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General | Press Release | 4/5/2002

The Latest on Kazmir

Perfect Game Staff

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Scouting Report: Scott Kazmir, April 5th, 2002. Cy Falls, TX

Weather: Chilly, light wind from right to left, 55 degrees.

Opponent: Langham Creek -excellent team, well coached.

Gun: Stalker

Scouts: Jerry Ford and Kentaro Yasutake

1st Inning
4 hitters, 1 1b and 3 strikeouts on 18 pitches. Kazmir's fastballs were all 93 to 95, his breaking balls were sharp all were 83 or 84 mph. He gave up one opposite field single and struck out three. He threw a 94 and a 95 fastball with exceptional life. Good command of both pitches. 12 strikes and 6 balls. 18 total pitches in the inning. 12 fastballs, 3 at 93, 7 at 94, 2 at 95. Breaking balls, 6 breaking balls, 2 at 83, 4 at 84.

2nd Inning
3 up 3 down 3 strikeouts on 11 pitches. Fastballs all 93-94 except one 92. Breaking balls 82 to 85. Outstanding command with good life. One 85 mph breaking ball was as good as we've seen this year. 9 strikes and 2 balls, 11 total pitches in the inning. 8 fastballs, 1 at 92, 4 at 93, 3 at 94. 3 Breaking balls, 1 at 82, 1 at 84, 1 at 85.

3rd Inning
3 up 3 down 3 strikeouts on 12 pitches. Fastballs all 93-94 except one 92. Breaking balls all 83-84. Outstanding command with good life. One 93 mph fastball showed exceptional run and sink. 9 strikes and 3 balls, 12 total pitches in the inning. 9 fastballs, 1 at 92, 6 at 93, 2 at 94. 3 Breaking balls, 2 at 83, 1 at 84.

4th Inning
3 up 3 down 2 strikeouts on 10 pitches. Fastballs ranged from 92 to 94. Breaking balls 83 to 85. Outstanding command, especially with the breaking ball. One opposite side ground out off a fastball. 8 strikes, 2 balls, 10 total pitches in the inning. 6 fastballs, 3 at 92, 1 at 93, 2 at 94. 4 breaking balls, 1 at 82, 1 at 83, 1 at 84, 1 at 85. All 4 breaking balls were strikes.

5th Inning
3 up 3 down 2 strikeouts on 10 pitches. Fastballs 92-93. Breaking balls 82-85. Outstanding command. One attempted bunt popped up for an out. One 85 mph breaking ball was extra nasty. 8 strikes, 2 balls, 10 total pitches in the inning. 6 fastballs, 3 at 92, 3 at 93. 4 Breaking balls, 1 at 82, 1 at 83, 1 at 84, 1 at 85.

6th Inning
4 hitters, 1 base on balls and 3 strikeouts on 17 pitches. Fastball 91-93. Breaking balls 81 to 84. We thought the one walk was struckout twice. Two fastballs had as much life as any in the game. He seemed to get even better out of the stretch. 12 strikes, 5 balls, 17 total pitches in the inning. 12 fastballs, 1 at 91, 5 at 92, 6 at 93. 5 breaking balls, 2 at 81, 2 at 83, 1 at 84.

7th Inning
3 up 3 down 3 strikeouts on 13 pitches. Fastball 92 to 95. Breaking balls 81 to 85. Score was 1-0 and he took total command of the finish. Threw a 95 mph fastball and then struckout the first hitter with a extra sharp 84 mph curve. Struckout the second hitter on three pitches, the last was a 85 mph nasty breaking ball. Got his 19th strikeout on the final hitter on a lively 94 mph fastball. 10 strikes, 3 balls, 13 total pitches in the inning. 9 fastballs, 2 at 92, 4 at 93, 2 at 94, 1 at 95. 4 breaking balls, 1 at 81, 1 at 83, 1 at 84, 1 at 85.

Totals
IP: 7 H: 1 R: 0 BB: 1 SO: 19 Pitch count: 91 Strikes: 68

Fastball mph: 1-91, 15-92, 27-93, 16-94, 3-95

Breaking ball mph: 3-81, 3-82, 9-83, 10-84, 4-85

Comments
Total dominating performance. We have seen him throw harder, but never any better. His breaking ball, which shows more like a curve ball than a slider, was the best we have ever seen him throw. He warmed up with the changeup and it looked very good, but he never threw one in the game. It was a 1-0 game and the change up was definitely not needed. His arm action looked great and in this game he threw very effortlessly. His delivery is clean and he repeats very consistently. He finishes much like Pedro Martinez, in that he is not in a good fielding position. That?s perhaps the only fault we saw in Kazmir's other-wise fluid mechanics. He really made it look way too easy. His command was as good as we've ever seen in a high school pitcher. He only used 91 total pitches to get his 19 strikeouts. Of those 91 pitches 68 were strikes. There were only 5 pitches in the entire game where the bat touched the ball. The opposite field single in the 1st inning, The ground out in the 4th inning, the bunted pop up in the 5th inning and 2 weak foul balls.

In the game before this one, Kazmir threw about 120 pitches, struckout 17 or 18 and threw his 119th pitch of the game 95 mph. We stood next to him after the game and once again realized he may not be extra large, but he has a very athletic body that appears to be 6'0" tall. Many compare him to a young Ron Guidry. We also took in several other high school games, a Junior College game, a Houston Astro game and a AAA game on this trip. The pitcher we saw in the last week, with the best stuff ??.. Scott Kazmir!

He may or may not be one of the first pitchers selected in the draft this June. In our estimation, if he slides a little, there will be some clubs kicking themselves later on for not picking him. Of course, there are several outstanding high school prospects this year. It's starting to look like shortstop BJ Upton, another of our favorites, is the surest bet to go with one of the first two picks. There's still a lot of baseball between now and June so stay tuned, things do change.

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