Eric Hosmer

[austro]

Last night (KC-NYY) was the first time I've seen Eric Hosmer play. What a swing! Quick and powerful, but controlled. And his bat seems to stay in the hitting zone forever. I couldn't tell if he has any holes, but boy, if a pitch gets left where he can get at it, he's going to punish it. Extremely impressive.

[Reuben]

Last night (KC-NYY) was the first time I've seen Eric Hosmer play. What a swing! Quick and powerful, but controlled. And his bat seems to stay in the hitting zone forever. I couldn't tell if he has any holes, but boy, if a pitch gets left where he can get at it, he's going to punish it. Extremely impressive.

How old is he? Didn't the draft him out of high school? He sure rose quick.

[jbm]

He did look real good.  He got the bat on a lot of different pitches.  I don't know much about hitting, but it seems like for a lot of hitters, the bat head starts high and comes down into the hitting zone as the body and hands start to rotate.  On one of his swings last night, he kind of dropped the bat head down behind him before he started to rotate.  He hit it solid.  Don't know if it was just the location of the pitch, but that swing was in the bating zone for a long time.

Real nice to see the Royals take two from the Yankees in New York.  

[JimR]

my baseball friend told us in ST that KC has far and away the best farm system in MLB.

[Jacksonian]

my baseball friend told us in ST that KC has far and away the best farm system in MLB.

When you are consistently drafting in the top 5 of every round year after year you should have a great system.  That's how Tampa and Texas got there.

[Lurch]

When you are consistently drafting in the top 5 of every round year after year you should have a great system.  That's how Tampa and Texas got there.

So, you're saying we're close?

[Jacksonian]

So, you're saying we're close?

Close doesn't count, except this year.

[JimR]

When you are consistently drafting in the top 5 of every round year after year you should have a great system.  That's how Tampa and Texas got there.

if you make good decisions

[MusicMan]

When you are consistently drafting in the top 5 of every round year after year you should have a great system.  That's how Tampa and Texas got there.

In fairness to Tampa, a lot of their successes have been outside the first round.

[MusicMan]

if you make good decisions

Phil Nevin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

[roadrunner]

I watched Hosmer last night, too.  His swing is really compact and flat..it stays through the zone in a similar way to Berkman.  He's going to be fun to watch.

KC in general is a fun team to watch.  Nice to see they might not be a pretender this year.

[Jacksonian]

if you make good decisions

Of course.  That's why I wrote should not will.

[Jacksonian]

Phil Nevin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

Notice the Pirates never seem to have enough young talent to win.  Bryan Bullington.

[austro]

my baseball friend told us in ST that KC has far and away the best farm system in MLB.

They showed their last 6 or 7 first-round pick last night, and it looked like they hit the jackpot on nearly all of them.

2005 - Alex Gordon (starting at 3B, 27)
2006 - Luke Hochevar (starting RHP, 27)
2007 - Mike Moustakas (AAA SS, 22)
2008 - Mike Montgomery (AAA LHP, 21)
2008 - Eric Hosmer (starting at 1B, 21)
2009 - Aaron Crow (starting RHP, 24)
2010 - Christian Colon (AA SS, 21)

I'd say that their talent evaluation people know what they're doing.

[Bench]

Phil Nevin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

Cam Bonifay is still using it. 

[pots]

Phil Nevin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

And who would you have picked?:
1   Phil Nevin
2   Paul Shuey
3   Billy Wallace
4   Jeffrey Hammonds
5   Chad Mottola
6   Derek Jeter
7   Calvin Murray
8   Pete Janicki
9   Preston Wilson
10   Michael Tucker
11   Derek Wallace
12   Kenneth Felder
13   Chad McConnell
14   Ronald Villone
15   Jonathan Lowe
16   Richard Greene
17   James Pittsley
18   Christopher Roberts
19   Shannon Stewart
20   Michael Grigsby
21   James Arnold
22   Ricky Helling
23   Jason Kendall
24   Eddie Pearson
25   Todd Steverson
26   Daniel Serafini
27   John Burke
28   Charles Johnson


The draft was seriously thin

[BudGirl]

And who would you have picked?:
1   Phil Nevin
2   Paul Shuey
3   Billy Wallace
4   Jeffrey Hammonds
5   Chad Mottola
6   Derek Jeter
7   Calvin Murray
8   Pete Janicki
9   Preston Wilson
10   Michael Tucker
11   Derek Wallace
12   Kenneth Felder
13   Chad McConnell
14   Ronald Villone
15   Jonathan Lowe
16   Richard Greene
17   James Pittsley
18   Christopher Roberts
19   Shannon Stewart
20   Michael Grigsby
21   James Arnold
22   Ricky Helling
23   Jason Kendall
24   Eddie Pearson
25   Todd Steverson
26   Daniel Serafini
27   John Burke
28   Charles Johnson


The draft was seriously thin

Knowing what I do now?  #6.

[MusicMan]

pots - the Astros' scout was literally begging management to draft Jeter, and quit because he could not get them to listen.

[pots]

pots - the Astros' scout was literally begging management to draft Jeter, and quit because he could not get them to listen.

He fell to 6th though.  It wasn't that obvious.  Nevin did finish his 11 year career with 208 HRs, 805 OPS and one all star appearance.  He just didn't do it for Houston.

Not saying that management didn't screw up, but it was a pretty thin draft

[BUWebguy]

Bringing two threads together...

When Jeter was in high school, Newhouser was the Michigan area scout for the Astros.

Newhouser would make an effort to drive over three hours from his home in Bluefield Hills, Mich., to Kalamazoo High School just to meet with Jeter and his family.

Jeter hit .557 as a sophomore, and .508 during both his junior and senior seasons. During the Spring of 1992, Newhouser at 71-years-old was a frequent spectator at Jeter's games. 

He strongly lobbied his supervisor, Dan O'Brien, and Astros owner John McMullen to select Jeter with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1992 First-Year Player Draft. The Hall of Fame pitcher proclaimed that Jeter had the talent to become one of the greatest players of all time.

He was right -- yet none of the Astros' management was willing to listen.

At the time, McMullen was unwilling to offer more than $700,000 to sign their first pick. Rumors began circulating that it would take $1 million to sign Jeter as the top overall pick, or else he would accept a scholarship to the University of Michigan.

McMullen made it known he would never offer that kind of money to an unproven talent, and elected to take the safe bet by drafting Cal-State Fullerton outfielder Phil Nevin, who turned out to be a major bust in Houston.

Prior to the draft, O'Brien informed Newhouser of the organization's decision to go with Nevin, which prompted the Hall of Famer to quit his scouting job with the Astros. Newhouser told the front office that Jeter would have signed for $750,000, but nobody wanted to hear it.

http://www.examiner.com/houston-astros-in-houston/former-astros-scout-right-about-jeter

[pots]

I know.  It was about money/risk/money and a money again.  Jeter was the highest ceiling guy who wanted more dollars than teams were willing to risk on HS talent.  So the Astros, Orioles, Expos and Reds all went with what they felt was a safer route(college players).  The Reds scout was just as shocked.  

Had Nevin produced earlier in his career and been with Houston in his prime, it wouldn't look so bad.  If the boss says you can't take Jeter in that draft then Nevin is a decent selection of what was left.

[OregonStrosFan]

And its already started... (via MLB Trade Rumors: LINK)

...[Mark] Teixeira had his own market and [Prince] Fielder had his own market, Hosmer will have his own. And something tells me it’s going to be a rather eventful one.”

One guess as to who is being quoted here...

[strosrays]

When you are consistently drafting in the top 5 of every round year after year you should have a great system.  That's how Tampa and Texas got there.

Tampa, now.  If you go back to their origins in the 1990s under Vince Namioli and Chuck Lamarr, the (Devil) Rays had a horrific record for choosing high picks.  One that did finally work out from back then, Josh Hamilton, did so after taking a very circuitous route, and long after TB had released him in frustration.

And KC has been picking high for a pretty long time, yes?  It seems only recently that a fair amount of their choices are working out.  I'm guessing bringing in that guy from the Braves a few years back got them going in the right direction.

[Ty in Tampa]

And its already started... (via MLB Trade Rumors: LINK)

...[Mark] Teixeira had his own market and [Prince] Fielder had his own market, Hosmer will have his own. And something tells me it’s going to be a rather eventful one.”

One guess as to who is being quoted here...

Perhaps....Satan?!?!