Mack’s Apples - Travis Swaggerty, Noah Syndergaard, Casey Mise, Bartolo Colon, Nolan Gorman

Baseball America’s  Top 500 Prospects –

       

    9 – (Last: 10):  Travis Swaggerty  4YR OF  School: South Alabama

Ht: 5-11 | Wt: 180 | B-T: L-L | 

Committed/Drafted: Never Drafted

Scouting Report: After going undrafted out of high school with little to no hype in the scouting community, Swaggerty has become a top-of-the-first-round talent because of his performance at South Alabama and an impressive summer with USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team in 2017. With Team USA, Swaggerty started in center field and hit near the top of the order, hitting .328/.449/.406. That came after a spring in the Sun Belt Conference where his on-base plus slugging percentage was over 1.000 with 10 home runs. On the national radar after his impressive 2017 campaign, Swaggerty had one of the loudest starts to the 2018 season of any college player, hitting .390/.609/.707 through his first 13 games with three home runs. A five-tool talent, Swaggerty projects as an at least average hitter who has 60-grade running ability, 60-grade defense in center field and an above-average to plus arm. He profiles fairly safely in center field at the next level, and while some scouts have questioned his power potential in the past, he seems to have ticked up in that category early this spring and should have fringe-average to average power. Swaggerty seems to get the most out of his power potential, with 10 home runs during his sophomore season at South Alabama. He has also cut his strikeout rate and improved his walk rate during each of his seasons at South Alabama and in 2018 he is among the nation’s leaders in walks and walks per game. While Swaggerty has cooled off a bit as the season progressed, he seems to be a safe bet as a lefthanded hitting center fielder with a college track record and no real holes in his game.

Brooks Baseball on Noah Syndergaard –

       

    His sinker is thrown at a speed that's borderline unfair, generates more whiffs/swing compared to other pitchers' sinkers, has little sinking action compared to a true sinker and results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers' sinkers. His slider is thrown extremely hard, generates an extremely high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers' sliders, is a real worm killer that generates an extreme number of groundballs compared to other pitchers' sliders, has much less depth than expected and has primarily 12-6 movement. His change is thrown extremely hard, generates a high number of swings & misses compared to other pitchers' changeups, results in somewhat more groundballs compared to other pitchers' changeups and has slight armside fade. His fourseam fastball is thrown at a speed that's borderline unfair, has some natural sinking action, results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers' fourseamers and has slightly less natural movement than typical. His curve is thrown extremely hard, has very little depth, generates more whiffs/swing compared to other pitchers' curves and results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers' curves.

 SEC Country on Casey Mise -

       

    Casey Mize, Auburn, RHP

Draft projection: No. 1 overall (Sporting News)

What SEC Country says: Casey Mize is a rare talent as a pitcher who can overpower hitters with strikeout stuff while still being incredibly accurate with his full arsenal — he has 133 strikeouts and just 10 walks this season. Opponents are batting a paltry .189 against him this year, and he’s been well below a 3.00 ERA the last two seasons combined. He’s as much of a sure thing as MLB teams can get out of a college pitcher. — Auburn beat writer Justin Ferguson

Oldest in majors, Rangers' Bartolo Colon celebrates 45th birthday -

       

     Colon is pitching for his 11th big league club, having signed a minor league free-agent contract with Texas during spring training. He has made 10 appearances with the Rangers, including eight starts, and is 2-2 with a 3.51 ERA.

Colon's 242 career wins rank 55th all time. He's one win short of tying Juan Marichal for the most career victories by a pitcher from the Dominican Republic.

2018 MLB Draft Targets: Nolan Gorman -

      

     Power -Gorman has it in spades. He can put a ball out to any part of the field without even making particularly good contact, and has had grades as high as 70 thrown on his raw power. The power doesn’t come with a particularly nasty swing, as he is quick and compact through the zone and the power comes easily to him. There are holes in his swing, I mean he wouldn’t be a prospect if there wasn’t, but there isn’t much you’ll have to work through with Gorman to get him to start tapping into power in game. Gorman is physically filled out and isn’t going to grow into any more power, but he doesn’t need to because he’s got power to spare.

Gorman has great bat speed through the zone and has demonstrated an ability to turn on velocity, including a massive home run at the Perfect Game All American classic on a 96 mph fastball. There are many holes that can be fixed, but being consistently beat by inside velocity isn’t really one of them and his not having that problem is a very positive sign.