Three Sounds Rank Among Top PCL Prospects
Date Posted: 10/15/2009

Three members of the 2009 Nashville Sounds club have been named among the Top 20 Prospects in the Pacific Coast League in Baseball America's annual season-end rankings.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar (#6), third baseman Mat Gamel (#13), and catcher Angel Salome (#18) were honored.

Nashville's three players recognized were second-most among the 16 league clubs; Sacramento had four players honored.

Here is Baseball America's editorial writeup on each of the players:

ALCIDES ESCOBAR

Long hailed as one of the game's elite defensive prospects, Escobar proved he could handle Triple-A pitching. That gave the Brewers the confidence to elevate him to the major leagues in August to supplant the struggling J.J. Hardy.

Escobar has good plate coverage and is willing to hit balls where they're pitched, though at times he'll get pull-conscious and overswing. He doesn't offer much power, but he does have some bat speed and leverage in his stroke. He has good speed and is an intelligent basestealer.

His defense remains his calling card. Escobar's range, hands and arm strength are all easy plus tools. In each of the last three years, managers have rated him the best defensive shortstop and owner of the strongest infield arm in his league.

"He's got a chance to be one of the premier shortstops in baseball," Memphis manager Chris Maloney said. "He's got big range both ways, a very strong throwing arm, his hands are excellent and you can tell he loves to play defense. He's got a chance to hit a little bit, too."

MAT GAMEL

Gamel has become well known for his tremendous raw power as well as his defensive deficiencies, both of which were on display in the PCL. He has the ability to drive the ball to all fields, the bat speed to catch up to quality fastballs and the natural timing to center the ball. His only real drawback at the plate is his lack of a two-strike approach, as he won't give up on trying to crush balls, no matter what the count.

"He has really strong hands to the ball," a National League scout said. "He does let the ball travel and hit it deep and still drive it out to left-center and drive it over the fence. He's just one of those guys where the ball comes off the bat differently than most other guys."

Though Gamel was better defensively than in past years, his .910 fielding percentage was still substandard. His speed, range, reactions and arm strength are fine, but his footwork and throwing mechanics still fall apart at times. One manager said he thought Gamel had lapses of concentration and got careless in the field.

ANGEL SALOME

After hitting .360 in Double-A a year ago, Salome had his worst offensive season since his 2005 pro debut, though his .286/.334/.413 numbers were still respectable. He has an unorthodox swing in which he steps towards third base and flies open, but he makes it work. He's strong and can drive balls to right center, but most of his home run power is to his pull side.

"It's like he's compensating for his mechanical deficiencies because he has such good hand strength," the NL scout said. "He can pull the outside pitch with some authority. It's not conventional. It's not the way you'd teach it."

Salome should be more productive than most catchers, and he has the tools to be effective behind the plate as well. He has well above-average arm strength, but his throws tend to tail and he threw out just 26 percent of basestealers for Nashville. He's athletic enough and blocks balls well but must remember to make defense a priority.

Related Links:
 • Complete List Of Top 20 PCL Prospects