Post by yanks26 on May 13, 2009 17:29:13 GMT -5
Nats to select 17 year old Neal Smith first overall in this year’s draft
Washington DC- After a lot of scouting and choice making the Nationals GM decided that in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, he will select Neal Smith with the first pick. Smith who lives in Ohio would have loved to be taken by the Cleveland Indians and help rebuild them but he also thinks it is nice to rebuild the Nationals. Here is what he had to say, “I am up for any challenge that gets thrown at me. Or that I will throw to batters.”
Now since we were on his pitching ability let’ stay there. Neal’s best pitch is his wicked fastball. It has ranges of velocity from 92-96 MPH. He mainly throws that pitch when he needs to get out of a jam because it is his best pitch and for sure, in the top 5 of all fastballs in this draft class. His second pitch is a rather strange one. He throws a fosh ball. In case you do not know what that is, it is a seldom used pitch in major league baseball. It is done by gripping the ball like a splitter then putting your ring and pinky on the side of the ball. The only player to have used it successful was Redsock Al Nipper. Roger Clemens has attempted this but it did not work. People say Kerry Wood throws one but it is not that good. He says it is “something” but he will only use it twice or three times a game to set up his fastball. His final pitch is a curve ball but this pitch needs lot’s of improvement before we can say much about it. The bottom line is that like I said, the fastball is the deal.
His stats have been pretty spectacular also. Last year, he led all high school students in Ohio with a 1.95 ERA in almost 88 innings. He is not a big strike out pitcher but he did record 66, tied for his amount in 2007. He has been lights out his whole high school career except for his 9th grade year, but that does not count. So far this year he already set his strike out record with 71 in more then 14 innings pitched less then last year. His ERA is more realistic, at 3.75 but he is still great. He has tons and tons of impressive stats. All of them can be seen here:
This is it on Smith now. More might be posted after draft day. Keep looking.
Edit- the order of these stats are:
Year
Age
Team
G
GS
W
L
Pct.
ERA
IP
R
ER
H
HR
BB
K
OBA
HB
WP
CG
SO
SV
BS
DICE
Washington DC- After a lot of scouting and choice making the Nationals GM decided that in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, he will select Neal Smith with the first pick. Smith who lives in Ohio would have loved to be taken by the Cleveland Indians and help rebuild them but he also thinks it is nice to rebuild the Nationals. Here is what he had to say, “I am up for any challenge that gets thrown at me. Or that I will throw to batters.”
Now since we were on his pitching ability let’ stay there. Neal’s best pitch is his wicked fastball. It has ranges of velocity from 92-96 MPH. He mainly throws that pitch when he needs to get out of a jam because it is his best pitch and for sure, in the top 5 of all fastballs in this draft class. His second pitch is a rather strange one. He throws a fosh ball. In case you do not know what that is, it is a seldom used pitch in major league baseball. It is done by gripping the ball like a splitter then putting your ring and pinky on the side of the ball. The only player to have used it successful was Redsock Al Nipper. Roger Clemens has attempted this but it did not work. People say Kerry Wood throws one but it is not that good. He says it is “something” but he will only use it twice or three times a game to set up his fastball. His final pitch is a curve ball but this pitch needs lot’s of improvement before we can say much about it. The bottom line is that like I said, the fastball is the deal.
His stats have been pretty spectacular also. Last year, he led all high school students in Ohio with a 1.95 ERA in almost 88 innings. He is not a big strike out pitcher but he did record 66, tied for his amount in 2007. He has been lights out his whole high school career except for his 9th grade year, but that does not count. So far this year he already set his strike out record with 71 in more then 14 innings pitched less then last year. His ERA is more realistic, at 3.75 but he is still great. He has tons and tons of impressive stats. All of them can be seen here:
This is it on Smith now. More might be posted after draft day. Keep looking.
Edit- the order of these stats are:
Year
Age
Team
G
GS
W
L
Pct.
ERA
IP
R
ER
H
HR
BB
K
OBA
HB
WP
CG
SO
SV
BS
DICE
