I don't think his school mattered a bit. Rickie Weeks went 2nd overall and played at Southern University.
I don't think his school mattered a bit. Rickie Weeks went 2nd overall and played at Southern University.
Case-in-point: Stephen Strasburg. Course, not many guys can throw 100 MPH accurately, but it didn't matter if he went to San Diego State or USC. He was the clear No. 1 pick regardless. (Not that SDSU is some tiny school -- but it's somewhat on par with Central Florida.)
On the flip side, I'm convinced one of the reasons we got a complete steal at pick No. 27 with Phil Ervin is that he played at tiny Samford and not at a bigger school. If he played at Stanford instead of Samford, he would have been off the board before we picked. Dude was MVP of the Cape Cod league last summer!
Yeah, I think the conference/college DOES have something to do with it for guys without great physical talent. If you have Dave Winfield/Strausberg like tools it doesn't matter. If you have baseball skills more than raw physical talent then it does have some bearing.
Pioneer League
Ben Lively, Billings
(0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 7 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 BB, 10 K)
Lively has yet to pitch more than four innings in a game, but he's been remarkably effective in his 11 starts for Billings since being selected by the Reds in the fourth round of the 2013 Draft. In his first seven outings -- each covering three frames -- the 21-year-old right-hander did not allow an earned run. After finally being charged with runs in back-to-back games earlier this month, Lively was perfect this week, retiring all 21 batters he faced -- 10 by strikeout. Though he owns an 0-3 record, Lively has a tremendous 0.79 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 34 innings overall.
Lively ben deadly
Tom Servo (08-21-2013)
Lively has been promoted to Dayton.
Pitcher Ben Lively promoted to Dayton from Billings, where he had a 0.73 ERA...3 earned runs in 37 innings...opps batting avg of .163.
Lively will start Friday night for the Dragons. He was Reds 4th round pick this summer out of University of Central Florida.
https://twitter.com/DragonsBaseball
I don't know why you guys are getting so excited over a starter who can't even post a single win this season...
I wonder if Lively will start at Dayton or Bakersfield next year. If you remember, Cingrani skipped low-A ball his second professional season. He pitched at Billings the year he was drafted and then jumped to Bakersfield to begin 2012.
Recapping his season:
0-4 record. Now for what matters
overall including Billings and Dayton:
0.88 era 13 starts only 41 IP because he was on both a strict pitch count and inning count (he had over 100 innings in college) only 23 hits and 13 BB with 56 Ks. Zero homers allowed. BAA was .161
He had 1 start at Dayton went 4 innings 2 hits 1 walk 7 Ks 1 er.
Pitcher of the week and an All Star in the Pioneer League.
In an interview he claims an uptick in his velocity from college, and credits getting ahead in the count and being able to keep the ball down in the zone to his success. True starter material. Can get to mid 90s. Sits low 90s. Curve-slider-change. Slider is said to be developing into a true plus pitch. All good pitches. Certainly has catapulted himself up the prospect list. Another season close to the success of this one and he'll sit very near the top, I'd imagine. Could end up in Pensacola fairly early next season - if his success continues at the same degree I'd think it almost certain. If he stalls a bit then maybe late in the year.
A link to a story from his Billings days
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp...=.jsp&sid=l128
Last edited by RedlegJake; 09-08-2013 at 12:59 PM.
OnBaseMachine (09-08-2013),REDREAD (09-10-2013)
Very encouraged by Lively's debut. My question is how the short stints may be masking any issues he has. Did he use all his pitches in basically just one time through the line-up? Is his secondary stuff good enough to fool hitters when they get multiple looks at him? Is his velocity up because he isn't having to pace himself? I think he should probably be in the top 10 or 15 prospects, but I'd like to see how he does working his way through line-ups three times before jumping to any conclusions about his future.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Old school 1983 (09-08-2013),RedlegJake (09-08-2013)
mth - you make very good points. He was on such a strict pitch count it was rare hitters saw him more than twice through. That will be telling. So will his pitching when he has to go deeper into games and he battles fatigue and has to stay mentally focused for longer stretches.
He used 3 pitches in the game I saw. Hit 94 several times. Slider was a plus pitch. Curve was good at times. Looks like a keeper. Steal as a 4th round pick.
camisadelgolf (09-09-2013),mth123 (09-09-2013),OnBaseMachine (09-09-2013),RedlegJake (09-09-2013),REDREAD (09-10-2013)
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