Many of our authors make a habit of speaking to scouts and other talent evaluators in order to bring you the best baseball information available. Not all of the tidbits gleaned from those conversations make it into our articles, but we don't want them to go to waste. Instead, we'll be collecting them in a regular feature called "What Scouts Are Saying," which will be open to participation from the entire BP staff and include quotes about minor leaguers and major leaguers alike.
Major Leagues
Nationals RHP Blake Treinen: "Blake Treinen really impressed me. Top-shelf stuff with a mid-90s bowling ball and a sharp breaking ball. He's young and still needs to improve his command, but he's an interesting guy with a lot of weapons."
Braves OF Justin Upton: "Justin Upton was about as locked in as any hitter I've seen in quite some time. The impressive thing about him is that he shows so much power up the middle and the other way. He's not a burner, but he's a good baserunner and has good instincts in the outfield. He may have been so built up at one point that he's underrated now."
Minor Leagues
White Sox High-A OF Courtney Hawkins: "This kid has as legitimate power as you will find when looking at a player. He comes with the normal glaring questions of swing/miss and pitch recognition, but he has unique power you don’t often see. It looks like he has worked hard on his swing to get to his power more, but I can’t overemphasize the power potential. Impressive-looking future home run producer."
Brewers High-A OF Victor Roache: "I’m having a hard time warming up to this guy. Big power but the swing doesn’t work in sync for me. He has physical presence, but the offensive approach doesn’t look like it comes easy for him. I think he will always be a threat because of the strength, but it could take a while for him to adjust to the pro game."
High School
Rancho Bernardo HS (Calif.) C/OF Alex Jackson
"There is a lot to like here; hell, there's a lot to love. But make no mistake, this is a risky guy who has a ton of swing-and-miss and is very vulnerable to offspeed stuff. If your player development guys are confident they can teach him to hit, he's almost impossible to pass up, but he's always going to be a feast-or-famine type of hitter, and in the likely scenario that he winds up in right field that's a risky proposition. He's risky, and as a Boras guy he probably won't come cheap."
Junipero Serra HS (Calif.) OF Marcus Wilson
"While it's easy to nitpick on his flaws, the rate at which this kid has developed is very reassuring. He's young for this draft class, and while he's still raw in areas, the potential upside is very enticing."
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I'd love to see an entire post with gifs of early '13 Hawkins, post futures game Hawkins and today's Hawkins. The raw we always read was special, so will his top 101 ranking rise along with the ct% is goig to rise?