Clippers vs. Bats

[Yankees]

Out of the 18 hitters in the 2 lineups last night, there was 1 future MLB starter. But that starter was Billy Hamilton. I did also get to see Scott Kazmir and Carlos Carrasco throw, and Armando Galarraga was the starter for the Bats...so not all lost.

First of all, Kazmir looked just fine vs. a feeble Bats lineup. He had 3 pitches working last night, and while he doesn't throw as hard as he used to, he still has excellent stuff for a lefty.

Carrasco throws absolute smoke, but he has no idea where it's going. Neither do the hitters, and you can tell the hitters don't like that. He threw an 87 mph slider off the ankle of one of the Bats players, and the dude couldn't walk right for 5 minutes. Not a lot of guys digging in after that.

The plusses on Hamilton: he's speed is f'ing crazy. He beat out a bunt hit in the 1st that he was honestly on 1st when the 1b fielded it. Kazmir saw him out of the box, and just let him go. His speed is clearly an asset in the OF as well.

The minuses: Man does he wrap his bat...like a crazy wrap. He popped up a few times as he drops his hands because of the wrap. He was also committing incredibly early to Kazmir's pitches, and looked very bad on a few off-speed pitches.

Instead of his bat flattening out on the pitch, he wraps tighter to his back. I'm no scout, so I don't know about his bat speed, but if it's not elite...man that's a crazy wrap. He also is clearly learning the of. He took a couple terrible routes, including not backing up his RF as the ball skipped by. It would have been an absolute disaster if he wasn't like Usain Bolt fast.

That sounds really negative, but he's really young, and he clearly has elite capabilities. He definitely stood out on the field. But that was definitely the tallest midget with the lineups the teams were putting out.