Zack Wheeler Debut and notes from last 2 Instruct Games

by thevaultsky on Oct 7, 2009 6:49 PM PDT Comment 48 comments

I got a chance to catch the last 2 Instruct league games and Wheeler got the start against the Brewers yesterday. I was very excited because there is no way to really tell who will be starting except for showing up. I talked to Zach last week and he said he'd throw sometime this week so I cleared my schedule to hopefully get a glimpse and it worked out.

He went 2IP 1H 0ER 1K 0BB

He did a great job for his debut only allowing a second inning triple (or possibly a double + E8) on a 1-2 count. Better than Strasburg did...I have video of the innings on my youtube page please go and have a look. The innings broke down as follows since some action happened out of frame.

1st

VIDEO 1

0-1 count GO 4-3

2-1 count GO 6-3

1-2 count K

2nd

VIDEO 2

0-0 count GO 6-3

1-2 count Triple Right Center, maybe a double with error

1-2 count LO 4 - 5DP - Noonan! with a diving stab to save a run and doubled up the guy on 3rd as he was going on contact.

Todays game featured some guys we already have some knowledge on. 3 guys really stuck out to me, Adrianza, Peguero, and another catching prospect Monell.

SS - Adrianza has good plate discipline, contact, and a little pop. He hit a jack to right field. I would say he's probably an average to slightly above average shortstop with the glove.

CF - Peguero has a freaking cannon. Runner @ third, and a sac fly to mid/deep center. He didn't get him at the plate but the ball was there in time a little up the 3rd base line, Monelli didn't handle it.

C - Monell did a great job behind the plate and seems to have pop as well. So many balls in the dirt today, but none of them got passed him to advance the runner. One he even laid out, across his body, like belly flop to snag it from being wild. His arm showed well as he gunned down a runner at 2nd and almost got a couple with some snap throws to first.

I hope you guys enjoy this info as much as I enjoy scouting the future of our team.

Here are some stills of Wheeler

via farm3.static.flickr.com

Here's the Gallery

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The vids are still being processed, quality should be much better in a little while.

by thevaultsky on Oct 7, 2009 6:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Better than Strasburg

music to my ears…

Bengie Molina is the slowest human in existence- except maybe Homer Simpson. And Man-Ram.

by Ramah71 on Oct 18, 2009 8:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks!

Good stuff.

We're all basically Pedro Feliz.

by SF Pete on Oct 7, 2009 6:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

awesome vids

do you know how hard he was throwing?

by speedyt72000 on Oct 7, 2009 7:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

unfortunately I wasn’t able to read any of the guns while I was shooting. I would say low 90’s on the fast but the off speed was pretty drastic drop in speed. I don’t think they had him throwing 100%.

by thevaultsky on Oct 7, 2009 7:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

cool thanks

by speedyt72000 on Oct 7, 2009 7:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

ive been talkin to the guy on face book he says he was sitting around 93-95, and says his changeup has been getting better

by COVEY COVE on Oct 11, 2009 12:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Awesome. Thanks for this.

Fastball looks pretty live.

Giant Dirtbags: John Bowker, Steve Hammond. MIA List: Todd Jennings, Brian Anderson
Jeremy Affeldt induces DP's

by Giant among Angels on Oct 7, 2009 7:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Sweet, nice work. Much appreciated.

by deuce deuce on Oct 7, 2009 8:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks. Great job.

About Adrianza: what did you see that made you think average defensive SS? I’m assuming that neither his arm nor range stuck out to you.

I only ask b/c the consensus has always been that he was plus plus defensively.

by Wonderful Terrific Monds on Oct 7, 2009 8:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I read that about him as well. I dunno, I thought his range needed some work up the middle, and then the throws to first were off target (high) when hurried. Maybe it was just today? He stood out to all the scouts/scout school that was there so his overall package is definitely promising, he only has a full season of Augusta under his belt though and then splices of diff. leagues. (He was in Fresno for a couple games in 08?) I’m thinking they place him in SJ next year?

by thevaultsky on Oct 7, 2009 8:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Supporting San Francisco Dugout since 2005 and Manny Burriss since 2006. Bringing you all your California League and New York-Penn League needs since 2009.

by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Oct 7, 2009 8:48 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Pictures or it didn't happen

j/k, this is great.

Utter frustration and futility.

by Johnny Disaster on Oct 7, 2009 8:52 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

…there is porn of it.

now i’m scared.

"Snow woulda had it!!!"
Has decided to put all his "In this thing" energy to being in the Shark Tank and the Big House.

by beat_la_25 on Oct 7, 2009 9:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice work

Wheeler for Fielder

by slcgiant on Oct 7, 2009 9:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice stuff, thanks a lot for sharing!

Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.
"AT LAST I AM A PARENTS." - Buster

by jponry on Oct 7, 2009 10:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

This is awesome. I’ve always wanted to know more about the Instruct League. Now we have our own roving field reporters. Thanks so much.

My Bucardo is better than yours.

A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.

by Roger on Oct 8, 2009 5:06 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

How’d Noonan look at the plate to you, btw?

My Bucardo is better than yours.

by Roger on Oct 8, 2009 5:07 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Noonan actually had a great AB where there was a runner on first, he ended up taking a walk but he allowed the runner to get to third by taking pitches and fouling off some more, this resulted in 2 passed balls. Other than that I think he had a couple GO’s to short.

by thevaultsky on Oct 8, 2009 7:56 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

If he didn’t swing at one of those passed balls, then I have little hope of him ever making the major league roster.

Context, people. More context is good. Less context is bad. If you're willing to be reductive, then you're willing to be wrong.

by howtheyscored on Oct 8, 2009 8:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds like he likes to cheat the game just a little too much

by bobnothing on Oct 8, 2009 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

needs to be more aggressive

A hearty thank you to Rich Aurilia for all the good memories, and to the Niners for finally getting the uni's (mostly) right.

by wjackalope on Oct 9, 2009 8:40 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sweet!

Thx, and the Giants need to bring this hat back w/o the stupid strips down the side.

I R 5

by say hey nation on Oct 8, 2009 7:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I’v been looking for one for awhile now

I R 5

by say hey nation on Oct 8, 2009 7:02 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

and that OF in the pic needs to pay more attention

I R 5

by say hey nation on Oct 8, 2009 7:05 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pics were taken during warm up throws :)

by thevaultsky on Oct 8, 2009 7:34 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

About the Old School Hat

I got one on Shiekh Shoes website, it is slightly modified with a white lining on the SF. Still a sweet hat, gets a lot of compliments

by Pearlsofwisdom on Oct 8, 2009 10:55 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks so much, Vault! Keep up the good work.

"The part of the roster where most of the money is spent, though, is on free agents and guys acquired through trade — guys Sabean did play a big role in acquiring. And they are not good. When you get 2/5 of a pitching rotation for free, you would think you could do better with $76 million than to field the league’s worst offense."
-Taliesin September, 2009

by Lyle on Oct 8, 2009 7:12 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Post!

I was just complaining to myself over breakfast that there was no way to check up on what was going on with the Giants’ prospects in the IL (the one post with the Tommy Jo homerun video really whet my whistle), then i log on to find my wish has been granted! Thanks for sharing the vids, picks and observations.

Initial thoughts on Wheeler:

1. Wheeler seems to have a nice, repeatable delivery – even while pitching out of the stretch to the last batter. That’s a great sign so early in his career – especially since he hasn’t pitched competitively in such a long time.

2. We can’t put a number on his velocity, but we certainly can see and hear that he’s really popping Monell’s glove, and that almost every batter swings late and/or hits to the opposite side of the diamond against him. We also can’t tell if hie has much movement on the fastball, but we can see that he appears to throw a “heavy” fastball.

3. It looks like he had a very nice slurve/changeup going – and that he didn’t tip off his offspeed deliveries.

4. It appears to me that he definitely has more room to grow, and add muscle and heft onto his frame – which hopefully will lead to even more velocity on his FB.

5. No wonder the dude hit that triple. You can clearly see from the stills that the CF (Peguero?) wasn’t paying attention – or even facing the batter – when Wheeler was pitching! :-0

6. I’m a bit worried about how Wheeler is spending his bonus money and his time away from the park. As you can see from this YouTube video, linked to below, that I found posted right after the video from his first inning of work (tittled “Zach riding new Yamaha Blaster”), apparently Wheeler has bought an ATV and is tooling around on it wrecklessly in his time off (I have visions of Jeff Kent “washing his truck”):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUwEhQFw_10&NR=1

One question that I have – any info on who Wheeler was pitching against in terms of specific hitters and team?

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Oct 8, 2009 7:19 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for checking them out! Going to instruct games are great fun and I am glad people get to see some of the kids we are looking forward to.

A couple things I probably needed to be more clear on:

- Wheeler was pitching against the Brewers and unfortunately I don’t have their roster. If you watch closely you can get the names of their jerseys for some of them that are legible.

- Lineup for the Wheeler game was as follows:
1-9
Wheeler
Jackson Williams
Mazzola
Noonan
Dunning
Culberson
Windster
Peguero
Fairley
dh’s – Dominguez and Lowenstein

-Peguero was in CF however, the pictures I took of Wheeler were during his warm up throws. He was definitely paying attention, and it was a laced double, he just let it pass him on the pick up.

The second game I went to was yesterday Giants V. Mariners

-That game was the one I like what I saw from Adrianza, Peguero, and Monell. The starter for that game was Craig Wescott.

Sorry about the confusion :)

by thevaultsky on Oct 8, 2009 7:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the update

Just to be clear, my thoughts #5 and #6 from the above post were written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. In other words, I know that the still pictures of Wheeler were taken during his warmups (so the CF wouldn’t be paying attention), and that the ATV video is not of Zack Wheeler.

It’s very interesting that they have Jake Dunning getting significant playing time at SS. What were your thoughts on his D? His results in college and the AZ Rookie League this summer would appear to place him way down on the Giants’ SS depth list. It’s my opinion that he doesn’t have the D or the bat to be a legit SS prospect in our system, so I think that they’re giving him this prime spot on the IL roster in hopes that the more he plays at SS, the quicker he’ll realize he has no future there and goes the Joe Nathan route into the bullpen.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Oct 8, 2009 8:05 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whoops good call, Dunning was at short, Culberson at third. I flipped them in the lineup.

To me I haven’t seen a whole lot of him to be honest. I didn’t necessarily see anything that was bad defensively, but I wasn’t paying to close attention to his play. I think the Giants are also looking to figure out where he could fit in, since he was used at short, 3rd, and pitched an inning in AZL.

He was kinda blocked too because Villegas was tearing it up situationally .302 with 24RBI and 12SB in 40G and got the majority of the PT in the AZL (mostly singles though) from the 2 spot in the order.

by thevaultsky on Oct 8, 2009 8:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vaultsky,

What did you think of Westcott? His breaking stuff was really nasty when I saw him in the NWL. He’s pretty new to pitching full time as well.

by Wonderful Terrific Monds on Oct 8, 2009 10:05 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I feel like I knew the breaking ball was coming before it left his hand. Anyone else?

by Evan on Oct 8, 2009 8:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for posting

and sharing your video and thoughts. These sort of updates make the off-season palatable.

co-dad of IshikaBOOM w/AfDC.
FIRE BOCHY FIRE MOLINA

by kennv on Oct 8, 2009 7:49 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for posting about this, can’t wait to see what these guys can do next season.

Awaiting his arrival in SF: Jesse English

by henwo on Oct 8, 2009 8:52 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for posting this, and great work.

For those of you who have seen them, I’m curious about your comparative evaluations of Adrianza vs. Crawford at SS, and Peguero vs. McBryde in CF. I’m asking, because I’ve heard that other teams are scouting the Giants this offseason at those two positions, because apparently it is thought by some that SF has a surplus at those positions in the years ahead.

I know it’s hard for me to think beyond the bad contracts for Rowand and even Renteria, but the idea that other teams are looking at the Giants at these positions makes me wonder what package dealing Sabean may be doing this offseason.

Responsible for the last great homegrown Giants team.

by Al Rosen on Oct 8, 2009 9:26 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs