Originally Posted by
dkbaseball
If Brackman is a Boras client I predict he will get at least a $2 million bonus out of the Yankees. And I revise upward my estimate of his abilities (formed solely heretofore on posted results from ACC competition). Boras has a formidable team of scouts, one of whom is, or used to be, Bob Brower, who played football and baseball at Duke circa '78-'82 and got some time in the majors. Boras' people look only for premium talent and usually find it.
It's interesting that the very tall pitchers who do make it in the majors usually don't confirm the scouts' theory, which is that they will develop more velocity as they mature and be especially difficult to hit because of the sharp angle of downward trajectory in their delivery. Show me one who fits that mold. Johnson and his teammate Micah Owings (a six-six rookie who looks like a keeper), both have the arm slot of a guy about five-ten. Hendrickson is a junkie who can't get his fastball out of the 80s. I believe Reed was a side-armer. Anybody know if Brackman comes over the top with his delivery? If so, could be problems. The overhand pitching motion seems to be as difficult for a big guy to pull together as a golf swing.
To answer my own question above, now that I think about it, Ben McDonald was a six-seven pitcher who came over the top. The scouts have never been higher on a pitcher coming into the draft. But he proved easy to hit in the majors because the fastball just didn't have enough movement with the over the top delivery.