Auburn

[gardner21]

I am going to the Auburn Doubledays game tomorrow.  I have been trying to do some research on what prospects to watch, but at this level most of the players haven't made top prospect lists.  Can you guys suggest some players I should watch Thursday Night.

Thanks so much.

[PANatsFan]

Check out the draft signing thread in the main board -all of this years draft picks are bolded in a post by NFA Brian!

[Lintyfresh85]

Guys you should watch...

SP - Wirkin Estevez - (Should be starting tomorrow night. If you can, I'd love for you to write back after the game and tell us what type of pitcher he is... i.e. his velocity, number of pitches... etc. etc.) We only have DSL stats to go by... so any info at all, on Estevez would be much appreciated.

3B - Matt Skole - 5th round pick of the Nats in 2011.

RP - Brian Dupra - 7th round pick of the Nats in 2011.

OF - Caleb Ramsey - 11th round pick of the Nats in 2011

RP - Travis Henke - Son of Two time All-Star Tom Henke.

RP - Manny Rodriguez - Apparently he throws pretty hard... also a 2011 draftee.

[gardner21]

Estevez was in the High 80's most of the game.  He would randomly jump up to 92-93 4 or 5 times.  So either he has two different speeds of fastballs or he throws a ton of junk.  I sat right next to the visitors dugout.  I couldn't see the break of pitches.  I heard the lead off hitter talk to a couple of players about his slider.  Nothing about him really overly stuck out. 

[Lintyfresh85]

Well that's disappointing.

[RD]

He's barely 19, is 170lbs ... Hitting 92-93 a few times is actually pretty good. Basically a projectable high school kid from the draft. I know Ray's a lefty, but I don't even think Ray touches 93 much, if at all.

For him to skip the GCL, it must say something about his make up and control. So he's probably not some guy who ridiculous stuff right now.

But with a tiny frame and being so young, there's certainly a ton of time to add more velocity to his fastball. Nothing to worry about IMO. He's clearly not a 'top' prospect, but he's one to watch.

[kirubel94]

Yeah RD, hes on the front page of auburns website, he lookes very frail.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t458

[gardner21]

He was shockingly skinny.  He was the skinniest guy on the field, and it wasn't close.

[Lintyfresh85]

Thinking it over after a night of sleep... I'm actually pretty happy that a guy that skinny can touch 93.

He'll probably be 92-93 full-time by the time they fill him out and put some muscle on him.

Also, from the picture on the MiLB site... it appears Estevez throws a two-seam fastball. So he might be more of a sinkerball type pitcher than a high strikeout guy.

[Nathan]

What's up with his arm?  One looks all skinny and the other on is fatter or something.

[houston-nat]

That picture has been stretched in MS Paint to fit the box on the website. The horizontal arm looks skinny because the picture was stretched horizontally (and the arm therefore made super-long); the vertical arm looks fine because it was fattened up by the manipulation.

[houston-nat]

Here is the picture as posted by the website, and my best guess at the original photo.

[PANatsFan]

Thinking it over after a night of sleep... I'm actually pretty happy that a guy that skinny can touch 93.

He'll probably be 92-93 full-time by the time they fill him out and put some muscle on him.

Also, from the picture on the MiLB site... it appears Estevez throws a two-seam fastball. So he might be more of a sinkerball type pitcher than a high strikeout guy.

I'm 100% positive they can get him on a better diet in the States, it should help.

[Tyler Durden]

I'm 100% positive they can get him on a better diet in the States, it should help.

Get him to hang out with Livo and Coffey.

[blue911]

What's up with his arm?  One looks all skinny and the other on is fatter or something.

(Image removed from quote.)

jerkin off

[PANatsFan]

gardner, what's the park like?

[gardner21]

The park is really cool.  My girlfriend and I have gone to 15 major and minor league parks this year.  In a lot of ways it was my favorite.  It was definitely of the two most unique.  It was a very minor league experience.  If any of you have been to Arizona for spring training it reminds me a lot of the parks out their. 

It was only their second home game so the crowd was really excited.  The park in in a neighbor hood as apposed to "downtown" if you can call it that in Auburn.  It really had a community feel at the ballpark.  It seemed like everyone knew everyone.  I got the the park about 30 min before game time, and I would guess 70 percent of the fans were already their. 

They only had one main concession stand, and one set of bathrooms.  However, that is all they need.  The had grills and trailers set up in the area where concession stands normally would be. 

This is one of only two short season non spring training parks I have ever been to.  The other was Kingsport Tenn.  About 10 years ago.  This one was much much better.