John
Donaldson began playing professional baseball around 1912. Do to
American racial segregation which kept him from Major League Baseball, he spent
his entire career playing for Negro League teams in Tennessee, New York the
U.S. Midwest, and in Saskatchewan, Canada. He became one of the best
left-handed pitchers in Negro League baseball but was also played center
fielder, was a good hitter, and a solid base runner. In 1913, he pitched three consecutive no-hit
games. While not all Negro League records can be certified as accurate,
Donaldson was also reported to have struck out more than 240 batters over a
12-game span, at that time his "All Nations" team won the league
championship in 1916. His championship club was eventually disbanded during
World War I, but post-war it was reassembled as the Kansas City Monarchs http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/john-donaldson-baseball-great
Johnny
Schmitz (b. 1920), nicknamed "Bear Tracks" because of how
he shuffled to the mound in his size 14 feet, was a left-handed pitcher who
played for 13 years for 7 teams. After
missing three years due to his service in World War II, he returned in 1946,
and made the first of two All Star teams and led the league in strikeouts. Dodger pitcher Rex Barney said of Schmitz's
curve ball, "he could drop it in a coffee cup." http://fairandunbalancedblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/baseball-losses-in-2011.html
Gary
Sanchez is a hitter who seems to see the ball very well; he tracks
and diagnoses pitches like a much more experienced player. In High-A, the young
right-hander will no doubt face a more advanced secondary sequence, and despite
the good pitch-recognition skills, the characteristics of his swing could limit
his ability to make contact against such offerings. Like most power hitters,
Sanchez has a leveraged swing with length and loft, making him susceptible to
inner-half velocity and off-speed stuff that will require barrel manipulation
to stay on. Sanchez has a good feel for hitting, but I don’t think the hit tool
can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the power, which should end up as an easy
70 on the 20/80 scale, and possibly a legit 80 at the top of his developmental
arc. The explosion that occurs on contact is loud and violent and sexy and
people will pay money to see it and the skies will turn red with the blood of
his enemies, but the hitchy trigger and the lengthy path to the ball make
exploitation possible. However, it should be noted that Sanchez’s offensive
game doesn’t have the glaring weaknesses that scar the faces of most prospects
his age. This is a minor nitpick. Sanchez could be very special at the plate. I
want to have a son and name him Gary. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16075
Paul
Goldschmidt, Arizona: Goldschmidt is going to be an annual
threat to reach 35 to 40 home runs, but at what cost? In his 177 plate
appearances for Arizona last year, Goldschmidt struck out 29.9 percent of the
time, a disturbingly high number. To make an unfair comparison, Pujols’s rate
was 8.9 percent. Goldschmidt was a consistent .300 hitter in the minors, though
strikeouts were a problem there as well. I’d hesitate to expect much more than
a .260 average, but that could come with near 30-100, so he’s certainly worth a
look. http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/
