A recent mock draft at Baseball America had the Cardinals picking left-handed pitcher Jack McGeary, a high school prospect from West Roxbury, Mass. Here’s Brewerfan.net’s scouting report on McGeary:
While he’s not a flamethrower at this point in time, he does work regularly in the 88-92 range, and his athletic frame and smooth delivery leads many to believe that McGeary is just starting to scratch the surface of his future potential. His best attribute is his advanced knowledge of pitching, as he controls the strike zone very well and has both a promising curve ball and change up, giving him the size, stuff, athleticism and intangible elements you look for in a left-handed pitcher.
Not only is McGeary advanced in intelligence when it comes to pitching for a 17 year old, he’s committed to play for Stanford, so he has to be a pretty smart kid all around. Reading this interview at redsoxnation.net is what really piqued my interest. Just hearing about how he observes major league pitchers and how easily he picks up on their mechanics is pretty cool. He’s always looking for ways to improve. What also interested me is his advanced feel for throwing the 2-seamer and a curve for someone his age. That arsenal to go with his smarts could make him an interesting option for the Cardinals. Given that 2 out of the last 3 first round draft picks have been pitchers out of the northeast, I’d say the Cardinals very well could have McGeary on their radar. Whether he’ll be a Stanford Cardinal or a St. Louis Cardinal (or a pro somewhere) will come down to $$$.
Filed under: 2007 Draft
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I don’t really like us taking high school pitchers with our first round pick unless they’re known to have electrice stuff. 88-92 MPH probably means he sits at at 88 and has hit 92 once or twice. Not bad for a lefty but still, I’m just not a big fan of drafting high school pitchers. Of course, we have a fairly early pick (compared to previous years), so maybe we’ll be able to get one of the better high school pitchers.
Give me Ross Detwiler if he lasts that long, or Nick Schmidt.
That’s a good interview, thanks for the link. He sounds like an extremely mature kid, and maturity is the difference between the Peyton Mannings and Ryan Leafs of the world…
fpslackers-i realize where you are coming from, but velocity isn’t everything as you know,it’s movement. If he can already has good command and can get good movement from throwing the 2-seamer, that’s something and puts him ahead of the “cardinal indoctrination” game.
And that he can consistently pump in a curve ball for strikes at 17 is something. A lot of high school picks with high velocity are just throwers to start out with. The fact that he’s more cerebral, more of a pitcher already at the high school level is pretty interesting. But as far as velocity goes, if he can regularly hit the high eighties now, I’d imagine as he fills out he’s start hitting 92 regularly.
West Roxbury! That’s a short drive from my house. Erik, watch when this kid pitches and I’ll try to get pictures.
Erik-You make a good point on the 2-seamer. Not too many high schoolers can throw a good one and if he has already learned that, he would fit right into our philosophy.
My previous post was a little pessimistic. However, similar things were said about guys like Tyler Herron and Josh Wilson and look how they’ve done thus far. I’m much higher than some on Herron due to his great finish last year, and he still could end up being a good prospect, but one would expect more success out of him than he’s shown.
FP, wilson had a pretty good debut season, but he got hurt. college pitchers get hurt too look at mccormick, pope, williams, journell, and capel.
lefthanded pitching is a big strength of this draft
david price, joe savery, tanner robles, cole st. clair, nick schmidt, sean doolittle, jack mcgeary, daniel moskos, ross detwiler, madison bumgarner, james adkins, tony watson, and charlie furbush all have a chance to go in the first round.
guys i hope the cardinals are looking at
nick schmidt
matt mangini
jake arrieta
daniel moskos
jack mcgeary
jp arencibia
tanner robles
he is from newton but goes to private school in west roxbury
I go to a rival school of his and I can tell you first hand that this kid has to stuff to be a future ace of a major league club. He does not sit at 88, he averages at about 90 and has been clocked at 97. At 17, if some one can throw at the same speed as a lefty like Dontrelly, with the Zito curve to go with it, he could be something very very special.
I go to his school, he pitched today against Belmont Hill, play 5 and two thrids innings, no hits, 14 Ks, 2 unearned runs. His fastball averaged around 91 mph (with a dislocated right shoulder).
I was at that game, and you are right, he didn’t give up any hits, however it is impossible (barring numerous passed balls) to have 14 K’s in 5 2/3 innings. And the dislocated shoulder should not have affected his speed (because it was his catching shoulder) it would have only affected his accuracy which may have shown in his consecutive walks, but those were most likely the result of his basketball injury.
Thanks Curt for the inside scoop on McGeary. Being clocked at 97 for a lefty sounds pretty good to me. Even if he’ll live in 92-93 as a pro would be great. Sounds like he has a lot of upside. Any idea on how many pitches he’ll throw a game. I know some high school coaches can really be brutal on a young kid’s arm.
Recent article in Boston Herald about how the coach took him out during a no hitter because he had reached his 95 pitches, so no worries there (do a google news search). This high school is the best academic high school in the nation. That is not an exaggeration. About 1/3 of the grads go to Ivy Leagues. I don’t think the maturity/intelligence comments are over-stated.
Do you go to his school?
he goes to Rox Latin. great school and he plays in the ISL (top schools in the country) ex. middlesex, st george’s . . .