The first weekend of Tigers baseball is in the books and it was an up and down few days. Playing at New Mexico State, the Tigers were rained out Friday night, blown up 24-4 (sorry, when you lose by 20 runs you are blown up, not out), then rallied to win the second game on Saturday, 11-6, before dropping the series finale on Sunday, 13-3. Is New Mexico State a high altitude location? Because that’s a lot of offense. (Just checked – at 3,900 feet of elevation New Mexico State, located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is nearly three quarters of a mile above sea level. So, I’m guessing, yeah, the ball flies there.)
Given that my focus is more on potential prospects, rather than team results (though I may have accidentally triggered my baseball fan gene with Towson already), I’m going to focus on a few notable performances. First we’ll look at the three guys I mentioned in my season intro last week.
Richie Palacios, SS – It is expected that Palacios will be Towson’s best player this season and he did not disappoint. Starting all three games, the Brooklyn native went 5-12 with 2 home runs and 2 doubles, driving in 8 and scoring 4 runs. That gives him an opening weekend slash line of .417/.500/1.083. That’ll work. He struck out once, walked twice, and on defense he flawlessly registered 8 assists and 2 putouts. As a Cubs fan, yeah, want. (A quick note/correction: I mentioned last week that Richie’s brother plays at Auburn. Actually, he did play at Auburn, but but was drafted by Toronto in the 4th round of the 2016 draft and is currently their #26 prospect.)
Michael Adams/Alex Cuas, RHP – The Tigers’ game 1 and game 3 starters were shelled right from the beginning. From what I gathered, New Mexico State is one of the better teams in the WAC, but nothing from this weekend indicates that Adams or Cuas have anything prospect-y about them. Unless proven otherwise, I’m taking them off the watch list.
There were a few positive non-Palacios performances for Towson this weekend, including a couple of guys who will get the watch list treatment.
Actually, this is a good spot to mention what a player can do to catch my attention, given my limited #NotAScout knowledge and access to the games. For batters I’m looking for, in no particular order:
- Hits – Guys who rack up hits for more than a game or two at at time will catch my eye, at least enough to delve a little deeper.
- Walks/Strikeouts – If a player can limit K’s and consistently get bases on balls, I feel like that might be indicative of good pitch recognition and approach.
- Slugging – Hits are good, but hard hits are better. I don’t anticipate Towson having a bunch of home run hitters this year, so this is where I will need to listen to or watch the games as much as possible. There is a big difference between a double that is a rocket into the gap and a dying quail down the line being chased by a poor outfielder.
- Premium position – Guys who play up the middle get extra consideration.
- Youth – A senior who’s done nothing to get prospect consideration at this point in his career probably isn’t going to change anything with a few good games. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, but when dealing with small sample sizes and my aforementioned limitations, I am going to be far more impressed by a freshman or sophomore putting up good numbers.
For pitchers the list would look something like:
- Innings/ERA – These aren’t predictive stats, but a guy who can put up scoreless innings will get me to look a little more closely. Gotta start somewhere.
- Strikeouts/Walks – Get lots of the first and limit the second. More specifically, I’m looking for something close to a strikeout per inning and no more than 2-3 walks per 9 innings.
- Advanced(ish) stats – In particular, once a guy catches my attention with good performance, I’ll try to ascertain his WHIP and GO/AO ratio. I’m looking for guys who can limit baserunners and who keep the ball on the ground.
- Velocity/Stuff – Again, this will be predicated on my ability to see/listen to the games, but I’ll try to figure out which guys throw hard and have one or more relatively impressive secondary pitches.
- Youth – Basically the same as what I wrote for batters, with the caveat that I feel like there’s more of a chance a pitcher could “figure it out” as a senior, be it through physical maturity, adding/refining an offering, or a mechanical change. That’s honestly a gut instinct and not something for which I have any proof.
OK, on to the players:
Andrew Cassard, OF* – Cassard is a 19 year old sophomore outfielder who hit .300/.356/.438 as a freshman last year. He appeared in all three games this weekend, starting two in left field (after entering the first game in right) and managed 3 hits and a walk in 10 plate appearances. More importantly, on a weekend the team struck out a total of 36 times, Cassard was one of two players who came to bat 10 more more times and managed only 1 strikeout, Richie Palacios being the other. With youth and some decent stats on his side, it will be interesting to see if Cassard is a consistently positive performer this season.
Mark Grunberg, OF – Grunberg only had a couple of hits, but he started all three games, walked three times and only struck out twice in 13 plate appearances. He’s a redshirt junior and, at nearly 22 years old, it would probably be a stretch for him to emerge as a legit prospect, but it seems like he has a tool or two to work with.
Bo Plagge, OF/RHP* – When I wrote about Plagge in the game one post, I said his bat would probably be his calling card, but he ended up posting the the most impressive pitching performance on the Towson staff this weekend. Entering in the 5th inning of the series finale, Plagge pitched 3 innings of 2 hit ball, striking out 4 and walking only one, with a 1.00 GO/AO. Another 19 year old sophomore.
Joe Enea, RHP – A newcomer to Towson this year, the transfer junior also pitched 3 innings of effective relief, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk. He only struck out 2, but at 6′ 5″, 220 lbs he has ideal size. Self-described as a “pitch to contact” guy with a slider, I will try to find out more about his stuff as the season progresses.
David Marriggi, LHP – An undersized lefty senior, Marriggi was the winning pitcher in Towson’s only victory over NMSU, going 5 innings and allowing 2 runs. He struck out 5, giving up 4 hits (none for extra bases) and two walks. Marriggi has been around 9 K/9 most of his career, so my best guess is that he has good stuff and/or deception, but his success depends on his ability to limit walks. We’ll see if this was one good start or the beginning of something more.
*As the youngest guys discussed here, Cassard and Plagge are going on my watch list for now.
UP NEXT
Towson plays three games against the University of Richmond. New Tigers coach Matt Tyner spent the last four years as an assistant at Richmond, serving as their hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. As such, I would expect Towson to have a serious scouting edge on the Spiders in this series. The first game is Friday, 2/23, at 2:00pm eastern time.
