The Los Angeles Angels recently promoted hard-throwing right-hander Jordan Walden to their bullpen, and to change things up a bit, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at an old report I wrote about him. I saw him just after he initially turned pro. We can look at what I thought of Walden then, what has changed and what he is now.

The Angels took Walden in the 12th round of the 2006 draft and made him a draft-and-follow player. He played at a Texas community college in 2007 and showed he had regained some of the velocity he lost in his senior season in high school. So the team signed him, and I first got to see him throw an instructional league game in October 2007. When I saw him, he had made 15 starts in the short-season Pioneer League in his pro debut, and he threw three innings in the contest I watched. Sometimes in scouting all you get is one look, so that was what I had to go on in writing the report.I have a sample of that report below. This initial scouting report is from October 2007, and I'll follow up (below the report) with how Walden has developed since then. Grades are on the 20-to-80 scouting scale, with 80 being the best and a grade of 50 denoting the major league average.Jordan Walden, RHP, 6-foot-5, 225 (DOB: 11/16/87)
Report Date: 10/09/07; Games: 1; Innings: 3OFP (Overall Future Potential): 54
Arm Action: Fair
Delivery: Fair
Windup: Full
Arm Angle: High three-quarters