Futures Game Thoughts

Here are some thoughts I came away with after watching Sunday’s Futures Game. If you want me to expand on some of my thoughts or want me to touch on players not mentioned in this piece, you can do so in the comments section…

Overall, I came away really impressed with the pitching…such tremendous velocity by almost every pitcher we saw.

Matt Moore is the guy I think people will be buzzing about the most in the aftermath of this game…just tremendous, tremendous stuff with a fastball reaching 100, and a hard slider with a late break

Carlos Martinez is another guy that I think wowed those watch…just electric stuff. Obviously he was a little too pumped up because he overthrew some pitches, but his fastball just jumps out of his hand. His arm speed is evident. His slider is above average with plus potential. He only threw one change-up — at 88 mph, and it sort of spun without any sort of break. Can’t make any conclusive statements based on just one change-up though.

Martin Perez had a rough outing. This is something that happens with Perez every once in a while. His timing looks a little off, and his release point gets inconsistent. In addition, the feel for his curveball isn’t there.

Brad Peacock showed why he’s been able to dominate Double-A hitters. Really like his arm action and how the ball jumps out of his hand.

Thought Tyler Thornburg showed three quality pitches, and you can see how effective his change-up can be even without a great deal of depth because of the velocity differential between it and the fastball.

Drew Pomeranz showed a really good fastball, but once he got to two outs, he really lost his command and couldn’t get it back in time before being replaced. His mechanics look a little different from when he was in college, which I’ll look into a little later.

Liked what I saw from Arodys Vizcaino. Mechanics looked a little smoother than I’ve seen in the past.

Jarred Cosart impressed, throwing three pitches in an easy 1-2-3 inning. He pumped his fastball up to 98 mph, and I continue to think people underrate his curveball. Mechanics are stiff, but they’re improvement from when he was drafted. I’m surprised he’s not missing more bats this year…and actually a little concerned about that as well.

Jacob Turner’s secondary stuff wasn’t as good as it usually is, but his fastball was looked good. He’s another one who’s mechanics look improved compared to last year.

Jurickson Profar immediately electrified the crowd with a line drive to the gap for a triple, but I wish we could have seen a little more of his advanced plate discipline in his second at bat. He swung at the first pitch instead and popped out in foul territory.

Jose Altuve continued to do what he’s done all year: make contact and collect hits. He has excellent hand-eye coordination that enables him to consistently square up on the baseball.

James Darnell I thought put together some extremely impressive at bats, hanging in and fouling off fastballs in the mid – upper 90s, while taking good breaking balls designed to get him to chase.

Grant Green looked good obviously, showing off impressive pop — something he has not shown this year so far. In fact, his performance across the board is very similar to last year, but his power is down. But maybe his performance here can get him jump started for the remainder of the year.

I was a little disappointed in Wil Myers’ performance. I thought he was pitched to well, but he also hurt himself by getting fooled on breaking balls.

Hak-Ju Lee has been a completely different offensive player this year compared to 2010, and watching him you could see why. His mechanics are different! I hope to take a deeper look into those changes at some point in the near future.

Tim Beckham hit a rocket into left center field, just missing a home run. It was only a glimpse, but his swing looked good. Still, his numbers tell us only he’s only a modestly better player this year compared to years past.

Bryce Harper had an uneven performance, hitting the ball hard a couple of times with nothing to show for it, but also swinging through too many pitches. I think he was a little eager to launch out of the ballpark.

Rough game for Yonder Alonso, who looked overmatched against good velocity.