Joe was in New Britain this past weekend for the BMets @ RockCats series, and he agreed to do an interview for us here. He posted his own writeup on the 2 games he saw at his website, nybaseballdigest.com, which you should all go see.
Sidenote: Apparently there is a schedules outage today at 4pm PDT, 7 EDT, so the Gameday Links will be posted 5 minutes of 7, max exposure for this interview. The July edition of the Hotsheet will be posted at 9:35pm EDT.
MPH: Thanks for agreeing to do this, first of all.
JD: No problem buddy .
MPH: Now, let's get into the games. you picked a terrible weekend to go, with virtually everyone gone. Of those who are still there, who impressed you the most?
JD: Well, I watched Bobby Parnell on Friday night, and though the radar gun was not working, he had to be throwing in the mid 90's. It looked like he was throwing a lot harder than the Rock Cats starter. Mike Carp looked great, put good swings on the ball every time, I was very impressed. Also Shawn Bowman had a pretty impressive bat, but I don't think he's moving David Wright to first base anytime soon. Eddie Kunz who was called up had a bit of shaky control, may have been nervous knowing Omar Minaya was in the stands.
MPH: Where were you sitting for these games? (to give people an idea of the angle of sight)
JD: I was sitting about four rows behind the B-Mets dugout (3rd base side)
MPH: OK, now. Lets discuss Parnell. Obviously it'll be harder due to the fact that radar gun wasn't working, but I'm more interested in his slider/changeup then his fastball. How did his offspeed pitches look to you.
JD: His slider looked sharp, it had nice movement and fooled quite a few hitters, people chased some that went quite a bit outside, but because of movement, not bad placement. His changeup needs quite a bit of work, he threw maybe four or five of them all game and it seemed to get hit hard somewhere, even if for an out. One of the two home runs he gave up was on a change.
MPH: Moving onto Jose Coronado - he had 3 hits on Friday, including a double, and drew another walk. No one talks about him (MPH included in that) - how did he look to you?
JD: I was pretty impressed with Coronado. He had a nice level swing throughout all parts of the zone, and on Friday when he went 3-4, all three were stung very hard, even having people next to me go "wow". His only non hard hit ball that game was the first pitch of the game, he bounced it to second. His defense looked solid from the few opportunities he had in the game.
MPH: Does his swing look like it could generate some pop? He's only got 16 2b and a HR this season, and his line is .260/.337/.305/.642
JD: He doesn't look like someone that is going to generate much power, he seemed to work gap to gap, both of his singles were up the middle, and his double was to left center. He looks like a line drive hitter, unless he gets bigger unlikely he will generate much power.
MPH: So we covered Parnell and Coronado, lets move onto my boy Carp. He's been in a deep slump since June 17th, barely hanging onto .300. How'd he look in the two games you were there? (He went 0 for 5 today).
JD: As I mentioned, I was extremely impressed. He used both sides of the field very well, and his home run last night was a bomb. A lot of people like to call him a better Mike Jacobs, but Jacobs is an uppercut hitter swinging for the fences, Carp is a level swing line drive hitter with power, his home runs arent very high, they are liners. His defense is just OK, nothing special, but his stick is better than I thought.
MPH: As I've been saying for almost 3 years now. How did he look out in left field? We've seen that both Nick Evans and Dan Murphy don't look too terrible out there, Murphy even making a ridiculous catch on Saturday in Houston.
JD: He had very few chances out there, in the 9th, a player on the Rock Cats(forgot who) doubled down the LF line and Carp made a poor throw into third, he caught a couple basic flyballs, but he didn't look like a left fielder, looked kind of awkward out there .
MPH: So safe to say, of the Trinity, Carp's the one who looks the worst in LF?
JD: Yes I'd say so . In my opinion he should stick at first and not mess around with the "versatility" thing, I think he's either a 1B or a DH long term.
MPH: Did you see Kunz before his callup?
JD: Yes I saw Kunz Friday night . He appeared to be a little uncomfortable, control was a bit off, although it appeared it was because there was too much movement, not bad placement. It didn't help that Omar Minaya was sitting behind home plate scouting him.
MPH: And obviously that scouting report must've been good, because he was in there today, pitching the 7th inning. You saw ... Bobby Parnell, Joe Hietpas, Edgar Alfonzo, Eddie Kunz, Jose Sanchez, Casey Hoorelbeke, and Elvys Quezada pitch in the two games you went to. Obviously, most of them are destined to be absolutely nothing, but outside of Parnell and Kunz, which of the other 5 pitchers impressed you the most, if any?
JD: Edgar Alfonzo was probably the only other one, I was excited to see Hietpas believe it or not, but all he threw were fastballs, nothing else, and it's not a plus fastball. Alfonzo appeared to have a very nice slider especially to lefties, and a solid fastball, could maybe be a lefty specialist down the line . I didn't see much in Sanchez, gave up four runs in the first, and Hoorelbeke and Quezada didn't catch my eye .
MPH: We forgot Shawn Bowman. How did he look off missing most of the last 3.5 years? Obviously he can still rake (hitting .381 down there), how's his defense at third?
JD: He didn't get far too many shots when I was there, but from what I saw, he showed no rust of the time off glove wise . And I liked his swing, although he seemed pull happy.
MPH: Not moving David Wright to first, huh?
JD: (laughs) Not anytime soon .
MPH: OK, last question. Outside of Coronado, Carp and Bowman, who impressed you the most with the bat, or the glove?
JD: Josh Peterson showed a pretty good bat at the, I was also impressed with Caleb Stewart's bat, but he's done it at the Double-A level before. Jon Malo also looked good at second .
MPH: OK, thanks for the time, Joe.
JD: No problem Tej, anytime .
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