Sunday, July 12, 2015

Scouting Reports For 2015 Giants Part 8: Coonrod, Duvall, Webb

Welcome to the Part 9 of my scouting reports series where I write my thoughts and scouting reports for the different prospects, famous or not or just I want to write something about them, of the San Francisco Giants organization. In this part 9 of the series I'll talk about the 5th round selection last year by the Giants Sam Coonrod, slugger of the year front-runner Adam Duvall, and 4th round selection last year of the Giants Logan Webb. 

FanGraphs profiles are available once you clicked on their names. Enjoy reading!

Sam Coonrod  RHP  (A)
6'2" 190 lbs.  R/R  Video: Credits to Roger Munter and BPProspectTeam

Coonrod was drafted in the 5th round of the 2014 MLB Draft, pitching as a closer that time, but the Giants showed full content that he's going to be converted to a starter and he actually started 5 games for the AZL Giants last year. This season, he's started all the games that he pitched and has shown really good stat lines this year. Even though he's listed at 190 pounds, it's pretty conservative because he definitely got the body of a guy weighing much heavier. He got that good frame with big and long legs built for pitching and could handle a pretty good load of innings. 

The Giants did a really good job in cleaning his delivery but I am still got some major concerns about it. He now stands at the first base side of the rubber with the gloves as shown in the Roger Munter video and he starts his motion with a simple side step. As he's entering in his leg kick, his glove hand and his throwing hand is already breaking apart like Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi but he does a good job hiding the ball in his leg kick and also his body. I personally think that the change is for his own preferences to possibly make him more comfortable. Now here's where I'm concerned about him. Even though he got a good and powerful arm swing and no inverted W, he got that slow-slow-fast delivery, as described by Chris O'Leary that's similar to Tommy Hanson. As what written by Chris here, I also don't like that kind of pitching because it's arm-centric, inefficient, and is vulnerable to a timing problem and inconsistencies like rushing his pitches as well as possible injuries. You'll see on Roger Munter's video what I'm trying to say. But the good thing that Coonrod shows that he doesn't stall his arm swing unlike Hanson which doesn't really pronounce Coonrod's timing issues sometimes. There's even a video where the analyst describes his good hip-shoulder separation but some issues regarding his upper body and his hips being a little bit out of sync that shows he's a little inefficient in his energy transfer, possibly losing a bit of velocity. You'll be the judge regarding that. He got that lightning quick arm due to the slow-slow-fast delivery, he lands closed and he releases his pitches on a good high 3/4 release point. He does a good job on finishing in a north-south arm path and possesses little recoil and ends up in a good fielding position where his body is directed in front of the plate. 

His repertoire consists of a good, hard fastball in the range of 90-94 MPH that tops at 96 MPH courtesy of David Lee's report (not the former Warriors forward) that got tremendous zip on it thanks to his lightning quick arm and flashes some arm-side run in the BP video. In the Munter video, he blew away Yoan Moncada with his high FB that got plus zip on it. I haven't seen his slider recently but in other videos that I have seen, it flashed above-average with decent two-plane break that's around 83-86 MPH and topped at 87 thanks to David Lee. David Lee cited the lack of changeup in his current repertoire but in college, he got one that's pretty average but got good velocity separation. So far, he does a pretty good job in repeating his delivery but there will be the underlying timing issues and the considerable effort that he throws the baseball. In the future, I feel he'll develop an average command of his pitches. 

He's doing well as a starter so far this season, he showed good swing and miss ability thanks to his 9.44 K/9 and his ERA and FIP is similar (2.78 vs. 2.83) which tells that this performance from him now might actually translate to the future. In the end, there's still some issues on his delivery to be fixed and there's some possible injury concerns but he's well-built and his stuff is above-average and a starting role is still a possibility for him.

My Grades: FB 60+ | SL 50 | CH 40+ | CMD 45

Ceiling: #4 Starter     Floor: Set-up reliever/Long-reliever     ETA: Mid-2017/2018

Adam Duvall  1B/DH  (AAA)
6'1" 205 lbs.  R/R  Video: Credits to Giant Potential and minorleagueball

Duvall is an enigma of a prospect since last year in my opinion. He has shown the true potential that he possesses as a player last year where he reached in the Majors last June and showed his above-average power. This year, his triple slash lines (AVG/OBP/SLG) are all down and his wRC+ that measures the true value of a hitter in my opinion is somewhere average compared to his above-average value last year (105 vs 144) especially for a power hitter. 

He's got a heavy, physical body that is fully mature and big thighs that help him generate that power that he got. He stayed as far back in the batter's box in his slightly open batting stance and does a good job of keeping his body weight back thanks to his front leg and his overall stance. His hands are on the level to his head but is far from his center of gravity in anticipation of the pitch. His leg kick shifts his center of mass even far back then stayed at that spot with his front leg being far in front, sort of leaning in an acute angle which can cause some issues if you don't have a plus eye and he got a pretty subpar eye. His bat moves to a pretty good position but is still pretty far back. His leaned position causes his swing to be pretty much an uppercut swing, generating loft to the ball when hit and he got good, strong hands that can still hit it with a flatter stroke. He's a back-leg oriented guy where all of the mass spins around that back leg and he sometimes helps rotate his body by using the heel of his front foot to dig and rotate. He got a pretty long swing and ends in a one-handed follow-through. He still got the plate discipline issues where he struck out 21.3% this year in the PCL. He got a good ISO (.223) that shows he translates his power into the bat and he definitely got the plus pull power and really good overall power, shown by hitting 3 homers in his latest game, all solo shots.

His big body will not make him allow to be a true runner and defensively, he's bad defending third base and definitely got little athleticism to play there so he's transferred to first base where he's no better and he's a liability. He got an average arm though but I still consider him to be better positioned as a DH in the AL because I really don't like him playing defense. He's truly a bat-first player and probably will be a bat-only player in the future and as a person entering the true prime of performance (he's 26 entering his age 27 in September 4), his time is really running out but there's still some light in the long tunnel and a trade to the AL sounds really good in my ears because I can see some flashes of Mike Napoli in him.

My Grades: Hit 45 | Power 60 | Speed 30 | Arm 45 | Glove 40

Ceiling: Everyday 1B/DH     Floor: Pinch-hitter/Bench bat     ETA: Late-2015/2016

Logan Webb  RHP  (A-)
6'2" 195 lbs.  R/R  Video: Credits to Giant Potential and Christie Webb

Webb was drafted in the 4th round in the 2014 MLB Draft out of Rocklin HS that didn't really stand out on the radar to national publicity but he has earned a lot of believers on the Giants front office to draft him and got him signed for $600,000. A dual-sport star in HS as the team's best pitcher as well as the school's starting QB, he got an athletic body that's pretty lean but he got the muscle that makes me think he can handle a good amount of innings. I can still see some room to fill in his body just to make his velocity sustainable deep into starts. 

His delivery in Giant Potential's video hasn't change much in the latest video that I saw of him courtesy of Roger Munter. He got a really athletic and a max-effort delivery. He stands on the first base side of the rubber and starts his delivery in a side step then a slight stop. His leg kick reaches up to chest level with his glove on head level. He does a good job of hiding the ball in his leg kick. His glove arm is extended fully as his throwing hand moves down to start his powerful high arm swing. There's a little problem that I noticed when he starts to pull back glove arm and heading towards the landing of his left foot. His right elbow is pointed pretty high and his right shoulder is pretty stiff for me. His shoulder is gonna handle all of the stresses that he places on it and there could be some possibilities of a shoulder issue someday but it's not a real red flag, more of a caution. My shoulder hurts whenever I try to do it. He lands closed in his delivery and does a good job for not leaking out the energy that he created. He got really good hip-shoulder separation as he's still really closed that really creates the velocity that he possesses. I'm a little concern though as hitters with a really good pair of eyes can see the ball and possibly the grip for a short moment before releasing it on a pretty high 3/4 release point. To compensate for the moments that the hitters can see the ball before releasing, he possesses a plus arm speed. He finishes with a north-south arm path and falls off to the first base side on his follow-through. If I can teach Kyle Crick how to fix his mechanics, I'm going to base it on Logan Webb's.

He got a fastball that's in the range of 89-94 MPH on the radar gun from what I saw on Twitter but it can really reach up to 96 MPH during his high school days. He possibly added a sinker on his repertoire to get more groundballs and not rely on pure velocity. His four-seam clearly got the zip and will overpower hitters. His curveball flashes above-average but is inconsistent in terms of the late break and lacked the depth that a good curveball possesses sometimes and could just be an average pitch down the road. He releases his curveball just slightly lower than his fastball. He also showed some feel for the slider that also flashes above-average potential with a decent to good break in it. His changeup lags behind but it got the same motion and release point as his fastball but it really lacks in the movement category. The lack of a plus offspeed pitch shows on his stat sheet as he only racked up 13 Ks in 25 IP. Even though he got a max effort guy, he got the feel for his body and the athleticism to repeat it pretty well and has shown a pitchability that's ahead of his young age of 18 to make me think that he got the potential to have good command down the road. 

He got overworked in HS but the Giants know how to protect their precious arms and Webb will be a project, but there's a lot of positives to build on the guy (stuff, athleticism and advanced feel for pitching, tremendous competitive spirit and hard-nosed attitude) to make me think that he's going to be a starter for us. 

My Grades: FB 60 | SL 45+ (50+ to 55 ceiling) | CB 45 (50 ceiling) | CH 40+ (45+ ceiling) | CMD 45+ (50+ ceiling)

Ceiling: #3-4 Starter     Floor: #5 Starter/Long reliever     ETA: 2019/2020


That's the end of part 9 of my scouting report series! I may not be correct on some of the info but I try to write the most thoughts that I can write on the guy. I am going to watch the Futures Game tomorrow and write-up what I saw on the Young Beedah and Keury Mella in their outings as maybe their spotlight moment as well as how their stuff's been this season, especially Beede. Also expect to see a Something Extra portion tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this one. Cheers!

10 comments:

  1. Love that the Giants have several of these 3'rd tier pitching prospects who have not gotten a lot of press, but are actually quite good. Hard throwers with good results on the field. Coonrod and Webb are two of them and I am thinking Chase Johnson belongs in that group and Joe Biagini seems to have emerged in a similar profile. Love that Webb is pitching in Short Season ball with all the college draftees at the age of 18. He doesn't even turn 19 until November! Great stuff!

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    1. I agree with you DrB that there are a lot of pitchers like Biagini, Chase Johnson and Coonrod that are receiving little to no national attention whatsoever but are actually performing well especially Biagini where he gets the nod for starting the AA All-Star Game.

      I liked Webb when he was drafted because he's a mystery guy that's a dual-sport guy and a FB at 96. I can support behind that. What I don't expect is that he'll be having a feel for pitching like he's a college junior draftee. It just impresses me and he's just 18! Really great stuff!

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    2. Biagini -- I keep wondering if he's for real or it's just 'one of those years.' No way to know until he flames out or progresses, so I'll just keep hoping for the best.

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    3. Well, that's the doubt about the guys who suddenly became good from an average season last year. I think Biagini can handle this kind of success that he's enjoying so far because he pitched 125-ish innings last year. The Ks will not probably return back though. I think he can still be a trade chip or a long reliever for us, possibly replacing Petit.

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  2. Beede looked solid in his inning of work.Umpire missed a called third strike on the first hitter.

    Muella looks like a future reliever.His delivery reminded me of Fernando Rodney.He still needs to work on his off speed pitches.

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    1. Yeah. Beede's outing is good. Mella's command is probably still on the plane and his stuff is there. I'm gonna write-up on that.

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  3. Arroyo with 3 more hits tonight.

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  4. Another terrible outing for Crick.Three more walks.

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  5. A quick comment on Dylan Davis.When we drafted him.He size reminded me of Billingsley.

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    1. Christian seems to be ready for a bigger assignment. Cal League is just too easy for him to handle. Crick though. The master of inconsistency but I'm patient. I'll give him the full year next year to transition to a good reliever. I thought Dylan Davis will be a pitcher but he's an outfielder right now. I think we're wasting the arm.

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