, I don't know. I would think anyone with some baseball watching experience, could have guessed that the bullpen would shake out this way.

The Spring Training Article

With spring training here that means that there are going to be many, many new articles to read about the spring and the players. Since the writers have not done much of anything in the past few months, they seem to always fall back to the same type of story, year after year.

There is the "I Will Suck No More" articles that are always prevalent, especially in Pirate camp. Every year a player that has not played well at all will be interviewed the this story will be written about them. Brandon Moss had many of these written about him last season. This year I would expect to see Ronny Cedeno, Steve Pearce, and a handful of others as candidates for this.

There is also the "Disgruntled Veteran" article. This can be taken a few ways, either a veteran that is vowing this year won't be the same last year or they feel slighted. This has already been in full force as I have seen articles on Paul Maholm and Ryan Doumit that take on this story.

Another type is the "Little Engine That Could". These are the supposed long shots to make the team. Any non roster invitee that makes some noise is a candidate here. I am eagerly awaiting the expose on Josh Rodriguez and how he has come so far as a Rule Five pick.

"The Comeback" is another tried and true favorite. The comeback can be rather vague. It can be from injury or some other personal issue, perhaps even poor performance. Brad Lincoln and Scott Olsen will most assuredly get this type of treatment.

The "Top Prospect in Camp" is yet another type of story we shall see. I am sure that we will hear from Rudy Owens, Bryan Morris, and Justin Wilson in this series. We will be treated to reading off their stats, while all three spout off Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh quotes, such as "I am just here to play my best. My goal is to pitch in Pittsburgh, but if it does not work out, I'll go to (insert affiliate city here) and work on my game to better prepare myself for that opportunity."

Finally there is always the "Men's Health" type articles. These deal with a player, "being in the best shape of his life" or having added weight. Already we had one like this on Jose Tabata in mini camp and the rumors of weight gain with Pedro Alvarez.

Yes it is nice that spring is here, but at the same time there is not much to talk about yet. So we will have to read this drivel that is served up as 'news'. We will though as we are baseball fans, we have sort of have to read it, it is baseball cliches at their best.

Pitchers and Catchers 2011

It is perhaps one of my most favorite things to hear in all of sports, "Pitchers and Catchers report to camp today". To me that means that the long wait is almost over as yet another season is about ready to start. Sure nothing much is going on these first few days. Mainly the pitchers are throwing long toss, doing some work off the mound, throwing to every catcher in the organization, but it is still baseball happening.

With this new season about to start there are plenty of stories related to the Pirates that involve the pitchers and catchers. Among them:

Who will be the closer? To some this a pretty big deal, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. I am of the belief that closers are overrated anyway, so it does not matter. The decision is going to be between Hanrahan and Meek. I'd like to see Meek, as he seems better suited, though it does not matter and I would not care if they simply went with the hot hand.

Will Maholm stick it out? Ace of the staff, using that term loosely, Paul Maholm is entering his final year on his contract. He is the highest paid player, tied with catcher Chris Snyder. Will he stick around after this season? It does not seem likely, so when will they look to deal him. There is plenty of younger pitching ready to come up from the minors, so it looks to be only a matter of time until Maholm is dealt.

Who in the minors will come up first? As mentioned before there are plenty of young starters in the minors ready or almost ready. You have Lincoln, Owens, Morris, Locke, Wilson and even pitchers like Scott Olsen, Daniel McCutchen, and Jeff Karstens to add to the depth list. Who of that group will step up this season? Will it be someone not even mentioned? There is a lot of potential there and it will be a fun side story to watch this spring as well as into the season.

What of Ryan Doumit? Doumit is entering what will more than likely be his last season, as I doubt they will exercise his option. He seemingly is not an option behind the plate and if so he won't be a regular there. There are too many bodies at first and in the outfield to see him getting much time there. How long might he be here?

There are plenty of things to watch for this week as pitchers and catchers report. A few questions that seem to be a little murky in their answer today, might, just might, start to look a little clearer in the next week or so.Until then it will be great to simply read about baseball on a daily basis.

Rob Neyer Defends Ross

As Bob Smizik likes to say, Murray Chass knows baseball. Well really he knows how baseball used to work. Chass has a column up arguing that it is insane that Ross Ohlendorf got a raise this past week. He seems to think that when you win only one game you should not get a raise. His article is a great read, if you don't like to pay attention to stats or are completely ignorant of them.

Rob Neyer has a brief defense. His money shots at Chass are:

I'm curious, though ... Does it offend Chass when a pitcher is credited with a win despite giving up seven runs in five innings? Does it offend Chass when a hitter is credited with an RBI when he hits a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning with his team trailing by seven runs? Does it offend Chass when one guy gets a hit on a broken-bat blooper, and the next is out on a screaming line drive hit directly toward the shortstop?
Every statistic has limitations. And I've noticed over the years that a willingness to either ignore a limitation or rail against it can largely be predicted by someone's birthday.

Chuck Tanner - 1928-2011

The Pirates family lost a great one in the past few days, as Chuck Tanner passed away on Friday. News of the passing was not much of a surprise, as Tanner's health had diminished, but still somber nonetheless. Tanner was the leader of one of the most remembered Pirate teams of all time as he helmed the 1979 Family team.

A native of New Castle, Tanner was able to coach his hometown team after being acquired via a trade with the Oakland A's for catcher Manny Sanguillen. While in Pittsburgh, Tanner is most remembered for leading the team to the World Series title in 1979, his only post season appearance.

Tanner would stay on in Pittsburgh for a handful more seasons, until the Pittsburgh drug trials left a tarnish on his managerial term. He would head to Atlanta to helm the Braves through the end of the 1988 season. After managing, Tanner would become a senior advisor and scout in the majors, serving with the Brewers for a long time, until returning to the Pirates in 2007.

The Pirate family will surely miss the always up beat Tanner. A team in the position of the Pirates can never have enough men like him. He will surely be missed.

Links around the web about the passing of Tanner:

Post-Gazette Obituary, covering his whole career

Rob Neyer on Tanner and role in Drug Trials

Ron Cook Remembers Tanner

Keith Olbermann on the friendly personality of Tanner

Different Views on Ohlendorf and Arbitration

It seems that no matter what many will look for any way to ridicule the Pirates, even when they have done nothing wrong. Such was the case today when it was announced that Ross Ohlendorf had beaten the team in arbitration. Jokes ran the gamut from "Pirates Lose" to "Ross Ohlendorf beats Pirates in arbitration hearing to match his 2010 win total". All of which is very stupid and misses the point entirely.

The Ohlendorf case as noted here and here by Rob Neyer is yet another notch in the belt for those that view pitchers as more than wins and losses, strikeouts and walks, ERA and complete games. Sure Ohlendorf did only win one game last season, but in looking at the stats that is not his fault. It is not his fault that the team provided little to no run support. All he can do is influence what the other team does, and even then only up until the point the opponent hits the ball.

If anything else this news is a little damaging to the Pirates, as they were probably hoping beyond all hope that they might win this case, as Ohlendorf is a Super Two, meaning he is hitting arbitration a year early. Because of the extra year, it will cost a little more than a traditional player to pay Ohlendorf.

Aside from the extended payout, the Pirates are probably pretty happy still with the amount, as Ohlendorf is still worth it. If healthy and with an improved team behind him, he could very well make that salary look like a bargain.

Crowding Out Doumit

How much longer will Doumit be a catcher or even a Pirate?

I have got to think that there are times that Neal Huntington awakes at night wondering why he signed Ryan Doumit to the contract that he did. It has come back to slowly backfire, and the slow back fire has almost if not already, exploded. Coming into the 2011 season the question has to be asked, where will Ryan Doumit be playing this season? The Bucs have gotten quite a few other options at the rather limited range of Doumit. What do you do with a poor defensive player?

In right field, the Pirates are going to deploy a combination of Garrett Jones and Matt Diaz. At first base, you are going to see Lyle Overbay a great deal and maybe Steve Pearce.

Take a look at right field, Garrett Jones is the lefthanded player for that position as he kills righties. For his career he is .282/.359/.495. Compare that with Ryan Doumit, predominately a left handed hitter, .272/.336/.461. Jones has 32 home runs to Doumit's 50 in half as many at bats as a lefty. Add in the defensive factor, simply put Doumit is like a lost child out there, and it is a no brainer.

Playing first base will be the newly acquired Lyle Overbay, also a lefty, who has a career line of .279/.375/.463. Considering Overbay's age and his performance last season, he may be more in line with the offensive capabilities of Doumit, but defense again leaves Doumit out in the cold.

It is behind the plate where Doumit is more comparable to his competition, Chris Snyder. Snyder for his career versus righties is .220/.318/.369, while Doumit, batting lefthanded has the advantage with .272/.336/.461.

Again defense hurts Doumit as he is lost behind the plate defensively. Last season Doumit only threw out 12% of would be base stealers, while Snyder through out 23%. A team like the Pirates cannot afford to have that many base runners taking bases. While pitchers play into stolen bases, the numbers are very bad for Doumit.

Looking back on the Doumit deal, there was a thought that this day might happen. The club was going to give him a few years to see what happens, then the option would be for two more seasons. Unfortunately Doumit did not improve all that much defensively and is a big liability. Doumit is what he is, pretty good but nothing special. At the amount of money the club has invested, it is no longer a good investment.

Prospect Lists - Fangraphs

It is the season for prospect lists and Fangraphs.com has their top ten list for the Pirates prospects. They seem to really like the three headed monster of young pitchers, in Taillon, Allie, and Heredia. I'd check it out as anytime you can get an outside perspective of the system it is worth a read.

The top 10 is very pitching heavy with Tony Sanchez and Starling Marte being the only position players on the list.

Guess the Prospect

Comparing players is always fun to do. Everyone wants to compare one player to the next to see who is better. I especially like doing it with prospects. It has been awhile since we have played guess the prospect, but this week I was presented with one that I could not pass up. Take a look at the two pitchers below.





Player A

Age	Lg	Lev	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
19	GULF	Rk	1	4	5.32	6	4	22	20	13	13	1	8	17	1.27	8.2	0.4	3.3	7	2.13
20	NYPL	A-	3	6	4.97	15	13	58	63	37	32	2	13	45	1.31	9.8	0.3	2	7	3.46
21	2 Lgs	A-A+	11	2	2.1	25	25	124	100	32	29	11	17	113	0.94	7.3	0.8	1.2	8.2	6.65
22	EL	AA	12	6	2.46	26	26	150	124	46	41	11	23	132	0.98	7.4	0.7	1.4	7.9	5.74
			27	18	2.92	72	68	354	307	128	115	25	61	307	1.04	7.8	0.6	1.6	7.8	5.03

Player B

Age	Lg	Lev	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
18	GULF	Rk	1	3	7.71	6	6	23.1	33	24	20	2	11	14	1.89	12.7	0.8	4.2	5.4	1.27
19	SALL	A	5	1	4.33	11	10	54	50	29	26	9	23	46	1.35	8.3	1.5	3.8	7.7	2
20	2 Lgs	A--Rk	1	3	2.23	8	8	32.1	17	9	8	1	12	16	0.9	4.7	0.3	3.3	4.5	1.33
21	2 Lgs	AA-A+	12	3	3.19	25	23	158	141	59	56	9	50	150	1.21	8	0.5	2.8	8.5	3
22	EL	AA	14	9	2.94	27	27	162	126	67	53	12	68	132	1.2	7	0.7	3.8	7.3	1.94
			33	19	3.41	77	74	429.2	367	188	163	33	164	358	1.24	7.7	0.7	3.4	7.5	2.18

Player A is left handed and Player B is right handed. You will notice some great similarities between the two. Player B gets more decisions and has logged more innings. leading to higher counting totals than Player A. Player A though has much better ratios, especially when conerning walks, ever important for young pitchers.

Both seem to strikeout batters at about the same rate, with each having identical totals in the Eastern League at age 22. Looking at the two, one would say that they are pretty even, though Player A seems to have much better control than B.

A little more about these two. They were both born literally days apart. Player A tops out in the lower 90's, while Player B will hit in the mid 90's with his pitches.

The big difference after the slight velocity change is that Player B is the son of a former CY Young Award Winner and Player B is not.

Guessed who they are yet? Player A is Rudy Owens and Player B is Kyle Drabek.

I compare the two as Frank Coonelly stated this week in his blogger forum that Drabek and Owens were very similar. I shook my head in disbelief at the statement, though the numbers seem to support him.

It is sort of funny what a few miles per hour of velocity and a name can do.