The View From the Press Box - Kane County Cougars #2

Just got back from an interesting game at Elfstrom Stadium, my second covering the Cougars. You can see my first write-up here if you missed it.

This morning there was a pretty large storm in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. The result: the stadium was without power. No A/C in the press box, no scoreboard to remind me of the count, and no free food :(. But there was still baseball, so let's get right into it.

Today's starter was Jamie Richmond, who was one of the players acquired in the Mark Kotsay deal. I was excited to watch him pitch because he was a guy who had numbers I liked. This was the first time I've seen him.

* He has an interesting delivery. The best way I can describe it is sort of like a 3/4 "slinging" delivery. It's like he whips the ball more than he throws it. I don't know a lot about pitching mechanics, so I have no idea if this is something that will cause his arm to fall off. It did seem to make his pitches more difficult.

* I brought my dad for Father's Day, and he commented at one point that a pitch Richmond kept getting a swing and a miss on "didn't do much." I think he meant that as a compliment, because the pitch (which was a sinker, split-finger, or something. I don't know exactly what Richmond throws, but it looked like a fastball that just dove straight downward) didn't look nasty. But the hitters took some ugly swings at them. He only struck out 3 in 7 innings though.

* He gave up 3 unearned runs in the seventh. With a runner on third and 2 outs, a slow chopper went up the middle. He stupidly tried to barehand the ball (I HATE when pitchers do that). Luckily he missed. The shortstop, Michael Richard, sorta ran to the ball and then...tripped. Or something. But he definitely booted the ball. That run cam in and the next hitter hit a two-run homer.

Some other notes:

Corey Brown looked better today than last time I saw him. Drew a walk and lined a single to center. The single was a nice piece of hitting.

Keough looked good again. The guy has no power, but he can hit. And he made a tremendous catch jumping into the wall on a ball jacked down the left field line. I'm not sure Keough is going to make it (he has something like 5 XBH this year), but he's certainly a fun player to watch. He also stole a base.

Justin Friend pitched two scoreless innings in relief and he looked SICK. Friend leads Kane County in saves in the first half with 7, but today he pitched two innings and faced the minimum. He struck out three, two looking. Whatever he was doing, the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels A-ball affiliate) weren't hitting it. A-ball relievers don't typically rank very high on the Top Prospects list unless they're super special, but Friend is a guy who looks like he could progress through the system. He turns 22 later this month, so he's still young enough to have an impact down the road.

One last note: Kane County has one sleeper, Larry Cobb. He's a 5'9, 175 pound guy who plays a little infield and a little outfield. He's a Midwest League All-Star this year because he's hitting .325/.369/.483. He had a cup of coffee with Stockton (17 ABs) earlier this year and did nothing, but I expect he'll get promoted again as soon as new draft picks filter in and whatnot. Cobb will turn 23 in July, so he's not young, hence calling him a sleeper. But without too many other guys to watch at Kane County, Cobb (27th round pick in 2006) got my attention with three htis today (and two in the first game I covered).

I lied before as this is the real last note: The Cougars have six All-Stars. Richmond, Craig Italiano, Scott Mitchinson, Brown, Cobb, and Greg Dowling. Not too shabby.