Scouting Report: Cory Vaughn, OF

2010-08-10T00:30:00.006-04:00

Tale of the Tape:
• How Acquired: 4th Round of the 2010 MLB Draft
• Date of Birth: 5/1/89
• Bats: R
• Throws: R

Offense: In 2008, I happened to see Kirk Nieuwenhuis play in person for the Brooklyn Cyclones and my first impression was that he had the look and feel of a big league ballplayer. I got that same feeling when I saw Cory Vaughn this past weekend. Vaughn is the son of former big leaguer, Greg Vaughn. At 6’3”, 225 lbs, Vaughn definitely fills out his uniform with a solid, muscular physique. At the plate, Vaughn’s best tool is his raw power, which is evident every time he connects with the ball. Vaughn's raw power has allowed him to lead the New York-Penn League with 12 home runs this summer. The ball flies off his bat every time he connects. However, I’m concerned as to whether or not he’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments against the higher quality pitching he’ll face as he progresses through the minors.

At the moment, the problem that I see is that his swing is just inconsistent. His batting stance/swing is simply not the same from one at-bat to the next. For example, in the video below of his first at-bat, Vaughn channels Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield in his batting stance/swing. He stands in at the plate like Jeter with his knees in tight and a short stride as he begins his swing. However, he also wiggles his bat like Sheffield, which allows him to speed up his bat and drive the ball. This technique seems to have some promise. However, I was surprised to see him adopt a completely different batting stance in his second at-bat (video of which I, unfortunately, don’t have).

In his second at-bat, Vaughn adopted a more crouched stance like Jeff Bagwell, which I felt did not work for him. For starters, the crouched stance caused Vaughn to have a more pronounced uppercut, which allowed the pitcher to exploit him by pitching down in the zone. I’m not sure why Vaughn adopted this more crouched stance. Thankfully, by his third at-bat he reverted back to his more upright stance.

As with most young, raw hitters, Vaughn needs to work on his pitch recognition in order to work the count in his favor, so that he can get his pitch to drive. As a dead pull hitter at the moment, Vaughn will get exposed by better pitchers, who will feed him a steady dose of breaking pitchers and hard stuff away.

Vaughn does display above-average speed. The question is whether or not he’ll lose a step or two as he continues to fill out similar to what happened to Fernando Martinez. At the moment, Vaughn displays the ability to steal, at least, 20 bases in the big leagues.

Defense: On defense, Vaughn has mostly played right field for the Cyclones this season. As with Darrell Ceciliani, Vaughn’s above-average speed helps him make up for some awkward routes to the ball. Vaughn displays an above-average arm, which plays in right field.

Conclusion: Vaughn’s power/speed potential in intriguing and will cause the Mets to give him his fair share of opportunities to succeed. That said, Vaughn needs to develop some consistency with his batting stance/swing and work on his pitch recognition in order to maximize his raw power. For some reason, Vaughn reminds me of Ryan Thompson, the Mets’ former prospect/center fielder. Like Thompson, Vaughn has an impressive physique to go along with a raw power/speed combination. Let’s hope that Vaughn can make learn to make the adjustments that Thompson never learned how to make. I’d like to see the Mets try Vaughn in center field in order to see if his speed will allow him to play even an average center field. If so, his power-speed combination in center field would elevate Vaughn’s prospect status.

Scouting Report: Darrell Ceciliani, OF

2010-08-08T02:01:00.038-04:00

Tale of the Tape:

• How Acquired: 4th Round of the 2009 MLB Draft

• Date of Birth: 6/22/90

• Bats: L

• Throws: L

Offense: For a player hitting for a high average (.387 heading into Saturday’s game), I expected Ceciliani to have a more compact swing with a quicker path through the plate. I was surprised to discover that this wasn’t the case, which concerns me somewhat. As you can see from the video below, Ceciliani prefers to rest his bat on his shoulder and keep his elbows in tight. From there, Ceciliani’s swing gets a bit more complicated. He tends to tap the bat while on his shoulder, which seems to act as either a timing mechanism or way to ensure that his load stays calm. However, I’m not convinced that this is a recipe for long-term success.

As his swing starts, Ceciliani brings his hands from a horizontal position to a more vertical position, while opening up his elbows. Also, his load is not as quiet as I would’ve expected from someone with such a high batting average and his swing is a bit long. There just seems to be too much going on in swing, which could lead to some bumps in road in the future as Ceciliani moves up the ladder. Better pitchers will exploit the holes in Ceciliani’s swing as he could be susceptible to hard stuff inside and good breaking balls due to the fact that there’s just a lot going on in his swing.

While Ceciliani seems to show below-average home run power, he does show gap power and an ability to utilize the whole field.

Defense: Playing mostly center field for the Cyclones, Ceciliani utilizes his above-average speed to make up for some awkward routes to the ball, which he hopefully will be able to improve on with more experience. His speed gives Ceciliani average-to-slightly-above-average range in center field. Ceciliani displays a barely average arm. His lack of above-average arm strength will require him to use his speed to get to balls quicker and unload quicker in order to compensate.

Conclusion: My guess is that Ceciliani will need to make adjustments as he progresses through the farm system in order to shorten/quiet his swing. I’m not sure if he’ll develop much power as he doesn’t project to get much bigger or stronger than he already is. Ceciliani’s best assets are his spend and his ability to utilize the entire field. If he can learn to make the proper adjustments to his swing as he progresses through the farm system, then he has the chance to be a big league player. His ceiling is somewhere between Jacoby Ellsbury and Nate McLouth with less power. That said, at the moment, I see him more as a 4th outfielder than a starter/leadoff hitter.

New York Born, New York Bred

Scouting Report: Cory Vaughn, OF

Scouting Report: Darrell Ceciliani, OF