that Pirate fans are going to be groaning for years about not having Matt Wieters and that is even if Daniel Moskos pans out as hoped.
Wieters smashed two homers last night,one to the opposite field and the other that I think bounced off I-70 in a 7-3 Frederick win over Lynchburg.
Frederick is loaded and should win the Carolina League title in the first half,although if a lot of these guys get promoted,the second half could be a different story.
That often is the story in the leagues that use the first and second half systems,the dominant first half team does not always win the title as the players that helped them do just that are usually promoted.
With 4 former first rounders (Wieters,Bill Rowell,Brandon Snyder and Pedro Beato) to go with Arrieta and Brandon Erbe,the only thing that could keep the first half title from the Keys is early promotions.
Wieters was not the only 2007 draftee that looked great last night,as pitcher Jake Arrieta from TCU got the start and made the best of it.
Arrieta fanned 10 Hillcats and allowed just 2 hits in his 4 innings of work and completly overmatched the visitors from Lynchburg.
If Wieters is still in Frederick by May 1st and Arrieta is there by June 1st,I will be surprised.
I did not expect too much from Lynchburg,but wanted to get a look at the two players skipping Hickory in SS Brian Friday and the starting pitcher Tony Watson.
Watson allowed 5 runs in three and two thirds and only peaked out at 87 on the speed gun.
His slider didnt appear to be breaking as well as he would have liked either,but considering his start and the weather difference between Florida and Frederick,I am reserving judgement until another time.
Friday showed decent range,but bobbled a few and the arm was not always accurate,but it is hard to downgrade someone from one appearance and the circumstances.
I look forward to seeing Lynchburg in their second visit to Frederick in May.
I was originally going to see two of the three games,but circumstances changed a bit.
I did get to meet Wilbur Miller from Pirates Profiles.
In my opinion,Wilbur runs the most informative prospect site around and I use it constantly for both Wilbur's opinion and the stats on the Pirate system.
I enjoyed my discussion with Wilbur and he has agreed to do an upcoming Q and A with us.
On the Signing Front
Things were not quite as good as usual,but that was due more to the Opening Day ceremonies than any changes to Harry Grove Stadium.
The Hillcats were on the field when the gates opened and with the exception of Brian Friday,never returned to the clubhouse.
I did get Friday to sign his State College card that I missed last season.
Brian signed for Ryan,but had to return to the field before signing for me during our trip to State College last season.
So that meant most of the stuff that I got were from Lynchburg pitchers.
Daniel Moskos signed everything that I had and talked a bit about State College and that he would not make his first start until Tuesday.
I talked to Wilbur about a plan that we had thought of that had Moskos faced off vs Matt Wieters that we would have video of the at bats and put them up here and on YouTube.
Later Wilbur returned and commented about this and said that is probably why Moskos DIDN'T pitch in this series for just that reason.
Could be,makes sense to me to avoid unneeded pressure on Moskos,but still they have to face off sooner or later.
I was able to talk and get signatures from my guys from last year in Mike Crotta,Jared Hughes and Eric Krebs.
Krebs told me that he was pretty much a reliever from here on out after his injuries and that both he and the Pirates thought that it would take advantage of his strengths better from the pen.
Crotta and Hughes talked a bit and I asked how Mike Felix and Brandon Williams looked in Florida.
Both said Felix looked much improved with his control and that Williams had a good camp,but was released.
Crotta said there was a few guys like Brandon that had good camps,but got caught up in numbers and were let go.
Sorry to hear about that.
Jared and Mike took a picture with me and I have not felt that small in a long time!
But when you stand between a 6'7 fellow and a 6'6 guy that can do it to you!
Derek Antelo was spending the game with a ski mask and gloves on and I hollered "it is not that bad,Derek!".
His response was "It does not get this cold in Miami!" and Blair Johnson then referred to him as "Shredder" from the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.
This brought us down with laughter.
I finally got Blair to sign an old Bowman that I bet I had brought places 5 times for him to sign and everytime he was on the DL.
When he was signing for me,he looked at Battlin Bob and I like he was remembering something and I told him he said had signed for us in 06.
He then smiled and said "I remember you guys from there,you kept hollering Sweep,Sweep,Sweep" from the Crawdads 4 game sweep of the Suns that series.
We failed to get Matt Wieters,Ryan reports from the Frederick side that he was not signing before the game and after the game he was signing for a lot and likely would have signed for everyone,but he was whisked away for a radio interview.
Hopefully,we can get him before he leaves town.
All and all not totally productive,but still a great day at the park to scrape the winter away and watch some baseball.
Now just 6 days before the Suns start their home schedule against Lake County.
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