A Night in the Minors
After IM'ing with Scott Lauber, the B-Metsbeat reporter for the Press & Sun Bulletin, who told me he now feels RHP Brain Bannister could be a front-end starting pitcher in the Major Leagues, I packed up and headed to New Britain last night to catch Bannister in person, as Lauber claims it is tough to understand the pitcher’s success without actually seeing him in action…
A few comments from the game…
I sat amongst several scouts, two of which had heard of MetsBlog, which I found quite funny. I spoke most often with two scouts, one from the Marlins and the other from the Giants, both sporting hefty Championship rings. The Mets coordinator of professional scouting, Bryan Lambe, was also in attendance, which I was told most likely indicates that the scouts in attendance were there for a specific reason…
Bannister is impressive, and it's hard to pinpoint why. Baseball America is correct when they continually write that he lacks dominant stuff. However, rarely if ever did an opposing batter make solid contact on him. More times than not, when they did connect, they topped the ball or swung off balance. Most all balls coming off their bats were weak, and lacked any kind of pop…
He also keeps the ball moving around the zone. Batters swing a lot, but rarely make contact, which is odd considering his fastball only topped out around 90-mph, according to a scout with a radar gun…
He’s an average-sized pitcher, holds the glove up high to his face while standing way, way over to the furthest left corner of the rubber. His delivery is compact, a tad mechanical but he keeps the ball back well and releases it quickly, rarely giving the batter a solid look at it…
Both scouts seemed highly impressed with Bannister's cut-fastball, noting it is already of Major League caliber. They also liked his fearlessness on the mound. He'll throw any pitch at any time and seems to retain his command throughout the game, one scout mentioned…
On Mike Jacobs, the catcher-turned-first baseman with a beautiful left-handed swing, one scout said, “This is their one kid with real power, but he really should go back behind the plate.” The scout may be right, as Jacobs looks very awkward and timid when fielding the ball at first – on one occasion, he overreached when receiving a catchable throw from third, which tipped off his glove, ricocheted to the wall and allowed a run to score...
Bobby Malek hits the ball very hard, nailing it square on the nose when he connects. “He's a strong doubles hitter,” the scouts discussed, but agreed, “he needs more power.”…
On Anderson Hernandez, who I was quite impressed with when watching him in action on Monday night, and was equally impressed last night, as well, one scout admitted that, “This kid is opening some eyes.” On Monday, while playing second base, he made a lightening fast, backhanded stab on a short-hop from his knees. Last night, on a ball hit deep between short and third, while playing shortstop, he glided to the ball, back-handed it Jeter-style, but unlike Jeter he chucked the ball to first, with his momentum still pulling him away, while never leaping from his feet. The ball zipped to first and the runner was out. Both scouts grabbed their pens, each said, “wow,” as they started scribbling notes on their charts…
Lastly, it should be noted that the scouts watched the player's wives and girlfriends section in the stands nearly as much as they watched the game. And so did I. It was just so tough not to…