Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Matt Bush’

The San Diego Padres, like all other MLB teams, are making roster moves in preparations for the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. For those who are unfamiliar with this draft, Paul DePodesta does a good job of explaining it in this post.

He then explains the decision to place up and coming talent onto the 40-man roster for the sake of prehobiting any other team from snagging them, a la the Royals plucking Joakim Soria from the farm a few years back.

As we do every year we held a series of meetings with a large group of our baseball personnel (front office, field staff, and scouts), and ultimately decided on adding the following players: Matt Bush, Cesar Carrillo, Luis Durango, Jose Lobaton, Jackson Quezada, and Cesar Ramos. That brings our roster to 37 players, so we still have a few spots remaining as we approach the beginning of the winter.

Of that list, all but Carrillo are former Wizards.

In other former Wizards news, the Paul McAnulty experiment is relocating to Boston, who took little time in adding a new fourth outfielder after trading Coco Crisp to the Royals.

This time of year, I like to start compiling a list of Padres prospects who might potentially get assigned to Fort Wayne when the following season starts. Once such prospect was a Dodgers prospect until just a few months ago when the Friars traded future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux to the Dodgers. They went onto the playoffs, to the value of the trade was all the higher.

Michael Watt was selected by Los Angeles as the 86th overall pick out of Capistrano Valley High School in last years draft. Thus far, he has played only rookie level ball, so he may or may not get assigned to TinCaps camp right away. And (as well all know) there’s always a chance he won’t play there at all. 

In the lefty’s final 23 innings, he had 20 strikeouts and zero walks. He went 9-4 with a 4.35 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pioneer League [source: SignOnDanDiego].

The above source also has a brief update on the progress of former Wizards Nick Schmidt and Matt Bush. No startling revelations there. Bush is still on shutdown while Schmidt is making fine progress. Thsi season will be a better gauge of their longterm outlooks and both will likely be protected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft.

A few days ago, I reported on some of the performances of former Wizards in the Arizona Fall League. MiLB did the same today.

Padres’ vice president of scouting and player development, Grady Fuson had encouraging words for many of the recent Wizards. Selected, relevant portions of the article are below:

[Jeremy] Hefner was in Arizona to work on converting his slider to a curveball, a pitch the Padres think will prove a more than capable complement to his fastball.

Outfielder Brad Chalk, 22, was in Arizona to refine his swing. Chalk hit .275 in 104 games at Class A Fort Wayne last season with a .354 on-base percentage.

The most improved position players were outfielder Danny Payne…

The Padres also handed out a new award that recognized the player who exemplified leadership among his peers. The recipient was outfielder Brian Joynt, who hit .304 as a third baseman with Lake Elsinore but will likely end up in the outfield.

Pitcher Nick Schmidt, the Padres’ No. 1 Draft pick in 2007 who missed the 2008 season after having elbow surgery, is pitching in the Dominican instructional league.

Pitcher Matt Bush, the former No. 1 Draft pick who made the conversion from shortstop to pitcher in 2007, had a sore triceps and was shut down before the end of instructional league. He’ll be ready for Spring Training.

Some other players mentioned – such as Outfielder Blake Tekotte, infielder Edinson Rincon and pitcher Gary Pointer – are young talents who have not yet played above Low-A ball and may be on their way to Fort Wayne as part of the innagural TinCaps sqaud that begins play in April 2009.

MadFriars’ Denis Savage reports that former first round (and number one overall) pick, Matt Bush threw 30 pitches in first instructional league outing. 

The right-hander had experienced triceps tenderness late last week, which pushed his outing back a bit. The tenderness is said to be normal and par for the rehab course, pushing through the scar tissue from his surgery.

Bush threw his full repertoire, tossing fastballs, curveballs and changeups. Control, as expected, was an issue on several of his pitches. The fastballs weren’t of the 98 MPH variety he had thrown when first transitioning to pitcher from shortstop but had considerable zip.

His curveball had impressive spin – more than Bush expected. Balls that started out in the zone careened to the left and outside the zone. It was a pitch that he did not toss for a strike.

The pitch that looked exceptional was the changeup. He had Chalk and Forsythe swinging over top of the pitch anytime he tossed it.

Forsythe was able to put his bat on a fastball and drive it far while Chalk went down and took a low fastball and smoked a liner to left. It was, however, more about finding command for Bush.

Overall, Bush was happy with the outing.

“I felt good,” Bush said. “I just wanted to go out there and not have any pain or discomfort. That is all going away. It feels like that is all going away. I am just trying to throw strikes and get a feel for each pitch and remember how my curveball breaks.

Certainly would be interesting to see Matt Bush return to Fort Wayne and be among a small group of players to be a Wizard and TinCap!

Another former top pick and Wizard, Nick Schmidt is also on the mend from Tommy John surgery and hoping to rebound during instructional league play. He took the mound and thre 25 pitches with slightly better control.

The Matt Bush saga continues.

Reportedly, the three-time and oft-injured Wizard was recently involved in an off-field fight where he suffered bodily harm. This news comes on the heels of Grady Fuson telling the News Sentinel that Bush is progressing well in his rehab from Tommy John surgery.

The injury must not be too substantial, though. The 22-year-old shortstop turned pitcher is still participating in workouts at the club’s training site.

About a month after Bush became a millionaire prospect as the number one overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, Bush and his brother Jeremy were arrested at a sports bar. Bush later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, trespassing and underage possession or consumption of alcohol and was suspended by the Padres.

“Obviously people are going to know he was in a fight,” Fuson said. “To the extent of that fight, people are going to have to guess. How it was caused, there was support there for him.

• White Sox walk off behind Pierzynski: Former Wizards catcher, A.J. Pierzynski hit his second home run of the night in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the White Sox to their second straight extra-inning win over the Indians, 6-5, at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday night. Figures . . . I just traded him in my fantasy league.
• Cuddyer’s MRI shows sprained knuckle: The last player in the Twins system from the Wizards’ days as a Minnesota affiliate, Michael Cuddyer has had a pretty banged up season. I think this is his third DL stint. BTW: he’s on my fantasy team.
• Condrey has big off-day plans: The former Wizards and current Phillie pitcher, Clay Condrey and his wife welcomed their first son on Monday, Cashton “Cash” Lee. Interestingly, Fort Wayne native and current Indian’s skipper, Eric Wedge, and his wife named their son Dalton Cash after his arrival shortly before the season.
• Headley continues to improve in left field: I still think he’ll ultimately end up at third in the long run, but Chase Headley‘s star continues to rise as he adapts in the outfield. For what’s it’s worth, there were some Oakland A’s scouts at the Castle on Sunday. Maybe its just a coincidence that Chavez went on the DL a couple days later. They’re just five games out of first and three-and-a-half out of the wild card.
• Padres land bevy of international talent: A possible look at some future Wizards (or whatever the team is next year and beyond). They forked over 5 million dollars to secure four highly-touted players from Latin America and an Australian outfielder on the first day of the international signing period; Adis Portillo (Venezuela), shortstop Alvaro Aristy (Dominican Republic), outfielder Luis Domoromo (Venezuela), right-handed pitcher Elvin Tavarez (Dominican Republic) and outfielder, Corey Adamson (Australia). They’re all around 16 years old, so it will be a while before we see any of them in the Fort if we ever do.
• Encouraging News on Matt Bush: “He isn’t on a mound yet but he’s long tossing from 130 feet and one third of the way through his throwing program. He could be back getting in serious work by Instructional League.” Matt Antonelli may be finally coming out of his funk and Eric Sogard is drawing some attention. Add him to your watch lists.
• Peavy nominated for an ESPY: Not much I can add to that. The guy is a stud and deserves to be recognized.
• McDaid promoted to Lake Elsinore: I haven’t cataloged any of my 2008 photos yet. Hope I got some good shots before Derek McDaid, an MWL All-Star, was promoted.

• Chase Headley: He’s back. And thanks to a Kevin Kouzmanoff injury, Chase Headley (who recently converted from third base to outfield) is going to get some starts at third. Oh the irony.
• Jake Peavy: He’s back too. “Peavy (5-3) combined with three relievers on a five-hitter in his first start in nearly a month since being sidelined by a strained right elbow. The reigning Cy Young winner looked as if he hadn’t missed a turn.” Even more important, his elbow was fine after the outing.
• Josh Barfield: He was back. Now he’s on the DL and likely out for 6-8 weeks. If Jamey Carroll keeps playing well, me may not return to the Majors this season (IMHO).
• Oliver Perez: He may have had a good start to getting back on the right track. Sseven innings, with Josh Hamilton home run being the only flaw. “So Perez, in spite of that blast, gave the Mets seven innings and 116 pitches’ worth of breezy baseball.” It still wasn’t enough to save his manager.
• Michael Cuddyer: Friday the 13th got the best of him and he left the game in the second inning after being hit in the right hand by a pitch. Doesn’t appear serious.
• Grady Fuson: He oversees the Friar’s farm system and he’s serious about changeups. Former Wizard, Michael Ekstrom lost his starting gig and current Wizard, Jeremy McBryde might be in line for the same fate unless he changes his way (hat tip to Friar Forum).
• Kyle Blanks: Apparently he’s trade bait due to a stockpile of first basemen (including the coming of age by current Wizard, Felix Carrasco) in the Padres’ organization. “Blanks is having a solid season; the 21-year-old is batting .306 with a .402 on-base percentage and five home runs.” Big mistake to let go of el Gigantor.
• Matt Bush: On draft day, Kevin Czerwinski used the Matt Bush saga to remind us that being the top overall pick doesn’t mean a sure thing.

Today is draft day. And while it’s four years since the Padres selected Matt Bush – the hometown kid from San Diego’s Mission Bay High School – as the top overall pick, the team remains optimistic about the future of the shortstop-turned-pitcher.

This is despite the fact that he has never played above A ball.

He’s been arrested for bar fighting at age 19, had a spat of injuries and proven he can’t hit. The Friar had to postpone the conversion to pitcher experiment when Bush tore en elbow ligment after 8 pitches with the Wizards (though it was reported to be 98 mph). He underwent Tommy John surgery that September and likely will pitch very little this season if at all.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that, once he comes back from his surgery, that he’s going to be worth that 1-1 [first pick of the first round],” says Mike Couchee, the Padres’ minor league pitching coordinator. “He’s going to come back better and in better shape than the first time we sent him out as a pitcher [source: SI.com].”

So, while the word is out on the 2008 picks, maybe Fort Wayne will see the 2004 top overall pick, Matt Bush, yet again in 2009.