• Solid stuff from Dodgers' de la Rosa

  • By Keith Law | March 31, 2009 6:34:22 AM PDT
Notes from my last day in spring training, at the Dodgers/Brewers A-ball games:The best stuff of the day belonged to Rubby de la Rosa of the Dodgers, who turned 20 earlier this month and has yet to pitch in a pro game in the United States. De la Rosa sat at 91-95 mph with a solid changeup from 84-86 that he turns over hard. His breaking ball was a slow curve in the mid-70s, although the harder he threw it the sharper the break became. He clearly has the arm speed to throw a good breaking ball and the laxity in his wrist to throw a curve, so it might just be a matter of development with better coaches as he moves up. The two red flags on de la Rosa were poor command Monday and the fact that his listed weight of 170 might be generous.Pedro Lambertus was the best Brewer arm for velocity, touching 95 a handful of times and pitching well for a few batters until the wheels came off after the center fielder dropped a routine fly for the third out. He sat at 91-95, just like de la Rosa, but his secondary stuff wasn't as strong, with a hard changeup at 86-87 and a flat slider in the low 80s. He has good arm speed on the changeup, but it's probably too close in velocity to the lower end of his fastball range. Lambertus has more walks than strikeouts in his pro career, so his stuff is interesting, but it doesn't seem to play just yet.Dodgers left-hander Greg Miller was named the 8th-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America heading into 2004, but he blew his shoulder out, requiring two shoulder surgeries that robbed him of his command and some of his velocity. (In fact, Miller was a "velocity spiker," adding 6-10 mph over the course of maybe two years leading up to his breakout 2003 season; I've posited before that velocity spikers are at an increased risk of injury.) This spring, the Dodgers have dropped Miller's arm slot down to near-sidearm to try to help him throw more strikes while avoiding the DL. He was 87-90 mph Monday with good sink, probably the result of the slot, and flashed a workable upper-70s slider that should be a weapon against left-handed batters.Quick hits:• One of the Brewers' 2008 supplemental picks, left-handed starter Evan Frederickson, reportedly had the yips last summer while sitting in the mid-90s. He topped out at 88 on Monday but was more or less around the zone.• Another Brewers prospect, outfielder Caleb Gindl, earns physical comparisons to Brian Giles, and for good reason, as he's of the Giles/Stairs mold of short, stocky left-handed hitters. Gindl works the count extremely well but has a long swing, so he's likely to always be a high-walk/high-strikeout guy. He has good raw power and, true to form, is a below-average runner.• Milwaukee's 22nd-round pick from last year, right-handed pitcher Ben Jeffers, showed a very good hard changeup at 83-84 with tremendous action and an average fastball at 88-90. I can see why he missed so many bats in rookie ball.

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