Scouting Orioles Prospect Matt Hobgood

June 27, 2010 BY Alex Eisenberg 2 Comments

MATCH-UP – Delmarva Shorebirds (Baltimore Orioles) at Lexington Legends (Houston Astros)

KEY PROSPECTS WE’RE WATCHING – Matt Hobgood (Orioles, RHP), Jiovanni Mier (Astros, SS), J.D. Martinez (RF, Astros)

GAME BOX SCORE – Click Here

SCREENSHOT

A quick note on video structure…videos are edited to include only key and legitimate prospects. Time between pitches and between innings are edited out. Some commercials are left in out of respect for the companies that purchase ad buys.

I use time markers for when a particular hitter comes up to bat or a certain pitcher enters the game so you don’t have to shuffle through the video looking for key players. Games are edited so you can scout and evaluate a prospect in the most convenient and quickest way possible.

› You must be a Premium Member to read the full article. Please click here to sign up

› If you are already a Premium Member, please click here to log in

I’m not going to imply that Orioles pitching prospect Matt Hobgood was the best prospect in the world last season, but he was certainly better than what he’s shown so far in 2010.

What struck me in this outing was how extraordinarily inconsistent his mechanics were. I’m sure this is where Hobgood’s inconsistent command is coming from. More concerning was that Hobgood’s velocity was down about 4 mph…

What to Do Next

Sign Up for Updates

2 Comments »

Holgash said:

This selection really puzzled me last year, especially with Zach Wheeler and Tyler Matzek still on the board. The O’s are going to have a difficult time rebuilding if they make a lot of mistakes in the first round, which this pick seems like, as well as the Rowell pick back in ’06. It’s tough being an O’s fan these days.

# 3 July 2010 at 5:30 PM

Alex Eisenberg (author) said:

Don’t forget Jacob Turner and Shelby Miller…basically all the highly regarded prep arms were still on the board. I’m not sure if the Rowell pick at the time was regarded as a reach of a pick since he was the regarded as the draft’s top high school bat. Obviously Lincecum in hind sight should have been the pick.

And I don’t think the Machado pick is like the Hobgood pick since Machado was a consensus top-3 talent.

Now, the real concern should be the Orioles ability to develop their talent. It’s clear they have made some changes to Hobgood’s mechanics and the results haven’t been good.

# 7 July 2010 at 4:52 AM