Off Topic
Travelblog of Thom S. Hunter
Editor’s Note: Dammit. Far as I can tell this idiot idea of a beat reporter is going to stick. Guess he’s got low friends in high places. Or at least high friends. And I like to eat, and I got a wife and three kids (that I know of) who need clothes and sneakers. So I got nothing to do but to let the guy write whatever he writes. Good luck reading it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
September 19, 2057: Port au Prince – After Ares Xanthos left the Blue Cup, the Goon and I got to talking about a couple other players we’ve seen here. That’s another good thing about the Goon. He actually likes baseball. Said he wanted to be a DH, but that Hugh Mangrouthormone went and stole all his power genes, so now all’s he’s got to make his living on is wrapping his fists around a bat and bashing a few heads.
On him, it works.
But he still loves the game, and he can talk though all the nuances.
The name that comes up is a starting pitcher named Lanny Reed.
There’s folks who think the kid is a real prospect, and maybe he is, but neither me or the Goon are particularly impressed. Sure, Reed came in as a big hot-shot first rounder, but, well … okay, if we’re gonna do this, let’s do it right. I grab hold of what the numbers guys say.
The old 7/9/6, right? Not particularly inspiring. After striking out almost 11 high schoolers a game, he found the pros last year and that dropped to 7.3. Now, a level up, it’s 6.5. Not a good sign. BABIPs in the .340s don’t inspire, either.
At least I’d hope for something more from a #5 overall.
He throws 96, which at age 18 is nice enough I’d guess, and he does keep things on the ground. But the fastball/Sinker Cutter triad just never popped to my way of thinking. The Goon likes Reed’s over-the-top form, but I worry about his chances of getting injured. He missed a little time last year due to inflammation, but was pretty healthy this year.
Unless you could a 3-5 record with a 4.50 ERA in Short A as an issue. Which it kind of is. For a real prospect, anyway. The silver lining here is that he only gave up a pair of long balls this season in 16 starts. The crappy lining is that he walked almost five a game. And let’s face it, his stuff isn’t good enough to play if he can’t find the plate.
Just saying it like it is.
The Goon, though, like I said, he picks out details. Like he noted that 13 of the 16 runners who stole on him made it in safelike. That's a lotta runners. He also noted that the kid's FIP- was still in the two digits, which all the numbers guys tell me is a good sign. So maybe there's something here that I'm not really seeing.
Maybe, you know?
I mean. They call 'em prospects for a reason, right?
- - -
DEVELOPMENT: All that said, the kid’s only 18, and lots of people talk great about him. He’s hard not to root for. And looking back you can see the kid got rid of a little baby fat and grew a bit of muscle, all to the tune of gaining a few pounds of growing-up material.
The bad news on the sheets is that I see the club scouts had already downgraded Reed’s top-end projections for stuff and control last winter. That makes sense based on what me and the Goon have seen. The good news is that he seems to be responding well to coaching on keeping the ball in play. Like I said: two homers in 16 outings doesn’t suck.
That said, it’s not like he seems to be a fast learner at this stage,
- - -
PERSONALITY: They say the kid works hard, and I admit I saw him heading off to the gym when me and the Goon slipped in here. So we’ll see. I won’t doubt the common wisdom.
- - -
2058 Projection: At 18, you wonder whether it would have been a better deal for Reed to spend his time in Ogden (not that I wish that on anyone, but perhaps a little lesser competition would have made things a bit better for him this year. At 19, you wonder if he should just sit here in Haiti and work on getting better. Perhaps a little homebrewed juju would help. But unless he has some kind of massive spring, what you almost certainly won’t see is a trip up to Lime City A-ball. Perhaps that can happen in ’59?
- - - So, there you have it. Lanny Reed.
Is he still a prospect?
Well, he’s still playing baseball. But I dunno. At present I’d say it looks like he might be one of those guys who the world just kind of leaves behind.
Time will tell.
September 19, 2057: Port au Prince – After Ares Xanthos left the Blue Cup, the Goon and I got to talking about a couple other players we’ve seen here. That’s another good thing about the Goon. He actually likes baseball. Said he wanted to be a DH, but that Hugh Mangrouthormone went and stole all his power genes, so now all’s he’s got to make his living on is wrapping his fists around a bat and bashing a few heads.
On him, it works.
But he still loves the game, and he can talk though all the nuances.
The name that comes up is a starting pitcher named Lanny Reed.
There’s folks who think the kid is a real prospect, and maybe he is, but neither me or the Goon are particularly impressed. Sure, Reed came in as a big hot-shot first rounder, but, well … okay, if we’re gonna do this, let’s do it right. I grab hold of what the numbers guys say.
| Player Name | POS | B | T | OVR | POT | Stu P | Mov P | Con P | Stu | Mov | Con |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lanny Reed | SP | - | R | 20 | 40 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Source | Age | Ht | Wt | BABIP | HR-P | Velo | Sta | Hold | GB/FB | #Pit | #Pit-6+ |
| D56.1 | 18 | 6'6" | 195 | 6 | 9 | 96 | 6 | 3 | 61 | 3 | 3 |
The old 7/9/6, right? Not particularly inspiring. After striking out almost 11 high schoolers a game, he found the pros last year and that dropped to 7.3. Now, a level up, it’s 6.5. Not a good sign. BABIPs in the .340s don’t inspire, either.
At least I’d hope for something more from a #5 overall.
He throws 96, which at age 18 is nice enough I’d guess, and he does keep things on the ground. But the fastball/Sinker Cutter triad just never popped to my way of thinking. The Goon likes Reed’s over-the-top form, but I worry about his chances of getting injured. He missed a little time last year due to inflammation, but was pretty healthy this year.
Unless you could a 3-5 record with a 4.50 ERA in Short A as an issue. Which it kind of is. For a real prospect, anyway. The silver lining here is that he only gave up a pair of long balls this season in 16 starts. The crappy lining is that he walked almost five a game. And let’s face it, his stuff isn’t good enough to play if he can’t find the plate.
Just saying it like it is.
The Goon, though, like I said, he picks out details. Like he noted that 13 of the 16 runners who stole on him made it in safelike. That's a lotta runners. He also noted that the kid's FIP- was still in the two digits, which all the numbers guys tell me is a good sign. So maybe there's something here that I'm not really seeing.
Maybe, you know?
I mean. They call 'em prospects for a reason, right?
- - -
DEVELOPMENT: All that said, the kid’s only 18, and lots of people talk great about him. He’s hard not to root for. And looking back you can see the kid got rid of a little baby fat and grew a bit of muscle, all to the tune of gaining a few pounds of growing-up material.
The bad news on the sheets is that I see the club scouts had already downgraded Reed’s top-end projections for stuff and control last winter. That makes sense based on what me and the Goon have seen. The good news is that he seems to be responding well to coaching on keeping the ball in play. Like I said: two homers in 16 outings doesn’t suck.
That said, it’s not like he seems to be a fast learner at this stage,
- - -
PERSONALITY: They say the kid works hard, and I admit I saw him heading off to the gym when me and the Goon slipped in here. So we’ll see. I won’t doubt the common wisdom.
- - -
2058 Projection: At 18, you wonder whether it would have been a better deal for Reed to spend his time in Ogden (not that I wish that on anyone, but perhaps a little lesser competition would have made things a bit better for him this year. At 19, you wonder if he should just sit here in Haiti and work on getting better. Perhaps a little homebrewed juju would help. But unless he has some kind of massive spring, what you almost certainly won’t see is a trip up to Lime City A-ball. Perhaps that can happen in ’59?
- - - So, there you have it. Lanny Reed.
Is he still a prospect?
Well, he’s still playing baseball. But I dunno. At present I’d say it looks like he might be one of those guys who the world just kind of leaves behind.
Time will tell.
