AJ Pollock, the Brewers & info on previous drafts

[EbbaStClaire]

Last week Notre Dame hosted Grambling, Illinois State, Trinity, and UT-Pan American in San Antonio. I saw 5 of 6 games. During the first game of a double header on Sunday I noticed a guy sitting one roe in front of me and 3 seats to my right. After a few innings I asked him if he was a scout. His said his name was JR Salinas and he scouted for Milwaukee. I told him that I was sure I knew every player in the Milwaukee minor league system and had seen many of them play at least one game. As we talked he mentioned that Ray Montgomery and he had been in Austin, TX the day before to look at a TX pitcher and he flew to San Antonio to see this game. I asked him if he came to see AJ Pollock and he said "yes". We talked about Pollock and especially his ability to play virtually every defensive position except catcher and pitcher. Pollock played centerfield in all six games and played it with the grace and ease of Lorenzo Cain. He never took a mistep and caught every ball to his right and left. The good news continues--he can hit. I mentioned to Salinas that it would be nice to have some high draft choices that could play defense and hit. I told him many of us had grown tired of watching Weeks and Fielder play bad defense. With a smile on his face he said he would mention that to Ray Montgomery. Later on he asked me which other ND players I liked and I told him Jeremy Barnes who currently plays short but is really a 2nd baseman. Barens hits the ball hard and walks a ton compared to his K's. Salinas mentioned he liked the arm of the starting catcher Cameron McConnell. He also asked me about which of ND's pitchers looked good and I mentioned Brian Dupra who actually pitcher the first game of the DH, Evan Danieli who I haven't seen pitch, Cole Johnson who I saw pitch last year and I liked a lot and finally Dustin Ipsas who pitched a nice game against Grambling. We also talked about Eric Maust the Notre Dame punter. Maust pitched the 2nd game (7 innings) and retired the first 6 batters on about 12 pitches -- all ground balls. Twelve of the 21 outs were ground balls.

During the course of our conversation I asked Salinas how long he had worked for the Brewers and the territory he covered. He said he worked Texas and LA and he had worked for the Brewers for 3 years. We had a discussion about pitching at one point and I said how much I enjoyed a pitcher who pitched using all his pitches and the whole plate. He asked me whether I had ever seen Bobby Bramhall pitched and I told him I had but for only one inning. He really likes Bramhall because he is an extremely bright pitcher, and is so effective even though his fastball sits around 85 mph. He also asked me about LuCroy and I replied that I had not seem him play. Then I finally recognized the fact that he must have been in on the scouting of Bramhall and LuCroy and of course he had been.

Finally, I asked about a couple of other draft choices Jose Duran and Rick Hague. Duran was injured last year as many of us know and Salinas said Texas AM really hid Duran's injury. He did mention that the Brewers were interested in the Baylor shortstop but couldn't agree on some things so they selected Duran. Hague simply wanted to go to Rice and there was no way the Brewers were going to sell him on a professional career.

Those are the high lites of a fun Sunday afternoon. We talked about a lot of other players but I'm done typing.

[colbyjack]

Thanks for sharing that EbbaStClaire. That's good stuff.

 

I'm guessing the pitcher he wanted to see in Austin was actually Missouri RHP Kyle Gibson, who dealt a complete game shutout against Texas in game one of a doubleheader. The two Texas starters (Chance Ruffin and Brandon Workman) are sophomores.

[brewerguy71]

I really liked Pollack. He profiles as a decent 2b with s ceiling a little beneath that of Jemile Weeks. I think his main problem will be that he wont hit for much power and this will limit where he plays. CF works for him, but I dont know if he has the speed to be a great defensive CF.

 

Gibson is definitely not disappointing. He is #1 of a group of 3 players from the area that we regard as top 5 rounders. Gibson is obviously a 1st rounder, but he is blowing everyone away so far. And to top it off he is facing the best competition of any player in the area.

 

The slider is very good and his fastball is good for college too, but there I wonder if once he hits the higher levels of professional ball, they dont move him to a closer type role. His slider is plus plus, but his fastball doesnt really rate as a #1 starter type. He needs to get a little bit more velocity on it (a difficult task at this point of his baseball career) or some kind of great movement for him to move up to the top of the rotation type of starter.

 

Being a #2 or #3 starter is nothing to be ashamed of of course, but his fastball only sits about 90, topping around 93 occasionally. I just wonder where he ends up.

 

One guy that is starting to grow on me is Ben Carlson from MSU. Another big left handed power hitting 1b from Missour State, the possibilities are up there. Probably wont be able to hit like Ryan Howard, but not many players can. Has the chance to go rounds 5 through 7.