Chach wrote:Never once have I said Joba doesn't have talent. It's clear that he does. But I have fallen in love with many a Red Sox prospects in A ball and have seen them slip for one reason or another. TINSTAAPP. Joba has a ton of talent but he's had injuries in the past that he is a 22 year old who is playing professional baseball yet is the size of a blimp. As a fellow 22 year old who's currently sitting at 230 pounds and has been a regular at the gym for 3 months, let me tell you, it's NOT easy to lose that weight. I'm not saying it is impossible but it is extremely difficult and every year that goes by without him losing that weight is going to make it that much more difficult. I do hope he doesn't get injured because it's a shame for talented players to go down with injuries but I am not going to be so bold as to declare him a top 15 prospect in baseball because those injuries concerns really do worry me.
And for your sake, remember that there is a difference between "hitting" and "sitting". I have never read anything that says that Joba sits at 97, everything I see says he sits between 91-94. Papelbon touches 97 but sits at 93-94, there is a huge difference there. mahalo
~Chach~
Joba has reportedly "hit" 99 late in games, while sitting anywhere from 94-96 with ease.
As I said before, it is not as if he has had an injury history. Sure if he had a history of a slew of injuries all related to his weight problem to go along with a history of never fixing his weight, then there would be reason for concern. But he has already lost a considerable amount of weight in the past 3 years or so, and he has never had any real injury concerns. So you are basically "predicting" an injury for him down the road, which is not fair to him...some guys can handle extra weight, and maybe he is one of them. Predicting an injury is not enough to deny a player his status as a top prospect, and Joba will be one at season's end.
EDIT: Today's outing: 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 BB, 8 Ks. In his two starts so far in AA, he has 17 Ks and 3 BBs with a 0.82 ERA.
And this is a quote from another forum:
Got off the phone with Alan a little earlier--he was in the stands today running radar on Joba's game. He said again Joba was pretty awesome...He sat 93-94 with his fastball and if somebody got to third or second , well, he just reached back--got another gear and turned loose 97-98. He said at one point with a guy on third Joba hit 97-98 NINE pitches in a row.
BTW, the quote is actually from Alan Horne's father who posts regularly on the forum. That's the "Alan" he refers to.
