I got the chance to go to the Sally League All Star game last week where the Rome Braves had four players representing the organization: Ezekiel Spruill was the starting pitcher for the South team, JJ Hoover, Luis Sumoza and Jesus Sucre were also elected to the team as reserves.

I arrived at the ball park early enough to see the home run derby before the game. Calvin Anderson (a home town player from the West Virginia Power) won the derby and put on a hell of a show. He hit several balls off the 40 fort batters eye in CF and 5 or 6 balls over the score board in left which is similar to the one in Myrtle Beach, for those that have been there.

I didn't get to stay for the whole game because I had to meet some people so I didn't get to see Luiz Sumoza or Jesus Sucre get into the game. I wasn't really there for them anyways. I did get some solid pictures of Spruill and Hoover though.

Spruill topped out at 91 during his inning of work and sat at 90. I can see why people are excited about him other than the great control he flashes. The guy is RAIL thin. He has a supremely projectable body and will most likely add velocity as he puts on some weight. The fact that he already has solid control will only help his career path.

Zeke struck out the first batter he face on what appeared to be a change or maybe his sinker. He did give up a walk but was bailed out by the catcher. He looked pretty good though a little more wild than I had expected even on the guys he got out.

Hoover looked great with at least one sexy looking breaking pitch. I honestly don't know what it was but it was dropping straight out of the strike zone. Maybe a splitter or a very hard curve. Either way it was just Nasty. He struck out two batters and only allowed a man to get on due to a Tim Beckham error. He topped out at 92 but sat there most of the time and it really looked harder than that. No one made solid contact on him and he really just looked filthy. I don't know if he is going to add much more velocity just because his body is compact, but I definitely came away impressed. The only thing that worried me was this:

Now I won't pretend to know a whole lot about pitching mechanics, but that looks like some serious bend in his elbow. I am sure he is throwing a breaking ball in the picture, but still. Lots of bend.

Anyways, that is all I have for now. I have a total of about 200 pictures that I might post here or on my photobucket. One last picture just because I liked this one.