Early Scouting Perceptions

by Seth Trachtman

Keeping with the theme of my previous article, the following is a look at some early scouting player perceptions less than a week into the season. My NCAA Tournament fever has transferred over to baseball...

Frank Thomas looks energized. Granted, his average is not so hot after three games, but who cares? He hit a monster home run in the first game of the season and hit the wall on Wednesday. More importantly, he is making good contact consistently and clearly seeing the ball well. If he stays healthy, we could be in for another 30 home run season. Of course, that is a huge if.

If you missed the Rafael Soriano boat on draft day, hopefully it is not too late to get onboard. He looks the exact same now that he did prior to Tommy John surgery, including a mid-90s fastball and devastating slider. Just a little reminder; Soriano posted an ERA below 2.00 as a setup man prior to the surgery.

Jeremy Bonderman certainly looked terrific during his first start, but it was the Royals. He was still making some mistake pitches, particularly in the first at-bat of the game after leadoff man David DeJesus fouled off some pitches. If the strikeout rate of 2004 returns, Bonderman could be a viable Cy Young candidate down the road. Though, he is still making young pitcher mistakes, and I am still not convinced that he is there yet.

I respect Jim Edmonds’ contribution more than most, but he is clearly declining at the plate. He chased more bad pitches during the first series of the season than I have seen him chase in a long time. That is a very quick judgment, but it looks like the decline from last season will continue. Does that mean you should cut bait? Absolutely not, as he should still be an above average fantasy outfielder.

Two starts, two Leo Mazzone fixer uppers that look terrible. It is difficult to draw conclusions with Horacio Ramirez’s start since he did leave hurt, but Jorge Sosa had no such excuse for his terrible start against San Francisco. Both pitchers have long played around the strike zone during their Braves careers and lived to tell about it. Just remember what happened to a similar pitcher, Damian Moss, after he left Mazzone’s watch.