Chart Observations: MIL @ FLA

• Jeff Suppan is a 34 year old who stands 6-2, 230. The right hander has a medium frame that is maxed out. He attacks hitter from a high 3/4, almost over the top release. His fastball has some fade and a little sink. His change shows good fade and sink. His slider is a 2-7 offering with good bite and depth. His curveball is a big breaking 12-6 that can hang at times and was a pitch he looked to bounce almost everytime he threw it. He can throw strikes with any of his pitches and will throw them all in any situation. He is what he is, an innings eater # 5 starter who has proven to be fairly durable. Expecting anything more is dumb.

1st: FB (85-88), SL (82-86), CU (79-81), CB (71-74)

2nd: FB (85-88), SL (81-84), CU (80-82), CB (72-73)

3rd: FB (86-89), SL (84-86), CU (79), CB (72-74)

4th: FB (85-87), CU (78-81), CB (72)

5th: FB (85-88), SL (84-85), CU (79-80), CB (75)

• Andrew Miller opposed him. Miller attacks from a high 3/4 release. His slider is a slurvy 11-4 offering. His fastball is a straight 4-seam, though he also looks to mix in a slower 2-seam with some run and sink. His change is a straight change that he didn't have as good a feel for as his last outing I saw. He really struggled to command his stuff and was constantly behind hitters. He threw almost all fastballs (likely around 85 %). Hard to think if he will ever turn it around, as it is difficult to learn how to consistently command pitches in the strike zone.

1st: FB (89-96), SL (77-79), CU (85)

2nd: FB (86-93), SL (77), CU (80-83)

3rd: FB (88-93), SL (79), CU (80)

4th: FB (86-91), CU (84)

5th: FB (89-92), SL (74)

• Cristhian Martinez is a 27 year old who stands 6-1, 160. The right hander has a medium frame with room to add a ton more muscle. He comes at you from a 3/4 release. His fastball has some fade. His slider is a 2-7 offering with decent, though inconsistent, bite and is average, though it does flash some late bite which would allow it to play up if he can do it consistently. His change has good fade, good sink and looks like a fastball out of his hand. It is his best offspeed pitch. He has a violent head jerk in his delivery and also kicks his lead leg straight out and may put a lot of weight on it when he lands. Has above average command and tends to throw a lot of strikes. A 11th or 12th guy in a bullpen, though he could be a late bloomer if he can add some muscle to his frame.

5th: FB (91-92), SL (80-82), CU (83-85)

6th: FB (90-92), SL (80-82), CU (81-85)

• Jorge Julio is a 30 year old in search of a new team, as he was released after this outing. The 6-1, 225 pound right hander has medium frame that is maxed out and there may be some bad weight there. He comes at you from a high 3/4 release. His fastball is a 4-seam that has a little fade. His slider is a 2-7 offering with decent depth. His changeup has some fade and decent sink. He has major league stuff, but minor league control. His front side flies open everytime and he will never have good control with that. Don't even get started on his ability to command the strike zone, he needs to worry about strikes first. His mechanics need a little bit of a re-do and a right hander that still flashes plus velocity will get a shot somewhere to try and discover something.

6th: FB (88-95), SL (81-84), CU (79-84)

• Todd Coffey is a 28 year old who stands 6-4, 240. The right hander has a big frame that is maxed out and may be carrying some bad weight. He comes at you from a 3/4 release. His fastball shows some fade and sink. His slider is a sharp 2-7 with good depth, though he can be inconsistent with it at times. He is a set-up man and he still has some closer potential depending on if he can improve his slightly above average command.

6th: FB (93-95), SL (84-86), Split (88)

• Seth McClung is a 28 year old who stands 6-6, 260. The right hander has a big frame that is maxed out. He attacks from an over the top release. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. His curveball is a big breaking 12-6 pitch. His slider is a 2-7 offering that is average. Likely your typical middle reliever, as he will never be a guy that will be able to consistently pound the strike zone.

7th: FB (91-93), CB (77-79), SL (84)

• Brian Sanches attacked from a high 3/4 release. His slider is a sharp 2-7 offering with great bite. His split shows good fade and dive, but is more of a contact then swing and miss pitch. His fastball shows some good fade. He has above average command and may be able to stick as a middle reliever, as Florida is very forgiving to fly ball relievers.

7th: FB (87-90), SL (83), Split (78-80)

• Carlos Villanueva is a 25 year old who stands 6-2, 230. The right hander has a medium frame that is maxed out and he may also be carrying some bad weight. He has an over the top release. His curveball is a big breaking 12-6. His changeup shows good fade and sink. His fastball is a 2-seam with some fade. Good long reliever who I would like to see be a guy to throw the 7th and 8th as a bridge to Trevor Hoffman.

8th: FB (85-88), CU (80-84), CB (71-73), SL (81-82)

• Leo Nunez attacks from a 3/4 release. His slider is inconsistent and can be just a spinner or it can show late break and be a 3-8 offering. His fastball shows good fade and some sink. His changeup shows good fade and sink and is his best off speed offering in my opinion. He can get pretty vanilla, throwing FB-SL to righties and FB-CU to lefties. Still believe in his closer potential.

8th: FB (93-94), SL (83-87), CU (86-88)

• Matt Lindstrom got the save and has been dominant both times I have seen him. He has a high 3/4 release. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. His slider is a big breaking 1-7 offeing that can be a knee buckling pitch, but he is still inconsistent with both the break and command. His splitter shows good late sink and fade, but is merely a show pitch. He hasn't shown any of the command issues in the games I have seen and is a solid closer.

9th: FB (95-97), SL (80-83), Split (85)

• Casey McGehee is a 26 year old who stands 6-1, 195. The rigthy thrower/hitter has a medium frame that appears to be maxed out. He has a slightly open stance with a little bat wiggle and moves his front leg up and down as he waits for the pitcher to begin. His trigger is a toe turn and a cocking of the bat. He is more of a gap to gap hitter and has a good short swing. He will never hit for much power and isn't a great defender anywhere, though he can play 2nd, 3rd and likely the OF. Your quintessential utility player with the main question being if he will hit enough for his versatility to be useful.
• Mat Gamel made a pinch hitting appearance, so I will hold off on my potential view for him and tell you about his vitals. Gamel is a 6-0, 200 pound 23 year old. The lefty hitter, righty thrower has a medium frame that appears to be maxed out. He has a slightly open stance with a little bat wiggle. His trigger is a small leg kick with a cocking of the bat. He was fed 3 changeups by Nunez before rolling over on one for a routine ground out to second.

1st game of the Rockies-Astros series features the best pitching matchup: Ubaldo Jimenez vs. Felipe Paulino.

ARI @ LAD

• Hiroki Kuroda made his return from the DL tonight. The 33 year old who stands 6-1, 220 has a medium frame that has room to add more muscle. He is a right hander who attacks from a high 3/4 release with the typical Japanese windup. His fastball is a 2-seam that shows fade and a little sink, though he will mix in an occasional 4-seamer. His split shows good sink and dive. His slider is sharp and will move more like a cutter. He really struggled to find a feel for his pitches early. Most of his sliders were left belt high, but the D'Backs hitters just missed them. He was relying on more sliders then fastballs until after the 2nd, when he began to pound the zone with fastballs. Solid middle of the rotation starter when right, probably a # 4. Pitching in LA helps take away a lot of mistakes.

1st: FB (90-93), SL (85-86), Split (79-83)

2nd: FB (90-94), SL (83-87)

3rd: FB (89-92), SL (85), Split (80-84)

4th: FB (90-93), SL (84-85), Split (83)

5th: FB (90-94), SL (85), Split (82)

• Billy Buckner attacks hitters from an over the top release. This is his 3rd (of 3 starts) that I have scored. His fastball is a 2-seam with good fade and sink. His change shows the same type of movement, but on a greater scale. His curveball is a 12-6 pitch that is his key. He struggled to command it in his last outing and got hit around a little. He had great command of it today and could throw it for a strike or bury it whenever he wanted. His fastball fades late and likes to pound it on the outside corner to get strike one. He is slowly trying to convince me to turn around my thinking, but I still think he is just a 5th starter, especially pitching in the hitters' park that is Arizona.

1st: FB (85-92), CB (79), CU (85)

2nd: FB (87-92), CB (78-83), CU (82-83)

3rd: FB (90-92), CB (77-82), CU (79-82)

4th: FB (89-92), CB (81-82), CU (80-82)

5th: FB (88-91), CB (77-80), CU (83)

6th: FB (87-92), CB (82-83), CU (81-83)

• Cory Wade is a 26 year old who stands 6-1, 190. The right hander has a medium frame that has room to add a little more muscle. He attacks from an over the top release. His fastabll shows good late fade and little sink. His curveball is a plus pitch, a big breaking 12-7, 12-8 type offering. His changeup is an above average offering with good fade and sink. A great middle reliever who could be in the mold of a Scot Shields and be able to throw 2 innings to get you to your closer.

6th: FB (88-91), CU (79), CB (72)

7th: FB (89-91), CU (81-83), CB (73-77)

• Clay Zavada (he pitches every Diamondbacks game I do) attacked hitters from a high 3/4 release with a straight 4-seam fastball. His delivery has a little bit of a head jerk.

7th: FB (88-89), CB (72)

• Juan Gutierrez is a big bodied (6-3, 210) right hander. The 25 year old has a medium to big frame that is maxed out and there may be some bad weight there. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. His slider is a tight 2-7 offering with good bite and it flashes plus as a pitch that just disappears. He can fly open and can over throw his fastball at times. He gets a great hip turn in his delivery to help him generate more velocity, though it is a high effort delivery. His change shows some sink, but it is below average. I think he adds and subtracts velocity from his slider as opposed to throwing a curveball. Set-up man is likely his ceiling and he can probably close some games down the line and not kill you.

7th: FB (94-96), SL (78-88)

8th: FB (94-96), SL (81-85), CU (87)

• Brent Leach is a 6-4, 220 pound left hander. The 26 year old has a big frame that has room to add a little more muscle. He attacks from a 3/4, almost high 3/4 release. His curveball is a slurvy 10-4 offering that needs to be tightened. His changeup has decent sink and a little run (struck out Justin Upton on this pitch) and his fastabll is a 4-seam with some run. Probably fits best as a LOOGY, but he could be an inning reliever depending on how much his command (a tick below average) can catch up to his slightly above average stuff.

8th: FB (90-93), CB (77-79), CU (84-85)

• Guillermo Mota attacked from a 3/4 release. His slider is a tight 2-7 offering that can be just a spinning fastball. His change shows some above average fade and some sink and his fastball has a little fade to it. I am still of the impression that he is close to being done.

8th: FB (93-94), CU (84-85), SL (86)

9th: FB (93-95), CU (85-87)

• Tony Pena is a 27 year old who stands 6-2, 220. The right hander has a medium frame that is maxed out and he may also be carrying a little bit of bad weight. He attacks from a 3/4 release. His slider is a hard 2-7 offering with good bite. His fastball is a straight 4-seam. He threw a ton of sliders (more then I thought he would) and he has a max effort delivery. I like him better as a closer then Qualls, but he sure made things interesting tonight.

9th: FB (95-98), SL (84-90)

• Josh Whitesell is a 27 year old first basemen who stands 6-1, 225. The lefty thrower and hitter has a medium frame that is maxed out. He has a slightly open stance while standing fairly straight up. He waves the bat in a circle above his shoulder as he awaits the pitcher to begin his delivery. His trigger is a step to square himself up followed by a little bit of a toe turn. He has a little bit of a longer swing and seemed to be pretty pull happy. He showed good power in the minors, but his defense is not good around the bag (he was pulled to move Mark Reynolds to first). He failed to scoop a short hop (not an easy play, but one a big league 1Bmen not named Ryan Howard needs to make) and didn't look very comfortable defensively. His upside is that of a bench bat to me.

Tomorrow I have a chart and a score. I will be scoring the next 3 Astros-Rockies games (and of course Michael Bourn just fouled a ball off his testicles, not like I wanted to see him play)