This is the third of five posts where Trenton Thunder pitching coach Scott Aldred breaks down the starting rotation, pitcher-by-pitcher.
Scott isn’t the easiest guy to track down, but he took a break from looking at video of his pitchers just to give me a few minutes. So this won’t be as in-depth as I think some of you might want, but hopefully this provides some answers to any specific questions you may have.
Wednesday, Aldred talked about Chase Wright, and on Thursday we discussed Dan McCutchen. Today, Aldred and I chat about Jason Jones.
TT: Jason Jones is the longest tenured pitcher on the staff, what can you tell me about him?
SA: “Command of all three, he’s locked in right now. Quality split, command of his slider in and out, fastball command in and out. Basically working on pitching with guys on base.”
TT: You don’t really strike me as the kind of guy who would put much stock in the prospect handbooks or rankings or anything like that. But Jason Jones isn’t listed as a prospect and it seems like he isn’t on too many people’s radars. Any idea as to why?
SA: “I don’t know. I don’t read them and I don’t write them.”
April 19, 2008 at 1:07 am |
Fascinating!
April 19, 2008 at 9:54 am |
As I mentioned, I had very little time to pull this off, and Scott’s not one of the more talkative guys you’re going to run into…it’s not as good as I would have liked it to have been.
April 19, 2008 at 10:53 am |
It must have been like talking to a house plant. I feel for you man. Somewhere there has to be a reward for your patience. Thanks for doing it. Maybe if you’re patient and take what he gives now he’ll gain some trust in you and open up a little? Good luck, sorry if my late night and poor attempt at humor was a little close to home,; I didn’t mean it that way.
April 19, 2008 at 1:18 pm |
Not a big deal at all. I’m just happy I was able to get Aldred at all. Needed to have something original while the team was on the road to keep everyone’s interest too, so this kinda sorta worked.
Wasn’t offended at all, I’d probably be a little disappointed too if I were reading this…
April 19, 2008 at 9:38 pm |
Why is it that pitching coaches tend to be about the least talkative people in baseball…About the only guy that would talk in Trenton was Mike Griffin, who was here from 98 to 2002 (now the pitching coach at Bowie) – and Mike was a shy guy, so his efforts at talking were always appreciated…but other than that…
April 19, 2008 at 10:44 pm |
It’s interesting…over on “the other beat,” that’s never really been a problem. Then again, I don’t try to talk to the pitching coaches over there as much as I do here, because there really isn’t too much coaching that actually goes on at that level compared to what you’ll see here.
Ex-Yankee (and Aldred teammate in 2003) Brett Jodie is Somerset’s pitching coach, and he’s one of the more friendly and talkative people you’ll ever run into.
Newark has Steve Foucault, Long Island has Dave LaPoint, etc. All guys who have always been helpful to me whenever I’ve needed them.
I’ve covered Aldred since he pitched for Somerset in 2003, and he’s always been kind of quiet. But I do appreciate having the opportunity to talk to him, and look forward to doing it again soon to break down the bullpen if he has the time to do it.
Would also like to do something similar with Tom Wilson and the hitters, too…