Notes from the Field: August 8, 2017

Wilson Karaman
Heath Quinn, OF, San Francisco Giants (High-A San Jose)

Broad-shouldered, strong frame, plus present strength, not a fluid athlete; hands and back elbow drift during load, hips bail early, gets leveraged, plane to lift balls; strength swing, swings hard with effort, average bat speed, below-average barrel control, front side was pulling off, looked like he may have been favoring recently-injured shoulder, struggled to catch velo up, showed signs of letting balls get deep, acumen to drive 'em the other way; 4.44 home-to-first, churning gait with effort, fringe-average speed underway; above-average arm strength, throws hold with solid carry, pretty accurate on the move; right-field profile, moves around okay on the grass, largely untested in series.

D.J. Peters, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (High-A Rancho Cucamonga)
Offensive development has been slow but steady; still takes inconsistent at-bats, can be pitched to, vulnerable to executed sequencing, velo up, soft away; swing length has toned down a hair, improvements fouling off pitches he used to swing through; notable step forward with approach, has overcome early-season passivity, improved selective aggression in-zone, nice run of loud contact.

Jack Anderson, RHP, Seattle Mariners (High-A Modesto)

70-grade idiosyncratic-high-stirruped-submariner game; true submarine mechanics, mound-scraper, upper half gets horizontal, inconsistent spine tilt, will pull up on sliders; FB 78-84, velo fluctuates, running pitch with moderate snap-back and sink, very trackable up, kept it down with reasonable consistency; SL 73-76, shows multiple variants with a shorter, tighter shape and a longer, sweeping frisbee; inconsistent spinning it but well above-average movement; let a blown third-strike call get to him, lost focus and wore it for the rest of the inning; High-A hitters unsurprisingly struggled to find his ball when down; standard-issue submariner issues (repeatability, hitters can track balls up), but he's got the foundation; HIGH-PRIORITY FOLLOW BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY.

Eric Filia, OF, Seattle Mariners (High-A Modesto)
Hasn't changed since college; broad, muscular, maxed-out frame at maturity, mental player; understands sequencing, keen eye and pitch recognition, stays in zone; flat, even, repeatable stroke, barrel's on plane for a long time, strong bat-to-ball, line-drive contact to all fields; very little leverage, extension, top-spin contact with limited carry, well-below-average game power despite physical strength; will flash average run times, probably more of a fringe-average tool, busts it hard though, aggressive on the bases and in pursuit of balls in the outfield; corner only, quality breaks and efficient routes, solid-average arm strength; tweener profile, not sure how he fits beyond org depth, but a hard-nosed player who can really hit

JH Schroeder
Aramis Garcia, C, San Francisco Giants (High-A San Jose)
R/R C. second round in 2014. Could add more strength to legs/butt. Open stance, leg kick square. Weight can get stuck on back foot. Tries to elevate ball with high finish, pretty good extension, doesn't quite lock out front leg. Pretty quiet pre-pitch, and hands stop a bit during load as well. Keeps a flat bat, working on getting weight going forward. Quick inside, but hard time keeping fair. Looked much better when he stayed through middle of field. Took balls early in count. Defensively late on a lot of receiving, gives up low pitches, particularly BBs, better on outside corner. Some tail to throw, below-average pop, around 2.1. Hesitant and slow on the bases, looked like he hurt himself running the bases about three different times.

Steven Duggar, OF, San Francisco Giants (High-A San Jose)
L/R RF. Lean muscled, 6-foot-2, 195-pound frame. Reminds me a bit of Josh Reddick in terms of body and profile. 6th rd. pick from Clemson, performed in High-A and Double-A last year. Smooth player, not a lot of high effort plays. Showed early pitch recognition, patient with good eye. Pretty quick inside (x2). Doesn't expand, willing to take pitches. Line-drive swing, didn't elevate many balls. Hands a bit a way from body, slightly vertical barrel, elbows can leak a little close together at times. Leg kick, controlled gather. Maintains nice flexion in lead arm. Lets fastball get deep, uses whole field. Stayed back very well.

Jalen Miller, 2B, San Francisco Giants (High-A San Jose)
R/R 2B. Small quick guy. Square stance, bat loads from flat to neutral. Short to ball. Stayed through ball well. Fired front hip early on occasion, drops front-elbow a bit. Slow transfer. Odd arm action, looks like he wants to be almost sidearm but forces arm to higher slot.

Jonah Arenado, 3B, San Francisco Giants (High-A San Jose)
R/R 3B. Big, strong guy. Looks a lot like brother. Slightly closed stance, very upright, toe-tap. Flatter bat. Not much of a move, basically just drops barrel. Rolls hands over a bit. Fairly aggressive hitter, suspect he swings his way out of higher K numbers. Starts swing really early, shorter stroke, not a lot of lag or extension. Looks away early in count. A little late on velo. Plus defender. Really soft hands on some hard short-hops, plus arm. Best run-time 4.35, looked a little stiff.

Will Siskel
Orlando Romero, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays (Low-A Bowling Green)
Though a pure relief prospect, Romero has an exciting arsenal. The FB sat 95-97, touching 99 in his first inning of work in a two-inning save situation. In his second inning he was 93-95. The fastball is fairly straight but the velocity was overpowering to Low-A hitters in the first inning. The curve (77-78) has downward snap and a hard, tight rotation, varying between a 11/5 and 10/5 shape and showing flashes of an above average offering with solid control. Romero pitched backwards with it in his second inning. Romero is a solid 6-feet, 210 pounds, though his mechanics are not optimal. He can get off balance and his upper half operates on a different axis than his lower half because of the long arm action in back, though he threw strikes in this viewing.

Nathan Graham
Joshua Lowe, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (Low-A Bowling Green)

2016 first-round pick out of Marietta, Georgia; lean and athletic frame, room for additional growth and strength; balanced stance, slight bat wrap tends to elongate swing, above average bat speed, mild leverage in swing, will expand zone, will get off balanced on secondary, has swing and miss in and out of zone; potential for plus power as body matures and strength is gained, currently power is exclusive to pull side; plus raw speed, very aggressive on the bases, takes big turns on singles and always looks to take extra bases; plus defender, athleticism allows him to cover a lot of ground, gets good jumps; Plus arm strength, good carry, accurate; speed and defense will carry but development of the hit tool will determine if he profiles as a major-league regular or Quad-A outfielder.