Seattle Mariners: Scouting Report on 1B Prospect Dan Vogelbach
Scouting Report
Body/Basics
Vogelbach is a big, big guy, but he stands only about 6’0″ tall, and that could be stretching it. He’s listed at 250 pounds, and that’s not all good weight as he does carry some around the middle. No one has really ever made a major issue about it as he still has solid movement around the bag at first. In fact, he’s kept at first right now while fellow prospect D.J. Peterson is playing DH due to defensive limitations. He is a lefty hitter, but throws right-handed.
Hitting
Vogelbach has an open stance, and he starts from the back of the batter’s box. I honestly believe that he has that approach due to the surprising length of his arms in spite of his height, which allows him to cover the entire plate in spite of being back in the box. In the games I viewed, he actually went the opposite way multiple times, but he was shifted frequently, so I checked out his page over at MLBfarm.com (a great resource, by the way, for those who are interested), and it does make sense in that viewing to shift the infield and play straight away in the outfield, as his heat map is strong to pull side on the infield but pretty evenly distributed throughout the outfield.
Vogelbach has a very good eye, as his stats make obvious, and he has both very good zone and pitch recognition. In his swing, I can see where there could be some concerns about the viability of power on the big league level, however, as he doesn’t have the body length to generate the kind of angle you’d like with his longer swing, but his long arms allow him to get there, and taking the intentional viewing of a home run, it’s easy to see him extend his arms for maximum power leverage.
Base Running/Fielding
This is where people will be surprised with Vogelbach. While he’s never going to be a guy to swipe double-digit bases, he’s smart on the bases, and he notices when a pitcher is simply not looking over at all and takes a few steals when he’s not being checked. He also showed smarts on the bases in the games I saw, stretching himself to third on a single to center when he was on first base and got a good jump on the ball, not something you’d typically see from a guy at his size.
Vogelbach’s fielding is surprisingly sharp, and honestly, it will have to be to overcome the general bias against right-handed first basemen. He’s not going to win any Gold Gloves as his range isn’t anything to write home about, but he has very good movement around the bag, and he made excellent plays for his infielders to ensure they didn’t lose a ball for an error.
Video
Next: Future outlook