Prospects Plus: Lakewood BlueClaws' Aaron Altherr

Name: Aaron Altherr
Organization: Philadelphia Phillies 
Position: Outfield 
Stats Tuesday against Hagerstown Sun: 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and a RBI 


Strength: Altherr has plus speed and good base running ability. Altherr also has a plus arm that profiles well for right field. He is a toolsy outfielder that has potential to be a good one. Saw Altherr play last year, when Bryce Harper made his debut in Lakewood, here is that report. 

Weakness: Over the course of his almost three years in the organization Altherr has struggled to put his tools together on the field. This is his second trip to Lakewood, which is never a good sign.

Prospect Plus: Hagerstown Sun's Matt Skole

Name: Matt Skole
Organization: Washington Nationals
Position: Third Base
Stats Tuesday against the BlueClaws: 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts

Strengths: His power is his biggest plus.  Skole, the former Georgia Tech product,  currently leads the Hagerstown Sun with 18 home runs. Hitting is his plus tool and he is considered to be a future every day regular by Baseball America. Skole has a plus arm and nice feel at third base. 

Weakness: During the game on Tuesday he looked bad on a couple of swings and looked like his power swing will lead him to striking out at the next level. Also with Ryan Zimmerman holding down third base and his bat not translating to first base, his future in the organization might be in question. He could be used as trade bait as the Nationals continue to push for the playoffs.

Prospects Plus: Hagerstown Sun's Brian Goodwin

Name: Brian Goodwin 

Organization: Washington Nationals 

Position: Outfield 

Tuesday Stats: against Lakewood BlueClaws:  2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and a double 

Strengths: According to Baseball America, he could be a top of the order type bat. His speed is out of this world and that showed during his first at-bat when he made Lakewood outfielder Kelly Dugan pay for an error by stretching a double into a triple. So far this season, Goodwin is hitting .327 with 6 hrs, 31 RBI and slugging .530. Goodwin is the fifth ranked player in the Nationals system. He projects to be a .275 and 20 home runs type of player. 

Weakness: Time. Its going to take time. Goodwin has the potential to be the center fielder of the future in Washington put its going to take time. Goodwin is raw and needs time to develop properly. If the Nationals are going to make any type of deal, Goodwin would be one of the first players that teams ask for. 

Professional Tailgating: Man hit the Ball

On Tuesday the OTWT headed to Lakewood for the Blueclaws game against the Hagerstown Sun. The youngest member of the OTWT Crew loves watching the "man hit the ball.''

The setting sun

A new type of ball park food: Surf Taco 

Nothing says New Jersey than a pork roll, egg and cheese race

Front Page Story: Spain Rule Europe Again

Spain are the champions of Europe again after beating Italy 4-0 on Sunday. The debate will rage on over the next couple months if Spain is the greatest team ever. I will have more on that over the next couple of weeks. Here is how some papers in Spain covered their win.

Prospects Plus: Brandon Nimmo, Mets Prospect, Goes From Big Sky to Big Skyline in New York

During the 2011 draft the Mets made Brandon Nimmo their first round pick out of the baseball hot bed of Wyoming. Now the kid is trying Big Sky country for the Big City.

A vacation in golf

Have been off from work for the last week and have take the time to play some golf. From Hamilton Farms in Gladstone to Green Tree in Mays Landing. The courses are all different from layout to money they spend. Here is a break down of the courses that I played during this week. 


Hamilton Farms Golf Club: Might be one of the nicest places that I have ever played The New York Times called it one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. Boy was it nice, almost too nice for someone like me.

McCullough's Emerald Links: A links style course built around concepts from classic courses from around the world

Green Tree Golf Course: Not exactly Hamilton Farms, buts its the course that I consider home