NL East Extras (Plus a Dodger and a Card)

1) Casey Fossum: SL, FB, CB
4/26: 46 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs, Curveball.

• Fossum is a 6-1, 160 pound lefty. The 31 year old has a medium frame that can add a ton more muscle. Extremely skinny and almost frail looking. He came from a high 3/4 release with a classic drop and drive delivery that is high effort. His fastball has some run in on lefties and a little sink. His slider is more of a cutter (and I am going to call it a cutter) that has some cut and some sink. His curve is a 11-5 offering with above average depth. 4-A pitcher who you really don't want to have to call on.

5th: FB (88-89), Cut (83-85), CB (75-76) - FB (J. Zimmermann), CB (J. Zimmermann)

6th: FB (88), Cut (81-84), CB (73-75)

7th: FB (87-89), Cut (81-83), CB (73-75) - FB (Hinckley)

2) Antonio Bastardo: FB, SL, CU

6/7: 107 pitches. 6 strikes swinging. 3 Fastballs, 2 Sliders, Changeup.

• Bastardo is a 5-11, 195 pound lefty. The 24 year old has a small frame that can add a little more muscle to his lower body, but not much. Toned, athletic build. He came from a high 3/4 release with pretty clean mechanics and a classic drop and drive type style. He works extremely fast, getting the ball back and returning to the rubber. His fastball is a pretty straight 4-seam. His change is a straight change with a little sink that looks like a fastball out of his hand. His slider is a sweeping 10-4 with average bite. He is a # 4 or # 5 starter or could be a solid 1-inning reliever featured on a fastball as long as it adds some velocity. Intriguing guy.

1st: FB (92), SL (82-84), CU (84) - SL (Ethier)

2nd: FB (91-93), SL (82-84), CU (81-84)

3rd: FB (92-93), SL (84), CU (85) - FB (Wolf)

4th: FB (90-93), SL (83-84), CU (84-85) - FB (Blake), CU (Ausmus)

5th: FB (89-92), SL (80-83) - FB (Hudson), SL (Wolf)

6th: FB (89-91), SL (81)

3) Travis Schlichting: FB, SL, CU

6/7: 40 pitches. FB (92-95), SL (81-84), CU (85-87). 4 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs, 2 Changeups.

• Schlichting is a 6-4, 215 pound righty. The 24 year old has a big frame that can get up to about 230 if so desired. Still has a thin lower half that can add some muscle. He came from an over the top release and showed a straight 4-seam fastball that has a little bit extra giddy-up. He has a little bit of a long arm action and a little bit of a cocking action, but his mechanics are fairly clean. Shows the ball to the hitter for a long time and lacks deception in his delivery. His slider is 1-7 with good late bite. His change has some fade from lefties and some sink and flashes above average late sink. Can get too cute with his fastball at times and looks like he can struggle to trust his stuff. He looks like a pretty good bet to be a solid middle reliever in the big leagues for awhile.

8th: FB (93-95), SL (84), CU (86-87) - FB (Feliz)

9th: FB (92-93), SL (81-83), CU (85-86) - FB (Werth), 2 CU (Utley, Victorino)

4) Andrew Carpenter: FB, SL, Split, CU, CB

7/23: 16 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Carpenter is a 6-3, 225 pound righty. The 24 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He has a bulldog build to him. He came from a high 3/4 release with a quiet delivery that looked pretty clean. His slider is a 2-7 offering with average bite. His fastball has a little run in on righties, but is fairly straight. His split has good late diving action. His change is fairly straight with a little sink.

8th: FB (89-91), SL (80-83), Split (85), CU (82)

5) Steven Register: FB, SL, CU

7/25: 47 pitches. FB (89-92), SL (81-84), CU (80-82). 4 strikes swinging. 3 Sliders, Changeup.

• Register is a 6-1, 180 pound righty. The 26 year old has a medium frame that can get up to about 205. Looks like a skinny high school wide receiver. He came from a high 3/4 release with a little cocking action, but pretty clean mechanics. His fastball is a pretty straight 4-seam. His slider is a 2-7 offering with slightly above average bite. His change has some fade from lefties and some sink that he will throw to righties. 4-A reliever who could be a major reliever on a bad team, but will rot in AAA with the Phillies.

8th: FB (90-92), SL (81-84), CU (80-82) - 2 SL (LaRue, Thurston), CU (Thurston)

9th: FB (89-91), SL (82-83), CU (81) - SL (Holliday)

6) Josh Kinney: FB, SL, CB

7/25: 26 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Curveball.

• Kinney is a 6-1, 215 pound righty. The 30 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He came from a high 3/4 release in a max effort delivery with limbs flying everywhere. Max, max effort that looks like puts a lot of stress on a variety of different body parts. His fastball has some run in on righties and some sink that flashes some good tilting action (sinker). His slider is 2-7 with a touch of bite that can hang. His curve is a moderately sharp 12-6 with average depth. He can battle his command at times due to the movement of his sinker and can leave some pitches over the middle of the plate. 4-A reliever who may be able to put it together for 1 season as a sinkerballer out of the pen.

7th: FB (88-92), SL (82-84), CB (77-79) - CB (Ibanez)

7) Marco Estrada: FB, CB, CU

9/17: 11 pitches. FB (89-90), CU (80), CB (81-83). 0 strikes swinging.

• Estrada is a 6-0, 195 pound righty. The 26 year old righty has a small frame that appears to be maxed out. He came from a high 3/4 release with some weird, but clean, mechanics. He starts by having his left foot take a step forward, squaring himself to the plate. He then slightly pauses, then lifts his leg like he is pitching from the stretch. His fastball has a little run in on righties and a little sink. His change has some late fade from righties and a little late sink that he will throw to righties. His curve is a sharp 1-7 with slightly below average depth that serves as his out pitch. Looks like a 4-A pitcher to me as a reliever.

8th: FB (89-90), CU (80), CB (81-83)

Chart Observations: PHI @ WAS (GM 2)

This game was called after 6 innings due to rain.

• Andrew Carpenter got a spot start for Philly and doesn't look to be much. He featured a 2-seam sinker at 86-91 (sat at 88-89), a slider at 83-86, a changeup at 82-83 and a splitter at 82-86 from a high 3/4 release. The splitter was his 2nd best pitch on this day and his slider was disappointing. He also showed some issues commanding his sinker and he needs to be able to spot this pitch to be successful. His upside is that of a middle of the rotation starter, as it isn't out of the realm of possibility for him to sit at 90-92 and to get another step-up in command. However, I think he winds up being a guy bouncing between AAA and the majors as his complimentary pitches really aren't good enough to complement a fastball in the high 80's.
• Daniel Cabrera used to have upside and command issues. Now he just has command issues. He has lost a lot of velocity, now sitting at 89-96 (and mostly at 92-93) and also showed a slider at 78-84 and a changeup at 77-85. He had zero idea where the changeup was going and also had a tendency to throw spinners as opposed to sliders. His slider no longer teases as a plus pitch, but is rather an average pitch when thrown well. Washington rescued him from the dumpster and may now be returning him. He really has no upside left at this point and is major league filler for a desperate organization at this point.
• Clay Condrey was 88-91 with his fastball, threw a cutter at 86 and showed a slider at 85-86. Solid middle reliever with his moving fastball and his ability to generate ground balls.
• Ron Villone was 87-88 with his fastball, 79-84 with his slider and 82 with his change. You know what you are going to get with him, as he has had command issues since he came up.

Off tomorrow (though have a baseball game) and return to work on Tuesday.

Sorry for these write ups being mainly pitchers, I just wanted to make sure I got the charts done well and didn't take time to make many notes about hitters due to time constraints.