Baseball: Kaneland grad Casey Crosby moving to bullpen for Detrot Tigers - Aurora Beacon News

This was also  body. confirmed in a recent Baseball America article. This could be a very positive development for Casey and turn out to be a role that will allow him to make a positive impact on the Tigers. You can pitch in the bigs for a long time with a live arm attached to the left side of your body.

from the Aurora Beacon news:
Baseball: Kaneland grad Casey Crosby moving to bullpen for Detrot Tigers - Aurora Beacon News:

When he comes in to spring training, our first look will be at him in the bullpen,” club president/general manager Dave Dombrowski was quoted in a mlb.com report.

“We can always switch him back if we think it’s best, but we think right now he’s in a spot where he’s developed some. A lot of our people think he’s cut out for a bullpen role, and so that’s how we’ll bring him in.”

'via Blog this'

Casey Crosby takes loss in major league debut - Aurora Beacon News

Great to see this story, of course a win would be better. But this couldn't happen to a nicer kid. Congratulations Casey.

Casey Crosby takes loss in major league debut - Aurora Beacon News:

It was tied at 1 when Granderson cleared the bases with a drive just inside the pole in right field off left-hander Casey Crosby (0-1), a Kaneland High School graduate who was making his major league debut."

Crosby allowed six runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked four — all in the second — and struck out three.

'via Blog this'

Here's to a couple of "my guys" - doing well

We're going to have to make the trek up to Beloit to see Mr. Norman pitch. The team is off to a slow start, but Alex is 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA and 15K's in 22 IP.

Only 18 H's, only 3 of which are 2B, no 3B and 0 HR's That's keeping the ball in the old ball yard. It seems as if he's keeping guys off balance, as usual. Good job.

The kids that Alex's dad mentioned are raking the ball as well. All good to see.

We had featured Alex in a previous post and his Dad keeps me updated (below) on his progress.

Norman's Conquest Post
http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2011/11/normans-conquest-elburn-herald.html

One of Alex's teammates from HS, fellow LHP Austin Park appears to be doing well for University of Northwestern Ohio. Austin is currently 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 9.2 IP.

Austin Park, LHP Northwestern Ohio
http://www.unohracers.com/roster/9/3/591.php

Good to see he is keeping the academics in order as well.

2011: Park was named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference All-Academic team. … Led the Racers with 10 starts, 54.1 innings pitched and 43 strikeouts. … Went 3.6 with a 4.31 ERA and two complete games. … Allowed only 19 extra-base hits against 214 batters faced.

I'm glad to see these guys doing so well, both were great kids to coach. The only negative thing to come out of their success is, it forces me to come to the realization that -- with all that talent to work with -- I really should have had a better record.

Oh well!!!

---

 

http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2011/11/normans-conquest-elburn-herald.html

Alex had two teammates that were players to watch in D3:

 

Shortstop - Jordan Jaenicke.  Janni was his first year roommate (and oddly shares the same birthday as Alex), AND

 

1^st Sacker - Jake Tresemer (Tres).

 

Jordan also won a Gold Glove at third a couple of years ago. 

 

These two kids can rake.

 

bob

 

----

 

This was right on the money Charlie.  I saw Jamie Moyer on MLB network a couple of weeks ago, throw a two hit shut out at the AGE OF 47.  One of the 50 greatest games ever per MLB.  In the process, Moyer "got" the two SONS of players he played with previously.  Garry Matthews Jr  (son of Sarge when Moyer was with the Cubs) and another son that I can't remember.

 

I loved your line about guts and guile and finess, and pitching your ass off, while people stare at their radar guns.  Alex had a 1.55 era this summer against a boatload of DI's this summer.  I will take him in a key game against anybody out there.  

 

My favorite game for Alex though was last Spring during Beloit trip to Florida - against Webster, ranked 20^th at the time.  11 hit shutout (3-0 win) against one of the best pitchers in DIII (another Alex by the way).  4 double plays behind him, three in crucial spots – and 3-4 strike outs looking on three different pitches.  The other team had to be thinking how did we not score off this guy.  The guy doing the broadcast for Webster said "this was two great Alex's – theirs was just a little better today.  This was two pitchers going toe to toe."  COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF.

 

See ya around the ball field.

bob norman        

 

----

Casey Crosby coming to Chicago? COOL!!!

If this report pans out, perhaps.....How cool would that be? One of my favorite players to keep tabs on, although it is a growing list (thankfully). This will give me a much better reason to trek out to Wrigley Field again. Winning would help.

Report: Cubs, Tigers Working on Trade for Matt Garza | Bleacher Report:

"The Cubs could, however, realistically ask for one of Detroit's intriguing left-handed starters, as Andy Oliver, Casey Crosby and Drew Smyly all rank in the Tigers' Top 10 prospects, according to MLB.com. Oliver has seen the show, and probably wouldn't be packaged with Turner. Smyly is a softer tossing left-hander, which the Cubs already look to have two of with the recently-signed Paul Maholm, and Travis Wood, who was acquired in the trade for Sean Marshall."

This leaves Casey Crosby. Crosby, 23, has battled arm injuries in the past, missing out on the 2008 season due to to Tommy John surgery, and had all but three appearances in 2010 because of an elbow injury. However, the 2007 fifth rounder is still considered to have front-of-the-rotation stuff, simply needing the time to refine his craft. Already having lost two seasons to arm injuries, Crosby seems like the perfect candidate for a change of scenery. He was simply okay in AA Erie in 2011, going 9-7 with a 4.10 ERA over 25 starts, logging 131 2/3 innings.

Crosby is also a Chicagoland native, hailing from Elburn, IL and pitched for Kaneland High School, where he won the Illinois Gatorade Player Of The Year in 2007. While it's hard to judge whether he'd be a Cubs or White Sox fan having pitched so far from the city limits of Chicago, it's not hard to say that the potential to play as close to home as he could get would be an added motivator for the young lefty. With a mid-90's fastball, a nasty curve and a developing changeup, Crosby could find himself in the Cubs' rotation by 2014.

Even if the Tigers were to offer Turner with Crosby, it still likely wouldn't be quite enough to sway Hoyer and Epstein to move Garza. However, the Tigers could offer a couple of farther-off prospects, preferably an outfielder or two with potential not unlike Ronald Torreyes, the wild card of the Marshall trade.

Norman’s conquest - Elburn Herald

I was truly gratified to receive the following updates regarding the progress of one of my former players -- Beloit College LHP Alex Norman -- from an understandably proud father.

After a week where the news of the day made things tough on anyone who puts the title of Coach in front of their name, it did my heart good to see the visions and aspirations that we had for this young man develop and play out over the last seven years.

Here's my Three Lefties Kaneland High School Freshman Baseball, 2005.

Alex is on the far left.

A great trio of pitchers who formed the nucleus of a pitching staff and team that I believed was a special group capable of accomplishing special things.

We wanted to build a strong foundation for a Kaneland program and tasked this group to turn around the fortunes of a program that did not have great success before 2005. We expected that they would achieve great things at the varsity level and that the program would arrive as a force to be reckoned with and respected in the conference and the surrounding area.

I believe that this group of kids did, in fact, lay the groundwork for a program that would later bring a state title back home to Kaneland.

http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2011/06/kaneland-shuts-down-opponents-stars.html

Alex has always been the epitome of a stylish left-handed pitcher and a great student of the game. You always felt comfortable with him on the mound that you would get a solid effort, he could control a running game as well as one his models -- Andy Pettitte --, and he would find ways to get guys out and get out of innings without damage.

Hitters would go home wearing different size collars and maybe wondering how. But in the end, they took the collar home. Next game, same story. It was fun to watch him develop and grow as a pitcher.

As coaches and fans, we sometimes wonder where the guys -- like a Jamie Moyer or an Alex Norman-- who pitch effectively with guts, guile and finesse are. Why do they seem to be so hard to find and identify?

All the while they are right there. Right in front of our noses. Pitching their asses off while we peer into the radar guns, reading off numbers and shaking our heads. If only pitching, or pitching evaluation could be that easy.

In baseball, sometimes we focus too much on the laundry list of things we can easily identify and quantify. We focus too much on things that kids cannot do and fail to identify and cultivate the things that kids can do. It's a little bit of CYA on our part as coaches. We play the evaluation game a little bit too safe. Intangibles are difficult to evaluate and harder for folks to see. So we tend to miss a lot on guys like Alex Norman. We go home as coaches shaking our heads, thinking "how did we miss?" in much the same way hitters walk away from an AB against Alex.

This is a can-do type of kid who finds a way to succeed and win. I never get tired of seeing success stories of this kind and Alex deserves all the success and notoriety he receives. A real classy kid.

During difficult, turbulent times, his story gives me a tangible answer to the question "Why do you keep doing this crazy thing called coaching?"

WAY TO GO ALEX!!!

We are all very proud of you. Keep up the good work.

====
THE ALEX NORMAN FILE:

Norman’s conquest - Elburn Herald:

"Junior pitcher Alex Norman, graduate of Kaneland High School in 2008, earned First Team honors on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Central Region Team for Beloit College.

One of three Buccaneers honorees, Norman established himself as the ace of the staff this season. He closed the regular season with a 7-2 record, tying him for the most wins in a single-season, and a 2.55 ERA, the fifth-best mark in Beloit history. He also has a better than 4 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, having fanned 42 while walking just 11 in 67 innings.

He led the MWC in wins, ERA and innings pitched.

He earned MWC First Team honors this season."

http://triblocal.com/des-plaines/community/stories/2011/06/patriots-norman-pitches-perfect-game/

Des Plaines Patriots’ ace, Alex Norman, pitched a perfect game Sunday, June 5th beating the Park Ridge Indians 13-0 at Maine East High School. Due to the incredible run support by the Patriots, the game was called after five innings under what is known as the “mercy” rule.

It took Norman only 44 pitches to get through five perfect innings, retiring 15 batters consecutively. “I didn’t think it was going to happen,” said Norman, “ I’ve always thought about pitching the perfect game-every pitcher does.”

Kaneland shuts down opponent’s stars - DailyHerald.com

Kaneland players pile on after winning the Class 3A title on Saturday. (Jeff Vorva/Tribune)

Congrats to Kaneland High School for winning the Illinois state 3A baseball championship.

I was fortunate enough to be involved with the program as a freshman baseball coach when we first moved to Illinois back in 2005 and you could see then that the program had all the ingredients to make such a run possible. All they lacked at the time was a prior history of winning, but the kids seemed enthusiastic about reversing the fortunes of the program from top to bottom.

Hard-working, high character, athletic, hard-working kids and enthusiastic, supportive, involved parents who are positive complements to the coaching staffs.

It was welcome news to see that the program was able to reach the mountain top.

KANELAND HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL - 2011 ILLINOIS STATE 3A CHAMPIONS - CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!


Kaneland shuts down opponent’s stars - DailyHerald.com:

"Frustrated? Sure, but that was nothing compared to what Oak Forest’s No. 3 hitter Tim Barry had to say Saturday. Barry, entering with his 12 home runs, went 1-for-4 with just a seventh-inning single.

“Very frustrating because every high school pitcher has to pitch around me because they are a bunch of babies,” Barry said. “They can’t test their abilities against a really good hitter, especially myself. A really good pitcher can pitch against a really good hitter no matter what.”

Babies? I think state champion is a better way to describe Kaneland pitchers Drew Peters and Kyle Davidson.

Or intelligent pitchers doing what needs to be done to win a game ... and doing it in high pressure situations like Barry’s first 2 at-bats.

Barry obviously was focused on the game Saturday and not all the IHSA “Add-A-Tude” commercials that kept flashing on the big scoreboard. Otherwise he would know it’s not good sportsmanship to call the pitchers that just beat you “babies,” and it’s not Kaneland’s job to give you more than “one fastball in my zone” — it’s Kaneland’s job to get you out and win the game."

Barry came up in both the first and third innings with two runners on base, and both times Peters retired him. First on a pop-up to second baseman Brian Dixon, the next time on a comebacker that Peters turned into a 1-6-3, inning-ending double play.

“I knew he was their big hitter,” Peters said. “I knew I had to be careful with him. I was pitching him low, outside. The ball moves a lot I guess, he couldn’t get quite on it. I got him out pretty easily but there were some other guys I couldn’t get out as easily. Overall it was great.”

Several teams have walked Barry intentionally this year. Kaneland went after him and it worked. Getting out of those early jams proved to be a momentum boost in the Knights’ 11-3 victory.
“We weren’t going to let him beat us,” Aversa said. “We handled him perfectly today. The park is big enough we had confidence in our guys. We’re going to challenge guys.”

Some of the comments cited above by the were quite interesting and I wonder if some of them had to do with the aftermath of the ML Draft. Barry, who was one of the more highly rated prospects in the state, amazingly went undrafted. It's possible he may have expressed a strong desire to go to college or was called on draft day and he could not come to terms with a ream or teams who expressed interest.

It is a shame that the timing of the event over shadows and effects both HS State Tournaments across the country and the College World Series in that kids have their focus shifted from their team's success to individual fortunes.

Overall, I think this years crop of local players were horribly undervalued by the draft and I'm not sure if the miserable weather that permeated the area for virtually the entire season hurt local prospects efforts to be seen by scouts under anything resembling near ideal baseball conditions.

New Trier OF Charlie Tilson, as expected was drafted early, #79 overall.
RHP Nick Burdi surprisingly lasted until #748. That's ridiculous!!
Barry as mentioned was not drafted. Ludicrous!!
SS Jake Junis (876) and RHP Joey Ceja (#1153) went way lower than expected.
RHP Nic Hibbing was selected #1262 and St. Charles East LHP Wes Benjamin was selected #1469.

Quite a few players who were equally well regarded locally were bypassed entirely. It was amazing how undervalued this years local crop was by TPTB.

I did a blog some time back (titled Baseball Hotbeds of Talent) detailing the importance of warm weather on the production of baseball players historically where we found a relatively high correlation (note below) between average state temperature and success in developing players, but the results of this years draft, specifically the shunning of local Illinois players, seemed a little over the top.

(note - a .5408 correlation which indicates that about 29.25% of the effect on a states ability to produce baseball players can be attributed to Temperature )

Baseball Hotbeds of Talent
http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2010/07/baseball-hotbeds-of-talent.html

Baseball Players by State vs. Temps
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34586202/Baseball-Players-by-State-vs-Temps

Crosby #1 Tigers Prospect for 2010

John Sickels ranks former Kaneland High School LHP Casey Crosby the top Tigers prospect for 2010. It seems like the runway is cleared for an arrival this year at the major league level.

WAY TO GO, CASEY!!


FROM MINORLEAGUEBALL.COM
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/1/3/1231796/detroit-tigers-top-20-prospects

Top 20 Detroit Tigers Prospects for 2010

1) Casey Crosby, LHP, Grade B+: Has some of the best southpaw stuff in the minors and seems fully recovered from Tommy John. Further command refinements in 2010 would move him into the A- and maybe a pure A category.

This is how we do it in the heartland....

Once in a while you have to catch the young athletes doing something right. Great kids, great school, great story.

FROM THE DAILYHERALD.COM
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=333086

Tanner Robertsen has seen his mother and a grandmother deal with breast cancer this year.

And although both have finished chemotherapy treatments and are hopefully through battling the disease, he wanted to do something to honor them and raise awareness about breast cancer.

Inspired by NFL teams who wore pink accessories during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, he asked his dad, Mike, to get him a pair of pink socks to wear when he played for the Elburn Lions football team. Robertsen bought a pair from a Kaneland High School athletics group raising money for a breast cancer charity. They kept it a secret from mom Donna, who cried when the announcer said why her son was doing it.

And that might have been it. Except that Tanner, 12, has very supportive friends.

"The next week the whole team got them," Mike Robertsen said. "It was cool."

Robertsen said he and his wife were worried about how their children would handle the affect of her cancer. "To see his friends come to his side" showed integrity and good sportsmanship, values the Robertsens believe participation in youth sports can develop.

The Lions will wear the pink socks at their last game of the season at 3 p.m. Saturday at Aurora Christian School in Aurora.

There's talk, Robertsen said, that next year the whole Aurora Superstars league might wear the pink socks during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"To see something like this, it really inspires hope" that the next generation is becoming dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer, he said.

"When I was a kid you'd have had to tie me down to get those things on me."

Casey Crosby to start playoff opener

Good to see Casey is doing well. As I've said before, this is the kind of kid you root for to do well. I have every confidence that he will soon be joining Rick Porcello to give the Tigers a potent righty-lefty, one-two punch at the top of their rotation for years to come.

FROM WEBSITE MLIVE.COM:
http://www.mlive.com/whitecaps/index.ssf/2009/09/whitecaps_pitcher_casey_crosby_1.html

COMSTOCK PARK -- The West Michigan Whitecaps will hand the ball to Casey Crosby in Game 1 of their best-of-three Midwest League playoff series against the Great Lakes Loons, which begins Wednesday night.

UPDATE:


FROM WEST MICHIGAN WHITECAPS WEBSITE:
http://www.whitecaps-baseball.com/BLOGS/?p=957

September 9th, 2009

MIDLAND, MI- Potent pitching from starter Aaron Miller and a balanced offense attack helped the Great Lakes Loons overpower the West Michigan Whitecaps, 7-2, in game one of the best-of-three playoff series on Wednesday night. Miller out dueled Whitecaps’ ace Casey Crosby in the much anticipated match up of left handed starters. Every Loon starter got at least one hit as Great Lakes leads the series, one game to none.

Casey Crosby took the mound for the first time since the eighteenth of August. The ‘Caps southpaw lasted 2.1 innings in the loss allowing 5 earned runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

This doesn't change the future outlook for Mr. Crosby. He will be a better pitcher as a result of the experience.

MARCH CANDIDATE(S) FOR COACH OF THE YEAR

I had a really tough time with this one with two great candidates. But the solution was easy, co-winners.

FROM MARCH MADNESS TO FILLING SANDBAGS IN FARGO N.D.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/25/sports/BKC-Tim-Dahlberg-032509.php

1st Candidate: Coach Saul Phillips, North Dakota State basketball coach.

Thousands of people from all walks of life, many of them with vivid memories of the disastrous 1997 floods, are racing around the clock to keep the city dry. With school canceled, students are stacking sandbags, while others are taking time off from work to do what they can to help.

Working right alongside them, shovel for shovel, are coach Saul Phillips and the Bison basketball team.

The coaches quote at the end of the story says it all and transcends wins and losses.

"If this is our country's future," Phillips said, "then we're in awfully good shape."

We hear a lot about spoiled, self indulgent, self centered athletes at this level and beyond.

We hear a lot about the missteps and mistakes that go with competing in this type of high stakes, big money atmosphere.

We generally do not hear enough about kids like this, doing things like this. Humble service to their community in its time of need.

The North Dakota State fans provided support to he team in its time of need and the players are now able to return the favor. They will learn more and gain more value out of the work they are doing at home than they could have learned if they were still playing in the tournament.

Great job Coach Phillips.
-------------

KANELAND H.S.(IL) BASEBALL HONORS TEAMMATE:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=281987

PHOTO GALLERY FROM DAILY HERALD:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=281983

2nd Candidate: Brian Aversa, Kaneland High School, baseball coach

The sun made an appearance in Maple Park only moments after the Kaneland baseball team honored a fallen son.

"It didn't feel whole out there today," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "We felt like we were missing something."

After a pre-game ceremony in which the Knights retired the No. 41 jersey of Jeff Malewig, Kaneland put on a near-flawless performance against visiting Burlington Central Thursday afternoon.

Jeff Smith and Steve Colombe combined on a 3-hit shutout as the Knights opened the season with a 6-0 victory over the Rockets.

Malewig and fellow senior Blake Denton were killed in car accident last December while on the way to school.

Malewig would have been the starting second baseman for the Knights this spring, and one of many tributes to his memory was the team vacating his position in the top of the first inning.

From my experience as a coach I know that many times you get tunnel vision and so immersed in wins and losses and competing for championships that you forget what is really important in life. The Kaneland baseball family suffered a loss greater than any they will suffer from an opponent this year: the loss of a player.

Kudos to Coach Aversa for allowing his players and school to take the time to honor and remember their teammate.
----------------
So now there are four:

So here we go, the early candidates for Coach of the Year:
January - JEREMY CIVELLO, DALLAS ACADEMY (TX) HS
February - DAVE ROHLMAN, DEKALB (IL) HS
March - SAUL PHILLIPS, NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
March - BRIAN AVERSA, KANELAND (IL) HS

IT'S ALWAYS NICE TO SEE GOOD KIDS EXPERIENCE SUCCESS

Congratulations to Kaneland High School's T.J. Weiss. I coached him as a freshman baseball player and he had a world of ability back then. The next season I saw him play on the football field and he reminded me of former Tampa Bay Buccaneer S John Lynch, just flying all over the field, on a play by play, search and destroy mission to find the ball and hit whoever was carrying it HARD. I felt like then that the baseball teams loss was going to be the football teams gain.

The thing I admired about him as a player, other than the potential to be an elite power hitter, was this kid was literally a coaches dream. The kind of kid who if you told him to run through a brick wall, he would do it. And then he would help you build a new wall.

Good luck to T.J., but I know he's going to do well.
---------------------------------------
FROM THE ELBURN HERALD:
http://www.elburnherald.com/sports/kaneland/2007-08/misc/misc1005.asp

T.J. treks toward next football step

Senior linebacker Weiss suits up at St. Ambrose U. in ‘08

by Mike Slodki
An encouraging sign for Kaneland High School senior T.J. Weiss: He continues his football career beyond high school.

An encouraging sign for Kaneland Knights football: the program prepares another athlete for more gridiron glory.

An encouraging sign for the St. Ambrose University Fighting Bees: Weiss says, “My favorite part of football is hitting people.”

The Fighting Bees were a top-ranked team in NAIA football playing in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest league.

MLB DRAFT PICKS TURN INTO PUMPKINS AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT

According to MLB.com the Devil Rays have signed first overall pick David Price.


http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070815&content_id=2150900&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb

BOSTON -- With an 11:59 p.m. ET signing deadline approaching, the Devil Rays brought David Price into the fold around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, signing the top pick of Major League Baseball's June 2007 First-Year Player Draft to an $11.25 million deal.

Price, whom the Rays selected with the top pick in this year's Draft, signed a big league deal that covers six years (2007-12).

Price's signing bonus is $5.6 million. Within the contract is Minor League salaries that add up to $2.9 million and Major League salaries adding up to $5.65 million. A total of $8.5 million -- the bonus, plus the Minor League salaries -- is guaranteed.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of local interest, the Tigers signed their First Round pick Rick Porcello and a flurry of other players of note, including local product, Kaneland High School left handed pitcher Casey Crosby.


http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070815&content_id=2150111&vkey=news_det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det

CLEVELAND -- As the days whittled down for teams to sign their picks from the First-Year Player Draft, Tigers vice president of amateur scouting David Chadd summed up his club's stance succinctly last week.

"We took these players," he said, "to sign them."

It took a lot, and it sent ripples through the rest of the baseball, but they are signed.

The Tigers' four-year, $7.28 million Major League contract for Seton Hall [N.J.] Prep right-hander Rick Porcello was still generating talk around clubs on Wednesday while the club formally introduced its newest pitching prospect. Yet while the merits and effectiveness of Major League Baseball's unwritten slotting system continue to be debated, the talent that the Tigers just added to their farm system is more tangible.

Detroit put at least three players' worth of talent into its system with deals finalized this week. In addition to Porcello's big-league contract, the Tigers finalized agreements with high school lefty Casey Crosby and infielder Cale Iorg, taken in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively.

All three players were projected to be taken higher than they actually were, but fell due in no small part to signability concerns. All three signed for money that well exceeded MLB's recommendations for their pick.

Wednesday's conference call to introduce Porcello became the Tigers' stage to make their case when the topic arose. Their argument was that while they understand the slotting system, they also believe in the idea of different cases for different players.

Crosby, a lanky southpaw out of Kaneland High School in Illinois, has pitched this summer and is expected to be ready sooner. Chadd said he could end up pitching in the Gulf Coast League by season's end.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations, to Casey. It's great to see this type of success come to this type of youngster who is as good a person as he is an athlete, and that's saying something.


http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2007/statebystate/states/illinois_leadin.aspx


Rank Player Pos. Yr B-T HT WT School Hometown Drafted/(Commit) B’date
1. Casey Crosby LHP Sr. L-L 6-5 200 Kaneland HS Elburn (Illinois ) 9-17-88
SCOUTING REPORT: Crosby grew four inches and gained 10 mph on his fastball during his junior year, which quickly put him on the prospect charts. He’s still fairly raw as a pitcher but throws up to 94 mph consistently and fairly easily, which gives scouts plenty of opportunity to dream. Crosby’s arm action is long and flowing from a high three-quarters release point, and he is still working on his off-speed pitches. He throws both a curveball and slider, and his slider shows the most potential with mid-80s velocity and some two-plane bite. Crosby also throws a couple of types of changeups that are works in progress. He is regarded as an above-average athlete and was a star football wide receiver who caught 76 passes for 19 touchdowns his senior year. That, in combination with his height, easy velocity and improved curve should get him drafted in the top two rounds.



The early returns showed most teams following the slot strategy, but the Tigers aggressively went after the talent they targeted and, as we discussed in our "draft day coverage", ended up with two guys, in Porcello and Crosby, who fell to them as "value picks" in the first and fifth round, despite being ranked higher by most prognosticators than where they were drafted.

Crosby in effect, is paid at approximately the slot money for a 40th pick overall, which is where Baseball America had him ranked, rather than slot money for a fifth rounder. The Crosby's stuck by their guns and found a team that was willing to pay market value for his talent rather than stick to major league's slot system.

Any time you can thumb thumb your nose at Bud Selig, your having a good day in my book. This de-facto collusion that the MLB owners practice, in attempting to implement that which they cannot negotiate at the bargaining table with the players (as the NBA does with it's rookie salary slot system or the NFL with it's rookie salary cap) is so transparent and comedic that it's a wonder any team continues to hamstring itself by going along. It renders the whole purpose of the draft, which is to allow the teams that finish last to draft first and in theory get the best talent to attempt to compete in the future. Savvy players and agents are able to dictate what teams they go to and circumvent the original and main purpose of the draft.

UPDATE: AFTER THE SMOKE FOR THE LAST-MINUTE SIGNING FLURRY CLEARED, 14 OF THE TOP 30 PICKS (1ST ROUNDERS) SIGNED FOR OVER THE RECOMMENDED SLOT MONEY. I REST MY CASE.


http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/sports/510518,2_2_AU15_CROSBY_S1.article

Crosby signs with Tigers
Kaneland star pitcher gets $748,500 contract, plus college money

August 15, 2007
BY RICK ARMSTRONG Staff Writer

Now that the money games have been played, Casey Crosby can get about the business of playing baseball games. His patience paid off.

The touted 6-foot-4, 200-pound left-handed pitching prospect out of Kaneland High School agreed to terms Tuesday with the Detroit Tigers, who in the process again thumbed their nose at Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.


Crosby was taken in the fifth round but has been described as having first-round talent. If that proves true, his $748,500 signing bonus along with funding for his college education to the tune of $21,000 per-semester for eight semesters and additional bonus incentives could be a steal for the Tigers.

However, that package is a significant step up from the maximum $126,000 Selig's office had slotted for the University of Illinois recruit's draft spot. He had until Wednesday to sign or would have headed to school in Champaign.


BONUSES FOR FIRST TEN ROUNDS: FROM PERFECT GAME WEBSITE (PRIOR TO TONIGHT'S ACTION)


http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2007/signing_bonuses/sb2007.aspx

MLB DRAFT - 1ST DAY REVIEW

The first days results are in the books and although it makes some people crazy to do, we are going to do a bit of an analysis of a couple of teams first day drafts.

For comparison sake, I used Baseball America's Prospect rankings, since historically they have covered high school baseball and college baseball as well as anybody. But you could just as easily use Stats Inc., Rivals, Scouts or your local area scout's opinion for that matter. As long as they have a pre-determined "draft-board" to determine "value". Understand, everyones determination is going to be different due to the inherent subjective nature of the exercise. I use BA because it's readily available and they do a lot of pre-draft research and interviews to form this draft board consensus.

One thing I noticed though was after the first round, even as early as the supplemental round, the picks began to diverge from the list quite a bit. BA had a pretty decent track on the first round picks, not too much "reaching" down the list.

Some of that is due to the issue of "sign-ability" or prospects pricing themselves out of a particular spot where a team might like to draft them. But you would think then that they would just go down the list to the next highest ranked prospect and find value there.

I looked at the Giants (of course), the Tigers (since they drafted Casey Crosby) and the Braves (since they have a well earned reputation for drafting and developing players (the second part of this equation) and the Devil Rays (because you can take the boy out of the Trop, but you can't take the Trop out of the boy.

from baseballamerica.com (Figures in parenthesis are BA's Prospect rank before the draft).

2007 Draft: Detroit Tigers

Round Overall Player Position School State
1 (4) 27 Rick Porcello rhp Seton Hall Prep, West Orange, N.J. NJ
1s (96) 60 Brandon Hamilton rhp Stanhope Elmore HS, Millbrook, Ala. AL
2 (101) 91 Danny Worth ss Pepperdine CA
3 (200+) 121 Luke Putkonen rhp North Carolina NC
4 (130) 151 Charlie Furbush lhp Louisiana State LA
5 (43) 181 Casey Crosby lhp Kaneland HS, Maple Park, Ill. IL

(574) 631 +57 Overall as far as value.
They get premium pick Porcello late in the first round and Casey Crosby a potential sandwich rounder in the fifth round.


2007 Draft: San Francisco Giants

Round Overall Player Position School State
1 (14) 10 Madison Bumgarner lhp South Caldwell HS, Hudson, N.C. NC
1 (33) 22 Tim Alderson rhp Horizon HS, Scottsdale, Ariz. AZ
1 (40) 29 Wendell Fairley of George County-Lucedale (Miss.) HS MS
1s (41) 32 Nick Noonan 2b Parker HS, San Diego CA
1s (200+) 43 Jackson Williams c Oklahoma OK
1s (200+) 51 Charlie Culberson 2b/ss Calhoun (Ga.) HS GA
5 (200+) 164 Chance Corgan rhp Texas Christian TX

(728) 351 A -377 Overall Ranked vs. Picked
Picked three guys not rated by Baseball Americas Top 200 Prospects. Either the Giants know something about scouting that everyone else has not discovered yet or they just flushed a golden opportunity to get better in the future.

2007 Draft: Atlanta Braves

Round Overall Player Position School State
1 (9) 14 Jason Heyward of Henry County HS, McDonough, Ga. GA
1s (84)33 Jon Gilmore 3b Iowa City (Iowa) HS IA
2 (58) 69 Joshua Fields rhp Georgia GA
2 (118) 78 Freddie Freeman 1b/rhp El Modena HS, Orange, Calif. CA
3 (171) 108 Brandon Hicks ss Texas A&M TX
4 (147) 138 Cory Gearrin rhp Mercer GA
5 (200+) 168 Dennis Dixon of Oregon OR

(787) 588 -189 Overall Ranked vs. Picked
The Braves early picks were OK, continued their tradition of finding local talent and grooming it for The Show in Atlanta.

2007 Draft: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Round Overall Player Position School State
1 (1) 1 David Price lhp Vanderbilt TN
2 (200+) 65 William Kline rhp Mississippi MS
3 (96) 95 Nicholas Barnese rhp Simi Valley (Calif.) HS CA
4 (106) 125 David Newmann lhp Texas A&M TX
5 (200+) 155 Dustin Biell of Inglemoor HS WA

(603) 441 -162 Overall Ranked vs. Picked
Went off the reservation early with Kline, other than that not bad overall. Looking for pitching and maybe now a little more geared towards college pitchers who are closer to major league ready. Seems to be a better approach then to trust HS kids to their player development system. A least where pitching is concerned, the Rays track record has been woeful.

The Devil Rays are on the clock......1ST ROUND

Who would have thought that we'd live long enough to see the day as baseball fans when the MLB Draft would be televised. Peter Gammons lends instant credibility.

1st Pick: Devil Rays pick David Price, 6-5,215 LHP Vanderbilt.
The Royals are now on the clock.

They asked Price how he feels about being the #1 pick. He should have said rich, because he will be. Emotional was his answer, not bad for now.

Steve Phillips is one of the experts, that might be a reach. HAHA.
What's the over/under Devil Rays fans (both of them) will be chanting "Thanks for Kazmir, Thanks for Kazmir". I'd say by the third round.

Keith Law of Scouts, Inc. is the prospect expert, First surprise of the day, I thought it would be, should be someone from Baseball America.

2nd Pick: Royals pick Mike Moustakas, surprising pick, Boras client and the Royals. Seems like they would look for guys who are more major league ready. 6-0,185 3B-1B type who played short as a prep, 97 MPH gun. Not Bad.

The Cubs are on the clock....

3rd Pick: Cubs take Josh Vitters prep 3B. 6-3,195 power hitting prospect. Gammons calls him the best bat in the draft.

Pirates are now on the clock...

4th Pick: Pirates take Daniel Mosko LHP from Clemson 6-1,200 a bit of a reach. May be the first "signability" pick.

Baltimore Orioles are on the clock.....

The first steroids PSA commercial just ran good to get that one in before you lose your target audience.

5th Pick: Orioles take Matt Wieters the 6-5, 230 lb. switch hitting catcher. Good value here, an acknowledged 1-2-3 guy in the 5-hole. Another Scott Boras client. Don'y you just want to have the armored car business the Scott Boras generates?

National are on the clock.....

6th pick: National pick Ross Detwiler LHP Missouri State. 6-4, 175lbs. Another LHP, go figure. What did I say? You can never have too many of them.

Brewers are on the clock......

7th Pick: Brewers pick Matt LaPorta 6-1,215 lb. 1B from Florida. Where do you move Price Fielder? I guss LaPorta needs a new glove. Another Boras client? He'll need it, he's a college senior without as much leverage. Could be another "budgetary" pick. 20th ranked prospect by Baseball America in the seven slot.

Colorado Rockies are on the clock...........

8th Pick: Rockies pick Casey Weathers RHP from Vanderbilt. Can start or relieve. Hard Thrower. Another college senior. Second Vanderbilt pitcher taken, that's gotta help recruiting.

Diamondbacks are on the clock.....then the Giants....

9th Pick: Diamondbacks pick Jarod Parker RHP 6-2,175. Hard Thrower, first HS pitcher taken.

Giants on the clock......Beau Mills, Beau Mills, Beau Mills.....
Jim Callis from Baseball America is one of the experts so I guess they're really spreading it out and seeing who shows well. No Mel Kipers so far, A few seem kind of stiff and wooden.

10th Pick: Giants take Madison Bumgarner 6-5, 220 lb. LHP from North Carolina. HS pitcher, he's not going to help for years. GREAT. This guy is going to help our Short Season or Low-A team. See you in 2010 kid.

Mariners are on the clock..........

First shot of a "war room". I hope they all got the memo about not scratching yourself or picking your nose at inopportune times.

11th Pick: MAriner take Phillipe Aumont 6-7, 225 RHP from Canada. Not a bad pick here. Got to be hard to project with the weather and the competition. Mystery past, live with guardians, doesn't discuss his biological parents. Uh, oh.

The Marlins are on the clock.......

12th Pick: Marlins pick Matt Dominguez 6-2, 185 3B from same HS as Moustakas, the second pick. I hope they won state with those guys.

Indians are on the clock.............

13th Pick: Indians pick Beau Mills 3B 6-3,205 could move to 1B if Indians lose Hafner down the road. Way to go Giants, if this guy turn out and we're stuck with Peter Happy for 5 more years I'm going to scream.

Braves are on the clock.......Gigantes pick 22nd and 29th in the first round, I think they better get some potential immediate help. Collegiate players guys.

14th Pick: Braves pick Jason Heyward, Georgia prep star. 6-2,198 lb. OF, the Brave like to pcik the hometown kids and they have a boatload of prep talent down there. The Georgia youth programs in some areas are developing into the upper echelon of youth programs in the country. MLB.co has this kid at 6-4,220 vs. Basbeall America's number shown above. That's quite a difference. I've heard of inching, but this is ridiculous.

Reds are on the clock..............the Porcello kid from NJ is still on the board, the Reds like young pitchers or Brackman from NC State if they are looking for more immediate help.

15th Pick: Reds take Devon Mesaraco HS C from PA. Too high for a prep catcher.

Blue Jays are on the clock...........

16th Pick: Blue Jays take Kevin Ahrens 6-2, 180lb. switch hitting 3B. Comparisons to Chipper Jones are good but might be a reach here.

Rangers are on the clock...........

17th Pick: Rangers pick Blake Beaven 6-7,210 lb RHP from TX. Highly rate power picher with outstannding control , 4 BB's in 73 IP vs. 139 K's.

Porcello and Brackman are slipping, hopefully they get some Suzy Kolber love in the green room. Porcello is asking for Josh Beckett $$ plus inflation, he'll go to the Yankees.

Cardinals are on the clock......

18th Pick: Pete Kozma, 6-1,180 SS from OK. This is a major reach. Maybe the first non first rounder to elevate into the first round. MLB.com comments "savvy, hard worker, no flash, WISYWIG, fundamentally sound" echo ominously like "good personality" describing a blind date. Hope Eckstein can play until he's 40.

Phillies are on the clock........

19th Pick: Joe Savery 6-3, 215 LHP from Rice. Rice has produced a lot of steady if unspectacular pitchers. K numbers are not overpowering.

Dodgers are on the clcok.........

Selig pronounces Los Angeles like an idiot. It's not Angle and there's not two ee's on the the end, "Angle-ees". What a tool.

20th pick: Dodgers pick Chris Withrow 6-3,195 P from Midland, TX. 44th Rated prospect by Baseball America (right below Casey Crosby) might make it seem like a reach but the Dodgers are usually loaded with prospects, so I can't argue with them. Athleticsm, bloodlines and clean mechanics are a Big Three. Just goes to show, it only takes one.

Blue Jays on the clock again........

21st Pick: Blue Jays pick J.P. Arencibia 6-1,195 C from Tennessee. Anothher reach from Blue Jays here I think. They must know something or their budget for signing bonuses just isn't there this year.

Giants are on the clock.........Little early for Frazier here, but I wouldn't mind seeing a 3B who can help, SOON. I'm not as sold on the kid from texas Suttle, even though BA has him ranked higher than Frazier. Maybe Mangini fro Oklahoma State.

22nd Pick: Giants pick Tim Alderson 6-7,210 HS P from Scottsdale AZ. A bookend for Bumgarner. Only 4 BB's vs. 111 K's. Either he's a great control pitcher or his Mom umpired all his games. Quirky delivery has some ??'d whether the risk of a first-round pick for him, Giants obviously have a height requirement this year.

Padres on the clock........

23rd Pick: Padres select Nick Schmitt 6-5,230 LHP from Arkansas. Late riser,a verage FB, knows how to pitch. About right for the spot. Some thought he could go even higher.

Rangers are back on the clock...........

24th Pick: Rangers select Michael Maine RHP from Deland FL 6-1,171 power pitcher. Another athletic pitcher, some liked him as an OF but can reach the upper 90's with the FB.

White Sox are on the clock...........

25th Pick: White Sox select Aaron Poreda 6-6,240 LHP from Univesity of San Francisco.
Not overpowering numbers, but thows hard, secondary pitches seem to be a problem.

A's are on the clock

26th pick: A's select James Simmons RHP UC-Riverside 6-4,215 RHP. Rated best command among college pitcher by BA. Oakland likes the collge pitchers, college players, in general.

Tigers are on the clock...........

27th Pick: Tigers select Rick Porcello 6-5, 188 RHP from NJ, Tigers can sign Boras clients. The 4th rated prospect in the 27 slot is a good deal here. Great FB, power pitching prospect.

Twins are on the clock.......

28th Pick: Twins select Ben Revere 5-9,152 OF from Lexington KY. The 135th rated prospect. The biggest reach so far. Twins must be holding car washed and bake sales for bonus money.

Giants are on the clock again......Third time is the charm.

29th Pick: Giants select Wendel Fairley 6-0,190 OF from MS. WOW. Their philosophy is directly opposite from what mine would be for the Giants. A bit of a reach but one of the more athletic players in the draft. Big club just may not see him for 3-4 years. Steve Phillips applauds the move, so I feel better about my philosophy.

Yankees are on the clock.......

30th Pick: Yanksees select Andrew Brackman 6-10,230 RHP from NC State, the 7th ranked prospect in the 30 hole. The rich get richer.

Five Boras clients in the first round, again TRGR.

If you want to talk about a couple of things that are wrong with baseball, these two examples right here would fly at or near the top of my list.

This concludes the first round

MLB Draft Today on ESPN2

Finally the Major League Draft hits the big time. ESPN2 will televise the opening round of the 2007 MLB Draft today from 2pm to 6pm. This will be a more fast-paced affair then the NFL Draft. I've listened to previous broadcasts of the draft from the Internet and it is a rapid fire affair. It will be interesting to see the presentation and how it compares to the NFL and NBA Drafts.

Heck even the WNBA and Indoor Lacrosse televise their Drafts nowadays, so it's good to see baseball take a step forward.

The Devil Rays, as usual hold the first pick and they are apparently sweating over LHP David Price of Vanderbilt, Matt Wieters a 6-5, 230 lb switch hitting C from Georgia Tech who has been compared favorably to Joe Mauer and Josh Vitters a 6-3, 195 lb prep 3B.

Given that they have Evan Longoria from last year's draft as the heir apparent at 3B and they spent a significant (for the D-Rays) on a Japanese player at 3B last year, I think we can eliminate the prep 3B. The Rays really have to go for Price here.

I know Devil Rays fans and personnel are more used to seeing guys who throw like this, but they just have to get more top of the line pitchers who are near major league ready.


Further on in the first round, my Giants have a boatload of early draft-picks, courtesy of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. They seemed focused on Beau Mills, a power hitting 3B from Lewis & Clark College, an NAIA powerhouse that has been kind to the Giants in the draft historically. Mills may have hurt those hopes by bashing three homers to lead his team to a title and elevate his draft stock.

That may leave the G-men to fall-back to Todd Frazier 3B from Rutgers of late and Toms River Little League many years ago. TRLL was the Beast from the East from the 1999 Little League World Series. Hope Frazier turns out better than Sean Burroughs did.

Locally, our attention is fixed on Kaneland (IL) High School's Casey Crosby, who has seemingly been rocketing up the charts. Crosby began the season as a possible 3-5 round possibility and is slated to go to Illinois if things don't work out. But it seems like the Illini will have to wait as Mr. Crosby may elevate into the "sandwich" , or compensation round, between the first and second rounds.

Casey's a 6-4, 205 lb. left-handed, power pitcher with great athleticism and seemingly room to get bigger and better in the future. You can never have too many good, young LHP's so I would love to see the Giants grab him with one of their compensation picks.

It's a day for dreams to come true for a lot of young players who have been working toward this goal seemingly all their young lives. Good Luck to all.



Crosby's Scouting Report from MLB.com
Biographical Data

Player Name:
Casey Crosby

Position:
Starting Pitcher

School:
Kaneland HS, Maple Park, Ill.

School Type:
High School

Academic Class:
Senior

Birthdate:
09/17/88

Height:
6'5"

Weight:
190 lbs.

Bats:
Right

Throws:
Left

Report Date(s):
04/18/07

Game(s):
Rochelle HS

Focus Area
Comments

Fastball:
On a cold day, Crosby didn't show as much arm strength as he had in the past, sitting at 86-88 mph and touching 91 mph. He'd been clocked as high as 94 in the past.

FB Movement:
Especially for a lefty, Crosby's fastball showed below-average life.

Curve:
Crosby threw his curve in the 68-71 mph range and it was with loose rotation.

Changeup:
Crosby has a change, sitting at 74-76 mph, but he slows his arm down when throwing it.

Control:
Crosby's command was below average in this start. He walked six in the outing.

Poise:
Crosby showed good poise and mound presence. He competed very well in a tight game. After walking the first two batters of the game, he promptly picked both of them off.

Physical Description:
Crosby is a tall, athletic lefty with plenty of room for growth.

Medical Update:
Healthy.

Strengths:
Crosby showed excellent poise and competitiveness, a good pickoff move and did show glimpses of a good breaking ball late in the game.

Weaknesses:
His delivery is too rigid and will need refinement. Even if his fastball improved, his secondary offerings need a lot of improvement.

Summary:
This is a deep year for high school lefties, and scouts were swarming to the Midwest to see how Crosby looked as the weather warmed up. Early on, he wasn't showing the arm strength some had seen in the past and his other pitches were below average. There's room for growth, though, and some refinement to his delivery could go a long way for the southpaw.

Coach Slavik @ Kaneland High School

Coach Slavik doing what he does best and enjoys the most. Coaching Baseball.