By Rodger Wood

Older Tigers fans are praying young Tigers BA #2 minor league prospect, Nick Castellanos will develop into a HOF right fielder just like Al Kaline did back in the 1950s.

Tigers brass invited comparisons of the 20-year old to the HOFer, who patrolled right field at old Briggs Stadium for over 20 seasons, when figuring 29-year old Miquel Cabrera would be holding down their hot corner for awhile, they moved young Castellanos from 3B to right field at AA-Erie Sea Wolves this past July.

Erie manager Chris Cron thinks the youngster has all of the tools to be a good right fielder at the major league level.

“He has a strong arm, good speed, moves, and catches the ball well, but he’s playing in only his 46th game in the outfield, and needs to learn the position through a thousand repetitions and lots more hard work.”

Castellanos says he’ll do his best to help his team at the new position. “I never played right field before, I played only shortstop and third base in high school, and minor league ball so I have to learn the hard angles I have to read to catch fly balls and especially line drives off a left handed batter. Right field is a tough position to to play but I’ll do it.”

Drafted in the First Supplemental round of the 2010 MLB draft, 44th overall, after he hit 542 BA his senior year at Archbishop McCarthy HS (Southwest Ranches, FL), the young right handed hitter proved he could hit beyond his years at Rookie GCL, Low A – West Michigan, Lakeland. When he stops chasing bad pitches and develops better plate discipline, he has the swing and hitting instincts to develop into a 300 BA and 30 HR major leaguer.

He’s advanced fast through the Tigers minor league organization, and while one of the youngest players in AA, he’s proved he can hit the more savvy Eastern League pitchers at AA Erie with a 276 BA in 74 games played, 15 2B, 1 3B, and 7 HR in 301 at bats. As he advanced from rookie to AA – ball, his power statistics have progressively increased against the tougher competition and has done better as the pitchers demonstrated better command of their pitches.

When asked about comparison with the Tiger great, Castellanos modestly reflected, “Al Kaline was a great rightfielder, and I don’t think I can ever fill his shoes, but if given a chance, I’ll do my best to give the Tigers another good right fielder. “

Kaline was soft speaking and thankful off the field too. Maybe Nick Castellanos, thankful for the opportunity to play right field, will also be the answer to Tigers fans’ prayers when he runs out on the field.

By Rodger M. Wood

Even though he was born in Colts Neck, NJ and raised deep in New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies’ territory, Red Sox 2012 MLD 1st round sandwich, and 37th pick overall, Pat Light is overjoyed to be a Boston Red Sox.

The 6’6” Monmouth University right hander said the Red Sox drafting him was “a dream come true. The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry across New Jersey is tough, and I probably will lose a few friends saying this, but I consider it to be a privilege to be with the Red Sox and part of that old rivalry. I’d love to beat the Yankees in Fenway Park some day.”

Light started 13 games, pitched 75.2 IP, and struck 61 batters for the Blue and White this past college season. Before the 2012 season, he was a Golden Spike or college baseball’s Heisman Trophy Award candidate, and #53 on Baseball America’s pre-season draft prospect list.

After going 20-0 in three seasons at Christian Brothers Academy and winning a New Jersey high school state championship, he was the Minnesota Twins 28th round pick in the 2009 MLD but elected to go onto Monmouth rather than sign.

Light throws a four seam fastball as fast as 99 mph, a solid slider, which breaks down and away on righthanded batters, and a split change up in the upper 70s.He knows how to pace himself to go the distance, throwing his fast ball in the low 90s and only occasionally slipping in a fastball in the 96 – 97 mph range to keep the opposing batters honest.

Sometimes victimized by an inconsistent, varying arm slot when throwing his off speed pitches, Light is working on repeating his most effective delivery every pitch at Rookie A NY Penn League Lowell.

“Lowell pitching coach Paul Abbott is working with me every day to improve and maintain my mechanics. My slider and change up sometimes lose their effectiveness late in the game when I tire and change my delivery.”

The 21-year old hurler must be learning his lessons. At Lowell, he is 0-2 W-L with a good 2.96 ERA in 10 starts and 24.1 iP. He’s stuck out 25 batters and walked only 5. The opposition has scored only 8 earned runs against him.

His potential, work ethic, and the way he’s performing at Lowell most certainly make the Red Sox happy too that he’s a Boston Red Sox.
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By Rodger M. Wood

#1 White Sox (13th overall) 2012 draft pick Courtney Hawkins has already shown the potential to dominate a baseball game at Rookie A – Bristol.

In the game I saw him play, he singled to get on base his first two AB, stole second base each time, advanced to 3B on an overthrow and scored the first AB on a sacrifice fly, starting the home crowd buzzing at the old Bristol ball park with excitement.

Although just an 18 year old, he has a certain aura about him which tells you he’ll get a hit, steal a base, and win a ball game for you.

While his speed is rated as only above average, the radar gun doesn’t take into account his baseball canniness, instinct and ability to rile an opposing pitcher into trying to pick him off. I had three perfect opportunities to photograph young Hawkins slideback to 1B in the first inning alone.

The book on this phenomen is he needs more plate discipline, but that will come with age. Critics will say he has struck out 27 of 92 AB in 24 games, but overlook the youngster has shown a knack for hitting the long ball with 2 HR and 5 doubles among his first 23 professional hits.

Bristol is also loaded six other White Sox’s 2012 draft picks: #3 2B Joey DeMichele, #5 SS Nick Basto, #7 C Jose Barraza, #12 1B Zach Stoner, #19 Alex Williams, #23 CF Kale Kiser, and #31 3B Corey Thompson.

You can view photos of all of the draft picks and other players in the photo galleries/featured photo folders/Bristol White Sox 2012 and Courtney.

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