YouScout: Angel Villalona

[Adam Foster]

http://www.projectprospect.com/article/ ... -villalona

I've probably already made many of my opinions on Villalona quite well known, but I'll jump into the conversation once we have some other opinions.

[labe]

he seems to have poor pitch recognition. even on the pitches he took for balls he almost swung.

[SouthSidePat]

He appears to be a wee bit off balance.

[Gabe]

He opens up his front leg to a open stance when he swings sometimes. It fixable but he needs to work on it though.

[AdamC]

I'm a long time Giants fan. I know lots of Giants fans are really high on Angel Villalona. I am not one of them. His BB/K ratio is AWFUL. In '08 he had 118 K's and just 18 BB's. So far in '09 he has 73 K's and just 9 BB's. I know he's very young, only 18, so I am willing to give him a bit more leeway but he really needs to work on pitch recognition. Plus his defense and baserunning is nothing to write home about either.

[Adam Foster]

I'm anxoius to see how Villalona progresses with his ability to handle outside breaking balls. I was expecting more bat speed from him, too.

His defense is actually pretty solid. He has some quickness.

While he runs well for a big kid, he's still a below-average runner.

I agree with the previous pitch recognition comments. He doesn't control the at-bat well in any of these clips -- I do like the opposite field liner, though.

[HighProfile]

He is off balance. This is why. His front flys open. Due to the movement in the backside, Watch the back leg stiffen. Then the butt will come out. Losing his ass. Common pd term. He almost raises up throught the swing. You can tell he has timing issues. Therefore the outside pitch is going to be difficult for him to hit. He flys open and loses the backside there is no chance to hit the away pitch. Especially a true change up down and away. Then the excess hand movement before the offering. Causes the hands to load a little far behind the head. Causing him to be just a bit more longer. With the front leg flying out it adds up. He doesn't repeat the hitting mechanics well. This can all be fixed. Short him up a tad. Remove the excess movement of the hands. make sure he isnt loading to far back. Make the proper 45 adjustment. Move the fron elbow in just a little. Get him going towards the pitcher with the front leg. get the back foot with a little more weight on it to keep him from raising up. Those are just the minor things. we can go in more depth ...

[Adam Foster]

I'd be up for more depth .

[HighProfile]

Def. I will break down the video fully tonight. If you have any more video from the side please let me know.

[Adam Foster]

Sweet!

I do. I'll try to put a Posey or Bumgarner film next...might be able to do Moustakas, too.

[MasMacho]

I was just watching some video of James/Jamie Mallard, Cecil Fielder-esque kid the Angels took this year, and his stance reminded me a lot of Villalona's. No stride with the front foot, spinning on the back leg, both of them with minimal lower half mechanics in the swing. Both are plus raw power prospects, and I'm assuming the ability to drive the ball using only the upper half leads to this approach? Mallard's swing was a little quirkier than V's, and he seemed to put the barrel on the ball better too. Physically Mallard scares you in a way V doesn't. Where V looks pudgy, Mallard looks like he just finished eating Mo Vaughn.

[timmylince]

Sweet!

I do. I'll try to put a Posey or Bumgarner film next...might be able to do Moustakas, too.

Definetly get more vid of anVil....I've been one of the guys who has been pushing for some more video on the kid since there isn't much out there...unfortunate he is injured....any idea when he will return? Posey just got called up to AAA also...there was also a cool article on MadBum earlier on milb.com..thanks for the indepth analysis also.

[Mike Rogers]

I was just watching some video of James/Jamie Mallard, Cecil Fielder-esque kid the Angels took this year, and his stance reminded me a lot of Villalona's. No stride with the front foot, spinning on the back leg, both of them with minimal lower half mechanics in the swing. Both are plus raw power prospects, and I'm assuming the ability to drive the ball using only the upper half leads to this approach? Mallard's swing was a little quirkier than V's, and he seemed to put the barrel on the ball better too. Physically Mallard scares you in a way V doesn't. Where V looks pudgy, Mallard looks like he just finished eating Mo Vaughn.

Hahaha.

[MasMacho]

I was just watching some video of James/Jamie Mallard, Cecil Fielder-esque kid the Angels took this year, and his stance reminded me a lot of Villalona's. No stride with the front foot, spinning on the back leg, both of them with minimal lower half mechanics in the swing. Both are plus raw power prospects, and I'm assuming the ability to drive the ball using only the upper half leads to this approach? Mallard's swing was a little quirkier than V's, and he seemed to put the barrel on the ball better too. Physically Mallard scares you in a way V doesn't. Where V looks pudgy, Mallard looks like he just finished eating Mo Vaughn.

Hahaha.

You laugh, but when's the last time you saw Mo Vaughn?

[timmylince]

Sweet!

I do. I'll try to put a Posey or Bumgarner film next...might be able to do Moustakas, too.

Hey get more vid of him. I would like to see more of his swing.