Q&A: Matt Forman, Baseball America (Part One)
Baseball America recently put four 2009 BlueClaws among their top 20 South Atlantic League prospects in an annual post-season ranking (see ranking here). We wanted to take you a little bit more in-depth on those player, so we sat down for a Q&A with Matt Forman of Baseball America, who made the list.
We’ll start with the offensive players (13. Anthony Gose, 17. Travis d’Arnaud, NR. Harold Garcia). Next week, we’ll talk about the pitchers.
Q: You were here for Gose’s home run in game one of the finals against Greenville. What was your take on him?
A: I was very impressed. Just reading the scouting reports before I saw him, I thought he was in the Michael Bourn mold. But he’s got more upside than Bourn does…He’s a hard-nosed guy that doesn’t wear batting gloves. He’s got some pop, and plays a shallow center. He can track anything down. His arm is strong. He’s the complete package.
Q: Is there a comparison with a current big leaguer?
A: He’s like Carl Crawford, in that he has the four tools now. For Crawford, the power came later in his career. You think he (Gose) can hit for power down the line, though I’d like to see a little more from him in playing the small ball game. He could wreak havoc with his speed.
Q: What did you see from Travis d’Arnaud?
A: If he were in a more hitter friendly park it wouldn’t surprise me if he hit .275 with 20 home runs. His doubles number (38, led league) was very impressive. His hands are good and he has a very compact approach…
A (ctd): The hands are impressive both in the box and behind the plate. I was impressed with the way he handled Clay Condrey, going to the mound and calming him down.
Q: He started slow. Did that surprise you?
A: Well, when he was struggling early in the year I made the comparison to Lou Marson, who struggled at the lower levels but at AAA he was a .300 hitter. Though of course they’re different players. d’Arnaud will hit for more power. But normally you see catchers slow down in the second half. The fact that d’Arnaud was ble to finish as strong as he did certainly bodes well.
Q: How much consideration did 2B Harold Garcia get for the top 20?
A: He got some. A lot of people said he might be as fast as Gose. It seemed like he was a little pull happy and he was a little older though he got a late start to his career. Potentially he can be a big league utility player. He can probably play a little OF and 3B to go along with 2B.
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October 25th, 2009 at 9:38 am
[...] week we gave you part one of our interview with Matt Forman of Baseball America, who ranked SAL prospects here. That focused [...]