Here
are some more reports on the 2007 Aflac All Americans.
We will be posting reports on all 38 players over the next week.
Time will tell if this group matches up with the best Aflac All American
classes, but there is no doubt that this was one of the very best classes, on
and off the field!
Adrian
Neito EAST C 6-0/195, B/R, American Heritage,Hialeah, FL
Summer
Team – All American Prospects (FL)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Nieto has been recovering from a
sore arm most of the summer. We
struggled with selecting him because we weren’t positive he would be able to
throw from behind the plate. He is
fully recovered and showed a plus arm during the week in
San
Diego
and in the game.
Adrian
is a very good receiver, but his best attribute is the bat.
He can hit and hit with power from both sides of the plate.
He was a finalist in the HR Derby and swung from the right side, so
guess we have to think that side has a bit more power.
But he has a pretty swing from the left side and we’ve seen him hit it a
long ways. Nieto is a lot of fun
to be around. There is no question
about how much he loves the game. During
BP at Tony Gwynn Stadium they played a song from the movie Rocky.
Some of the guys on deck doing their best impression; let out a couple
“ADRIAN,
ADRIAN
’s” Neito smiled and got a big kick out of that.
He was one of the most well liked players in
San
Diego
.
Ethan
Martin EAST 3B 6-3/200, R/R,
Stephens
County,
Toccoa, GA
Summer
Team – East Cobb (GA)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Martin is one of the top talents
in this class. He’s a highest
level athlete and another of the Aflac All Americans who is a football star.
Martin’s arm strength is a real eye opener.
He throws easy 90+ across the infield and can throw mid 90s on the
mound. He has that same easy bat
speed and hit several long balls over 400 feet during practice and the HR
Derby. Martin tied with Destin
Hood for the HR Derby Championship.
We threw him an inning in Thursday’s scrimmage.
He topped out at 93 mph but was very wild.
It wasn’t until later that we found out Ethan Martin has been playing
here with a broken thumb on his right (throwing) hand.
It’s a crack at the tip of the thumb.
Doctors told him there’s not much they can do for it and that he could play as
long as he can put up with the pain.
When we asked him to pitch he did not say no.
Ethan Martin showed us something in
San
Diego
. He’s not only
extremely talented, he is also very tough.
Martin (it’s a common theme this year) has championship caliber makeup and was
well liked by his team mates. These
guys did everything they were supposed to do and still had a blast doing it.
Andy
Burns WEST SS, 6-1/180, R/R, Rocky Mountain, Ft. Collins, CO
Summer
Team – High School (CO)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Burns is one of the top players
we’ve seen come out of
Colorado
in a long time. He combines nice
athletic actions with a solid arm, good hands and feet.
He runs well and has excellent instincts.
His best attribute is his hitting ability.
He has a controlled easy swing that creates serious bat speed.
He’s going to hit for average and power. Burns has the body and talent
to play baseball for a long time. Some
compare him to Peter Kozma, a player we had at the PG National in 2006 and a
first round pick. We’ve heard comparisons to Ryne Sandberg and that actually
makes sense. He not only plays the
game well he shows a lot of class in the way he carries himself.
He does everything very well and his bat has a chance to be extra
special. More importantly Andy
Burns is yet another outstanding young man with great makeup.
The type that baseball needs as we enter into the next era.
Jack
Armstrong EAST RHP/1B, 6-7/200, R/R, Jupiter, Jupiter, FL
Summer
Team – All American Prospects (FL)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Armstrong is the son of the former
major league pitcher by the same name. Jack Sr. was good, young Jack might end
up being better. Armstrong was the
winning pitcher in the Aflac Game after starting the game at first base.
He was also the only pitcher who did not top out at 90 or better.
That didn’t matter to us because we have seen him throw up to 92 in the
past. Seeing Jack pump his fist
after the last pitch strikeout was very revealing and in a good way.
This kid competes!!! He
didn’t have his very best stuff but he was not going to lose this game.
At 6-7 he is going to be a pitcher, but he’s also an absolutely
outstanding athlete. He can hit
and hit with power, almost making the final four in the HR Derby.
Those who remember Ozzie Smith doing those flips when he took the field,
imagine a 6’7” pitcher who can stand flat footed and do a complete back
flip gracefully landing back on his feet. That is what Armstrong can do.
Yes, he is a star
All
State
basketball player as well. On this
day it was Armstrong’s will and a very good curveball that stood out.
He pitched the final two innings, striking out four to get the win.
The bottom was falling out of that curveball.
What a performance he put on!
After the game he said, “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever been involved
with” We learned a lot in
San
Diego
about Jack Armstrong, and it was all good.
He’s still another of these very likable guys who is and will be a great role
model for younger people.
Quinton
Miller EAST RHP, 6-2/180, R/R,
Shawnee,
Medford, NJ
Summer
Team –
Tri
State
Arsenal (NJ)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Miller is a very talented pitcher
who we’ve seen at the top of his game.
This was not one of his best performances by a long ways.
Quinton has been recovering from a minor arm problem this summer and has
looked very good at times. When
he’s at his best, he dominates with low 90’s velocity with a very lively
fastball that he seems to spot exactly where he wants.
His off speed pitches are equally effective.
He just looked a bit tired during the Aflac game and didn’t
show his usual velocity or command.
However, he did throw his very last pitch 90 mph.
Truth is, Quinton Miller is not the type you can judge correctly on one
or two innings of work in an All Star game.
Watching him pitch 7 innings is a treat.
This kid can really pitch and it’s fun to watch him carve up hitters.
Quinton is yet another of the many Aflac All American’s who all week
long displayed the type of character that stands out in the crowd.
He has a very bright future.
Brett
DeVall EAST LHP, 6-4/205, R/L, Rutherford,
Panama City, FL
Summer
Team – East Cobb (GA)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
DeVall is a finesse type lefty who
throws easily in the low 90’s. In
fact, that’s exactly what he did in his two innings of work in the Aflac game.
We’ve seen him up as high as 94 but he just doesn’t need that extra
velocity to be effective. His
stuff is that good and we mean the stuff on all his pitches.
DeVall is one of the very top pitching prospects in next year’s draft
class. He has three quality plus
pitches, with outstanding life and movement, and he has great command of all
three pitches. He’s as polished a
high school pitcher as you will see.
To think he has that extra velocity if he wants it is a bit scary.
Brett conducts himself very professionally both on and off the field.
He very much appears to be that blue collar type that professional clubs
love. Last year at this time there
was a lot of talk about the top high school lefties.
Three of them were on the same East Cobb summer/fall team along with
DeVall. Smoker, McGeary and Vineyard were the other lefties. Smoker and
Vineyard were early picks and McGeary was the guy some people thought was the
best. Smoker and DeVall were the
top lefties on that team in our estimation.
And DeVall is the much bigger of the two.
This guy has a chance to be an extra special major league pitcher.
Austin
Wright WEST LHP, 6-3/210, L/L, Conant,
Schaumburg, IL
Summer
Team –
McHenry
County
Hurricanes (IL)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Wright actually looks bigger than
his listed size. We’ve seen him
very good in the past and he didn’t disappoint us in the Aflac Classic.
He has a slow but smooth delivery that seems to create good leverage.
His arm works smoothly and his fastball can explode on hitters.
He shows three pitches that have a chance to be MLB quality.
His breaking ball was better this time than we had seen earlier in the
year. Wright might end up throwing
mid 90s because he could still get a little more momentum going.
He also showed a very good left-handed swing with serious bat speed and
power possibilities. Of course,
that is secondary because this kid’s future is as a strong, durable lefty on
the mound. Wright seems like a
quiet sort who just goes about doing his job.
He will be one of the more interesting guys to follow for the next nine months.
Anything is possible here.
Chris
Amezquita WEST INF/RHP, 6-2/190,
R/R, Servite,
La Mirada,
CA
Summer
Team – San Gabrial Valley Arsenal (CA)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Amezquita is one of the most
interesting prospects in the nation.
We named him the top 2-way player at our National Showcase in June.
He really looks the part with his MLB body and good looks.
He is very strong and should hit with good power.
Amezquita is fairly polished but with some big tools.
His arm strength is a definite plus and he shows it in the field and on
the mound. We’ve seen him throw 92
on the mound and 90+ across the infield.
He has nice actions and probably profiles best at 3B in pro ball.
Chris’s bat is what makes him all that more intriguing.
He has a professional, compact fluid swing that looks very easy for him.
The ball jumps off his bat in a hurry.
He didn’t show us that much power in San Diego as we’ve seen before, but the
key is, we have seen that power before and know it’s there.
His game at bats are usually better than his BP sessions.
He can hit top level pitching.
Amezquita is still another of these guys with great makeup.
He shows respect for the game, his team mates and coaches… and not that
it matters he even shows respect for us.
This is another real good kid with a bright future.
Ricky
Oropesa WEST 3B/1B/RHP, 6-2/215,
L/R, Etiwanda,
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Summer
Team – San Gabrial Valley Arsenal (CA)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Oropesa is very much a power type
player. He has one of the
strongest arms of any infielder in the country and he can hit a baseball as far
as most any hitter in high school baseball. His
BP sessions are fun to watch as he will hit some monster shots that leave the
park in a hurry. For some reason he slumped a bit in the HR contest but game
day BP was a treat to watch. He
put on quite a show. Oropesa is a
big, strong young man who you would think is physically mature.
But one look at his young face tells you he has room to get bigger and
even stronger in the future. Right
now it’s hard to pigeon hole him at any position and there’s still plenty of
time for that. He only needs to
relax his arms a bit and he will enter the highest level of power hitters.
His approach appears just a little tight which works in BP but can cause
problems with changes of speed. At
any rate he is a serious talent. Pitching
is certainly in the mix too. He
didn’t throw from the mound this week, but he has mid 90 capability on the
mound. In fact, we have already seen him throw up to 94 mph in
Cincinnati
this year. Once again, Oropesa
joins the others here in the good makeup and good kid category.
These guys this year, like Ricky Oropesa,
were just a lot of fun to be around.
Sonny
Gray EAST RHP/IF, 6-0/180, R/R,
Smyrna,
Smyrna, TN
Summer
Team –
Brentwood
A’s (TN)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Gray suffered the disappointment
of not being allowed to participate in the Aflac Game itself, but he was in
San
Diego
all week and made his mark. Sonny
and Brent Warren were given the Sportsmanship award at the Aflac Banquet.
Gray is one of those kids with great character and great personality.
One of those guys you can’t help but like.
All week he smiled and looked like he was having a blast.
Always on time, doing whatever anyone asked of him and all the while
smiling. It’s no wonder he was one
of the players team mates seemed to like the most. Then there was some practice
time involved where Sonny topped out at his customary mid 90s from the mound
and showed a real plus slider. Gray
is also an
All
State
“Shotgun” QB on his High School football team. He’s a very talented athlete who
would be a prospect as an infielder if it weren’t for his magical right arm.
Last year Jarrod Parker went early in the first round.
What is so interesting about that is that Parker was a 6-0 RHP, some
claim 5-10. Sonny Gray and Parker
are very much the same type of pitcher.
Scouts need to understand that this kid is very special in many ways other than
the electric arm everyone knows about.
Baseball needs as many Sonny Gray’s as they can lay their hands on.
It’s in the best interest of the game!
Brent
Warren – WEST – 6-3/175, L/L, Xavier, Robins, IA
Summer
Team – High School (IA)
Aflac Report: August 11th,
2007
Warren
had a good week in
San Diego
and showed some of his abilities. Due
to NCAA rules we were not able to run the 60 but we already know that he can
run well. It’s one of his best
tools.
Warren
’s story is well documented, a serious heart defect was discovered
over the past year and he had life threatening open heart surgery performed at
the Mayo Clinic over the winter. He
was informed that his career as an athlete was over, but later released to play
baseball again. A left-handed
hitter, he can occasionally hit the long ball and projects to hit them more
often. He is 100% healthy, but
still hasn’t gained the necessary strength to show off all his talent.
His arm plays well in CF. His
makeup is off the chart and if his health stays in good shape, he will have a
very bright future in the game. Those
scouts who can envision
Warren
at 200 lbs will understand what is possible here.
During the week he flashed some power including hitting one half way up
the wall of the dorms behind rightfield at
San
Diego
University
.
Warren
laid down a bunt and used his speed to get a basehit in the 5th annual
Aflac game. He also played very
well in the outfield. He pitched
two quick scoreless innings in the scrimmage on Thursday. At the Aflac Awards
banquet he was named the co-recipient of this year’s Sportsmanship award, along
with Sonny Gray (Tennessee
).
Look
for more reports coming soon