More Stuff

K-Port:

After a 13-year Major League career, Mike DiFelice is exploring a different side of baseball by managing the Kingsport Mets this season. ... Hitting coach Ryan Ellis returns for his second season at Kingsport and his third in the Mets organization. ... Pitching coach Jonathan Hurst joins Kingsport this year after two seasons with Savannah (Class A) of the South Atlantic League. ... Juan Lopez, who spent the past three seasons as the New York Mets batting practice pitcher, will act as a bench coach for Kingsport this year. Lopez has been with the Mets organization since 1996. ... Catcher John Freeman, the Mets' 8th-round pick, will begin his career with Kingsport. ... At least seven players selected in the 2009 Draft will be on Kingsport's Opening Day roster, including 14th-round pick Ron Harris and 6-foot-4 right-hander Zach Von Tersch, a 22nd-round selection. ... Look for power-hitting outfielder Kurt Steinhauer, the Mets' 27th-round pick in this year's Draft, to debut with Kingsport at some point.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090622&content_id=5465636&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp


One day, John Freeman hopes to catch on at the major league level.

As Freeman begins his journey in professional baseball, veteran catcher Mike DiFelice will be there to show him the ropes.

“It’s always helpful to have someone there that’s been there and done it and knows the ins and outs,” Freeman said Monday, when the Kingsport Mets held picture day at Hunter Wright Stadium. “I’m sure he’s got a lot of knowledge that he can give me and give the catchers. It’s going to be good for us.”

More than 115 former catchers have gone on to manage in the big leagues. DiFelice, the K-Mets’ manager who retired as a player last season, may follow in their footsteps someday.
“A big part of any game is how that pitcher/catcher relationship goes,” said DiFelice, who learned some of his greatest lessons about that association from St. Louis Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan. “We’re going to give some information to our guys behind the plate to be able to go out there and be a leader on the field, and to execute what needs to be executed.”

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9014715



International:


The top players to be signed to the big money contracts from the Dominican Republic are outfielder Wagner Mateo and shortstop Miguel Sano. The Giants, Cardinals and Mariners are competing for Mateo’s services.

A non Dominican that is catching some interest is German Max Kepler. It would be nice to see a European get a big contract to sign with a major league club. The 16 year old is already 6′4″ and 180 pounds he’s got the size, plus he has a good arm and speed.

The top pitchers appear to be from Venezuela, so watch for high bonuses for righthander Daniel Sanchez and lefthander Juan Urbina. If that name Urbina sounds familiar that is because Juan is the son of Ugueth.

Curacao has a pitcher to watch in Jurickson Profar, who was the star of the 2004 Little League World Series champion and the 2005 runne-rup team. He pitched in both International finals games, defeating Mexico and Japan respectively to get the team to the finals and then going 4 for 7 as a hitter in those games. The Rangers are expected to be the team to sign him, but it is still too early to tell. The Rangers have been linked to a number of the top prospects and can’t sign them all.

http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?m=200906



Draft:

2010 potential top 75 picks

Matt Harvey, RHP UNC:

Harvey already has an average changeup that complements his average fastball. Both pitches have plus potential. His breaking ball lags behind his other offerings but has just as much potential -- just lacks polish. Coming from a 3/4 arm slot, Harvey threw his fastball in the 88-91 range and touched 92 during his June 18th start -- 88-89 from the stretch. His changeup sits in the 78-81 range, creating a 10 MPH difference from his fastball. His breaking ball sits in the upper seventies. He rarely threw it during this outing.

Harvey's athletic and his mechanics looked clean to me. He doesn't finish in a good fielding position, as he falls toward the first base side of the diamond. He works quickly from the stretch, but has enough of a leg kick that fast runners will steal off of him. His fastball command was questionable during his College World Series outing, though he wasn't shy about pitching inside. Harvey walked five batters, threw four wild pitches, and hit two batters -- note that this was his first start in a while.

He's going to have to make some significant improvements in order to become a consensus top 10 overall draft talent in 2010. The talent is there, though. North Carolina has brought him along carefully. His polished changeup puts him ahead of a lot of college pitchers. If he enters 2010 with a little better fastball command and a more consistent breaking ball, he could have a monster season.


Anthony Ranaudo, RHP LSU:

"Ranaudo was 88-92 with the fastball too and his curve is pretty nasty. I couldn't really tell what type of movement he had on the fastball. That being said, his control was terrible and he had trouble throwing strikes. With the shadows the way they were he probably could have just thrown get me over curves and been more successful than he was last night...if he could have thrown it in the zone." - NCRay

"The reports I had of Ranaudo earlier in the year were that he threw low-90s and touched 95-96. That's what was so impressive. He clearly had inferior velocity but he located the FB well and had pretty good feel for the curve. By the innings I saw the curve wasn't quite as sharp, but the highlights from the earlier innings showed him throwing it for first pitch strikes and bouncing it to elicit swinging strikes. What's scary is that he's still a little gangly looking up close. There's probably more projection there." - Mas Macho

Christian Colon, SS CSUF:

Colon has a lot of power for a middle infielder. He has great bat speed and ripped forearms. While he's going to need to walk more than the 7.8% clip he put together in 2009, Colon is a breakout candidate entering 2010. He's a solid contact hitter who has made substantial power improvements since his high school days.

http://www.projectprospect.com/article/2009/06/22/scouting-the-college-world-series