Danny's Diamond Notes

Sometimes when we get our first looks at a player there is so much hype surrounding them that the expectations are off the charts.  One such player that I had the opportunity to see earlier this week was Phillies prospect Jhailyn Ortiz.  Ortiz is a big bodied man-child listed on Milb.com at 6’3” 215 but he is much closer to Baseball America’s listing of 6’3” 250.  Professional scouts grade his power

Recently I was able to get a look at the Lakewood Blueclaws when they visited the Kannapolis Intimidators.  The player I was most excited about seeing was Blueclaws outfielder Jose Pujols.  Pujols is a long (6’4”) lean (185 pound) homerun hitting machine.  I was in attendance on Aug. 12, when the 20 year old took Luis Martinez deep for his 22nd home run, putting him in a

I spent yesterday in Hickory checking out the Crawdads as they battled the Lexington Legends.  I came away in absolute awe of Crawdads third baseman Charles Leblanc.  It’s easy to become short sighted when you get one look at a player either when you catch them on an off day or on a great one.  Today I happened to catch Leblanc on an epic day, but we

Unlike some of the other teams in the SALLY league, the Kannapolis Intimidators aren’t sitting on a dearth of fast movers and potential major league impact players. However, having had the opportunity to watch them several times this season there are some intriguing prospects to tag and follow. One such player is catcher Seby Zavala. Zavala was a 12th round pick in the 2015 draft out of San Diego State University

In a system populated with pitching mega-prospects like Michael Kopech, Alec Hansen, Dane Dunning and Dylan Cease, it’s sometimes difficult to turn heads and make people take notice. However, in the sleepy little minor league town of Kannapolis, Tyler Johnson is doing just that. You see, Tyler Johnson is a very special pitcher. He is one of those guys with the ability to make radar guns read triple digits. But it’s not just the

In the third game of the Kannapolis-Lakewood series I was treated to a three-inning virtuoso pitching performance from Lakewood’s young gun Spencer Howard.  Plucked by the Phillies in the second round of the 2017 MLB draft, Howard has already exceeded expectations.  He nearly chose volleyball over baseball in high school and then walked on and dominated at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo In his draft season at Williamsport, Howard

Chad Spanberger is a very interesting prospect in the Colorado Rockies organization.  He played college for the D-1 Arkansas Razorbacks for two years before breaking out during his junior season.  As a freshman catcher he hit no home runs, while compiling a .252 AVG .336 OBP and a 29% strikeout rate.  During his sophomore season, he regressed, hitting 6 home runs with a .225 with a .325 OBP while striking

Out of all of the prospects beginning their seasons in the SAL, one of the players I have been most excited about getting my eyes on is Ryan Vilade.  As a 19 year old getting his first taste of full season professional baseball, his reputation precedes him.  Vilade was literally born with a bat in his hands.  His father is an assistant baseball coach for Oklahoma State.  He was once a

Photo by Tiffany Wintz @tiffw96 on Twitter If you’ve been watching baseball for a long enough time, you’ve probably heard the term “dirt-bag.” Dirt-bag is a complimentary term used to describe a player who does more with less. The dirt bag hustles on every play, he stays mentally engaged, he leaves it all out on the field, and when the game is over, he walks off with

[wpvideo bb59E7zb] The 2017 and 2018 baseball seasons saw many quality White Sox prospects pass through the SAL by way of the Kannapolis Intimidators.  Intimidators fans and baseball prospectors were treated to visits of varying length from Nick Madrigal, Luis Robert, Jake Burger, Gavin Sheets, Blake Rutherford, Dylan Cease and many others.  The 2019 version of the Intimidators may not hold the same upside appeal, but that