Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRedChief
So I ran into a guy today. We were talking Pujols and I told him I was a Cardinals fan. He congratulated us on Woolford our comp pick in the first round. I guess the guy's son plays in the same league as Woolford. He saw him pitch a lot over the years.
He said the fastball in just low 90's but he can control it and put it anywhere he wants to in the strike zone. He was so notorious at hitting the catchers glove at the exact spot that they had to modify the catchers stance before his sophomore year.
He said he is a good kid. In love with Florida baseball. Surprised that he signed. Everyone figured he was gone to college for at least 2 years.
If he throws in the low 90's out of high school what does it usually project as a 22 year old?
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The thing about Woodford is that he's built like a grown-ass man. A lot of prep pitchers are tall, stringy fellas that you figure will add 30 lbs to their frame and gain velocity. Woodford certainly doesn't qualify there.
Woodford may not be as projectable as most 18 yr olds because he's already pretty well built. He may end up cruising around the 93 mph range.
Really, I see a lot of Lynn in the kid. He's going to live or die off his fastball in all likelihood and it seems like he gets good movement to go with plus command. Neither of his breaking balls seem terribly advanced but there's obviously some time there.
Seems like a kid with a very high floor - with a moving fastball with decent velocity and plus command, he seems like he could be Seth Maness with very little additional development. I just didn't see a ton of upside there either. If you knew how strongly committed he was to FL and that you'd have to go $300K over slot to get him, he seemed like an odd pick. If they'd have taken someone that would accept slot, they'd have another $300K to throw at Kep Brown and get him to sign rather than (likely) losing him to his SC commit.