2012 Northwest Talent: A Few Baseball America Mentions

I’ve been meaning to return to some more MLB Draft talk and while there is a bit to discuss I haven’t really made the time to talk about it, despite an especially slow start to the hot stove. That said Baseball America published their Top-25 High School talents, as well as a Top-100 (behind a pay wall) list, last week and it’s been on my mind since as both Nathan Rode and Conor Glassey are two exceedingly interesting high school talent analyst. I’m always excited to read anything they write.

It’s obviously way too early to really disagree or agree with any of their rankings. Though I will say that one specific thing stood out to me and that was Nick Williams, coming in at 24 overall, while Joey Gallo (ranked 12th) was quiet a bit higher. They attribute a lot of raw play and lack of refrinement being Williams biggest flaws, though admittly they like his tools.

Keep an eye open and don’t sleep on Williams. I like the swing (however off-balance and raw it is) a lot.

Specifically when I look at these rankings I tend to look for Washington State prospects. I already previously have mentioned Dylan LaValle, who I like very much, and briefly in that post I mentioned Clint Coulter. Coulter had a lot of fan fare at the area code games and while his bat is impressive, I’m always warry of high school catchers and their defense. I have given the edge to LaValle for the time being. Well, I did until I saw that Coulter is 62 spots higher (ranked 29th overall) than LaValle (ranked 91). What’s more is that there is another Washingtonian product in between them in Andrew Pullin (ranked 80).

While, Pullin is someone that was in my top-10, I hadn’t really heard too much about him. He wasn’t someone that earned a lot of name dropping time. So I decided to do some googling and find how he performed at some of the national events.

Pullin was 1-2 at the East vs. West perfect game in Petco Park. He had a ground rule double and scored a run to help his team Win 6-2. He showed a good ability to make contact with the ball despite some of the very nasty young pitchers present. While he performed well he wasn’t mentioned much by very many of the prospect enthusiast that I usual read from.

Looking at some video of Pullin has a strong arm and has been clocked as high as 91 on the mound. But much like Drew Vettleson (and Pat Venditte before him) he brings an peciular trait to the mound. He is able to pitch with either arm. I’m actually not entire sure which arm is his natural throwing arm but taking a wild stab at it I’d guess he’s right handed. I’m also going to say that he throws harder right handed but that seems like an obvious statement.

From what I can tell he’s primarily a position player. He seems to field well but I’m not so sure how well he runs. There isn’t enough video to really form an opinion on that. Watching his swing it’s very even and he generates plenty of loft. It’s not hard to see that he could at least have average raw power if not above average, but he seems like he’s sometimes unbalanced after the swing and it’s a long swing with his hands starting back past his shoulders. His bat speed his good but not anything lights out.
Overall I’m not sure what the future holds for Pullin on the field. I lean towards being a possible every day out fielder with good power and an above average arm. But, personally I don’t put him as my #2 Washington State talent. That’s just me after looking at about 6 different videos of him.

I think it’s very possible he’ll pull a Spencer O’Neil and go undrafted with his current commitment to the University of Oregon. But that’s just my opinion at the moment, only time will tell.
Last but not least Taylor Jones, someone that was in my top-5 watch list, came in at 94 overall. A mini scouting report on him is he’s a big kid at 6’7 and while he is rail thin and only throws 87-89, there is plenty of projection left as well as an easy motion which could lead to the thought of him easily adding 4-5 mph on onto his pitches. He’s a guy that if he starts to mature this year could start flying up draft boards.