You know how, before every college football game, there is some guy in the booth's asinine and obvious Keys to the Game (i.e., "Texas must outscore its opponent." "The defense must keep the offense off the field.")? McTaggart has Bobby Heck's Keys to the Game. But they're not asinine.
McTaggart, and Heck:
This year's draft is heavy on right-handed pitching, among both high school and college players. Astros assistant general manager in charge of scouting, Bobby Heck, said there will be several factors considered if the team is trying to decide between a high school and college arm.
"One is the impact they're going to have in the big leagues," he said.
In other words, if there's a high school player who could be a front-line starting pitcher four years down the road, the club would take him over a more polished college player who could make the big leagues in two years, but maybe as only a fourth or fifth starter.
The club will consider arm action, delivery, strike-throwing ability, quality of the secondary pitches and estimated time of arrival in the Majors.
"There's a number of things we walk through and try to apply all the information we have to put the right player in the right order," Heck said.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
