Minor League Underdogs

LHP Justin Crowder and RHP Alex Santos: one's a draftee from 2002, the other is a 3rd round pick, turned indy leaguer. Both are relievers and both are having a great start to the 05 season.

Santos is a former 3rd round pick of the Devil-Rays; drafted out of the Miami Hurricanes program as a starter, he was considered to be nothing more then a bottom-of-the-rotation starter so he was later converted into a reliever and subsequently left the Tampa organization. After he spent some time in the Independent Leagues, the A's signed him to a minor league contract for the '05 season. Unlike other Indy. Leaguers such as Nick Mattioni, Santos moved quickly through Stockton and was promoted after 19 games to Midland where he has complied some gaudy stats:

Team	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
Stockton Ports	0	0	12	7	16	8	2	1	1	2	20	0.56	0.63
Midland RockHounds	2	0	15	7	19	10	1	1	0	4	25	0.47	0.73

A source down in Midland country gave me this scouting report on Santos:

• 2 pitch pitcher


• Fastball low 90's but can reach back for extra to hit mid 90's


• Splitfinger in the low to high 80's with solid to outstanding break


• Does not nibble; comes right after hitters, focusing on jamming them in

Crowder as drafted in the later rounds of the infamous 2002 "Moneyball" draft. During that year's college season, Baseball America felt that he was a solid college starter:

...he's got a great changeup that makes his fastball, which he throws 85-88, look like 90.

After being out for the entire 03 season with an injury to his left shoulder, he lost velocity on his fastball, so the A's converted him to a reliever in 04 and now, he is starting to take on that role:

Team	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
Stockton Ports	0	0	23	0	23	23	8	7	0	7	21	2.74	1.30

With Crowder, I have this scouting report from Stockton:

• 85 mph fastball with ok movement


• solid changeup


• decent slurve


• used mainly as a situational lefty in the 7th or 8th inning

The problem with Crowder is his WHIP, which is very likely the reason why he is still in Stockton; however, it would be nice to see if his HR/9 rate continues to stay low after facing tougher competition at higher levels.

These are just a few names to keep an eye on as the season progresses; perhaps there can be newly-discovered depth in the organization...