Arizona Fall League

First Pitch Forums

I just returned via a circuitious and much-delayed plane ride from Ron Shandler and Rick Wilton’s First Pitch Arizona Arizona Fall League event. You’ll find a short thread about some of the stuff I saw there on the discussion board in the Baseball Talk forum.

Here I just want to say that it is great fun to be in the company of so many people who know so much about the game of baseball, and particularly to hear from scouts and inside baseball people about the game. They aren’t always right (who is), but their endless observation yields some gems (Kimball Crossley, Blue Jays scout, says: “Pitchers who move their head too much during their delivery never have command.”)

Revelation of the week for me was Shane Komine, who is small but throws hard. The gun readings I saw don’t show just how much life his heater has, which makes his vast repertoire and fine command all the more impressive.