I attended Aberdeen/Staten Island game today.
Jaime Esquivel was extremely impressive. He's very much so a raw talent still, but he showed flashes of brilliance on the mound tonight. I'm certainly no pitching guru, but this is what I liked and didn't like from tonight.
The good:
The fastball/change combo he had working tonight was terrific. He was able to pump his fastball by at least 4 batters on my count for K's. This after setting them up with a nice change ~7-10 velocity change.
I also counted 10 times where the batter swung at a ball in the dirt (at least 8 of them were his curve). Really impressive and shows how deceptive he was tonight.
He ended with 8 K's, and after the 3rd inning he virtually shut down the yanks.
The Bad:
His first inning he allowed a solo HR to Saxon Butler. It was a fastball dead down the middle. Absolute bomb given up. Also not quite sure what he was attempting to do in this AB. Started with a Curveball that missed, followed by 2 fastballs.
Like I said, he is a super raw talent still. He's a little wild and in return had a rather terrible 3rd inning. He also had a wild pitch.
Don told me a few weeks ago that Esquivel had one of the higher ceilings in Aberdeen. I can sure see why now after getting the chance to see him in person.
