Royals Extras (and Carlos Silva)

1) Sidney (Prince of Aruba) Ponson: FB, SL, CU, CB
5/6: 85 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball.

• Ponson is a 6-1, 260 pound righty. The 32 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out with a lot of bad weight in the lower body and he has an extremely thick lower half. Also appears to have a little bit of a gut. He came from a high 3/4 release in a fairly clean delivery, though he lands hard on his front foot which isn't a good thing at his weight. His fastball has some run in on righties and some sink. His curve is a sharp 12-6 with average depth that has good downward action to it. His slider is a 2-7 pitch with good bite. He throws a lot of 2-seamers and doesn't throw many off-speed offerings. His change has some fade from lefties and a touch of sink. Ponson generated virtually zero swinging strikes, meaning he wasn't fooling anybody. His fastball is solid, but none of his other off-speed offerings are very good. I would like to see him as a 1-inning reliever and given a shot there, but he just may get arrested if I told him that because he would probably punch me.

1st: FB (92-95), CB (78)

2nd: FB (91-94)

3rd: FB (91-94), CB (77), SL (81-83)

4th: FB (92-94), SL (82-84), CU (84-85) - FB

5th: FB (90-95), SL (81-83), CU (82)

6th: FB (92), SL (83), CU (84-86)

7th: FB (89-91), SL (80-82)

8th: FB (89-91), CB (75)

2) Carlos Silva: FB, CU, SL

5/6: 70 pitches. 4 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs, 2 Changeups.

• Silva is a 6-4, 250 pound righty. The 30 year old has big frame that is maxed out with some definite bad weight. He has a classic drop and drive delivery that is real slow in the beginning, but no real red flags mechanically. His fastball has good run in on righties and good sink. His change has some fade from lefties and some sink that he will throw to righties and his go-to offspeed offering. Almost looks like he guides the ball in there and that there may be some more velocity there in shorter spurts. His command is not as good as it used to be and catches a lot of the middle of the plate with his sinkers. He can still force a lot of groundballs. Silva's best case is a # 5 starter for a great infield defensive team, so the Mariners are his best fit to have a chance at salvaging his career.

1st: FB (88-91), CU (80-81)

2nd: FB (86-91), CU (81) - FB, CU

3rd: FB (87-92), CU (78-83) - FB, CU

3) Horacio Ramirez: FB, SL, CU, Cut, CB

5/6: 9 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs, Slider.

5/22: 30 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Ramirez is a 6-1, 220 pound lefty. The 29 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He came from an over the top release with pretty clean mechanics from the stretch. His slider is a 11-5 with average bite. His fastball has a some run in on lefties and a little sink. His change has a little fade from righties and a little sink. His cutter has a little cut. Just a 4-A pitcher. Not enough stuff to start and doesn't have a dominant pitch to be a solid reliever. Can't be a LOOGY, as his slider just isn't good enough and there is little deception in his delivery.

5/6

8th: FB (90-92), SL (79-80) - 2 FB, SL

5/22:

7th: FB (90-92), SL (83), CU (84), Cut (90)

8th: FB (89-91), SL (79-83), CU (84), Cut (88)

4) Robinson Tejeda: FB, SL, CU

8/29: 28 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Fastball, Slider.

• Tejeda is a 6-3, 250 pound righty. The 27 year old has a big frame that looks lighter then his listed weight. He has a thick lower half and has a little bit of a gut. He came from a 3/4 release with pretty clean mechanics. His fastball has a little run in on righties. His slider is a sharp 2-7 pitch with slightly below average bite. His change is fairly straight with a little sink that he will throw to righties. Looks like his current role as a long man is best, as he doesn't have an off-speed offering that is real swing and miss and can battle his command at times. Low leverage situation reliever.

5th: FB (91-96), SL (83-86), CU (83-85) - SL

6th: FB (91-95), CU (82-85) - FB

5) Doug Waechter: FB, SL, CU

8/6: 13 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Waechter is a 6-4, 225 pound righty. The 28 year old has a big frame that can add a little more muscle to his upper body, but has a built lower half. He came from an over the top, almost high 3/4 release and breaks his hands high, adding extra strain to his shoulders. His fastball has good run in on righties and some sink. His change is straight and flashes some fade from lefties with some sink. Waechter looks like a 4-A pitcher, as his stuff did not look very good.

9th: FB (89-91), CU (82-84)

6) Yasuhiko Yabuta: FB, Split, SL

8/29: 10 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Yabuta is a 6-2, 190 pound righty. The 36 year old has a medium frame that can add a litt more muscle, but I would not count on it. Typical japanese build. Over the top release with the typical japanese scrunch up when pitching with everything in towards his chest. He has a mini pause at the balance point, but nothing crazy. His fastball is a pretty straight 4-seam that flashes some run in on righties. His slider is 2-7 with some mythical bite, as it sure looked pretty straight... His splitter has above average fade from lefties and a little sink. Another 4-A reliever whose combo of straight pitches will not allow him to get major league hitters out.

7th: FB (88-92), Split (75), SL (82)

Chart Observations: CLE @ KC

• Fausto Carmona started for Cleveland really struggled commanding his stuff early. From a 3/4 release, Carmona attacks hitters with a fastball at 91-94, a slider at 81-84 and a changeup at 84-87. Carmona's fastball is a plus pitch because of its great movement down and away from lefties (or in to righties), but he has some issues commanding it due to its movement. He is a pitcher that needs to aim at the middle of the plate and allow the natural movement of the ball to take it to the corners. Carmona's slider is a fringe average pitch. His changeup is an above average offering that has similar fade and sink as his fastball, though he also has some issues commanding that pitch. He has average command of his stuff. He is currently a # 3 starter unless his command makes drastic strides and then he can be a # 2, which is his ceiling.
• Gil Meche opposed him. Meche featured a fastball at 92-96, a curveball at 72-80, a cutter at 84-89 and a changeup at 83-87 from an over the top release. Meche's fastball is a plus pitch due to its velocity. His curveball is another plus offering with its 12-6 action and the big disparity in velocity between the two. His cutter is an above average offering that really gets in on the hands of left handers when it's right. His changeup is just a change of pace pitch to lefties to ensure they can't just sit on the fastball and is an average offering. His command is everywhere from average to plus from appearance to appearance. Meche is a strong # 2 right now and has the ceiling to be an ace if he can consistently command his stuff.
• Aaron Laffey has shifted to the bullpen. You would think a starter that sat in the high 80's from the left side would have a difficult transition, but he has been throwing very well. From a high 3/4 release, Laffey attacked with a 2-seam fastball at 84-86, a 4-seam fastball at 87-90 and a slider at 79-82 (which he only threw to Mark Teahen). Laffey's fastball is average and his slider is a frisbee slider that is above average. He has some pretty good deception in his wind up and seems to hide the ball from lefties very well. With that taken into consideration, he has a shot to be a groundball generating LOOGY. Without seeing his changeup, it is hard to say if he is a guy that can consistently get out righties and lefties. Being a former starter, I would say its a good bet for him to have a ceiling as a multi-inning reliever, but one you would rather pitch when behind.
• Rafael Betancourt featured a fastball at 93-95, a slider at 83-85 and a changeup at 88. Betancourt is a solid set-up man, as he showed above average command of his 2 main offerings. His fastball is a pretty straight 4-seam and his slider has great bite to it and it just drops out of the strike zone. Pitching at his ceiling right now.
• Kerry Wood closed out the game and featured a 4-seam fastball at 93-96, a cut fastball at 88-92 and a curveball at 79-81. He still has a strong deuce, but it is just above average now. His cutter is an average offering that has just enough movement on it to make hitters pause a little bit. His 4-seam is a plus offering due to its velocity. He showed average command this outing and really struggled to get a release point on his cutter early. A solid closer, but not one of the elite's and he is currently pitching at his ceiling.
• Jamey Wright featured a fastball at 89-93, a curveball at 78-79 and a cutter at 89 from a high 3/4 release. Wright has been having success out of the pen, but I don't see it lasting. Wright's fastball is a tick above average, his curveball is above average and his 1 cutter was below average. Wright tends to allow balls in play, so he will need a strong defense behind him to be good over the course of a full season. His command is above average, but can desert him at times, especially with his curveball. A solid middle reliever, but he is miscast as a set-up guy.
• Sidney Ponson lost his job in the rotation and is now their long reliever. He attacked with a fastball at 88-92, a slider at 81-84, a changeup at 84-86 and a curveball at 76-77 from a high 3/4 release. All of his pitches are average offerings. His command can be erratic from appearance to appearance and even from batter to batter, which severely limits his use as a long reliever if he allows a lot of base runners. A guy that is likely pitching with his last chance at being in the bigs. Upside is that of a swingman, one that can start for you occasionally when minor injuries dictate it and that can finish some blowouts by throwing multiple innings.
• Robinson Tejeda's big arm has landed him in Kansas City. He attacks hitters from a 3/4 release with a fastball at 92-97, a slider at 80-87 and a changeup at 81-86. Tejeda's fastball is a plus offering and he shows above average command of it. His slider is a below average offering that flashes above average. He has a tendency to throw spinners and is not consistent with any part of throwing his slider (release point, velocity, command). His change is also below average that flashes average and he has the same issues with his slider. He has always been looking for an off speed pitch to complement his fastball and needs to refine these offerings to reach his upside of a set-up man. Tejeda reaches back when he gets ahead 2 strikes (which may be part of the problem with the off speed offerings), hitting 96-97 on the gun during these times.

Got the Pirates-Nats at 7 tonight featuring Ian Snell and the major league debut of Craig Stammen.