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…
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