Jesus Montero, Yankees' Catching Prospect Extraordinaire

Highly coveted by teams when trade talks come up. Has the tools to be a star in the major leagues. Considered, potentially, to be on the level of Miguel Cabrera as a hitter. Kevin Long, Yankees' hitting instructor, has been quoted as saying he’s ready to hit big league pitching now. Yet, as everyone knows, he still needs seasoning as a catcher.

There’s sometimes a rift between the scouts in the scouting department and the developmental guys in a major league organization. By this, I mean that the developmental guys blame the scouts for not finding the talent and the scouts complain that the developmental people are not doing a “good enough job” developing the talent they bring into an organization, but this is not the case for Jesus Montero. Everyone is in agreement that patience is the key for this budding star. It’ll definitely be worth the wait to allow him to develop at a normal pace. By doing that, it will pay huge dividends.

I have watched videos of Jesus catching and throwing. The Yankees are like many of the other organizations in that they teach the jump pivot from the crouch. Other organizations teach their catchers to mirror the ball and square up the glove foot to the ball and plant that back foot as they receive it and then throw. That’s a little quicker for catchers usually, but that style is normally recommended for catchers with exceptionally strong arms. In this case, Jesus has exceptionally quick feet, so he’s not losing time with his footwork.

As for throwing, the Yankees teach the traditional roll the ball to a grip coming out of the mitt and spike the elbow to load their throw. This is different from a few organizations that teach their catchers to roll the ball out of the mitt and then throw and release using a backward C motion. Those organizations feel it’s a more efficient, quicker release and that spiking to load the throw, can over time, cause rotator cuff problems for catchers.

Unfortunately, I can’t comment on Jesus’ blocking pitches or his mental and physical approach to receiving breaking pitches. There are specific techniques and mindsets on both aspects that are taught, and I’ve not had the opportunity to see where he’s at in that stage of development.

I have to admit that I’ve not seen this much buzz for a Yankees’ prospect since Derek Jeter. I’d say I can’t wait to see him in the big leagues…just as the rest of you, but we’ll all have to be patient. Just keep thinking, “Patience is a virtue.”

Phil Hughes: Better suited to be a Starter or Reliever?

That is the proverbial mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma because he has the mental make up to be a successful starter, but is lacking the mechanics to be a big innings eater in the rotation. This will be one of those questions that’ll have to be addressed after the season. It’s one of those questions that organizations are faced with when addressing what’s best for the organization and what’s best for the player. From my experience, the New York Yankees do put a high priority on doing what’s best for their players, and they do this better than any organization in baseball.

Back to my observation of Phil and watching him in his recent return, I am disputing his claims that he's changed enough of his mechanics to make it through the rest of the season without breaking down.  Phil has not purged himself of some of the mechanical issues that he had before his time away from the team this season, i.e., he’s a bit of a short armer which affects his endurance, the amount of movement on his fastball, cuts down on the potential leverage on his new harder curve, and has not changed his shallow follow through which prevents him from having the more desirable shoulder to shoulder rotation for improved control.

One very important and notable mechanical change he seems to have made is that he has softened his deceleration phase in his follow through. This change is a real plus because a hard deceleration causes wear and tear on the arm- especially the shoulder. This should help him to alleviate any additional damage that can potentially happen because of the other mechanical flaws Phil is working through. Although, his deceleration was never as violent as Jim Bouton or Darryl Kile’s deceleration phase of their delivery, it was just a hard enough of a recoil to see he was heading possibly to a shorter career via circulatory and rotator cuff problems.

RE: Phil’s new, improved faster curve…

Trying to find a photo of Phil Hughes displaying his new curve grip which is different from his previous curve w/knuckle and more like his original curve grip that he started with has been exhausting. I'm speculating he's got more velocity on his curve because he's not choking it, but I'd still like to see a picture of the grip to verify this. The ball may be gripped more with his finger tips and fingers instead of closer to his palm. If it’s further out on his fingers, that’ll also allow him to have more flexibility in his wrist. With more flexibility, he’ll be able to get his thumb to come over the top more efficiently when snapping off his curve. As an extra pitching note, getting the ball out farther on the fingers increases the velocity of any type of pitch-not just the curve. Conversely, any pitch grip that is choked or closer the palm-reduces velocity.

Scouting Report: Hector Noesi, NY Yankees' Relief Pitcher

Hector Noesi, a 24 year old right handed relief pitcher with a plus fastball, has the potential to have a successful major league career. His overall mechanics are good and throws with most of his body instead of just using his arm. Even though he has good hip rotation, he could help himself with a better follow through. By bringing his right elbow past his left knee, Hector would be be more consistent with his control and hitting his target. This is commonly called throwing "shoulder to shoulder"... which  really can provide pinpoint accuracy IF the pitcher knows how to focus on his target. As an extra benefit, this type of follow through, also known as "bending their back", helps pitchers have greater leverage on their breaking pitches. Right now, he's finishing a little high (upright) in his follow through and this in turn elevates his pitches or causes them to be up in the zone...not a good place to pitch.
Last note concerns his time to the plate with runners on. He's been a little slow, up to 1.5, because he's still got a bit of a desire to get his knee up to a power position during his delivery in the stretch position. Hopefully, he can learn a slide step and bring his time to 1.32 or better with runners on. He's young enough to learn and should only get better with experience.

Scouting Report: Sergio Mitre, NY Yankees' Relief Pitcher

Sergio Mitre: Release Point is between a 3/4 to overhand. Specializes in a sinker. Has average fastball, breaking pitch, and can mix in a straight change.

Thought it might be wise to start with Sergio, a 30 year old right handed relief pitcher/potential spot starter-according to the Yankees, because he may not be on their roster very much longer this season. He has two glaring flaws in his delivery that should be a cause of concern to the Bronx Bombers. Both problems are with his landing foot. The first one, landing open instead of on the ball of his foot at a 45 degree angle, negates using his hips which means he's throwing mostly with his arm. Simply, without hip rotation, he's putting more wear and tear on his arm during a game and will diminish his usage in innings available during the game and the rest of a series. This habit also causes more scar tissue to build up in the rotator group. Scar tissue building up equals loss of velocity and eventually the ending of a career. His second flaw is that he pitches "toe up" and lands on the heel of his landing foot instead of on the ball of his foot. This will affect his command & control and will get him into high counts with the hitters. Obviously, high counts don't work well with any pitcher, but really hurt Sergio due to the limited number of pitches he's able to throw in an outing (see first flaw).

Bottom line: He's lost velocity since he was first with the Yankees in 2009 and now resembles a pitcher more suitable to AAA.

Texas’ new law could potentially lock a sports agent up in prison for 10 years for violating its athlete agent law; in Tennessee, the new law limits maximum jail time to 6 years. Meanw

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2011/07/05/new-tennessee-athlete-agent-law-accounts-for-cecil-newton-will-lyles-runners-etc/

This has happened since I was asked if I'd consider becoming a sports agent. This makes as much sense as fabricated traffic citations. What is the world coming to?

Derek Jeter Starting A.L. All Star Game Shortstop?

Generally, I'm pretty pleased with this year's all star teams' selections. Jeter is another story. He's definitely lost bat speed which he's trying to make up for by starting his swing early. Hence, he's getting fooled more often, getting way out front on breaking pitches, etc. I noticed this early in the season when I was watching him curiously and closely because of the off season hoopla of DJ changing his swing with Kevin Long's help...which he's already abandoned.

I'm not sure how much he worked with Dana Cavalea, the Yankees' strength and conditioning guy, in the off season this last winter, but he really worked his butt off the winter before last...working on increasing rotational power, range, lateral movement, etc. In hindsight, he may should have spent more time w/Dana instead of Kevin this offseason. 

Like I said earlier, he has lost some of his bat speed to the point where I'm thinking he should change his approach to hitting completely. I actually think he should adopt the Roy White slap hitter/Punch and Judy style. He could choke up to help his bat control and wait on pitches longer. That'll enable him to be able to make more consistent contact. Yeah, he'll lose power, but at least he'll make contact and move runners.
The caveat is that from what I've heard- Derek doesn't like change much. A good example would be from what I've learned through the grapevine, it took him forever to even want to talk to Chad Bohling, the Yankees Sports Psych guy. Even as amazing is that DJ let Kevin Long try to help him with his swing this last off season. Sadly, even with Kevin's help, Derek can't recoup his lost bat speed. He's well on the decline and possibly too set in his ways to make changes in his swing now.

That being said, he's had a wonderful career and still a future 1st ballot Hall of Famer. He's is definitely going to be a hard act to follow. Why am I harping on Derek? It's probably more of a selfish reason that I want Derek to adopt a more productive Roy White hitting style late in his career...and that's because I really don't want to see him retire. I'd prefer that he could extend his career instead!
Even though I just can't let go of DJ, I also can't justify him being the starting shortstop for the American League...not this season. I know-nobody promised life OR baseball would be fair.

My Michael Young All Star Prediction Comes To Fruition

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/03/3198022/rangers-hit-all-star-four-bagger.html




From Yahoo Sports during 2011 Spring Training...
Del commented: I'll bet the farm, if I had one to bet, that he'll be on the AL All Star team this July as a member of the Texas Rangers.

Young in camp on time for Rangers without trade

Del commented: In some ways Michael being moved to different positions throughout his career and still performing at an all star level is reminiscent of Pete Rose's career. Pete made a choice that greatly diminished his legacy. Here's hoping Mr. Young chooses...

• Young requests trade from Rangers, who are willing