The New York Yankees dropped their Thursday, August 16th matinee with the Texas Rangers, 10-6, but baseball in the Bronx was far from over. Just an hour after the big leaguers left the field, 32 high schoolers spread around the diamond to kick off the fourth-annual Summer Rivalry Classic.

In recent years, the Rivalry Classic—a one-game showcase in which players don the spring training jerseys of the Yankees and Red Sox—has become a favorite of scouts in the Northeast. The event marks a final chance for evaluators to watch players before they head back to school. This year, Yankees Northeast area scout Matt Hyde, alongside Anne Marie Yastrzemski, the daughter-in-law of Red Sox great Carl, organized the event.

“This is the fourth year that we’ve did it, and it all came to be as a result of Anne Marie Yastrzemski as kind of an addition to the Area Code games in the Northeast,” Hyde said, who managed the Yankees team. “It’s kind of grown into an event held in Yankee Stadium or in Fenway Park—we’ve had it both places—where the best players in the Northeast can play against each other. With the Area Codes and East Coast Pro Showcase, there are some guys that may not have made those teams, but we have heard about or we’ve seen and we want to get another look at. I think what [the Summer Rivalry Classic] does well is it gives us one more look at these guys.”

Scouts around the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic selected the two teams, providing plenty of East Coast talent to the game, but the event has attracted greater geographic diversity with time. Whereas four years ago the rosters were entirely filled with cold-weather prospects, this year seven players made the cross-country trip to play in Yankee Stadium.
[...] Continue Reading »

The Astros named Mike Elias scouting director and won't renew the contract of assistant GM and scouting director Bobby Heck, moves the team announced in a press release on Saturday.

Elias, 29, joined Houston as a special assistant to GM Jeff Luhnow in January. He spent five years before that working under Luhnow in the Cardinals' baseball-operations department. Elias began as an area scout for St. Louis and worked his way up to manager of amateur scouting.

“Mike has a keen eye for talent and a unique ability to blend scouting opinions with other valuable information like the players’ makeup, performance history or medical risk,” Luhnow said in the release. “I’ve worked with Mike for many years now and believe his leadership and evaluation skills will help us maximize the output of our drafts for years to come.”

The Astros hired Heck as scouting director in October 2007, when their farm system had bottomed out after a series of poor drafts. Under Heck, Houston has begun to rebuild its system by drafting the likes of second baseman Delino DeShields Jr. and righthander Mike Foltynewicz in the first round in 2010, and outfielder George Springer in 2011. The Astros had what looks like a banner draft in 2012, landing shortstop Carlos Correa with the No. 1 overall pick plus righthanders Lance McCullers Jr. and Brady Rodgers, infielders Nolan Fontana and Rio Ruiz and outfielder Brett Phillips with later selections.

“Bobby has been a key part of the front office for the past five years and has been instrumental in helping build the pipeline for the future,” Luhnow said in the release.

Prior to joining Houston, Heck spent eight years as the Brewers' Eastern crosschecker and five as a Rangers area scout.

Padres scouting director Jaron Madison is leaving the team to join the Cubs in the same position, a baseball source said Friday.

Madison, 36, has been San Diego's scouting director since December 2009. During his time with the Padres, the club's farm system has improved dramatically, thanks to an influx of talent that includes draft picks such as Jedd Gyorko (2010); Cory Spangenberg, Joe Ross and Austin Hedges (2011); and Max Fried, Zach Eflin, Travis Jankowski and Walker Weickel (2012). Madison previously worked as an area scout for the Padres and Pirates and as an assistant scouting director for the Padres and Cardinals.

Madison was hired as San Diego's scouting director by then-Padres GM Jed Hoyer and vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod, who now hold those positions in Chicago.

The Cubs have yet to officially announce Madison's hiring or what will become of Tim Wilken, their current director and one of the game's most respected scouts.

Aug. 11 update: The Cubs have promoted Wilken to special assistant to president Theo Epstein and Hoyer. In his expanded role, Wilken will continue to evaluate players for the draft while also adding major league, professional and international scouting duties.

The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms with righthander Felipe Perez, the highest-ranking undrafted player on our predraft BA 500 rankings, on a $400,000 bonus.

Any eligible player who goes undrafted is eligible to sign with any team as a free agent until he attends class at a junior college or college. Per baseball's new draft rules, nondrafted free agents are treated similarly to players selected after the 10th round. Any bonus money in excess of $100,000 counts against the team's bonus pool for the first 10 rounds.

The Diamondbacks saved $113,500 against their $3,818,300 pool this summer, and could spend up to $404,415 on Perez without exceeding their total allotment by more than 5 percent, which would have cost them their 2013 first-round pick. Arizona will have to pay a 75-percent tax on their $186,500 overage, which comes to $139,875. Perez's bonus is more than what all but two of the team's draft picks received this year.

Perez attended Fairmont Prep in Anaheim and pitched this summer for the Cowlitz Black Bears in the West Coast League, a summer collegiate circuit. A UCLA recruit, he saw his stuff improve a little bit from the spring. He touched 93 mph with his fastball and showed three pitches that could be average to plus at some point.

LONG BEACH, Calif.—In addition to being the home of the Area Code Games for a week every summer, Blair Field serves as Long Beach State's home field during the spring. Over the last two seasons, the Dirtbags and their opponents have hit just seven home runs at Blair.

In 17 games over five days at the Area Codes, high school players swinging wood bats have hit as many home runs—seven—as college players swinging metal bats hit at Blair in 57 games over the last two years.

Last year, just two home runs were hit at the Area Codes. Andrew Knepper of ESPN HS has been involved with putting on the games for the last eight years, and he said the most homers he can remember being hit at the games in one year is four. But he has a good notion why power numbers have spiked this year: the weather has been much hotter and drier than usual, so the marine layer that usually hangs over Blair Field in the morning and evening has been absent.

On Thursday, a breeze blowing out to left field for part of the day was also a factor. But while the wind might have helped Conner Simonetti's opposite-field shot leave the park Thursday, Jacob Gatewood (Clovis, Calif.) needed no aid from the elements. His three-run homer for the Northern California Athletics was a no-doubter off the bat—and it left scouts buzzing.

With his team trailing Simonetti's Yankees 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning, the righthanded-hitting Gatewood came to the plate with two on and two out. Righty Jesse Roth tried to bust him up and in with a fastball, but the 6-foot-5 Gatewood got his arms extended and launched a towering, majestic blast down the left-field line. It came off the bat at 107 mph, according to TrackMan, and finally landed on the road beyond the wall, taking a high bounce over the DeMarini pickup parked on the other side of the street and hitting the chain-link fence beyond that.

"I knew I got it," Gatewood said. "It was a fastball up and in. I kind of like that pitch—right in the wheelhouse. The at-bat before, I was kind of flying open. So I wanted to make sure that I kept my shoulder in and make sure I was striding back toward the pitcher. It ended up working out for me, strategy-wise." [...] Continue Reading »

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Pitching held up better Wednesday at the Area Code Games than it did on Tuesday, but there was still one football score (White Sox 18, Nationals 11) in a game that included the fifth home run of the tournament—a 431-foot blast to left-center by Arkansas commit Jonathan Denney. Denney's three-run shot came on a fat 90 mph fastball from Jordan Parnell, and exited his bat at 107 mph according to the folks at TrackMan (see Conor Glassey's explanation of TrackMan's technology here).

That was the most electrifying moment of the day, but Denney wasn't even the top offensive performer on this own White Sox team. That honor went to 2013 shortstop Andrew Rosa (Owasso, Okla.), who went 3-for-3 with two doubles and seven RBIs. Together, Rosa and Denney helped lead the White Sox back from a seven-run first-inning deficit.

Rosa got the White Sox on the board with a two-run single to right field in the second. He added a three-run double that one-hopped the left-field wall in the third, then ripped a two-run double down the left-field line in the fourth. All of his hits came on fastballs.

"I felt pretty good," said the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Rosa. "I got in good fastball counts, saw the ball pretty well and put a good bat on it. I feel like i've got a good strike zone and I know my zone pretty well. I like to get in good counts—there are a lot of good curveballs out here that you want to stay away from."

Rosa, an Oklahoma State commit, is a good athlete who is still learning the nuances of shortstop, which he did not start playing until high school (he was a second baseman previously). He did commit a throwing error in the first inning, and his internal clock isn't always on point, but he said he is gaining confidence and getting more comfortable at short the more he plays there.

He certainly looked comfortable in the batter's box. [...] Continue Reading »

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Three days into the Area Code Games, teams have already hit four home runs at spacious Blair Field—double the homer total for the entire six-day event in 2011.

Offense was abundant Tuesday, as two games turned into blowouts and every team scored at least three runs. Arizona recruit Michael Hoard (Tucson, Ariz.) set the tone for the day with a two-run homer to right field in the first inning of the first game, a 4-3 win for the Reds over the Athletics.

That was the third homer of the Area Codes; the fourth came when Rangers first baseman Garrett Luna (Magnolia, Texas) pulled a solo shot down the left-field line in an 11-4 win against the Nationals. It was the continuation of a strong week for Luna, who has played strong defense at both infield corners and driven the ball to both sides of the field (he had a double to right field Monday).

On a day when bats overshadowed arms, the top pitching prospect to take the mound Tuesday really stood out. Stephen Gonsalves (San Marcos, Calif.), a San Diego commit, started for the Brewers against the Royals and breezed through three scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing just one hit. Loose and projectable at 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, Gonsalves pitches downhill with an 88-92 mph fastball, which he commanded extremely well to both corners. He used the heater as the putaway pitch on four of his five strikeouts.

"He did a great job pitching at the knees with his fastball," said Brewers manager Josh Belovsky, a scout for Milwaukee. "He was having a little trouble getting his split-finger over, and the curveball, he had a little better command of that. We talked after that second inning and said, 'Hey, if no one's really touching that fastball, you can live off that.' So he kind of breezed through that third inning a little better and kind of banged that split." [...] Continue Reading »

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Rising seniors typically headline the Area Code Games, but the games also give precocious underclassmen opportunities to make names for themselves. Alexander Jackson took full advantage of that opportunity Monday.

A catcher/outfielder in the class of 2014, Jackson (Escondido, Calif.) provided all the scoring in Monday's most compelling game at Blair Field, a 2-0 victory for the Brewers (Southern California) against the White Sox (Midwest). And he did it as a reserve.

While big-name teammates like Jeremy Martinez, Dominic Smith and Colin Winters went hitless, the righthanded-hitting Jackson ripped a double to left field against Florida recruit Logan Shore in his first at-bat in the fifth inning, then scored two batters later to break a scoreless tie. Then, in the seventh, Jackson launched a solo homer (just the second homer of the first two days of the Area Codes) to left off lefthander Matthew Gatewood. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Jackson impressed scouts with his quick hands and ability to pull balls with authority.

"I was just looking for pitches to hit. Opposite-field hits are just as good as pull hits," Jackson said. "It's a really good feeling, knowing I was able to help my team out by hitting a home run. Everything about it, it's just an amazing feeling."

The two teams combined for just five hits in the game, and Jackson had two of them in his only two at-bats. Otherwise, pitching was the story. [...] Continue Reading »

LONG BEACH, Calif.—By the end of the first day of the Area Code Games, scouts were chattering that they'll be spending plenty of time next spring in Sweeny, Texas. So in that sense, Corey Simpson put his home town on the map Sunday.

Simpson, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound righthanded slugger, stole the show at Blair Field in the first day of one of the premier events on the summer amateur circuit. In four trips to the plate, he went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, leading the Rangers (representing Texas and Louisiana) to a come-from-behind 5-4 win against the Reds (the Four Corners and Hawaii).

A first baseman/catcher committed to Houston, Simpson lined a sacrifice fly to center field in the first inning, then drove a fastball into the right-center gap for an RBI double in the third. But he saved his best for last, crushing a towering two-run homer to dead-center on an 89 mph fastball from Ryan Castellani in the eighth. Even college players swinging metal bats seldom hit home runs in spacious Blair Field—to any part of the park—so Simpson's majestic shot to center field with wood drew plenty of oohs and ahhs.

"They'd been throwing me fastballs first pitch every time, and I was taking them the whole time," Simpson said. "So I knew they were going to come with the fastball again. They just left it right down the pike, and I took it yard. To tell you the truth, I really didn't know if it was gone or not."

Everyone else knew as soon as it came off the bat. [...] Continue Reading »

SYRACUSE — While the action on the field is typically great at big showcase events like the East Coast Professional Showcase, the atmosphere in the stands resembles that of a library more than a baseball game. Scouts and coaches scribble down notes and talk quietly amongst themselves, most players have one or two family members there, if that, and there are never any other fans present. So the loud cheers righthander Mark Armstrong received during his outing on Aug. 3 definitely stood out.

Armstrong goes to Clarence (N.Y.) High, about 135 miles west of Syracuse, just outside Buffalo, and had what looked to be about 10 family members at the event, rooting him on.

"It feels really good to face some of the top guys on the East Coast," Armstrong said. "This is a great environment and a great stadium. It's only two hours away, so it's nice to be local and not have to travel to find good competition. So it's overall a great experience to play in this ballpark."

Armstrong said the only other time he had been to Alliance Bank Stadium was to see Bryce Harper play for the Syracuse Chiefs. He threw three innings over two outings at the event without giving up a hit. Armstrong did allow two walks, but picked one of the runners off second base after they stole the bag and struck out five.
[...] Continue Reading »

SYRACUSE — Pitching is in Hunter Harvey's blood.

His father, Bryan, was a two-time all-star closer who spent nine years in the big leagues with the Angels and Marlins. He compiled a career record of 17-25, 2.49 and collected 177 saves. For all pitchers since integration with as many career innings as Harvey (387), only three have a better career ERA: Mariano Rivera, Billy Wagner and Jonathan Papelbon.

Hunter, a righthander from Bandys High in Catawba, N.C., also has an older brother, Kris, who was a fifth-round pick out of high school as a catcher and a second-round pick out of Clemson as an outfielder by the Marlins in 2005, but has since converted to the mound as well and is currently in Double-A Altoona, in the Pirates' organization.

At the East Coast Professional Showcase on Aug. 2, Hunter proved to scouts that there will likely soon be a third member of the Harvey family pitching in professional baseball. With his thin, 6-foot-3, 168-pound frame, Harvey has plenty of room to fill out and add strength. His fastball sat in the 89-92 mph range with good downhill plane and he mixed in a 74-77 mph curveball that showed flashes of being a quality pitch and an occasional 79-82 mph changeup.

"I don't use my changeup as much as I probably should," Harvey said. "I usually go fastball-curveball about the whole game. When my curveball's on, I'm a better pitcher. Some nights my curveball isn't where I need to have it, but my fastball usually helps me out a lot."
[...] Continue Reading »

SYRACUSE — The East Coast Professional Showcase has seen plenty of pitchers over the years who were not high picks (or went undrafted) out of high school, but went significantly higher out of college and then reached the big leagues.

Guys like Justin Verlander, David Price, Paul Maholm, Alex White, Mike Minor, Adam Warren and Eric Surkamp all fit this description.

Righthander Andy Ravel from Wilson High in West Lawn, Pa., doesn't have the strength yet to grind through a professional season—though a lot can change between now and draft day. Right now, Ravel has a thin build at 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds and he throws his fastball in the 85-87 mph range.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, Ravel is a Phillies fan, so he said it was exciting for him to put on their uniform, as they're the team sponsoring the Northeast players this year.

"You're always watching the games with your dad or brother and your family and you're like, 'I really wish I could put on that jersey and play one day.' And now I have that opportunity," Ravel said. "It's not the Phillies Phillies, but it's a step toward the Phillies and it feels pretty exciting."

Even without present strength and fastball velocity, the Kent State recruit does a lot of things that scouts like to see. He showed good athleticism and a loose, repeatable delivery. Ravel only threw one inning on Aug. 2, but threw a lot of strikes and showed feel for four pitches—his fastball, a 73-74 mph curveball, a 78-79 mph slider and a 78 mph changeup. [...] Continue Reading »

SYRACUSE — All the position players at the East Coast Professional Showcase ran the 60-yard dash on the first day of the event and there's certainly some burners in attendance. Here are the fastest runners, as clocked by scouts. . .

Carlos Williams, of, Covington (Tenn.) HS 6.40
Stephen Wrenn, of, Walton HS, Marietta, Ga. 6.40
Matt McPhearson, of, Riverdale Baptist HS, Upper Marlboro, Md. 6.50
Justin Holt, of, Gulfport (Miss.) HS 6.56
Silento Sayles, of, Port Gibson (Miss.) HS 6.58
Ben Deluzio, ss/2b, The First Academy, Orlando 6.60
Clint Frazier, of, Loganville (Ga.) HS 6.60
Connor Heady, ss, North Oldham HS, Goshen, Ky. 6.63
Terry McClure, of, Riverwood International HS, Sandy Springs, Ga. 6.63
Alex Krupa, of, Greenwood (Ind.) Community HS 6.64
Austin Meadows, of, Grayson HS, Loganville, Ga. 6.64
Chandler Avant, ss, Pike Liberal Arts HS, Troy, Ala. 6.65
Dalton Dulin, ss/2b, Memphis University School 6.65
Donovan May, of, The Tatnall School, New Castle, Del. 6.65
Nick Senzel, 2b, Farragut HS, Knoxville, Tenn. 6.65
Tommy Milone, of, Masuk HS, Monroe, Conn. 6.68
Peyton Attaway, of, Captin Shreve HS, Shreveport, La. 6.69

SYRACUSE – For several years, shortstop Blake Hennessey from Arlington Country Day High in Jacksonville, Fla., thought he was a member of the 2014 class.

Hennessey is age-appropriate for the 2013 class, but after being held back in seventh grade for academic reasons, he just finished his sophomore year of high school. But at the end of the school year, he met with his principal and she agreed to work with him to take extra classes with the hope of graduating a year early and being draft eligible with his age group in 2013.

"It was a hard decision for me," Hennessey said. "I was thinking I was a 2014 and I've got another year. But now. . . I mean, I've worked hard, but now I've got to work extra hard."

With that goal in mind, Hennessey has spent much of his summer on the high school showcase circuit. Here at the East Coast Professional Showcase, the 6-foot-1, 178-pound Hennessey has shown a nice, balanced righthanded swing and good actions in the field.
[...] Continue Reading »

SYRACUSE — While many of the day's top performers at the 2012 East Coast Pro Showcase were players who have already been on the high school showcase circuit for nearly two months, one pitcher opened some eyes as a relative newcomer.

Righthander T.J. McDonald from Village Christian Academy in Fayetteville, N.C., stood out first with his strong but projectable, 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame. His fastball sat in the 89-91 mph range and he touched 92 while also mixing in a sharp 74-77 mph curveball. McDonald threw two perfect innings and recorded four strikeouts.

McDonald said he's enjoying being around the other players and being able to receive instruction from professional scouts.

"It's been fun," McDonald said. "I'm learning some new things and just taking everything in. The scouts have just been telling us to 'play hard' and 'play pro. . . play cocky. Just give everything you've got. Don't hold back and just showcase what you've got.'" [...] Continue Reading »

For the first time in draft history, teams have exchanged picks.

As part of the deal that will send Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante to the Tigers and Jacob Turner and a pair of prospects (catcher Rob Brantly, lefthander Brian Flynn) to the Marlins, the clubs swapped the picks they won in the competitive-balance lottery last Wednesday.

Designed to give small-market teams and revenue-sharing recipients additional draft picks (and thus extra bonus pool money for the first 10 rounds), the competitive-balance lottery selections are the only choices that may be traded. The Marlins gave up the last pick in the supplemental first round (currently No. 37) for the final pick in the supplemental second round (currently No. 73).

This year, the No. 37 selection had an assigned value of $1,394,300 and the No. 73 choice was worth $701,700. That's a difference of $692,600. Those values will be adjusted based on the growth of industry revenues this year, so how much exactly the Tigers added to their bonus pool and the Marlins subtracted from theirs has yet to be determined.

Competitive-balance lottery picks can't be traded more than once, so these two selections won't change hands again. The lottery choices can only be traded during a regular season, up to two hours before the draft.

Changes to baseball's draft from the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement were evident last Friday as the signing deadline for 2012 picks came and went. But another modification, with potential ramifications for the looming July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, happened Wednesday.

Major League Baseball held its first competitive-balance lottery, with the Royals earning the first of six supplemental first-round draft picks.

“Every year it seems we pick 5 and 65,” Royals scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said. “We've always had to sit back and watch a lot of good players go by, so now this puts a lot of extra players in play.”

The first six lottery selections will follow the 31 first-round choices, as well as any free-agent compensation choices. Because the compensation rules will change dramatically this offseason, there will be fewer supplemental first-rounders than in years past and the lottery selections likely will come at the top of the supplemental round.

[...] Continue Reading »

Teams spent $207.9 million on draft bonuses in 2012, the second-highest total ever. The record was set a year ago, when the clubs combined to spend $228 million on bonuses and another $8.1 million on guaranteed salaries as part of major league contracts.

With new draft rules allocating specific bonus pools and prescribing harsh draft-pick penalties to teams that exceeded them by more than 5 percent, several clubs changed their shopping patterns. The Pirates and Nationals were the two biggest draft spenders under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement, which covered the 2007-11 seasons. Pittsburgh plummeted from a record $17 million in 2011 to $3.8 million this year, while Washington dropped from $15 million (and another $2.6 million in salary guarantees) to $4.9 million.

On the other side of the spectrum, both the Twins and Astros had ranked in the bottom third in bonus spending under the old CBA. With the top two draft slots and bonus pools this year, Minnesota and Houston led all clubs by paying $12.6 million and $12.1 million in bonuses, respectively.

Editor's note: This chart has been updated from its original version to reflect the Astros' signing of seventh-rounder Preston Tucker for $100,000 (July 18), the Red Sox' signing of 40th-rounder Kevin Heller for $1,000 (Aug. 8), the Pirates' signing of 21st-rounder Jordan Steranka for $1,000 (Aug. 31), the White Sox' signings of 29th-rounder Jason Coats (Jan. 8) and 39th-rounder Mitch Glasser (Jan. 15) for $1,000 each, and the Athletics' signing of 31st-rounder Ryan Gorton for $1,000 (April 9).

Most teams spent very close to their allocated bonus pools, which cover the first 10 rounds and any bonus money over $100,000 paid to players in subsequent rounds. The Pct. column below reflects the percentage of pool money spent by a club, while the Plus/Minus column shows how much a team spent below/above its pool once the money for unsigned players in the top 10 rounds was removed.

The Yankees ($406,300) and Twins ($298,500) saved the most money versus their bonus pools, though that wasn't necessarily their intention. New York renegotiated its bonus with first-rounder Ty Hensley (from $1.6 million to $1.2 million) and Minnesota did the same with sixth-rounder Andre Martinez ($260,000 to $80,000) after physical examinations prompted questions about their shoulders.

No club exceeded their bonus pool by more than 5 percent, which would have resulted in the loss of a 2013 first-round pick. The Blue Jays came within $341 of doing so and are one of 10 teams that must pay a 75 percent tax on their pool overage.

The tax bill for those teams comes to $1,588,193. The tax money will be divided up among 12 revenue-sharing recipients who didn't exceed their bonus pools: the Athletics, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Indians, Marlins, Orioles, Padres, Pirates, Rays, Reds, Rockies and Tigers. The Cardinals and Royals also would have qualified for tax proceeds if they hadn't surpassed their pools.

Editor's note: This chart has been updated from its original version to reflect the Astros' signing of seventh-rounder Preston Tucker for $100,000 on July 18.

When MLB and the MLB Players Association negotiated assigned pick values for the purposes of determining bonus pools for the first 10 rounds, their numbers closely matched how the market played out in the first year of the new draft rules. The top 50 bonuses totaled $104.2 million, while the first 50 values added up to $105.8 million. That relationship stayed close throughout the first 10 rounds, as the 338 pick values totaled $189.9 million and the 338 highest bonuses equaled $190.2 million. By contrast, when MLB unilaterally determined slot recommendations a year ago, the top 50 bonuses ($120.5 million) were 72 percent higher than the first 50 slots ($70 million).