7-19-11: - http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2011/6/29/2250656/early-look-at-2012#comments - Lucas Giolito, Harvard-Westlake HS, Santa Monica CA, 6’6 220, tall righty with definite arm strength, was up to 95 with FB, most fb were straight and at times would get arm side run in on RHH, front side opens early, some similarities to Mark Prior in delivery, also makings of a hard slider, slurvy action at present, should tighten up to be a plus pitch and makings of change up which he changes his delivery on, so lacks deception on breaking/off-speed pitches. Definitely worth early look next spring, potential top 40 selection.
9-8-11: - http://www.gacksports.com/65590/2012-mlb-mock-draft-update - 13. Los Angeles Dodgers Brian Johnson Pitcher Florida Anyone remember Brian Johnson the Florida pitcher who got hit in the head? That was a brutal injury that Johnson suffered against Georgia. True Gator baseball fans will tell you that brutal is not even close to describing what Johnson’s injury was in terms of severity.
9-21-11: - http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=6253 – Comment From Evan - Jameis Winston made quite an impression on me in the PGAAC, and it was as muc based on his build and obviosu tools as his wondrous trip around the bases. I've asked Patrick this before, but how likely is it that he ends up in baseball and how comparable is he to a talent like Bubba Starling? - David Rawnsley: - Jameis is a freakishly good athlete and just as good a young man (he's a 4.0 student). His ability to balance football and baseball is impressive, he left straight from the All American Game to a major QB Camp in Malibu and was named the top prospect there. At this point I think he's a better football player than Starling but not as good of baseball prospect. Playing baseball comes very easy to Bubba, from his swing to defensive instincts to his throwing ability to just his gait on the field. He's a natural. Winston is going to have to commit himself to baseball to reach that point, he's further away.
9-22-11: - http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2011/9/18/2433708/2012-draft-profile-the-ups-and-downs-of-pick-projecting#comments - Dave Rawnsley was extremely high on (Mike) Zunino in the PG prospect chat yesterday as well. I asked him about Zunino and Trahan and he said Zunino was on another level, and projected him as a potential Top 5 pick. Not surprisingly, the opinion that college has less to offer this year is also held at PG, and extrapolating from various comments over there they see just a handful of current first round locks among college position players (Marrero, Zunino, Roache, Jankowski). If Yasmani Grandal was a legitimate option for KC at #4 in his draft, Zunino is absolutely in that range based on what I’ve seen. And I can attest that Jeff’s Zunino comments were the chief anecdotal source bolstering Zunino’s excellent performance stats for me.
9-23-11: - http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2011/9/22/2441104/top-50-draft-prospects-for-the-2012-mlb-draft#comments - Kevin Gausman throws two fb, 4 seamer he can cut and two seamer that has tail and sink, no slider and 1/7 would be a lefties’ breaking action, his breaking ball I call a slurve from 11/5 action from the hitters looking at his arm slot window, his straight change at times does have dive and fade, you pointed out the flaw, inconsistent, thus only giving him 2 pitches right now, if the change gets better this fall into next spring, that will be a plus. Beck has 3 plus pitches right now and 55 command/control, much like Drew Storen who made a quick leap to the ML for the Nationals. Gausman is a top 10 guy now, some other arms may pass him quickly next spring though, Renaudo was a top 5 candidate before arm woes in 2010
