It's 1:38 A.M. and I'm still near Long Beach, CA writing about Day 1 of the Area Codes so on to real game situations... and pitchers! They're relevant and important to this whole thing too.
Game 1: Rangers vs. Nationals
Levi Kelly, RHP: Works 1B side with a delay in the back of his windup that gets a little extra deception out of his delivery. Works a fastball/flyball heavy approach with high effort, elevated fastballs being the bread and butter of his repertoire. All secondary offerings were sparse and floated into the zone.
Bobby Witt, INF: Showed no issue handling velocity in the box. On defense had a rough day on the hands, botching a glove transfer on one play and overthrowing 1B on another. Hard to pin what are jitters in this 1st day of action though. 4.10 to 1B seen.
Max Marusak, OF: 1st pitch ambush single cracked into CF. Stole a bag the next AB with a great jump. Stole 3rd on the next AB with another good jump. Speed/quickness appeared simply good, but reads on the pitcher were excellent. Swing/miss on high fastball and low breaking ball diet.
Jarrett Ford, OF: Poor route, read in RF on a fairly typical flyball. 4.18s to 1B on a groundout.
Matt Rudis, RHP: Long legs with a locked/bent arm swing to a 3/4 release. Works 1B side of the rubber. 2SM heavy approach.
Cole Stilwell, C: Fairly agile behind the plate. Tight hands in receiving, but has the underlying skill and foresight to catch softly. Some flair/showmanship to his style.
Joseph Gray, OF: Struck out looking on a bevvy of breaking/offspeed pitches in the AB.
Kendall Logan Simmons, INF: Has an awkward stride. Saw rounding 3rd and really didn't seem comfortable holding longer strides and maintaining speed. 4.45 to 1B too. Lack of quickness/speed. Has a 60 arm though and showed it.
Anthony Siegler, C: Manhandled first pitch in the zone for a loud single. Aggressive, heads up baserunning took two more bases on defensive folly, but tweaked ankle on slide into 3B.
Brett Brown, OF: Susceptible to offspeed pitches, caught well in front of anything not-fastball.
Alec Sanchez, INF: Really long day at the office at 3B. Misplayed groundballs, choppers, double play balls, throws to 1B. Near-yips status. Tough to watch.
Grayson Rodriguez, RHP: Low effort delivery with a long stride. Throws strikes. FB/CB approach seen. Softer curveball at the moment, no high ceiling flashed. Gave up repeated opposite-field singles and doubles to RHH. Might have some deception but little movement or life behind fastball? Righties are late, but still barreling the ball.
Logan Britt, OF: Eaten up by soft/mediocre changeup.
Jonathan Childress, LHP: Shoulder/torso teeter in windup with a rotational delivery. FB/CB/CHG coming from a lanky physique.
Christopher Williams, LHP: Smaller body with light arm. Don't see the life or velocity to make an impact. Not a loose body or arm either, feels like trend won't get better and better as a pitcher w/ the arm action and limited stuff behind it as it is.
Xavier Edwards, INF: Struggles to make basic contact. Feels like bat is 2X too heavy and can't push the barrel into anywhere but a grooved part of the zone.
Korey Holland, OF: Struck out looking 1st time up, then made a loud groundout, 4.25s to 1B. Still demonstrated great contact skills, just not in the statline.
Bo Blessie, RHP: This is what it's supposed to look like. Long RHP. Loose, easy, gumby look to him. Made of limbs. 3 straight swing/miss Ks in 1st inning. Sells a slow curve with arm speed, but lost FB command a bit in next inning, pulling balls into the dirt and needing to take some off to stay in the zone.
Simeon Woods-Richardson, RHP: Throws like an infielder, but with velocity and control. Long legs, broad shoulders. Over the top-ish arm angle as arm/hand/ball are all over his shoulder at release. Nasty slider. Looks like a cricket bowler in his style. Shut down presence on the mound. Similar to Blessie, flew too close to the sun and lost FB cmd in 2nd inning. Uses more shoulders than most in delivery. Works quickly on the mound. K'd Casas, Simmons, Gray all in a row.
Roberto Pena, INF: Squared up high velocity on a 3-0 count. Confident swing and read on both (+) velo and (+) offspeed pitches.