Prospect Plus: Summer's Best

It's been a busy summer for Only Time Will Tell. Baseball games in three different states, two trips and ton of golf. But over the summer, I've been able to see some of the best prospects in baseball in the South Atlantic League and the Florida State League.

Here are the list of the top prospects I've seen during my travels this summer:

1. Dominic Smith, 1B, Savannah (SAL): The former Mets first round pick looks the part of major league power hitter despite just being a year out of high school. Smith is still a couple of years away but could be the power bat the Mets have been waiting for. 
2. Adam Brett Walker, OF, Fort Myers (FSL): While there is the concern of a college player still playing in the Florida State League, Walker has both the power and the speed that scouts crave. When we say him he had an inside the park home run. A week or so earlier he won the home run derby at the All Star game. 
3. JP Crawford, SS, Lakewood (SAL): The former first round pick of the Phillies really grew during his second year in pro ball. Last year he looked over matched, but now he seems like he has a solid bat to go along with his plus glove.

Prospect Plus: Met's Gavin Cecchini

Name: Gavin Cecchini
Organization: New York Mets
Team: Savannah Sand Gnats
Position: Shortstop
Stats Friday against the BlueClaws: 0-5 with two strikeouts

Positives: The younger brother to Boston's Garin, shortstop Gavin Cecchini is a contact hitter with solid tools. Cecchini will make contact. Will make the solid play, never will be a superstar.

Negative: One thing that will make it hard for Mets fans to get excite for is that they passed on Cards stud pitcher Michael Wacha to take Cecchini. I know that its only one game but Cecchini looked terrible and didn't show me anything that warrants him being a top 10 prospect in the Mets organization.

Prospects Plus: Met's Dominic Smith

Name: Dominic Smith
Organization: New York Mets
Team: Savannah Sand Gnats
Position: First Base
Stats Friday against the BlueClaws: 2-4 with a double and a run scored

Positives: Smith, the fourth ranked player in the Mets system,  relies on a smooth left-handed swing that is expected to generate power potential down the line as he continues to grow and mature. Smith also has a good eye at the plate.  He is considered an excellent fielder at the position, and has a plus arm to go with it. Smith, a first rounder in 2013, showed a nice piece of hitting when he took a pitch the other way for a double on Friday night.

Negatives: His biggest problem is a propensity to step towards the pitch and hit the ball way out in front.Another issue is he just needs a little more refinement in his approach. Some scouts complain that Smith can get overeager, swinging at breaking balls out of the zone that smart hitters learn to ignore.

Prospects Plus: OTWT MOCK DRAFT

It's almost time for the MLB Draft and the scouting staff at OTWT has been busy breaking down film on these propects. Here is our mock first round (hopefully, it will be better than last years):

•  1. Houston Astros: Mark Appel, P, Stanford
• 2. Chicago Cubs: Jonathan Gray, P, Oklahoma
• 3. Colorado Rockies: Colin Moran, 3B/1B, UNC
• 4. Minnesota Twins: Kohl Steward, P, Texas HS (pictured right)
• 5. Cleveland Indians: Kris Bryant, 3B, San Diego
• 6. Miami Marlins:Hunter Renfroe, OF, Mississippi State
• 7. Boston Red Sox: Clint Frazier, OF, Georgia HS
• 8. Kansas City Royals: Austin Meadows, OF, Geogria HS
• 9. Pittsburgh Pirates (M. Appel - unsigned): Braden Shipley, P, Nevada
• 10. Toronto Blue Jays: Trey Ball, P, Indina HS
• 11. New York Mets: Austin Wilson, OF, Stanford
• 12. Seattle Mariners: Dominic Smith, 1B, California HS
• 13. San Diego Padres:JP Crawford, SS, California HS
• 14. Pittsburgh Pirates: Nick Ciuffo, C, South Carolina HS
• 15. Arizona Diamondbacks:Ryne Stanek, P, Arkansas
• 16. Philadelphia Phillies:Robert Kaminsky, P, New Jersey HS
• 17. Chicago White Sox: Jonathan Denney, C, Oklahoma HS
• 18. Los Angeles Dodgers: Sean Manaea, P, Indiana State
• 19. St. Louis Cardinals: Reese McGuire, C, Washington HS
• 20. Detroit Tigers: Billy McKinney, OF, Texas HS
• 21. Tampa Bay Rays: Bobby Wahl, P, Ole Miss
• 22. Baltimore Orioles: Aaron Judge, OF, Fresno State
• 23. Texas Rangers: Ian Clarkin, P, California HS
• 24. Oakland Athletics: Jonathan Crawford, P, Florida
• 25. San Francisco Giants: Chris Anderson, P, Jacksonville

Professional Tailgating: Dollar Dog Night

So baseball season is in full swing and the OTWT head to Philly for our first trip to Citizens Bank Park for dollar dog night. By the way the Phillies hammered the Mets 8-3 during the game but the real story was the hot dogs.

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.

Prospects Plus: The New Generation K

Almost 20 years ago, baseball insiders were buzzing about three over the top Mets pitching prospects that were supposed to take over baseball, Generation K. Bill Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen, and Paul Wilson where billed as pitcher that were going to take over MLB. Injuries limited them and derailed most of their careers.

Fast forward to today and the Pirates are set to have three pitching prospects that will rival Generation K. The Pirates set of prospects include Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole and Mark Appel. The trio are set to rivals any groups of pitching prospects in the history of baseball.


Jameson Taillon, a 2010 first round pick, has an impressive arsenal of pitches. Taillon has  a fastball that already sits in the mid-90s with movement and a devastating curve ball — rated by most to be the two best pitches in his draft class— Taillon has two potentially plus-plus pitches in his arsenal. Taillon is currently pitching in Class A ball in the Florida State League.

Gerrit Cole (above), the first overall pick in 2011, features some of the best stuff currently  in the minors. To say Cole has outstanding stuff would be an understatement. His four-seam fastball sits 96-98 MPH touching 99 MPH frequently and occasionally flirting with triple digits. Cole attacks the zone with his four-seamer; he's not afraid to throw it up or down, inside or out. While he primarily uses his four-seamer, Cole also mixes in a two-seam fastball sitting 91-94 MPH with solid sink. His fastball command has improved greatly since his high school days and now is firmly above-average.It's very rare to say this about a pitcher who throw upper-90's, but Cole's fastball is not his best pitch; his changeup is. Coming in 83-86 MPH with rare late tumble, he has a true swing-and-miss changeup. Despite his curve flashing plus potential when he was in high school, Cole has shifted his focus to a slider in college. At its absolute best, Cole's slider flashes plus but it's more consistently a notch below that. His slider sits 86-88 MPH with above-average break, but the pitch is obviously still a little raw. Cole is currently in Double A and could be with the big club by the end of the season.

Mark Appeal, a 2012 first round pick, is one of the most complete pitchers in college baseball this year. Appeal has a fastball that sits in the mid-90 and an good breaking ball that is going to only get better. Because of his build some people compare him to Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain.

While nothing is guaranteed, the Pirates have the foundation to have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball in the next couple of years or they could end up like Generation K and give their struggling fan base shattered dreams.

Professional Tailgating: A return to the ballpark

Nothing beats your first baseball game of the year and on Saturday the crew headed to the Mets and Phillies game. Here are some of the sights and sounds from the game. The Mets beat the Phillies 5-0.

Buffalo Style Sunflower seeds what could be better

Everyone gathering before the game

After being a jerk, this Mets fan is escorted from his seat

Professional Tailgating: The Fifth Beatle

On Friday night the world was introduced to the fifth Beatle, Vance Worley. Worley made the start for the Phillies and dominated the Mets. Are are some of the sights from it.

It looked like a filming of the Kung Fu movie before the game started.

 Its a little early to be voting for the All Star Game

 Going ole school Nails

 These guy thought they were at a Flyers playoff game.

Professional Tailgating: Its a great night for a football game

It was a great night for a football game, too bad it was a baseball game that was scheduled to be played. For my first baseball game of the year, I went to the Phillies and Mets game on Tuesday night and boy was it cold

Citizens Bank Park new fancy HD scoreboard

 Yes those clouds are cold and dark

 I had joked with a bunch of people about seeing Kyle Kendrick and guess what he was pitching, thanks to a terrible outing by Cole Hammels

 By the fifth inning, it was on to reading the media guide in order to pass the time

Falling down

I was driving home from work yesterday, listening to my XM Radio and found a familar voices come on, former ESPN analist and Mets GM Steve Phillips. Instead of working for one of the best best networks on tv or running a major market baseball team, Phillips is now the co-host of a fantasy baseball show on XM Radio's Fantasy Sports Radio, now that is a long fall. After working with the greatest of the game he is now working with such great personalities as Anita Marks and Matt Camps, now that is big time.

The fall from grace started, on October 21, 2009 when it was revealed that Phillips had been involved in an affair with a 22-year-old ESPN production assistant. After an initial suspension by ESPN, Phillips was fired by the company on October 25, 2009.

While some people think Phillips is a hack on TV, I was always in the other camp. I thought that he was a fun to listen to and one of the better ESPN guys. Its just surprising to see fall this far.

MLB Draft quick thoughts

I'm a draft geek and I admit that, so here is my quick thoughts on the MLB Draft:
• It was great to see Gammons back making good points, excellent points on why college catchers have not developed because they don't call their own pitches.
• No Strasburg/Harper battery in the future, disappointing but it makes sense. Don't get him killed behind the plate.
• Love Drew Pomeranz. Great stuff and he should be fast tracked to the big league.
• UNC Matt Harvey is a potential ace, the Mets are getting big time arm. Love the picked.
• MLB Network is getting better at the draft but they need to show more of Mayo and Callis. Hart and Reynolds are just not in the same league and bring nothing to the table.
• I would love to see MLB Network take the draft to next level and show Cape Code League games.
• This is why the Rays are so good and have so much talent on the farm, they make the right choices during the draft and they did it again with OF Josh Sale.
• Rockies and Kyle Parker, the second qb the Rockies have taken Todd Helton being the first and that worked out well.
• Gammons: "Parker only 20/20 player in draft 20 hr 20 td passes" great line.
• The Dodgers took a guy they have no intention of signing, Zach Lee. They are not spending the money, take the pick next year in a draft that scouts say is deeper.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Please Make it Stop

So on Saturday, my brother and I headed to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phillies and Mets. Besides seeing a great pitching performance by Roy Halladay, another thing stood out in my mind, why are so many girls with big sunglasses at the game.

During the game, two girls were sitting across the isle from us and both had on the trade mark huge sunglasses. The pair looked like they were headed to a club for a night rather then an afternoon baseball game. At one point during the game, in between text messages on their blackberrys, one girl kept putting on lip gloss like she was going to meet a couple of guys. I don't think that they watched the game for more then two minutes.

Then there were two other girls in our section that had tight mini-skirts on and heels and kept getting up, with one hand on their blackberry and the other hand on their beer, to walk around the stadium. If you asked the pair to explain what was going on, they would only be able to tell you that they are meeting their friends at a club after the game.

I know this rant sounds sexist, which in some ways it might, but their is a point. I'm not against girls going to baseball. I am against girls that treat the game like some type of club they go to on a Friday night. So true fans of the game that are girls are more then welcome to go, but girls that wear the big sunglasses and high heels to the games are not welcome.

Professional Tailgating: The Doctor is in the house

So the OTWT Tailgating crew headed to Citizens Back Park yesterday for the Phils and Mets game. The game featured a great pitching match up between Mike Pelfrey and Roy Halladay.

Flyers goal scorer Jeff Carter, who will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury, watches his teammates battle the Bruins in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at McFaddens

The Doctor warms up for his start. The Doctor was amazing another complete game shutout.

Nothing says baseball like a four wheeler that shoots pork products

Jason Werth really needs to get a uniform that fits, he makes Barry Bonds seem form fitting

A Tale of Two Cities

At the start of the year, the Mets and Phillies were supposed to battle to the end for the NL East crown, but that has not happened. Just take a look at the back pages of the Philly Daily News (left) and the New York Daily News (right) and the story will be told.

The Phillies are talking about if they want to give up Kyle Drabek in a deal for Toronto ace Roy Halladay, while the Mets have a fine mess built around attacks on beat writer and a executive who wanted to fight a group of minors leagues.

The two front pages could not better tell the story of the two teams different stories. The Phillies are trying for back to back World Series titles, while the Mets are just trying to get people to take them seriously.

Professional Taigating: Christmas in the City

On Saturday, part of the Only Time Will Tell Tailgating Crew took a trip to big city to see the holiday sights and sounds. There was no shortage of sports related sites int he big city.

Lebron James looks down on the city, Knicks fans hope that he is in the city for good in 2010.

It's snowing golf balls at New York Golf Center

The NBA store was into the Christmas Spirit.

Mr. Met is really excited about K-Rod and J.J. coming to the Mets pen.

Gary Carter in tall bobble head form, not that good.

Party like its 1993

A year ago the Phillies shocked the world and chased down the Mets for the division title, now this year they are headed to the World Series. Here is how some of the papers around country covered Phillies win over the Dodgers.

Philadelphia Daily News

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Camden Courier Post

The Press Enterprise (CA)

Meet the Mets Post Season Style

The final day of the baseball season featured many twist and turns, from the Mets closing Shea Stadium to the amount of beer the Brewers drank. Here are how some of the newspapers covered the action from the final day.

The Philly Inquirer says bring on the Brewers

The Star Ledger covers the sad last day of the season for the Mets.
The Record sums its up in one word, Heartbreaking.

The Journal Sentinel covers the Brew Crew celebration

The Mets do it again

By Endy in the Outfield
The tension went on "far too long" according to Omar not even a day after showing the door to Willie, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto.

Omar also went on to say how it was hard to fire a friend. So hard that he made it extra hard on Randolph by dragging him out to Anaheim the day after a father's day double header in which they nearly came back and won the first and managed to win the 2nd game. Then makes him fly cross country to sunny Anaheim,has him manage a game that the Mets actually win that started at 10 PM ET (7PT). Still Omar waits until his good friend Willie is out of his uniform and dressed because "it's disrespectful to fire a manager while still in his uniform."

Then of course he calls Willie to his Hotel room along with the Jacket and Notorious Nieto and all are fired the respectful way at 3:15 AM ET after flying 3000 miles and winning the ballgame they just participated in. Like most Mets fans the firing didn't upset me or surprise me, it's the respectful manner in which the Big O went about it.

Willie (right) was never one of US. He was drafted by the Yanks in '72 and made his MLB debut in '75 at 21 years old and went on to make six all star appearances as a Yank, win 2 World Series, and the Silver Slugger award in 1988. After making brief but successful appearances in LA (Dodgers), Oakland, and Milwaukee he finally came to the Mets as the 8th oldest player in the NL. Like his managing for the Mets his playing didn't fare so well. He had the 2nd worst avg. of his career .252, the worst RBIs in a season for his career and one of the 3 worst seasons of OPB% and SL%. When his career was over and he became a bench coach for the Yankees, he once again had tremendous success winning 4 world series and was a part in the great 1998 NYY World Series season. Then, of course, he came to the Mets.

After finishing in 3rd in the division in the "Wait Til Next Year Season", next year finally came and Willie finally helped end the Braves run atop the division and finished first for the first time well over a decade. The time appeared to be now after the Mets went to the NLCS and lost game 7 but started the 07 season hot, but since it's Willie as a Met the season tanked as the Mets blew the division in the last month of the season.

Did I mention Willie has NEVER been a Met?

And the Jacket, oh how we loathe the jacket. Hey Rick (right) baseball is played in the summer, in hot temperatures. Take off the fuckin jacket. We all know that your reasoning for wearing the jacket is for all its useful pockets. Well obviously you have nothing useful in those pockets, nothing that could fix Victor Zambrano in 15 minutes, nothing that could reason with Heath Bell, nothing that could get his starting pitchers to throw more than 6 innings, ABSOLUTELY FUCKIN NOTHING IN THOSE POCKETS. Unless hes smuggling drugs in there or something, if that's the case I don't blame him. Gotta smuggle them into that side show somehow.

And of course the most controversial and most talked about of the three firings, Tom Nieto (left). Nieto played six season in the majors from 84 til, well, when who actually gives a fuk, it's Tom Nieto. The only reason he got canned is now it'll be easier to fill another managerial spot with another latino to make the Mets Latino staff quota.

Now Jerry Manuel, this is your time, a former manager of the year for the White Sox with a .515 career winning avg as a manager is ready for the job I'm sure. All the players should respect a man of his caliber and I'm sure none of them would ever show him up on the field in the first inning of his first game as Mets manager.

Shame on you Jose.

Who doesn't love a mock Baseball Draft??

Out of all of drafts, the Major League Baseball Draft might be the toughest to predict. Sometimes players drop because of the signing bonuses they want, while other times Scott Boras scares some teams away.

So with that spelled out, Only Time Will Tell is going to sticks its neck out there and try to predict the first round of the draft that will be held June 6. For the last couple of weeks the Only Time Will Tell Scouting Department has been reviewing scouting reports and watching the conference baseball tournaments to create his mock draft.

FIRST ROUND
1. Tampa Bay Rays (pictured above): Tim Beckham, SS, Griffin (Ga) High School
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt
3. Kansas City Royals: Brian Matusz, P, San Diego
4. Baltimore Orioles: Aaron Crow, P, Missouri
5. San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey, C, Florida State
6. Florida Marlins: Yonder Alonso, 1B, Miami
7. Cincinnati Reds: Gordon Beckman, SS, Georgia
8. Chicago White Sox: Kyle Skipworth, C, Patriot High School (Rubidoux, Cal.)
9. Washington Nationals: Justin Smoak (pictured above), 1B, South Carolina.
10. Houston Astros: Eric Hosmer, 1B, Plantation High School, (Fla.)
11. Texas Rangers: Christain Fredrich, LHP, Eastern Kentucky
12. Oakland Athletics: Brett Wallace, 3B, Arizona State.
13. St. Louis Cardinals: Tim Melville, P, Holt High School (Wentzville, Mo.)
14. Minnesota Twins: Brett Lawrie, OF, Brookswood Secondary School (Langley BC)
15. Los Angeles Dodgers: Shooter Hunt, RHP, Tulane
16. Milwaukee Brewers: Joshua Fields, RHP, Georgia
17. Toronto Blue Jays: Andrew Cashner, RHP, Texas Christian
18. New York Mets (Glavine/Braves): Casey Kelly, SS, Sarasota (Fla.)
19. Chicago Cubs:Jason Castro, C, Stanford
20. Seattle Mariners:Aaron Hicks, OF/RHP, Long Beach Wilson (Ca.)
21. Detroit Tigers: Reese Havens, SS, South Carolina.
22. New York Mets: Gerrit Cole, RHP, Orange Lutheran HS (Ca.)
23. San Diego Padres: Ethan Martin, RHP/3B, Stephens County HS (Ga.)
24. Philadelphia Phillies:Daniel Sclereth, LHP, Arizona.
25. Colorado Rockies:Brett DeVall, LHP, Niceville HS (Fla.)
26. Arizona Diamondbacks: Ike Davis, OF, Arizona State.
27. Minnesota Twins (Hunter/Angels): Jemile Weeks, 2B, Miami.
28. New York Yankees: Alex Meyer, RHP, Greensburg HS (Ind.)
29. Cleveland Indians: Ryan Perry, RHP, Arizona.
30. Boston Red Sox:Anthony Hewitt,SS,Salisbury School (Conn.)

COMP ROUND A
31. Minnesota Twins (Hunter/Angels):Zach Collier, LF, Chino Hills HS (Cal.)
32. Milwaukee Brewers (Cordero/Reds): Connor Gillaspie, 3B, Wichita State
33. New York Mets (Glavine/Braves): Tanner Scheppers,RHP, Fresno State
34. Philadelphia Phillies (Rowand/Giants): Kyle Russell, OF, Texas
35. Milwaukee Brewers (Linebrink/White Sox): Brett Hunter, RHP, Pepperdine
36. Kansas City Royals (Riske/Brewers): James Darnell, 3B/OF, South Carolina
37. San Francisco Giants (Feliz/Phillies):Jody Mercer, SS, Oklahoma State
38. Houston Astros (Miller/Rays):Ross Seaton, RHP, Second Baptist HS (Tex.)
39. St. Louis Cardinals (Percival/Rays): Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Highland HS (Ill.)
40. Atlanta Braves (Mahay/Royals): Xavier Avery, OF, Cedar Grove HS (Ga.)
41. Chicago Cubs (Kendall/Brewers): Dustin Hood, OF, Episcopal HS, (Ala.)
42. San Diego Padres )(Brocail/Astros): Tim Murphy, LHP, UCLA
43. Arizona Diamondbacks (Hernandez/Twins): Kyle Lobstein, LHP, Coconion HS (Ari.)
44. New York Yankees (Vizcaino/Rockies): Tyler Sample, RHP, Mullen HS (Col.)
45. Boston Red Sox (Gagne/Brewers):Jordan Danks, OF, Texas
46. San Diego Padres (Cameron/Brewers):David Cooper, 1B, California