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Minors  | General | 12/14/2015

PG in the Pros: NL West

David Rawnsley
Photo: Perfect Game

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.

Forrest Wall
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.
Tyler Beede
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.
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