Notes from the Field: June 20, 2017

Wilson Karaman
Brock Stewart, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (High-A Rancho Cucamonga)

First rehab start from shoulder strain (5/27), pitched loose and easy, looked healthy; simple delivery, moderate early tempo, fluid, consistent into arm swing and drive, mildly closed off and uphill, creates some deception to true three quarter slot, quality extension; above-average arm speed, on time to slot, strong command projection; FB 93-95, hard run, command to both sides, life in the zone; CH 81-82, excellent arm speed, moderate fade and tumble, above-average velo separation, feel and command down low, trusts it to get ahead in-zone, hard SL 90-91, up several ticks from beginning of last year, late horizontal action, some bite, shattered a bat R-on-R moving off outside corner; pitchability, command, and stuff of a legitimate mid-rotation arm, high probability health-permitting

Keith Rader
Trevor Oaks, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (Triple-A Oklahoma City)
High-waisted with a strong, durable frame and broad shoulders; listed at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. Oaks looks to be an end-of-rotation innings eater, and he has the frame and repertoire you would expect with that profile. Deals from a high-three-quarters slot with average arm speed and a bit of a stab on the backside of the windup. He hides the ball well and throws in a bit of an open-faced glove flip for added deception. The best pitch is a sinker with mild run in the lower third of the zone which was thrown exclusively in the 91-94 range. A slider was the preferred secondary offering, but it is a tick below average with average depth and little lateral movement. The change up is a present 50 pitch, but could play up slightly in the future; thrown in the same velo range as the slider, it has a decent amount of arm side fade and could put hitters away as command improves.

Chaz Fiorino
Engelb Vielma, SS, Minnesota Twins (Triple-A Rochester)
The soon to be 23-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop is probably one of the youngest players in the Triple-A International League and was one of the more exciting, standout defensive shortstops I've seen in a while. He displayed impressive athleticism with his range, soft hands, body control and ability to throw from all angles with a plus arm to boot. Made difficult plays look easy. Well undersized at 5-foot-11, 155 pounds, Vielma also chokes up a bit on the bat with a short, quick, line-drive oriented swing from both sides which lends itself to almost no future power production aside from taking the extra bag with the aggressiveness of his plus speed. Vielma had similar setups from both sides of the plate but looked more comfortable at the plate from the left-side with quicker bat speed. Choppier swing from the right-side. At the end of the day were talking about a soon to be young, switch hitting shortstop in Triple-A that already shows three plus tools with his defense, arm and speed. Given his young age already advancing to the upper minors with a switch-hit profile there will be growing pains with the bat but it might not matter given everything else he can bring to the table in the meantime.

Nathan Graham
Jesus Sanchez, OF, Tampa Bay Rays (Low-A Bowling Green)

Tall, long legs and high waist, appears lighter than listed 210 pounds, projectable mass and upper body development; balanced, relaxed stance, hands begin just below shoulders, moderate load and leg kick, fluid, quiet swing with average bat speed; shows advanced approach, has ability to use all fields; power profiles as mainly line-drive pull, should increase as body continues to develop; plus run tool, smart baserunner, long strides, 4.13 and 4.11 on two clocks; plus arm for left field, good carry, accurate, would play close to average in center field.

JH Schroeder
Yusniel Diaz, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers (High-A Rancho Cucamonga)
R/R OF, good athleticism and body control. Smaller frame, don't see lot of room to fill out, but has thick wrists, some sneaky thump in bat. Very loose hands, has moved them closer to body in setup, bigger leg kick this year. More connected with lower half this year, but still needs work. Seems to be fighting battle between having a nice hip clear, and stepping in bucket. Generally looked away, let FB travel deep. Will pull off BB away. Good eye. Got good jumps on a couple difficult plays, struggled with routine catches, several misreads on balls right at him (plays much better in CF). Arm is accuracy over strength. Maybe average strength, but very accurate with limited tail.

Mikey White, SS, Oakland Athletics (High-A Stockton)
R/R 3B. Added some good weight with permanent move to 3B. Crouched stance right on plate. Hands pretty far away from body. Late on high FBs. Great good idea of strike-zone and coverage. Stayed through middle of field. For SEC SS, didn't look locked in at 3B. Misplayed a bloop over his head, and made a poor decision on a throw.

Dustin Hurlbutt, RHP, Oakland Athletics (High-A Stockton)
RHP. Shorter, stocky-build. FB 90-94, worked mostly 92-93. Some run, flashed good sink, and also showed a 4S up. Command was good, tried to work 2S in and out, mostly kept down. Tried to elevate w/ 4S. Looked hesitant going in to LH, but did good job getting in on RH. CT, 87-91. Pretty short break. tried only a couple front-door. Mostly trying to keep away, off-barrel of RH batters. CH, 82. avg. fade, better drop. SL, 79-84, sharp frisbee action, but shows early, threw a shorter version to LHBs. Did good job keeping it out of heart of plate. Delivery, rhythmic hands over head windup, high knee, lands closed-toe. Works 1b-side of rubber. Arm was flat, straight-out behind him, instead of down at the back of arm circle, making his action a little short. Fairly easy arm action. Lost command/release point out of stretch. Much tougher on RHBs, SL needs a little work, but effective change to arsenal. FB-heavy repertoire. 1.35 to plate. 1.0 on pickoff.

Skye Bolt, OF, Oakland Athletics (High-A Stockton)
S/R CF. Lean athletic body. Bat makes a big move to get veritcal at load. Open stance with leg kick to square. Line-drive swing. Timing looked a little late in BP, bat looked slow in game, but had decent length to swing, staying on offspeed well in game. Looked a little quicker inside as RHB. Weight gets a little too far over front leg. Nice loose hands pre-pitch. Stayed through middle of field from both sides, slightly more pull happy as LHB. Showed plus range and arm in CF. 11.15 to 3B.