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| Thursday, July 13 | |||||
| John Smoltz's scouting report Special to ESPN.com | |||||
| Editor's note: John Smoltz is out for the season after undergoing elbow surgery, but the Atlanta Braves right-hander is working hard on returning next spring (look out for the knuckleball). He offers his scouting report on some of the players in this year's All-Star Game.
Vladimir Guerrero The worst pitches you throw him are the best pitches he hits. Up, down, it doesn't matter. He'll take balls off his shoetops and hit them off the fence. Throw it up and away and he'll go the other way. That's why he's such a devastating hitter. It's almost like he doesn't allow you to pitch in patterns -- sometimes the pitches right down the middle are the ones that give him the most problems. You can try to throw him pitches off the plate, but the biggest thing is you can't make mistakes in those areas. You can pitch aggressively in the dirt or away with a purpose, but you can't rely on the fact that you can set him up doing that because he's a free-swinger who puts the ball in play. Jose Vidro He struggled at times last year, but was just getting his feet wet. I think right now he's making pitchers adjust to him. That's the key in baseball. As a pitcher, as you see a young hitter enough times, you have to make adjustments in the way you approach him. But give Vidro credit. The pitchers haven't figured out how to get him out. He's a tough out at the plate. Like Guerrero, he's aggressive but doesn't strike out a lot, so he can be difficult to put away. Jeff Kent With Kent, if you allow him to get plate coverage, it's over. He handles the inside pitch real well and you've got to try to get him to swing away from his power -- he doesn't have as much power to right field as he does pulling the ball down the line. He's a clutch, clutch RBI guy and seems to be really delivering in that department this season. While you can try to get him on a pitch outside, he has the discipline to lay off that pitch. You have to be disciplined to be driving in 80-something runs like he has already. Joe Carter was a big RBI guy. I think one year he hit .205 or .210 and drove in 100 runs. Some guys are meant to be RBI guys and Kent is one of them. Edgardo Alfonzo Alfonzo is a scary, scary hitter. Left field, center field, right field. He's patient and he's almost a better hitter when he gets two strikes. He doesn't strike out and I don't like guys who don't strike out. That's what makes him so tough. He's got enough power to go to all areas of the field but enough discipline to make you throw good pitches every time. Jim Edmonds I've never faced Edmonds before, since we didn't play the Angels in spring training or interleague play. We've found that interleague has helped us a little bit in that regard, but if you've never faced a guy before, you have to go with your strengths. Jim Edmonds has turned into a pretty good home run hitter, so he wants to hit the ball hard. If you can limit hitters like that to singles, you can control the damage. What makes it difficult this season is he has Mark McGwire hitting behind him. Edmonds has drawn a lot of walks, however, because he's having that kind of year -- 20-something home runs. Who do you pitch to? You've got a nice left-right combination and the fact that he's disciplined makes it that much more difficult. Andruw Jones Defensively, he's the best I've ever seen. That's not to take anything away from Ken Griffey or any of the other great center fielders that I've played against and seen, but he's special. The only play he has any trouble with is the easy play right at him. Maybe it's too easy, if that sounds crazy enough. He's amazing at going back on the ball, diving for the ball and, of course, throwing the ball. In my mind, he's a five-tool player. Right away when he first came up I told him I was going to make him an even greater player, because I'm a fly-ball pitcher. Al Leiter When he was with the Marlins, he used to be an up-in-the zone fastball pitcher, trying to get you to chase. He tried to be wild. He could throw strikes when he wanted, but he wanted you to chase pitches out of the zone. But now he's become a better pitcher. He throws in and has developed a sinker away and changes speeds more, making him extremely difficult to hit. Alex Rodriguez Playing in the National League, I've only had a chance to see the AL players in the East. Needless to say, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra are terrific hitters. This year, I've had the chance to see Alex play a couple times. He has power everywhere and he looks like as polished a shortstop as there is. Those guys at shortstop -- they're all incredible. Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux They're still putting up good numbers, but all the offense in today's game has changed our philosophy of pitching to a point. You just can't afford many mistakes -- mistakes are big innings now. You used to be able to get away with three or four mistakes a game, but now you have to be just about perfect. Mentally, it changes your approach. I don't care what anyone else says. With the balls, the ballparks, the strike zone -- it does affect you when you're on the mound. It's extremely draining mentally, takes a lot out of you. And to do that over 35 starts over the course of a season is very difficult. So, those guys that can do that year after year deserve all the credit they receive. | ALSO SEE Stark: All-Star plague reaches epidemic status Monday's All-Star notebook | ||||