Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Dodgers Draft College Boy

Chris Reed.

From "Dodgers draft Stanford lefty Reed 16th" by Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Although Reed hit the Dodgers' radar as a reliever, [Logan] White sees him as a Major League starter.

"I think he can definitely start," White said. "He's big, strong. He throws 92-95 [mph] with a hard slider 80-85 and actually has a good changeup. I could see him become one of our best left-handed pitching prospects. I definitely want to make him a starter."

White said that Reed had been on the Dodgers' radar since last fall, and he made a big impression last week closing out a postseason game against Cal State Fullerton, with White and Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda watching.

"He was in a tough environment, throwing 94, 95 -- didn't show any fear," said White. "It was a good catch, seeing him right before the Draft." [...]

And there is the [Scott] Boras factor, although White did all he could to downplay the bitterness that might linger from the contentious Hochevar negotiations.

"I'm confident," said White. "I would never say it's a slam dunk, but I'm fairly confident about it. It's an honorable, good family. I think the kid really wants to play; he's given us every indication that he wants to go play. He wants to start.

"Scott and I get along fine. I've had fine dialogue with the Boras Corp. I don't have resentment from that standpoint. There's always some concern. Like last year, I felt we would sign [Zach Lee], but I couldn't say 100 percent. This is the same way."

The Dodgers sure love their pitchers, don't they?

photo by Zach Sanderson/StanfordPhoto.com

4 comments:

Kyle Baker said...

I read the headline like "collitch boy" like I was a US drill sergeant in Vietnam speaking derisively to a new, greenhorn recruit.

Greg Hao said...

in the dodgers' defense, this was a particularly pitcher rich draft with a pronounced dearth of positional talent.

maybe logan white's a former failed pitcher and is seeking to redeem himself through the draft. heh.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I was surprised they picked a college pitcher. Logan loves the high schoolers, particularly after Moneyball made every GM fall in love with college boys.

Jason said...

Per @dodgerthoughts, Reed's next potential game is on ESPN2 this Friday at noon PT.