When I first started doing interviews, I thought I would keep it to just the big leagues, but with so many fans wanting to know about up and coming prospects, I thought I should expand to include the minor leagues as well.
With that, I got to speak with Rich Burk who is the Play-by-Play voice of the Portland Beavers. They are the AAA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
Baseball-Rumors: Let's start with Yordany Ramirez, a young center fielder that I thought showed a lot of promise. Are you surprised the Padres didn't retain him?
Rich Burk: Yes and no. No, because I know how big of a concern a player's OBP is in the Padres Organization. Yes, because Ramirez was a run saver, he was a phenomenal center fielder. He took good routes to the ball, got great jumps on fly balls. Rick Renteria, Portland's manager last season (premoted to Padres 1st base coach for 2008) told me "he's the best center fielder I've ever seen, off the charts." Had I not seen Yordany for myself, I wouldn't have believed him.
Yordany came straight up from A-Ball, he didn't play AA. From the first day, Renteria told him "you're my guy," so I think that relaxed Ramirez and allowed him to just go out and play the game.
Baseball-Rumors: There's been a lot of talk about Josh Geer and Will Startup, 2 young pitchers that could challenge for a spot with the Padres next season. How good are both of these players and do they have a shot at making the team out of Spring Training?
Rich Burk: I don't know much about Josh Geer, he pitched for us once and that was on a road trip that I wasn't able to attend.
As far as Startup, he really didn't pitch that well for us last season. Is it possible, yes, he's a left hander that could put together a few good weeks in Arizona and make the squad. Would I be suprised if he made the team, yes. I fully expect him to be with Portland in 2008.
Baseball-Rumors: Tim Stauffer, a young pitcher that a lot of Padre fans have been really down on. Is it a mental thing with him, confidence or is there something else to it?
Rich Burk: I think it's a confidence thing. Stauffer is a great kid and, last season, he really showed flashes of what he had in 2006, he showed a lot of promise. When he got called up last season, we thought that was the last we were going to see of him, that he would finally be there for good, but then he just got lit up in his start in Houston. We were really disappointed for him. To us, it was like a punch in the gut, we really wanted him to do well.
When he was sent back down after that, I asked him what happened and he just shook his head, he didn't know.
Baseball-Rumors: Another prospect that Padres fans are talking about is Kyle Blanks. How much do you know about him and have you heard if he'll make the jump to Portland this year?
Rich Burk: I don't know much about Blanks, just what I've heard from players that have come up from Lake Elsinore (LeBlanc, Ramos) and they said he can really crush the ball.
As far as if I expect him in Portland this year, I don't know. We usually won't know until sometime in March.
Baseball-Rumors: How about Vincent Sinisi, what kind of player is he?
Rich Burk: Vincent is a great kid, hard nosed player, wants to play every day. He's someone that you want at the plate in a big situation.
He's downside is, he's had a hard time staying healthy so I think that may keep in him Portland next season. He has to get, at least, 1 fully healthy season under his belt before he'll get a serious look.
Baseball-Rumors: If there are 1 or 2 players you can pick and say "keep your eye on these players", who would those players be and why?
Rich Burk: If I could pick one, I would say Ceasar Carillo. He did undergo Tommy John Surgery back in June of 2007, I believe it was, so I think we may see him start pitching again in June maybe as late as July or August.
Another player I would keep my eye on is Jared Wells. He's got great stuff. Now that he's been transitioned into a reliever, he can harness his confidence, go out for 1 inning and just let loose. I think he's got a great future as a reliever and the position fits him really well. He's got a very promising changeup, noone expects that from a fastball/slider pitcher so that's going to be a devistating pitch for him.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment