BlueClaws Quotables: Morandini Speaks on Quinn, Tocci, Walter

Last week I spoke with Class A Lakewood BlueClaws manager Mickey Morandini and he offered his thoughts on a few of his players, including shortstop prospect Roman Quinn and 17-year-old outfielder Carlos Tocci…

On switch-hitting Roman Quinn’s turnaround this season, batting .303 with three HR and 12 RBI since April, when he sported a .202 average with two homers and six RBI-

He’s getting more comfortable, especially left-handed.  Seeing more pitches is the big thing for him.  He was a little bit too aggressive early in the counts, at times, swinging at some pitches up.  But, now he’s starting to draw some walks.  The on base percentage, I challenged him…he was about .240, at one point, and I challenged him to get to .330, .340 in a month.  He got there in about three weeks.  He’s up to about .340, so it’s just him getting comfortable left-handed, getting the confidence back.  A lot of it has to do with going up there and believing in yourself and swinging at better pitches. He’s got real good bat speed from that left side, it’s just a matter of getting some more at bats.

On Kevin Walter‘s Class A debut last week, in which he allowed one earned run over four innings-

He threw the ball real well.  He was aggressive in the strike zone.  He had two innings where he got into some trouble and he worked his way out of it both time.  He only gave up a run in the third and had the bases loaded in the fourth and got out of it and, obviously, when you win a close game like that (Lakewood beat Delmarva, 5-3), that’s a big part of it, so I was happy with the way he threw.

On righty batting prospect Carlos Tocci picking things up offensively as of late, batting .261 since April, when he tallied a .192 average-

He’s getting better and better.  Just like Quinny, he’s getting more comfortable.  (His) confidence is really high right now.  I like to give him some at bats in that two spot at times and he’s done well there.  He’s gonna swing the bat and put the ball in play and now he’s starting the pull the ball with a little more consistency.  Early in the year, everything was going to right field and now he’s starting to pull the ball a lot more and the average is starting to climb.