AIL - Goodyear @ Glendale

Took in a quick sim game at the Dodgers complex (to see most of the Dodgers pitchers making their States debuts) and then went to the stadium to watch the Goodyear squad (Reds and Indians) take on the Glendale squad (White Sox and Dodgers).

OF Yorman Rodriguez (Reds) - I have heard rave reviews about Rodriguez from this season and got my first look at him today.  Features a mdm, athletic build w/ some projection left.  Offensively, he showed above avg bat speed in a slight uppercut swing in a swing where he can generate a little better leverage.  I wasn't really impressed by him and not sure where he fits long term based on a 1 game look.

OF Courtney Hawkins (White Sox) - In a pleasant surprise, the White Sox first rounder out of high school played CF in today's game.  He features a linebacker build, as he is a strong kid who doesn't have a lot of projection left.  He shows above avg bat speed in a swing that features a lot of movement and needs to be quieted down.  He is currently an above avg runner, but will settle in as average.  While he is playing CF now, his rawness was evident in his routes and his overall glove.  He profiles as a potential power hitting corner OF.

2B Joey DeMichele (White Sox) - DeMichele was one of my personal favorites as a hitter at Arizona State and he was very similar to what I saw then, as he showed above avg bat speed and still has decent power potential for 2B.  Didn't get tested much on this day in the field, but he has the tools to be a solid avg regular from an offensive standpoint.

OF Juan Duran (Reds) - Duran is a 6'7" monster who has long levers and has really struggled to repeat his swing.  He shows avg bat speed, but is too raw to allow the tools to play.  I don't see a lot of potential with him.

OF Bryson Myles (Indians) - Myles is built like a running back and is an extremely physical, smaller athlete.  He shows avg bat speed, but is late in getting his foot down and it causes everything to rush.  He still has a 4th OF profile.

OF Levon Washington (Indians) - Washington still has a lot of tools, featuring above avg bat speed and remains a plus runner.  However, his swing will not work and is the cause of a lot of his problems.  He is never on time, causing him to hit the ball to LF way too often.  He also features a leg kick, which helps complicate his timing.  He has a below avg arm, so he is limited to either CF or LF and on this day showed enough defensively to think he can stick in CF.  All this doesn't matter if the bat doesn't get fixed.

RHP Fabio Martinez (Indians) - Martinez features projectable, loose body that already gets up to 95 and has more velo in there.  He features a little run on his FB and paired that with a SL at 84-86 that had 3/4 tilt, but was an early breaker that didn't have a lot of definition.  The 22 year old came over from the Angels after experiencing serious control issues, but only lost the strike zone for stretches today.  Interesting arm with potential.

RHP Steven Sides (Indians) - The reliever put up big strikeout numbers en route to getting to High A in his first full season.  He was 91-95 with a little ride and paired that with a tight, short SL at 83-86.  The SL will work in A ball, but he will need to get more depth to have success at higher levels.

Other Indians pitchers seen on this day were Naoki Hashimoto (a typical Japanese pitcher who worked 86-90 and threw everything and the kitchen sink at you).

RHP Erik Johnson (White Sox) - I graded out Johnson very highly for the 2011 draft as a back-end reliever.  On this day, he continued to be similar to what he was at Cal, working 91-95 w/ ride, a CH at 82-85 w/ gd armspeed that he trusts, a CB at 73-74 that was a big downer and effective early count pitch and a SL at 87-88 that can lack definition and become a cutter at times.  The delivery got cleaned up a bit, but he still projects as a reliever for me, though not as well as he did in 2011, as his SL hasn't developed the way I hoped.

Other White Sox pitchers seen on this day were Brian Blough (worked 91-93 and paired with 2 below avg secondary pitches, a SL at 82-84 that broke early and a CH that was too firm at 86-87) and Brandon Hardin (a 10th rounder this year who got a small bonus was 91-94 w/ a sweeping SL at 81-83.  Pure thrower had little idea where ball was going).

RHP Brooks Pinckard (Reds) - Pinckard was a guy on my radar entering the 2011 draft, but I was unable to get any video of him to write him up.  Based on 2010, he was a big armed closer who came from an unique delivery to generate velo.  On this day, he showed more of the same, coming from a 3/4 NWU in a delivery that was cleaned up a bit to get him standing upright more.  He settled in firing sinkers at 93-94 and they are making a point with him to develop command to the armside to saw off righties.  His SL was similar to his time at Baylor, coming in at 84-87 w/ inconsistent depth and shape.  Potential as a middle reliever thanks to the sinker and the SL will determine just how far he can go.

Tomorrow is a bit up in the air for me.  I was informed that Nick Travieso, the Reds first rounder, would be throwing tomorrow.  I also really wanted to go watch the Rangers take on Central Arizona JC.  Haven't decided if I would try and hit up both, or just stay at the Reds game, where they are playing the White Sox.