Not a lot of news to pass along, the big news happened yesterday with the Kozma signing. One of my main fears was quelled a bit after doing some digging around at BA. The thing that bothered me the most about the Kozma pick was Carlos Gomez‘s assessment of his rather um, “poopy” swing based on what he saw on is draft video at MLB.com. Those videos are done early in the year or the previous. More recently however, Derrick Goold reported:
The club dispatched several officials to Owasso, Okla., for an individual hitting session with the infielder. They came away from that convinced the swing would translate eagerly from aluminum to bat and resolved that Gossett had his personality pegged.
I still absolutely value Gomez’s assessment of his swing, I have to think he’s improved drastically in order to have several Cardinal officials convinced he hit well enough to merit a # 1 draft pick. And least I would like to think they know what they are talking about. As for Gomez, I won’t tolerate people calling him some hack at a computer. Gomez has a good track record (he nailed Tim Lincecum while scouts said he’s too small and profiles as more of a reliever) and has received some national acclaim from smart guys like Rob Neyer. He’s been nothing short of great to the readers here in answering our questions. If you don’t like what he has to say, then give solid logic as to why you don’t agree with him, don’t just sit and say he’s some yahoo with a computer. Gomez is a retired professional baseball player, and a scout. We should be grateful for the work he is doing, breaking down mechanics of hitters and pitchers who most of us have no clue at what we’re looking at. Previously, this was stuff that was insiders, guys with training talking behind closed doors. I’d like to see more of the type of work that he and Jeff Albert do, you don’t get that sort of stuff at these subscription sites, etc.
I didn’t pass this scouting report along before, but here’s PG Crosschecker’s scouting report of Kozma.
Measured strictly by tools, Kozma doesn’t warrant first-round consideration, but his ability to play the game raises him to that level for many scouts. He has an athletic presence and confidence to his style of play that works at the upper levels of the game. Kozma has excellent athletic balance and a very quick first step that plays better than his average speed underway. He is ultra-smooth at shortstop, and can make all the throws from all different angles with accuracy and strength. Offensively, Kozma is a line-drive, gap-to-gap hitter with surprising strength in his wrists and hands that gives him some extra juice in his bat. He hit at a .500-plus clip the last two years for Owasso High, and homered in the first inning of the Oklahoma 6-A championship game—and it stood up in a 1-0 win. Scouts have compared him to University of Mississippi shortstop Zack Cozart, particularly for his body type and defensive ability, but Kozma has more offensive potential at the same age. There are numerous high school shortstops who are being mentioned in the top 50 picks, and Kozma is among them.
I’m not real crazy about the pick, and I know last week I said I could care less if the Cardinals take a mulligan and take another shot next year with the new CBA rules in place. But he’s a Cardinal now, and I’ll gladly root for the laundry and focus on the good. And there is a lot of good, I never denied that. Just not what I thought I would’ve liked to see in the first round. But I’m probably wrong, many smart guys said he was the best shortstop in the draft. If so, that’s great. Time will tell all.
As for tonight’s action. Colby was back in the lineup, and was productive…Ankiel goes yard…Mike Ferris made his AAA debut…Cody Haerther and Mike Sillman started their rehab assignments…and Tony “don’t call me Arnoldi” continues to make us ask..who is this guy?
[Edit] One bit of news is the Cardinals have signed Gerard Haran. Haran is a 21 year old catcher out of the College of New Jersey. In 2006 he was the NCAA Division III player of the year, where he finished with an .807 slugging %. This year he hit .327/.447/.661 with 14 homers, and played in every game of the season. I like seeing them take flyers on these indy leaguers under the radar. Haran will start with the GCL team.
Future Redbirds 