Eugenio Velez: Pulled from Toronto's Scrap Heap

Giants taking notice of Velez's promise

Article on sfgiants.com about Eugenio Velez, prospect on 40 man roster. Some delicious quotes to whet our appetite (Caveat: he did all that in a league where he's probably 2-3 years older than the other players, a man among men. Article noted he'll be in Connecticut, so that will be a truer test, though he'll still be much older than other players at 25 this season. Probably won't get a very good gauge on him until he plays in AAA, and since, as I noted in numerious posts, Dodd Stadium does a number on a player's stats, he's probably going to be mired in Norwich this season, so 2008 is probably the earliest he will see AAA unless he happens to be a player built to play in Norwich):

Team excited by speedy prospect with 'thunder in his hands' {Note: wonder if Moises gave him any tips on strengthening his hands...}

"He's got juice, got power and he can really run," said Tidrow. "This guy is a raw talent and needs to be developed more, so it's why we put him on the 40-man roster."

Bench coach Ron Wotus capsulized Velez's offensive skills this way: "He's got thunder in his hands."

Tidrow explained Velez was inconsistent at shortstop but appears to be smoother at second, where he played in an intrasquad game Tuesday at Scottsdale Stadium and in Saturday's Cactus League contest vs. Milwaukee. The Giants feel the youngster has the smarts and talent to fit the club's needs.

"He has a great arm, can really run, a great bat from both sides," crowed Tidrow. "It's a hard package to find in this day and age."

"He's exciting, a great athlete," said manager Bruce Bochy.

Those 64 thefts and what Tidrow termed "natural center-field skills" give San Francisco lots of future options, but you can expected more lightning steals from this tall, lean kid, armed with patience and insight into that baseball art. {Lean does not even begin to describe him, look at his picture in the link above, he is almost cadavorish when I look at his face. Then again, he's about my build and I'm not lean anymore - I'm more potbellied or spare tire-ish; I can pinch more than an inch - though I suppose all that couch potato TV viewing don't help :^) Nor do the late night snacks... }

Speed is vital, but a good jump is key.

"I read everything -- like how the pitcher holds his hands," said Velez. "Sometimes you can tell what he'll do and you can read that. I just try to keep my eyes on the pitcher." {Note: I like to see that, maybe he can teach Freddie Lewis that...}