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I went to the game today (thanks to Wichita State for giving me media credentials for the baseball season) mainly to just get out and watch baseball with my 4 and 6-year-old in 40 degree weather. I got some visual information on some players, but not a ton as I seemed to spend most of my time cleaning nacho cheese off coats or listening to complaints about it being cold.
Notes on Pitt
- The highlight of the game was Pitts's right handed starter junior, Ethan Mildren. He dominated the Shockers by going 7 innings, striking out nine and walking just one batter. The only runs he allowed was a 1st inning home run to Casey Gillaspie. He kept the Shocker hitters off balance by mixing up his fastball (93-89 mph), off speed (79-81 mph) and curve ball (73-76 mph). He was the highlight of the game. Here is a video of him mixing pitches later in the game. Try to ignore my annoying kids' voices and the Capri Suns in front of the camera.
- Catcher Elvin Soto, ranked as the 15th top prospect in the Big East according to Baseball America, did not stand out in any way.
Notes on Wichita State
- Starter Cale Elam struggled quite a bit. He threw a fastball (90-84 mph, normally at 87 mph) with a nice little cut action, an off speed ((78-81 mph) and a curve (73-76 mph). He seemed to take too many pitches per batter.
- Albert Minnis, 7th top prospect in MVC according to BA, threw one inning. I was on the road driving back hom with 2 freezing kids, but the announcers stated he hit 88 mph with his fastball.
- The clean up hitter, Johnny Coy, an ASU transfer and Greg Schaum has him as a late round draft pick, was fed a steady stream of off speed pitches. He couldn't really handle any of them. He struck out twice and his two "hits" should have been outs. The Pitt shortstop had mis-throws on each hit. Here is Coy striking out.
- Sophomore Casey Gillaspe looked to be the best position player on the field. His 1st inning HR was a no doubt 385 ft blast in the near freezing weather. Also, I timed him at 4.2 seconds to 1B.