• Moustakas shows two sides

  • By Keith Law | March 29, 2009 6:09:04 PM PDT
Sometimes even the players seem to know that it's Sunday. Notes from the Royals/Mariners A-ball tilts:• Mike Moustakas can look good and bad in the same game. He has a great swing and is very strong, hitting a belt-high fastball out for a long home run to right. Yet in the at-bats before and after that one, he showed poor recognition of off-speed stuff and missed at least one hittable fastball in a fastball count. He wasn't challenged on anything at third base.• Eric Hosmer didn't hit the big fly on Sunday but hit a few balls hard and showed good plate discipline, working the count consistently and taking a walk rather than forcing an at-bat when he came up with men on in his last at-bat.• One at-bat means nothing: In the low-A game, David Wood hit one of the longer homers I've seen this month, pulling a ball out to deep right. He hit two last year in 277 regular-season at-bats despite being old (24) for both levels.• The Royals' fifth-round pick from 2008, John Lamb, threw an inning in the low-A game. Lamb's senior spring was ruined when his car was rear-ended and he fractured his throwing elbow, and his stuff hasn't come all the way back. He sat 87-90 mph with a below-average curve and change and a slinging arm action that doesn't let him utilize his legs at all to generate velocity.• One Mariner name of note -- Natividad Dilone, a 26-year-old reliever who has yet to reach high-A and had Tommy John surgery in 2007. Dilone, a right-hander, comes from a low three-quarter slot and sits from 90-93 mph with good tailing action (more at 90 than 93) and a curve at 75-78 that flashed above-average. Dilone was Rule 5 eligible this winter and was a strong ground ball guy last year, with 62 percent of his field outs coming on the ground. Given his age, he could be a candidate to move up a few levels with a good start to 2009.

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