Bartolo the Second

Grant Holmes and Alex Verdugo –

Holmess become the 22nd pick of the MLB June draft out of Conway HS in South Carolina. Of the “hefty variety”, grant is a power pitcher with the frame of a young Bartolo Colon. Throwing upwards of 100 mph there is some fear, on my part, that one day he will need tommy john elbow ligament replacement surgery. It seems rare nowadays to be able to throw that hard and get away with a decent bill of (elbow) health. Lets hope he can stay healthy enough to showcase his 3 plus pitches.

Not many players are as fat as Colon, but Grant is thick and strong. Most agree that he is a fierce competitor and has a strong presense on the mound. He was a top 15 talent and many question why he fell so low at 22. I’m just greatful we got another great draft pick. As far as name goes… to me it passes the sniff test. There will be the association puns like “Sherlock” or “Watson” headlines. Until then, lets hope he is as effective as Bartolo.

Im tired of Logan White going after two way players and having them play the wrong position. James Loney, Ethan Martin, Aaron Miller, and now Alex Verdugo is another one of those players that can play the outfield and pitch. Supposedly he has makeup concerns… perhaps thats why he dropped to us at 62. It seems that LA was willing to let him play the outfield as that was Alex’s desire. And maybe that is why we drafted him. Teams felt that as an outfielder he was a 3rd or 4th round talent, but as a pitcher he was a 1st or 2nd round talent. White took him with the caveat that when he failed in the field he could always turn back to pitching. Lets hope it works out for him and the Dodgers. Too many of these experiments haven’t turned out so well for LA.