Your 2005 Arizona Brewers -- A Video Taste (including Inman)

[Mass Haas]

We'll kick off the player features thread on the baby Brewers with this commentary on 3rd round RHP Will Inman, written shortly prior to his signing:

 

Fresh, brash and so talented

Commentary by Aaron McFarling, Roanoke.com

 

DRY FORK - He spits on the dugout floor and looks up from behind a low-brimmed cap. The most exciting high school player around is trying to explain what really gets him going.

 

His mind drifts ... then he snaps to attention. "Oh, this is the one I love hearing," Will Inman says. "I love hearing the leadoff batter strike out and then go back to the dugout yelling, 'He's not throwing that hard! He's not throwing that hard!'

 

"Yeah, I love that one. That's always a great one."

 

Change your plans this morning. Skip work, skip class, find a baby sitter, do whatever you've got to do. Get down to Calfee Park in Pulaski and watch Tunstall senior Will Inman play at 11 a.m. in the state baseball semifinals.

 

You won't be sorry.

 

Oh, you might get annoyed a time or two by something Inman does. You might even walk away thinking that sportsmanship's gone completely to pot, that the Milwaukee Brewers just drafted - and offered a half-million dollars to - a total madman.

 

But trust me on this: You'll be thoroughly entertained.

 

Inman knows he has plenty of critics. Maybe they don't like the way he pumps his fist after the 92 mph fastball cracks the mitt, or the way he shouts to the sky when the curve ball breaks just right, or the way his home run trot seems to take a little longer when it stings the opponent the most.

 

But these people need to get over it. The fact is, nobody plays the game harder. Nobody. The 18-year-old right-hander is everything that's great about these high school playoffs - high talent, higher emotion - and if it rubs somebody the wrong way, too bad.

 

"Oh, God, yeah, dude," Inman says, when asked if he caught any flak after last year's state championship game against Cave Spring when he struck out 12, smacked a three-run homer and held none of his cocksure antics back in a 4-0 Tunstall win. "Random people saw me and would get on me. About yelling! After getting a big strikeout or something, yelling and a fist pump."

 

He shakes his head.

 

"I want to see these people pitch in the World Series," he says of his critics. "Do they not watch baseball on T.V.? Do they not see Josh Beckett out there chunckin' it? Roger Clemens? Randy Johnson, dude, this guy used to just chew down some hitters, man. They'd outweigh him by maybe 30 or 40 pounds, and he'd just chew them down. Man, you can't be scared.

 

"I don't care what people think of me on the field," he says. "Because if you don't know me off the field, you have no right to make a decision on me."

 

His pulse is quickening now, his voice rising. He's getting into his competitive mode, the one that has made him the all-time strikeout leader in the state of Virginia with 585, the one that sometimes has his coach on the defensive.

 

"I've had other coaches and umpires say, 'Coach, you need to tone him down,'" Tunstall coach Barry Shelton says.

 

"But as a coach, it's hard to do that when that's his makeup. If you take away his makeup, you take away some of the edge that he has out there. That's what makes him go."

 

And go he has. A 41-3 career record, a 0.68 career ERA, 29 career home runs, a school-record 26 doubles.

 

Of course, having a fastball that consistently hovers above 90 mph doesn't hurt either. But it's the total competitive package that convinced Auburn University to offer him a scholarship, an offer he will decline after the Brewers selected him in the third round this week and ponied up the $500,000 signing bonus Inman was seeking.

 

"I'm not a big spender," Inman says, explaining that he plans to save the money. "The necessities keep me very comfortable. I don't like having anything nice because I always screw it up."

 

This is the other side of Inman, the side his teammates know, the modest kid who grew up just outside Danville and was surprised that he developed into a prospect. He's only flown once - for his official visit to Auburn - and says he's rarely left Dry Fork.

 

"I guess I never really compared myself with the rest of the world," says Inman, who struck out the first 11 batters he faced in his freshman debut. "I didn't know what else was out there."

 

He knows now - a new challenge. And as soon as this state title run is over (Inman will likely DH today and pitch Saturday in the finals if Tunstall makes it), he'll sign with the Brewers, take a week's vacation and then fly to Arizona to begin his pro career.

 

Critics are welcome to follow if they wish.

 

"I'll be more intense there, man," he says of the next level. "Because I know that I won't be facing Billy Joe that just came up from ninth grade. I'm going to be facing damn men that got 30-year-old beards and may be popping steroids."

 

See? Always entertaining.

 

Don't miss it.

[And That]

"The necessities keep me very comfortable. I don't like having anything nice because I always screw it up."

 

"Because I know that I won't be facing Billy Joe that just came up from ninth grade. I'm going to be facing damn men that got 30-year-old beards and may be popping steroids."

 

I LOVE this guy!

[NlGHTWlNG]

I wish I could watch him pitch. Sure would be quite the show. He just vaulted himself to one of my favorite prospects just by that article. Wow.

[madbad2000]

I liked the pick on draft day, love the pick now! Will Inman...gotta love that article.

[jackellberry]

I already cant wait to see this guy, nice article

[heresrobin]

Is this guy going to be the Brewers version of Carlos Zambrano? I can't tell if I like him or hate him. Since he's a Brewer, I'll go with like. I predict a healthy placement onto the Power 50 based soley on the strength of this article. If anything, this kid seems pretty funny.

[Mass Haas]

Personally, here's hoping Mr. Inman can back up those words and personality pretty quickly, or his come-uppance could be pretty nasty.

 

Seems to me he could be Tom Wilhelmsen (7th round, 2002), pre-substance abuse issues -- and here's giving a shout out to Tom, hoping all is going well in Maryvale.

 

I don't think you'll ever see the Brewers plop a 19-year-old in low-A again after only two rookie league appearances, a la Tom, although Wilhelmsen's 2.76 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 15 Beloit starts in 2003 still looks appealing.

 

The thought of a rehabbed but still fun and quirky Tom and Inman hanging out together is neat, in a weird high risk, super-high reward kind of way.

[lithium75]

I just had to reply to this post to keep the greatest interview I have ever read at the top of the list. I am also going to petition Toby to put this kid in the top 10 of his power 50, and am officially starting the Will Inman madhouse, er I mean fan club.

[ja002h]

He just vaulted himself to one of my favorite prospects just by that article. Wow.

 

Ditto.

[lithium75]

ja002h, I'm glad you got my reply and read the article. It's hard to believe it is for real it's so good

[Mass Haas]

A Christmas present for Will Inman as I wait for my wife to finish getting herself ready for our Christams visits http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

 

Stumbled upon a blog of a Giants fan that included 4th of July video (about six minutes) of an Arizona Rookie League game between the Giants and Brewers. Kind of neat because it gives you the sense of atmosphere at these games (there is none), and well, because it's December now http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

Players shown and mentioned by name include Bernie Dennis, Scotty McKnight, and Anderson de la Rosa.

 

Perhaps most interesting was that the video includes footage of impressive 3rd rounder Will Inman in what was his professional debut. This was also his one and only Arizona game before being quickly jettisoned up to Helena. So just for that in and of itself, if Mr. Inman projects as we hope, this little clip will have some intrinsic value built in.

 

I found it easiest to right-click the video link and download it for later viewing to my hard drive. You probably don't want to attempt without a high-speed connection.

 

Blog page link:

 

whatsontonight.blogware.c...95963.html

 

Direct video link:

 

whatsontonight.blogware.c...wers_2.mp4

 

For all we know, the Inman family was in attendance and got his entire two-inning outing on tape. But if not, Merry Christmas!

 

DHonks, this gentleman also took Arizona Fall League video:

 

whatsontonight.blogware.c...FallLeague

[DHonks]

gave it a try (wanted to see if I'm present in his fall league wrap-up bit, as I was wandering the field). But unfortunately I have no programs capable of playing that file format

[Mass Haas]

You may need Quicktime Player -- it's a free and unobtrusive download. Of course, most "players" will ask you if you want to make theirs your default player. You can always say no, and grab the free download regardless:

 

www.apple.com/quicktime/player/win.html

[brewers19]

My computer already has Quicktime, and yet it still just gives me a browser window of a monstrous list of random letters and numbers.

 

EDIT: I went into Quicktime, went to 'Open URL' in the File menu, and pasted the direct video link in there; works perfectly now.

[DHonks]

thanks brewers19, just saw myself in the fall league final game one, and now looking at Inman

[Will Inman Fan]

To Mass Haas... a big thank you from the Inman family for placing that web page there so we could see Will Inman pitch his frist game... it was nice http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Cracked Bat Collector]

Fun stuff to watch during a long offseason. Could watch those type of things all day.

[parkside21]

Wow, amazing no one is there, we had twice as many people at Little League games, haha. Interesting atmosphere...I always assumed it would be similar to an "A" setting.

 

Not to knock the guy that allowed us to watch his video, I appreciate it, but, I'd rather not have to listen to him explain to me why there are so many latin players, and that most players seem to be about the same size at 6' and 200 lbs...I cringed when I heard him say that....although, he did let me know that Inman was throwing "some hard stuff, mixed in with some offspeed stuff".....thanks for the scouting report....

 

Anyways, it was very cool, great find!