Taking a look at 2008 draftee Brett Marshall

September 23, 2008 by Joe Pawlikowski 22 Comments

The 2008 draft was a rough one for our Yankees, yet we didn’t come away empty-handed. Using the power of the almighty dollar, they lured RHP Brett Marshall, their 6th round pick, away from college. While he doesn’t have the ceiling of first-round non-signee Gerrit Cole, Marshall has considerable upside. Baseball Intellect’s Alex Eisenberg gives us a look at Marshall’s mechanics. As with all amateur mechanics evaluations, don’t take his word as gospel. I do like Eisenberg’s analysis, though, mainly because he doesn’t claim to have the answer to any of Marshall’s mechanical issues. He just gives us the skinny, along with some animated images. So give it a click.

UNION YES.

Gerrit Cole, i’m going to crash one of your college parties, drink your beer, take your women, and trash your place. That is all.
- steve
  
  i’ll second that. i live in LA …. hes going down.
dave

The arm motion, the way he lifts his shoulder and elbow on the throwing arm looks a lot like the way Mark Prior pitches. That’s obviously not good, but every pitcher is different. Like Eisenberg said, that could become a problem.
BigYank1

I still don’t understand the Coles’ decision. I know they are pretty wealthy but this is their son’s future they are deciding on.

On one side, you can go professional. There you will get great instruction, protect your arm and develop your secondary pitches with a pro coach watching over you.

The other side is to go to college and get abused by a college coach who’s job it is to win, period. I doubt UCLA has a pitching coach that can competently overlook Cole’s development.

It will be interesting to watch what happens to Gerrit career the next few seasons.
- UWS
  
  One thing we’re all overlooking in that discussion is that Cole might possibly be more interested in getting an education than in playing professional baseball. That does happen, hard as it is to fathom.
  - Yankee1010
    
    Don’t take this the wrong way, but if he is so hell-bent on getting this education, he could have used his baseball talent to get admitted to a better school than UCLA. The education rationale just doesn’t add up.
    - The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      I don’t know that there’s really a “right” way to take that comment. You have a problem with a UCLA education? Why would he not go to UCLA if he wants a college education and wants to play high-level collegiate baseball (and maybe also stay near home, or whatever other reason he may have)?
      - Yankee1010
        
        My point is that getting an education was not his highest priority.
        
        If he wants to play high-level collegiate baseball, UCLA isn’t the best place.
        
        If he wants to get a high-level education, there are better places for that. If he wants to stay home, and hit on girls, fine, just say it. I must have missed the TPS Report stating that UCLA was the Harvard of the West .
        
        The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        So anyone who doesn’t go to Harvard hasn’t made education a high-enough priority? And who says it has to be his “highest” priority? He just has to prioritize it, at this point in his life, higher than playing professional baseball in order to make the decision he made. Look, I’ll stipulate this is a relatively trivial conversation, but it’s a little silly to attack the kid for choosing an education. Attack him all you want for, apparently, misleading the Yankees into drafting him. But to attack his decision to attend UCLA? Ridiculous.
        
        And you worked “Harvard of the West” and “TPS Report” into one sentence… You’re killing today!
        
        http://evizions.com eVizions
        
        Wow, you obviously have no idea how good of a school UCLA is. Do you realize that UCLA is the most applied-to school in the WORLD? Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc. may have greater prestige, but they are also more specialized. As far as a great, well-rounded university, there may not be a better school to attend than UCLA… and this is coming from a guy who went to Penn State.
Andy In Sunny Daytona

“Marshall may very well may get injured as a pitcher, but it may not be because of his mechanics, which are only a small part of the equation.”

What?
- The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  Yeah I didn’t love that line either, but I think you can see what he’s getting at. It’s just not the most artful way to say it.
- Count Zero
  
  Well, like uh…he could be walking into the dugout and like uh…a rope could like fray and break and a…big safe could fall on his head! Yeah…like that. ;-)
- Alex Eisenberg
  
  Hey everybody, I’m the author of that article so hopefully I can clear up anything. First, let me say thank you for the link as it is much appreciated.
  
  Now, when I say “Marshall may very well may get injured as a pitcher, but it may not be because of his mechanics, which are only a small part of the equation.”
  
  What I mean to say is that mechanics are only one factor to look at. What about genetics? What about conditioning? What about workload? The list goes on. So should Marshall get injured, people shouldn’t be rushing to the conclusion that his mechanics were what caused the injury because there are other factors that need to be looked at.
Reggie C.

Lets not forget Gerrit Cole’s throwing motion where he keeps his leg stiff as he whips the ball forward. That was a well known flag. Marshall motion / mechanics issues are going to get “fixed” to the org.’s liking. So by the time he’s 21, Marshall will hopefully be pitching his way into Double-A land. In ALL likelihood, Cole will have to fix his form again upon getting drafted when he turns 21. Cole will also have to endure a couple years of long college seasons. Good choice kid in picking a baseball powerhouse! Its not like UCLA is going to accomodate you and lighten your load come College WS time.

All in all, I think Marshall has got a nice developmental jump on Cole, and by the time both are 21, Marshall will have a track record from which we’ll predict his ceiling more accurately.
JeffG

This was an interesting post that looks at our system compared to that of the Redsox:

http://www.nysun.com/sports/bostons-better-prepared-for-future-than-yankees/86373/

I’d have to agree that the Redsox seem to be dusting us when it comes to scouting and player development.
- steve (different one)
  
  while i agree that the Sox system is better and i usually like Goldman, i’d have to say that this article is a steaming pile of dogcrap.
  
  it’s not that i disagree with the overall thesis, i think it is correct.
  
  but it’s ridiculous that he readily gives credit to Boston for guys like Bard and Anderson, yet ignores Melancon completely and basically consigns Montero to the DH spot already.
  
  Ellsbury is already treated like a mainstay, when in reality, he kindof stunk this year.
  
  ditto for Buchholz, who is in the exact same spot as Hughes right now as far as certainty for 2009 goes.
  
  Pedroia had a great year, but just one year ago, Cano was better. they could be back to even next year.
  
  and this paragraph is insane:
  
  That meant that first-round supplemental pick Jeremy Bleich, a lefty with no great stuff and injury problems of his own, becomes the team’s standard-bearer for this draft, which shows all the signs of being a historic bust.
  
  a “historic bust”?? how so? Cole and Bittle were missteps, but all that means is that those picks are transferred to next year. is that ideal? no. but “historic”? not even close. also, like they always do, the Yankees signed a bunch of signability guys in the later rounds that could, like in 2006, really come to define the success of the draft more than their #1 pick will/did. that’s how the draft works. all it really takes is 1-2 good players to emerge for the draft to be considered a success.
  
  again, i think his premise is correct, but he really stretches/omits to make the argument stronger.
  - Steve
    
    Every Fan Rule #1-My team’s prospects are gold, and will all exceed their ceilings
    
    Every Fan Rule #2-Your team’s prospects suck, are over hyped, and will never add up to anything.
    
    This rule applies to all teams in all cities.
David Brown

I have been very interested in the Cole situation, and one thing people overinflate is the fact the family is wealthy. If it was about money and education, he would have went to Stanford or Ivy League. If it was about winning, he could have went to North Carolina, Oregon State, Miami or Texas. Instead I think is about maturity level, and guts. He strikes me as being Ian Kennedy with a fastball (The same prima donna me first attitude (They BOTH even have Boras as an agent)). There is no question that the New York Yankees are the most difficult franchise in sports to play for. The fans, the media, the intensity, the expectations, the way you are expected to carry yourself (No beards and the way they dress) is different than anyone else (Even the Mets or Red Sox cannot compare. If you are the laid back California sufer dude type, who won’t grow up, good luck making it in the Bronx (Ask Ian Kennedy about it sometine).
Guys they drafted like Brett Marshall and Garrison Lassiter who knew what they were getting into, and embraced it, are far more likely to succeed then Cole ever would here.
dan

For anyone who follows this stuff, Eisenberg is very much in the Paul Nyman camp in terms of pitching mechanics. The parts that he seems unsure of (the inverted-W being dangerous) are Chris O’Leary’s ideas.

Regardless, Marshall’s mechanics will look a whole heck of a lot different a year from now.
Bonos

The Yankees have drafted pitching very well since Cashman took over. Other than Romine, position players in 2006 an 07 position players are not so great. I would check the stats and after Jackson the next was Montero/Romine. It’s hard to get excited about Curtis or Suttle. I’m still surprised with picking a one trick reliever in the second round. What, they were short of a dozen. And what’s this dearth of OF’s till you get to the Dominican. I will say that catching is looking very good. So Goldman told the truth. Boston got Bay for Manny, we will get two draft picks for Abreu. Doesn’t seem fair.
Hitman

The minute I saw the gifs I already saw the problem with his mechanics before I even read the article. With that said the yankees should take steps to fix this and bring his arm angle down.