Chart Observations: FLA @ PHI

• Chris Volstad is a 22 year old who stands 6-8, 225. The right hander has a big frame with room to add a ton more muscle everywhere. From an over the top release, he showcased a fastball at 90-94, a curveball at 79-83 and a changeup at 82-85. His curveball is a sharp breaking 12-6 pitch with good bite. His changeup shows excellent fade and average sink. His fastball shows good late sink and above average fade. All of his pitches are above average and he generates a great downhill plane for his pitches. He needs to be more consistent with all his offerings break-wise and command-wise, as some pitches will flatten out and he will also struggle to locate his fastball. None of these are too concerning for a young pitcher. An average # 3 right now, he shows the frame to be able to get his fastball up consistently to the 93-95 area and if he can do that, he is a # 2.
• Jamie Moyer is a 46 year old who is 6-0 185. The lefthander's frame really doesn't matter, as it won't be adding any muscle any way, it will just be wasting away. From an over the top release, he showed a fastball at 80-83, a cutter at 74-80, a changeup at 74-76 and a curveball at 67-70. His fastball is a 2-seamer with above average movement and is an average offering. His cutter is an 11-4 type pitch with good depth and looks similar to his curveball and is an average offering. His changeup gets good and sink and shows a little fade and is average. His curveball is a big breaking 11-5 pitch that is also average. Moyer has plus command and that is how he gets by. When he misses, even by a little bit, he gets hit hard. A # 5 starter and who knows how long he can keep this up?
• Chan Ho Park is a 35 year old who stands 6-2, 210. The right hander has a medium frame that looks to be maxed out. From a high 3/4 release, he shows a fastball at 89-94, a slider at 80-85, a curveball at 75-80 and a changeup at 83-84. His fastball shows above average fade with little sink and is an average offering. His changeup has decent bite and some fade and is also an average offering. His slider is a 3rd average offering with decent break, a 2-7 pitch. His curveball is a 12-6 offering with decent bite and is somewhat loopy, a 4th average pitch. Park has above average command and looks like a swingman.
• Dan Meyer is a 27 year old who stands 6-3, 220. Yes, this is the same Dan Meyer who was the centerpiece of the Tim Hudson deal. The left hander has a medium to big frame that looks to be maxed out. From an over the top release, he showed a fastball at 92 and a slider at 85. His fastball is a straight 4-seam while his slider is a frisbee slider that is above average due to its velocity. Currently a LOOGY for the Marlins, I think he could be an inning reliever as opposed to a batter reliever, but is still a middle reliever for a contender.
• Leo Nunez is a 25 year old who stands 6-1, 175. The right hander has a medium frame with room to add more muscle, especially in the lower half. From a 3/4 release, he showed a fastball at 94-97, a changeup at 85-88 and a slider at 86. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. His changeup shows great fade and looks like a fastball until it takes a right turn about halfway to home plate and is a plus pitch. His slider is a sharp 2-7 pitch with good late bite and is an above average offering. I think he is a future closer, though he does have a high effort delivery.
• Matt Lindstrom is a 29 year old who stands 6-4, 210. The flame throwing right hander has a big frame with room to add more muscle and can probably get up to 225. From a high 3/4 release, he featured a fastball at 95-99 and a slider at 83-84. His fastball is a straight 4-seam while his slider has the bottom drop out of it with great bite. An above average offering, but one that he doesn't seem to be able to throw for strikes. A legit closer who will need to answer command questions (didn't show any in this outing) to be recognized as an above average closer.

Got into work at 8 AM after falling asleep around 1:30 to ensure I had enough time to make my baseball game today, so of course it gets cancelled. Chart, score, baseball game tomorrow.

Chart Observations: WAS @ NYM

• John Lannan started for the Nats. The 24 year old left hander who stands 6-4, 215 has a big frame with room to add a little more muscle. From a high 3/4, almost over the top release, he featured a fastball at 85-89, a curveball at 70-76, a slider at 81-82 and a changeup at 80-82. His fastball has good run and a little sink and is an average offering. His slider is a 10-4 offering with good depth and is a slightly above average pitch. His chnageup moves like a 2-seamer and is just a little slower and is also just an average pitch. His curveball is an 11-5 offering that can be a little loopy and that is also average. He really fights himself to try and keep his fastball down and tends to miss armside with his pitches. He is a nibbler who prefers to stay on the inside or outside corners. Most of his fastballs are aimed at the knees on the outside corner and he hits the spot quite often. He is a # 4 starter right now, who could grow into a # 3. It also isn't out of the realm of possibility to see him add enough muscle to get up to 89-91 consistently with his fastball.
• John Maine is a 28 year old who stands 6-4, 200. The right hander has a big frame with room to add a lot more muscle. From a 3/4 release, Maine showed a fastball at 89-93, a slider at 85-87 and a changeup at 82-87. His fastball has a little fade to it and is a slightly above average pitch due to its velocity. His changeup shows good fade and sink and is an above average offering. His slider shows good bite and late drop and is a 2-7 type pitch that is above average. Maine's struggles aren't with his stuff, it is with his command. He struggles to command his fastball and has a tendency to leave it up (bad) and in the middle of the plate (double bad). He likes to throw his slider with 2 strikes and starts it at the knees on the inside corner to lefties (or outside corner to righties) and have the natural movement take it out of the zone. He misses his spots more then any pitcher I have seen this year, constantly throwing outside fastballs when the catcher wants it in and vice versa. To left handers, he likes to throw sliders in and changes away. Maine is a # 3 starter right now with ace potential still with his frame and his command struggles. He likely won't start throwing any harder, though it wouldn't be crazy to see him at 92-94 consistently in a couple year. Will he ever solve his command issues and take that next step to be a # 2?
• Jesus Colome is a 31 year old who stands 6-2, 240. The right hander has a medium frame that is maxed out. From a low 3/4, almost side arm, release he showed a fastball at 92-95 and a slider at 87-90. His slider has more bite to it then side to side movement, but it can flatten out at times. It is a sharp and late breaking pitch with 3-7 type movement when on. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. Both his pitches are above average, but he has a tendency to fall behind hitters and throw that 4-seam over the middle of the plate. Looks like a solid middle reliever who has a drop and drive delivery from the stretch.
• Bobby Parnell had some command issues. His fastball showed good fade and sink. From his high 3/4 release, he showed a fastball at 93-98 and a slider at 84-86. His slider showed very good bite and is a 2-7 type pitch. He has a classic drop and drive delivery with a big leg kick. His slider flashes plus. He will over throw his fastball, causing him to leave it up. He really struggled with his control in this outing and wasn't missing by much, but continued to nibble and didn't make an adjustment to throw more over the middle of the plate.
• Pedro Feliciano is a 32 year old left hander who stands 5-10, 190. He has a small frame that is maxed out. From a sidearm release, he showed a fastball at 88 and a slider at 82-84. His slider is a frisbee slider and is a 9-4 type offering. Fastball shows some sink and a little fade. He generates very good deception and throws across his body a little bit. A good LOOGY and is a good # 1 lefty to have in a pen.
• J.J. Putz is a 32 year old who stand 6-5, 250. The right hander has a big frame that is maxed out. From a high 3/4 release, he showed a fastball at 92-95, a splitter at 83-86 and a slider at 85. His fastball showed good fade and some sink. He was flying open mechanically in his 2nd inning of work, causing him to lose command of his fastball. Splitter has excellent fade, but only average bite. His slider is a 1-7 offering that shows good bite. His splitter is every where from average to plus. Good top set-up man who could probably still close right now.
• Daniel Cabrera is a 27 year old who stands 6-9, 260. The right hander has a big frame that is maxed out. From an over the top release, he showed a fastball at 88-92 and a slider at 76-80. His fastball is a straight 4-seam that flashes some fade. His slider is a 11-6 offering that shows some late bite, but is just an average offering and is very inconsistent. He struggles to repeate his mechanics and will throw 40 foot sliders. He is hell for catchers, as he has no idea where the ball is going once he releases it and he spikes quite a few pitches. He is done, but you will likely hear from him again in a couple years.
• Jason Bergmann showed a fastball at 92 and a curveball at 75-77 from a high 3/4 release. The curveball is a 12-6 breaker with average break and bite. His fastball is a 2-seam with excellent fade. Solid middle reliever.
• Kip Wells is a 32 year old who stands 6-3, 205. The right hander has a medium to big frame that looks like it can add more muscle, especially on the lower half. From a high 3/4 release, he showed a fastball at 92-96 and a slider at 86. His fastball shows above average fade and solid sink and is an above average offering. His slider is sharp with late break and is a 3-9 type pitch that is also above average. I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility for him to turn into a closer.
• Francisco Rodriguez is a 26 year old who stands 6-0, 195. The right hander has a medium frame that is maxed out. From a high 3/4, almost over the top release he showed a fastball at 92-95, a curveball at 80-83 and a changeup at 83-87. The fastball shows above average fade and a little sink and is an above average offering. His curveball is sharp with late break and is a 12-6 offering that is above average. His changeup has excellent dive and has above average fade and just disappears and is a plus pitch. He has a max effort delivery and will likely be a strong closer for another couple of years.