On Monday I took a look at Billy Hamilton and Chad Rogers with over 11 minutes worth of video from the two guys. Today I wanted to take a look at a prospect who has really busted onto the scene some this year in Bryson Smith and a lightning rod type of guy with Tony Cingrani.
Bryson Smith – Outfield
Bryson Smith has hit a combined .315/.364/.432 this season between Bakersfield and Pensacola. I hadn’t really had much of a chance to see him before I went to Pensacola earlier this month and he was one of the guys I was more interested in seeing because he had solid numbers and I had very limited visuals of him in games. The numbers said some good things though, he is a high contact rate hitter, though what often comes with that is also a low number of walks and with Smith the walks were few and far between. He is an aggressive hitter, swinging early in the counts more often than not. His swing is very contact oriented, which you can see in the video as he loads with his legs long before he starts his swing, which saps him of some power, but also allows him to use his hands a little more to make contact and battle off pitches that he may not otherwise be able to. He is an above average runner, which along with his ability to make a lot of contact also helps him leg out some extra hits and maintain a higher average. In Pensacola he has been moved to left field in favor of Ryan LaMarre, but from watching him I believe he can play center just fine. Overall I think that he probably profiles more as a 4th outfielder who can cover all three of your outfield positions while also being a solid guy off of the bench who can come to the plate and give you a quality at bats and make some contact when you need it. His limited power and ability to reach base that seems to be very reliant on his average may be what keeps him from being a starter in the future at the MLB level. If he can improve his walk rate some, he could find himself in a spot to challenge for a starting spot though.
Tony Cingrani – LHP
While I have been able to watch Tony Cingrani online thanks to Milb.tv this season a handful of times, seeing someone in person is always a little bit better. While I do enjoy the camera angle better from the “tv” angle because it makes it easier to compare player to player, you just can’t see everything you need to from those types of broadcasts. The first thing that jumps out to me with Cingrani is how quickly he works. When there aren’t runners on base, he gets the ball back from the catcher and is ready to go right away. He is a very quick worker. He sat in the 89-91 MPH range while hitting 92 a few times during the game, which for a lefty is slightly above average velocity. But more than that, his fastball has outstanding late life to it, which is why it is one of the better pitches in the entire system despite modest velocity. However, seeing him in person didn’t really add anything to my questions about his offspeed pitches. I still think that if he is going to remain a starting pitcher in the long run that he needs to improve in that area. His breaking ball can flash itself as a good pitch at times, but still remains far too inconsistent (flat) and he doesn’t use his change up often. The components are there to be a starter with three pitches that show something, but he is going to need to continue to work with them to be a reliable starter in the Major Leagues or a move to the bullpen could be in his future.
More to come next week.