As
part of Perfect Game's recurring 'Before They Were Pros' series David
Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor
league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their
professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one
feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying
one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to
past installments of the 'Before They Were Pros' series for other
reports on prospects, both past and present.
Arizona
Diamondbacks
Before
They Were Pros, 2013-14
– Archie Bradley, Chris Owings, Stryker Trahan
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Braden Shipley, Aaron Blair, Brandon
Drury
Pete
O'Brien, OF/C
O'Brien
grew up in the Miami area and went to two Perfect Game showcases
while in high school, the 2007 Sunshine East Showcase and the 2008
World Showcase. He received an 8.5 PG grade at both events. O'Brien
was a power/power prospect with an extra strong and chiseled build.
He threw up to 81 mph from behind the plate to show his raw arm
strength and had a lofted righthanded swing that could launch the
ball a long way when he squared it up. O'Brien also ran a 7.66 and a
7.96 in the 60-yard dash at the two events and showed enough
slow-twitch athletic tendencies to prevent him from being considered
a high level catching prospect.
O'Brien
attended Bethune-Cookman for three years, hitting .386-20-56 as a
sophomore and standing out that summer for the USA Collegiate
National Team. He was drafted in the third round by the Colorado
Rockies following a .304-13-69 junior season but decided not to sign.
In what ended up being a long and drawn out controversy with the
NCAA, O'Brien decided to enroll at Miami for his senior year and
applied for immediate eligibility based on the NCAA's hardship rules,
as O'Brien's mother was in failing health back in Miami. The NCAA
eventually did allow O'Brien to bypass the regular one-year waiting
period after a transfer just before the 2012 spring season began.
O'Brien
went on to hit .340-10-40 in 41 games for Miami and impressed scouts
with improved mobility and overall actions behind the plate. The New
York Yankees selected him in the 2nd round with the 94th overall pick
and traded him during the summer of 2014 to the Diamondbacks for
Martin Prado.
Colorado
Rockies
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14
– Eddie Butler, David Dahl, Kyle Parker, Trevor Story
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Jonathan Gray, Ryan McMahon
Forrest
Wall, 2B
Wall
started playing in WWBA 18u events in 2010 as a 14-year old with the
Orlando Baseball Academy and hit .404-4-22 as a freshman at
Orangewood Christian High School, putting himself firmly on the
prospect map at a very young age. However, the former shortstop
underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and
missed almost the entire 2011-12 high school season. He came back to
hit .514-4-27 with 27 steals as a junior but was struggling to regain
his arm strength and comfort throwing.
When
this scout saw Wall play for four days at the 2013 East Coast
Professional Showcase in late July it was an especially difficult
evaluation. In addition to his 60-plus grade raw speed and obvious
athleticism, Wall also clearly showed a first round bat from the left
side. His swing was abnormally short and direct to the ball but he
had plus bat speed and the ball exploded off the barrel with
authority. It was a swing that left little doubt as to whether it
would translate to the professional level successfully.
It
was equally obvious that there was a big issue with Wall's arm and
either his physical or mental ability to throw the baseball. Aside
from the 20 grade raw arm strength, Wall looked very hesitant to cut
loose, much like a player with the yips throwing the ball. As
exciting as his every at-bat was for the scouts it was equally
difficult when he fielded a ground ball in drills or a game.
That
dichotomy was on every scout's mind entering the spring. Wall gave
everyone a scare when he missed time in early March with a slightly
separated left shoulder, but threw the ball well enough and with
enough freedom that scouts were optimistic he could play second base
at the professional level. The bat and the speed were already
established plus tools. Center field was the obvious backup option
defensively.
The
Rockies took Wall with the 35th overall pick in the 2013 draft and
spent an above slot $2.2 million to sign him out of his North
Carolina scholarship.
Los
Angeles Dodgers
Before
They Were Pros, 2013-14
– Corey Seager, Joc Pederson, Zach Lee
Before
They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Chris Anderson, Scott Schebler
Cody
Bellinger, 1B
Bellinger
is the son of former big league infielder Clay Bellinger, now a
firefighter in the Phoenix area. As one can expect of the son of a
ex-big leaguer, Bellinger grew up in a baseball environment and had a
batting cage next to his house. He was an easy hitter to scout
thoroughly because there was plenty of video posted online of his
hitting in that cage.
The
Arizona native also played with the kind of polish and comfort that
you'd expect with that background. He slowed the game down very well,
whether that be at the plate, in the field or on the pitcher's mound.
About the only thing working against the lefthanded hitter and
thrower was that while he was listed at 6-foot-4, 180-pounds, about
20 pounds of that weight looked to exist in someone's imagination. He
was very slender and physically immature, even as a high school
senior.
Bellinger
came to the 2012 National Showcase and showed all his tools and was
especially impressive offensively. One PG scout put in his notes: "My
pick to click in the 2013 class, Christian Yelich comp, will be 1st
round pick out of college if he doesn't sign out of HS.,"
a sentiment shared by many of the scouts there.
This
scout's report from the event read:
Long
and lean slender build, extremely projectable. Lefthanded hitter,
tall stance, loose aggressive swing with plus bat speed, sound
hitting mechanics, ball comes off the bat very hard, can dream on his
bat speed with 20-30 more pounds of strength. 6.82 runner, smooth
actions at first base, good range, soft hands, has tools to play
corner outfield with no problem, lots of arm strength. Also pitched,
raw mechanics with some effort, long arm action, loose out front,
fastball topped at 88 mph, some spin and bite on 74 mph curveball.
High ceiling athletic talent, defines projection in a hitter.
Bellinger
hit .429-1-19 his senior year while also going 4-0, 1.21 on the
mound. That one home run, and only 12 total extra-base hits in 28
games, tells the story of where his slender build was at that point.
It also puts into perspective his early professional career and
breakout 2015 season. If Bellinger would have gone to Oregon, 2015
would have been his junior draft season. Taking into context
Bellinger's .264-30-103 year in the High-A California League this
past season, there is no doubt he would have projected as a very high
first round pick.
Instead,
the Dodgers got what looks to be a steal in 2013, signing Bellinger
for $700,000 as a fourth round pick.
San
Diego Padres
Before
They Were Pros, 2013-14
– Austin Hedges, Matt Wisler, Max Fried, Joe Ross
Before
They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Hunter Renfroe, Taylor Lindsey
Colin
Rea, RHP
Rea
was raised in Cascade, Iowa, a town of about 2,200 people located 50
miles northeast of Cedar Rapids, the home of Perfect Game. He
participated in the Iowa Spring and Fall Leagues run by Perfect Game
while in high school and also competed at the 2008 Pitcher/Catcher
Indoor and 2008 Spring Top Prospect Showcases during his senior year.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound righthander topped out at 86 mph with a
slider and splitfinger changeup and was graded an 8.5 by the PG
scouts.
Rea
went to Northern Iowa as a freshman, going 3-1, 6.55 in 34 innings,
but Northern Iowa dropped their baseball program that year and Rea
transferred to St. Petersburg JC in Florida, where he went 0-0, 7.15
in 22 innings as a sophomore. With his still projectable frame and a
fastball that was now reaching the low-90s with lots of sink,
although with limited command, Rea was able to get a scholarship to
Indiana State and blossomed during the spring of 2011, going 8-4,
3.68 in 95 innings, allowing only 69 hits.
The
Padres took Rea in the 12th round of the 2011 draft and started him
on his professional journey. And it's been quite a journey, as Rea
has now played for nine different teams, including his three colleges
and every stop in the Padres system, since 2009.
There
have been plenty of future big leaguers who were graded out as a 8.5
on the PG scale and topped out at 86 mph in high school. There have
been others from towns smaller than Cascade, Iowa. And there have
even been future big leaguers who had worse than a 7.15 ERA as a
college sophomore. But there haven't been too many, assuredly, who
combine all three of those career markers to pitch in the big
leagues.
San
Francisco Giants
Before
They Were Pros, 2013-14
– Andrew Susac
Before
They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Christian Arroyo, Steven Okert,
Clayton Blackburn
Tyler
Beede, RHP
Beede
hails from Massachusetts, where pitchers have been known to pop up at
the last minute, whether at draft time or in the college recruiting
process. It was the exact opposite for Beede, who made his national
debut pitching for Farrah's Builders during the fall of his sophomore
year at both the WWBA Underclass World Championship and two weeks
later in Jupiter. The then 15-year old righthander sat steadily in
the mid-80s with a hard mid-70s curveball.
Beede's
real breakout on a national level came as a rare sophomore pitcher at
the 2009 Area Code Games. Here are this scout's notes from that
event:
Angular
build, very loose arm, projects big time, full arm action, Big
breaking CB flashed snap, feel for changeup, 92 mph comes easy, tries
to spot all pitches, works outside corner well. Many scouts liked as
much as Bundy/Bradley. Very high ceiling potential.
Beede
would go on to become a 2010 Perfect Game All-American and the
Toronto Blue Jays selected him with the 21st overall pick in the 2011
draft despite Beede and his family sending a letter to all Major
League clubs before the draft saying that he was firmly committed to
Vanderbilt and to not draft. Toronto ultimately got their offer up to
a reported $2.5 million but Beede didn't budge and became the only
first rounder in 2011 not to sign.
Vanderbilt
proved to be a roller coaster for Beede, with mediocre freshman and
junior years bracketing an outstanding sophomore year. Beede went a
combined 9-13 with an ERA over 4.00 in those two bad seasons but was
14-1, 2.32 in 2013, although he notably did issue 63 walks in 101
innings. Scouts were as perplexed as the Vanderbilt coaching staff
must have been, as Beede was always healthy and would show three
solid plus pitches at times.
Going
into the 2014 draft Beede was one of the true wild cards. There
wasn't any real worry about signability this time around, just
whether a team would be getting the potential top-of-the-rotation
starter or the mystery pitcher. The Giants, whose reputation for
developing pitchers precedes them, took Beede with the 14th overall
pick and signed him for $2.65 million.