| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 04-14-2009 |
I searched for scouts who have been at it long enough to have seen Ken Griffey, Jr. as an amateur and/or as a minor leaguer, and actually found two old geezers (they both called each other that) who were scouting when Griffey came into the league in 1987 and made his MLB debut in 1989.
Griffey spent less than a year and a half in the minors, and we all know how great his career has been over the last 20 years, but what kind of prospect was he? The obvious is that he had no major weaknesses, after all, he was the top pick in the draft for a reason. But how was he described by scouts back then?
"I think I said things like 'very good,' 'super athlete,' and I'm sure I thought he'd hit enough to play everyday," said a former AL West rival scout. "Tremendous bat speed, unbelievable makeup for a kid that age and he ran well, which, for me, can make up for some lack of hitting for average or power by showing up on defense and on the bases.
"But there weren't a lot of doubts, honestly. The report on him out of high school was exactly what you'd think it was -- great talent, five legitimate tools that he'd use regularly... as close to a sure thing to be a star in the big leagues as we'd see until Alex Rodriguez five or six years later."
Another scout, who is now a consultant for an NL East club, remember ignoring the basics and focusing on how polished he was.
"Even if you break down his swing as a high schooler, there wasn't much to look at and say 'he'll have to change this,' or 'that's going to have to get better.' Very smooth mechanically, and he was already about 200 pounds.
"He even threw the ball properly; If you have watched him over the years, you'd notice that Junior has always thrown back to the infield, keeping the ball low and on target instead of the high, looping throws you'll see from some big leaguers even. So fundamentally sound with no flaws or weaknesses, you could tell his father was a sound player, too."
Both scouts reached back and gave the following grades for Griffey as a high schooler and the year-plus he spent in the minors:
Hitting for Avg/On-base skills: 70/70
Hitting for Power: 60/65
Defense: 70/65
Arm: 60/65
Speed/baserunning: 60/60
OFP: 65
"I didn't think we'd see 30+ home runs every year, to be honest," the rival scout said. "I remember reporting more of a defensive-minded, 25-home run bat that got on base a lot and doubled teams to death."
"I was not surprised to see him top 35-40 home runs several times, but he went beyond that," said the NL consultant. That is something you can't project very often. Maybe we were all being as realistic as we could and got caught up in that. Griffey ended up being more of a power hitter and less of an impact base runner than I think a lot of clubs believed. He was going to be a star, but one of the best of all time? Nobody can project that with confidence.
"And I think he is the best ever," he continued. "He had no help a long the way. At least none that didn't begin and end with hard work and sweat. I'll fall all over my walker if Griffey ever steps in front of a group of writers to admit he took steroids. There's just no way."
That's right. He is the Natural. The Kid. And wouldn't it be a perfect way to start the end of this movie if Junior went yard today, deep out to right field, up and over the Hit it Here Cafe -- maybe even to win the game in the bottom of the ninth?
And wouldn't it make you tear up a bit if he hit first on his way around the bases and the theme from The Natural rang throughout the stadium, nearly 50,000 people losing their minds on Opening Night at Safeco Field?
Yeah. Me, too, man. Me, too.
Junior was a great draft prospect. He was a great minor league prospect for about five minutes. He was a great rookie, a great superstar, and then a great veteran. Now, he's a great legend.
A great Mariners legend.
junior,-the-prospect
Comments
The following 18 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: MoScott81 on 04-14-2009 18:29:06 Nice piece Jason, man this guy was and is something special, first game I ever went to was when my dad took me to a bellingham mariners game and we got to see him, my dad still talks about it, I was 7 so my memory isn't quite as clear. |
| 2. By: ASUBoyd on 04-14-2009 21:22:18 Great post, Jason. Still got my "Griffey for President" badge from '96. He is the reason I love baseball. Good to see him in the Safe again. |
| 3. By: MMjohns195 on 04-14-2009 22:05:43 I have become very cynical with sports over the years, but there is something about Griffey that brings the kid in me out. I recently moved out to South Carolina, so my big regret is not being able to watch Junior play one more time. I'm buying the Major League package just so i can watch Junior. Hell even my Dad who has given up on sports in general is excited to watch him again. Go Griff, your the reason I'll always be a Mariners fan. Hey Jason, now that i'm out here in SEC country are there any 'spects worth taking the time to see that the M's might be high on in the draft? |
| 4. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-14-2009 22:29:12 Where exactly are you, Johns? |
| 5. By: Blowgun7 on 04-14-2009 23:18:29 Jason, what kind of player do you feel Carp will be at the ML level? He's off to a nice start in Tacoma. Do you think he's the 1B or DH next year replacing Branyan or Griffey? |
| 6. By: MMjohns195 on 04-14-2009 23:22:52 I'm in Columbia, but we have a minor leauge team here called the Blowfish, plus the South Carolina University. I know that NC has a affiliate that plays West Tenn. We see georgia and clemson and such as well. |
| 7. By: k0o56 on 04-14-2009 23:33:35 I began playing tee ball back in '93. Our parents had to fill out a questionnaire that they'd post on the back of our little player cards. One question asked, "Who is your favorite Major League Baseball player?" At the time, I knew nothing about MLB so I couldn't answer. My mom scoured the sports section of the newspaper and wrote down the first name she saw - Ken Griffey Jr. From that day, I've followed the Mariners and have fallen deeply in love with the game. I'm now 22 years old but whenever I see The Kid wave that magic wand of a bat in his hands, I get chills because I'm brought back to those childhood memories. No matter how this season pans out, I am grateful to see Junior back in his #24 jersey. The way it should be. |
| 8. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-14-2009 23:36:10 UGA has two prospects - 1B Rich Poythress and LHP Alex McRee and Clemson had two - 1B Ben Paulsen and LHP Chris Dwyer. South Carolina has RHP Sam Dyson. Poythress is probably a top 40 pick, Dyson could pitch his way into round one - he throws mid-90s. Dwyer is an odd, draft-eligible freshman. Paulsen is a Mike Carp esque type hitter, at least in the power department. McRee is probably a lefty reliever, but has a chance to start. He sits low 90s when he's right. Dwyer has upside, but you have to wonder about a 21-year-old college freshman. |
| 9. By: MMjohns195 on 04-14-2009 23:39:40 Sweet, thanks Jason. |
| 10. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-14-2009 23:48:23 Add LSU's Jared Mitchell to that, too, Johns. The SEC always has legit prospects. I don't know what the schedule is like in SC, though. BTW, if you are anywhere near Mauldin, Madison Younginer is that state's best prep prospect. 6-3, 190, right-hander, touched 97 this season. Really nice kid, works hard, wants to do things the right way. Alabama's Del Howell, LHP and Kent Matthes, RF - he's a senior, but is a mid-first day type guy... Auburn 3B Joe Sanders (late first day)... And LSU's Leon Landry, OF, and Anthony Renaudo, SP for 2010. Oh, and Tennessees Blake Forsythe, C, for 2010 as well. |
| 11. By: Slack on 04-15-2009 12:52:59 Jason, Should we be encouraged by Silva's start from yesterday? |
| 12. By: Slack on 04-15-2009 12:53:44 Jason, Should we be encouraged by Silva's start from yesterday? |
| 13. By: Slack on 04-15-2009 12:54:17 Sorry about the double post. I'll get it figured out. |
| 14. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-15-2009 13:25:36 I would say NO. But there's really no way he can be as bad as 2008. |
| 15. By: rocketdawg31 on 04-15-2009 18:06:31 Junior is the one reason I went from "extremely casual fan" to rabid baseball lunatic. I'll never forget when he first broke into the big leagues, I thought "wow, he's making the other guys around him look like they'd be better off doing something else." The difference in talent level was ridiculous to behold sometimes. No 20-year-old I've ever seen ran as fast as he did and coupled with that kind of unhurried grace. I always hear him compared to Willie Mays,and I always thought that was a slightly off-base comparison. Mays exploded in everything he did- his first step, his bat speed,etc. Griffey never truly exploded, he glided with the game. I'm way too young to have seen more than clips of Joe DiMaggio play, but the eyewitness accounts have always seemed similar to me- just meant to play the game, so graceful to watch. Like Walt Whitman verse in baseball leggings. Just think, the man put up 600+ HR against often-amped-up competition, and losing about two seasons at least to injuries. I'm going to have fun long after he's retired in talking baseball and speculating just how good the numbers could have been, like Yankees fans do with Mantle, older Red Sox fans do with Ted Williams. My 10-year-old nephew recently got into baseball and has been following griff's second stint with the Mariners. He asked me "Was Griffey as good as they say when he was younger?" Y'all can probably guess what I said. "He was better." |
| 16. By: Slack on 04-17-2009 11:06:37 Jason, If Zach Wheeler has that much helium, is there any chance he is there for the M's at #27 if he keeps it up? |
| 17. By: rightwingrick on 04-18-2009 11:43:02 And now the ONLY player in history to hit 400+ home runs with one team, and 200+ home runs with another. And if we get lucky...really lucky...he'll hit he'll be around 630-640 at the end of this year, stick around for one more, and move past Willie Mays at 660. Wishful thinking, I know. He needs to lose 20 pounds to even have a chance. But it could happen, and "it could happen" has been said about (and done by)Griffey many times over the years. Here's hoping for one more miracle from The Kid. |
| 18. By: rightwingrick on 04-18-2009 11:58:07 I am encouraged by Silva's progress. He appears to have stopped trying to overthrow, he's more relaxed, and his sinker is working. If that continues, he may end up with about 4.25 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, several wins (and a trade at the deadline for prospects). Everyone root for Carlos! |
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!
|
|
 |
|
|
| Copyright 2010 Prospect Insider | Created by AQ Central Prospect Insider is optimized for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome |