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General  | Crack The Bat | 7/25/2006

Scouting the Northwoods League

Patrick Ebert
I recently was able to take a break from my “day job” to take in a little baseball in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer wood bat league located in the upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and one team, the Thunder Bay Border Cats, in Ontario, Canada). The league continues to grow, with rumors of an expansion team in Green Bay, Wisconsin and Battle Creek, Michigan. There has also been expressed interest by communities in Bismarck, North Dakota, suburban Minneapolis and suburban Milwaukee to add teams.

When it comes to summer college wood bat leagues, the Northwoods League is generally considered one of the next best collections of talent to the Cape Cod League, widely regarded as the finest collection of college talent outside of the USA National team. Recent first-round picks Max Scherzer and Lance Broadway both played in the league, while Jeff Weaver was the league’s first player to reach the big leagues (1999). Juan Pierre is another notable alum, and their success has allowed the league to enjoy greater prosperity, not only drawing more talent from around the nation, but at the turnstyles as well. The Madison Mallards in particular blow the rest of the league out of the water when it comes to attendance, drawing more than 6,000 fans a game. Although it should be noted that Madison is easily the largest city to have a team, not to take anything away from the Mallards’ internal efforts to promote their team.

This year the Rochester Honkers have the finest collection of talent in the league, and I was able to take in a game between the Honkers and the Eau Claire Express at Carson Park in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Carson Park is where Hank Aaron made his professional debut for the Eau Claire Bears back in 1952). The Honkers are currently leading the entire league with a 32-11 composite record, and could make a push for the league record for wins in a season (46, set by the Waterloo Bucks in 1998). They are getting it done both on the mound (their 2.18 team ERA is second in the NWL) and at the plate (their team .248 batting average is third in the NWL) after leading the league a year ago with a 44-24 record during manager Greg Labbe’s first year at the helm.

Here are some notes on some of the players that caught my attention from the game I attended that have legitimate professional talent:

Thomas Eager-RHP-Eau Claire Express
This is Eager’s second summer playing for the Express, and he was the starting pitcher. He is built similarly to Jeremy Bonderman in that he is right around six feet tall but has a thick frame and a strong lower half. Eager has a very good fastball that appeared to be in the low-90s (there was no radar gun at the stadium) that batters had a hard time catching up to. He also commanded his heater very well It took him a few innings for him to get his breaking ball over without slowing his arm down considerably, but when he did the Honkers batters couldn’t touch it. Eager was a redshirt freshman at Cal Poly this spring, posting a 4.15 ERA over 13 relief appearances. He likely will move to the starting rotation next spring for the Mustangs, and could find himself pitching on the Cape next summer if he continues to show the same fastball command and velocity that he did when I saw him. Eager was removed from his previous start due to a blister, and you could see him blowing on his fingers between pitches in this outing as well, and was removed after five strong innings. He went out in style, recording a key strikeout with a nasty breaking ball with runners in scoring position, barking and shaking his scorched fingers as he left the field.

Teddy Pattock-OF-Eau Claire Express
Pattock was the Express’ sole position player that attended the All-Star Game in La Crosse two nights before. A versatile outfielder from Long Beach State University, Pattock showed off his tool-set at the scouting combine as part of the All-Star Game festivities. He has two very strong tools: Speed and his throwing arm. He ran a 6.69 second 60-yard dash at the combine, and has been clocked in the 6.5 range before. While Pattock played left field in the game I attended, he could easily play any three of the outfield positions, with centerfield being his likely pro destination. He also showed off his arm at both the combine and during the game, as he nearly doubled off a Honkers runner at first base after a routine fly to deep left field with the runner in motion. Pattock also participated in the All-Star Game’s home run derby, but he’s probably never going to hit for much power (he doesn’t have any extra base hits this summer despite batting .279), but he does do a very good job banging the ball into the ground as a left-handed hitter to use his speed to get on base. He swiped two bags at the All-Star Game despite having only three stolen bases during the regular season. Pattock was used very sparingly last spring as a sophomore after transferring from Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona, but should see more time as a junior. He participated at the 2002 Perfect Game West Coast Top Prospect Showcase.

Kyle Bowley-3B/RHP-Rochester Honkers
Bowley opposed Eager in this Northwoods League contest, and like Eager this is Bowley’s second summer with his current team. In games he’s not pitching, Bowley serves as the Honkers’ third baseman while also batting in the middle of their lineup. You can tell that he’s a very good natural athlete, with perfectly sloped shoulders reminiscent of some of the best hitters in the big-leagues. While I didn’t get to see him hit, he is leading the league with 30 RBI and has nine extra base hits (six doubles, three home runs) despite hitting only .224. On the mound he showed a very good idea of how to pitch, commanding his mid-to-upper-80s fastball very well to set up his solid average curveball. Bowley pounded the strike zone all game, the perfect way to attack batters in any wood bat league, and challenged them continually with a fearless and confident approach. While he does have a knack for pitching and for the big hit, Bowley’s upside may be limited at the next level. He will return to the University of South Carolina Upstate for his junior season, two years after being named the Peach Belt Conference Freshman of the Year. Bowley’s profile is very similar to another two-way player that starred in the Northwoods League a few years ago: Ben Stanczyk, who is now in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Chris Jones-LF-Rochester Honkers
The best prospect on display during the game, Jones is a power hitting corner outfielder that has a similar build and approach to Texas Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench. Jones won the home run derby at the All-Star Game two days before, and brought his power stroke with him to the Honkers-Express game as well. It took him until the ninth inning to show off that power, but with a runner on Jones laced a ball that took no time to sail over the left-centerfield fence. Jones participated at the 2003 Perfect Game National Showcase, and at the time actually drew higher reviews for his ability to pitch than his ability to swing the lumber. He already has five home runs in just 61 at-bats, and his .525 slugging percentage would lead the league if he had enough at-bats to qualify. He’s the type of batter that provokes phrases like “he doesn’t get cheated at the plate” when you watch him take his hacks. While he’s going to have his fair share of whiffs, he will also draw his fair share of walks, and you don’t want to leave any pitch hanging over the plate with him standing in the batter’s box. Jones didn’t play this spring in his first year at Cal State Fullerton after transferring from Texas A&M, but he should be a regular in the middle of the Titans’ lineup for the 2007 season.

Efren Navarro, Jr.-1B-Rochester Honkers
Another Perfect Game alum, Navarro also participated in the 2003 National Showcase, and like Jones received more interest at the time as a pitcher than as a hitter. He has since taken his two-way talents to UNLV, and like Bowley he sustains that double-duty for the Honkers. Navarro is currently third in the NWL with a .327 batting average, and fourth in the league in ERA at 1.13. While he has yet to hit a home run, you can tell just by watching his setup, approach and swing that there is much more power in his stroke than what he had put on the board statistically. Navarro has a very strong base, quiet hands and pretty good bat speed. He makes good contact, and also shows a slick glove at first base (and reportedly can play the outfield as well). At UNLV he has been used more as a pitcher than as a hitter, but he doesn’t throw his fastball much harder than the mid-80s, as he gets the bulk of his outs based on his pitching savvy. When Bowley and Navarro aren’t pitching, they along with Jones and first baseman Brett Featherston give the Honkers a very formidable middle of the order that makes it virtually impossible to pitch through without any damage.

Scott Eckard-LHP-Rochester Honkers
Eckard came in the sixth inning with one out and two runners on to relieve not only his Northwoods League teammate in Kyle Bowley, but his collegiate teammate as well at the University of South Carolina Upstate. Eckard, like Bowley, was also named to the league’s All-Star Game. He gave the opposing batters a different look as a left-handed pitcher that throws from a low-three-quarters delivery. His fastball was definitely popping that night, and the Express batters had a hard time catching up to it. Eckard mixed in a pretty good curve a few times, but he commanded his fastball so well that he really didn’t need his deuce for the five outs he recorded. While Eckard really isn’t that exciting of a prospect since I don’t think he’s a big-league ace down the road, I do think he could excel at exactly what he did on Friday night: To come in short relief and serve as a team’s much-needed southpaw. With his delivery, which seemed to offer a fair amount of deception, I could see him making a fair paycheck retiring left-handed hitters for a living.

Dan Lyons-2B-Rochester Honkers
Lyons is the prototypical scrappy and versatile infielder, a player in the mold of Tony Graffanino or even David Eckstein that plays bigger than his size and overall talents due to an unwavering desire to succeed. Lyons returns to the Honkers for his third summer, and as a native of Rochester the Minnesota Golden Gopher he didn’t have to go very far to spend his summer. During the 2005 season he put up very good numbers on his way to being named the team’s player of the year by hitting .285 with 17 doubles, two triples and six home runs. He also swiped 14 bags in 14 attempts. This year he is hitting .298 with nine extra-base hits serving as the team’s leadoff hitter, and he has plenty of opportunities to score given how often he’s on base with the sluggers he has hitting behind him. Lyons used his success from last summer to help the transition from Iowa Central Community College to the University of Minnesota, where he hit .274 with 16 extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases. He went undrafted this past June despite being eligible, and could be a solid senior pick next year with another strong year at the plate.

Adam Cross-OF-Rochester Honkers
Cross is similar to Pattock in that he has a very good, athletic frame, built long and lean yet strong similar to a player like Steve Finley. Cross doesn’t have Pattock’s (or Finley’s) speed, or arm strength, but he covers a fair amount of ground in centerfield, and his arm is good enough. He opened everyone’s eyes in the eighth inning when he crushed a pitch over the left-centerfield wall, a towering shot that you knew was gone at the crack of the bat. Cross also is currently second in the league with nine doubles and tied for second with 11 extra-base hits, and overall is hitting .281. He already has two home runs hitting with wood this summer, which already has doubled the one home run he had this spring playing for Kennesaw State. Cross only hit .238 playing part-time for the Owls this past spring, so his success this summer hitting with a wood bat is encouraging given his tool-set.

Other NWL notes
I missed the one player I wanted to see perform in Express RHP Jordan Zimmerman by one game. Zimmerman, who is first in the league in strikeouts (67), second in the league in innings pitched (55.1) and fifth in the league in ERA (1.14), was the only member selected to the All-Star Game that did not participate due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. He was slated to start Friday’s game but was pushed back to Saturday’s contest versus the Honkers in Rochester. In that game he tossed 8 scoreless innings, allowing only six hits and two walks while striking out 12. Zimmerman pitches for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a Division III school, and given his statistical success in the Northwoods League I wanted to see if Zimmerman had the stuff to match.

The one Honker I was hoping to catch was closer Jake Toohey, who is leading the league with 14 saves in 18 appearances. Similar to Zimmerman, I wanted to see if Toohey’s stuff matched his success so far this summer, who boasts a 32 to 6 strikeout to walk ratio over his 18 innings of work. I had heard that Toohey wasn’t available for Friday night’s game after tossing two innings at the All-Star Game (he gave up the go ahead run in the 11th), the first time he had pitched more than one inning all summer.

One of my favorite players that were available for the 2005 draft, current St. Cloud River Bat Charlie Cutler (Cal Bears), is currently tied for fourth in the league in batting average with Efren Navarro, hitting .327. He is also tied for first in the league in hits (50), fifth in on-base percentage (.409) and fifth in slugging percentage (.399). Why did I like Cutler when he was in high school? Because he can hit (and he’s a catcher to boot).

The player that impressed scouts the most at the All-Star Game scouting combine was Jake Schafer of the St. Cloud River Bats. A right-handed pitcher from Southwest Missouri State, Schafer sat at 92 in front of approximately 20 big-league scouts, touching 94 on more than one occasion.

Schafer’s St. Cloud teammate, left-handed pitcher James Leverton, also impressed scouts at the combine flashing upper-80s heat with a big breaking mid-70s curveball. Leverton also showed his ability as a hitter participating in the home run derby.

Duluth’s Brock Bond drove in the go-ahead run for the North Division All-Stars in the top of the 11th inning of the All-Star Game with a soft liner that dropped beyond the reach of third baseman Kyle Bowley. In the bottom of the 11th Bowley had a chance to even things out, and he nearly did so by hitting an impressive shot to deep left-field that seemingly was going to leave the field to tie the game. Hustling leftfielder Ben Petsch leaped and crashed into the outfield wall to make a spectacular catch to end the contest in dramatic fashion. The North Division All-Stars won the game 3-2.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.
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