RC profiles fifth round pick, Jason Godin

Jason Godin was drafted by the Royals in the fifth round of the 2006 draft with the 137th overall pick. Godin is a 21-year-old right handed pitcher out of Old Dominion University (ODU) who led the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with 146 strikeouts this season, and he registered an 8-3 record with a 4.06 ERA in 15 starts. His 146 Ks missed Justin Verlander's ODU strikeout record by just 5 punchouts, and he was twice named Collegiate Baseball's "National Player of the Week." In his 115.1 IP, Godin surrendered 116 hits and 38 walks.

Godin's prospect hype was somewhat muffled this season, since he missed the entire 2005 campaign after undergoing surgery on his vertebrae. Nevertheless, he far exceeded expectations this year, and he emerged from his medical ordeal with an expanded repertoire. He doesn't blow anyone away with his fastball, which sits at 88-91 mph, but he does possess a plus curveball, which he uses frequently. He also flashes a nice slider that cuts in on righties, and he has what is described by Baseball America as a "fringy change" that he doesn't use very often.

RC was very intrigued by this pick -- since we really hadn't followed Godin closely during the season -- so we dug through ODU's box scores to see if we could identify any trends or highlight any performances. After Godin struck out 17 Navy hitters in his 2006 debut (a complete game victory), we found that he struggled a bit, surrendering 13 ER over his second and third starts of 2006 against Rutgers and Rhode Island.

But he then entered a stretch in which he was completely dominant. From March 11 through April 15, Godin made six conference starts, averaging 8.2 IP and nearly 12 strikeouts per game while compiling an ERA of 1.38. He tossed three complete games over that stretch, including two shutouts, and he went the first nine innings in an extra inning win over Hofstra on April 9. On April 15, he set a school record by striking out an amazing 18 batters (with 0 BBs) in a complete game shutout over Northeastern.

Godin then ran into some trouble. He dropped his first two decisions of the season to Delaware and Virginia Commonwealth University, yielding 13 earned runs in 13 IP. He did strike out 23 batters, however, and he struck out 19 more over his next two starts while yielding 11 more earned runs in a combined 13.2 IP against UNC-Wilmington (a very good offensive team) and Towson.

Godin's final start of the season was in a CAA Tournament elimination game vs. Georgia State. He surrendered six runs (only two earned) and seven walks, and he took the game into the tenth inning before allowing the deciding walk-off run with two outs. It was a disappointing end to the season, but Godin established himself as a strikeout pitcher who maintains his stuff late into games.

All told, RC really likes this pick. We don't believe Godin has signed yet, but we imagine that the Royals probably aren't in a big hurry to ink him to a contract after he threw so many innings and pitches this season. Once he does sign, we expect Godin will probably make a few appearances in Idaho Falls before the season is over, similar to what Chris Nicoll did last year. We particularly like his strikeout numbers, and we think that Godin may turn out to be an excellent find.

That's it for today, but stay tuned, as RC promises to bring similar profiles of the Royals draftees in the coming days. We'll continue focusing on some of the college pitchers, and we plan to profile VCU's Harold Mozingo with our next feature.

RC notes: Royals drop series to D-Rays

RC today liked KC's chances of winning, as we figured Scott Elarton might keep the Royals in the game while the offense beat up on an experienced Tampa Bay starter. But the only beating dished out was by the D-Rays, who tied a club record with six home runs en route to an 8-2 victory. Elarton lasted only 4.2 innings, surrendering eight hits (including three home runs) and four earned runs.

Elarton has now allowed four or more runs in six of his last seven starts, and he hasn't had a truly good outing since his May 5 start against the White Sox. In those seven starts, he's allowed a total of 12 home runs, after allowing seven in his first seven outings. Hopefully he'll turn it around, but today's start is probably the type of performance we should expect to see a lot more of throughout the season.

The offense managed 10 hits but could only score two runs. In fact, in the ten games played thus far in June, the Royals have now scored two or fewer runs six times, losing all six games. But as bad as the offense continues to look, it's surprising to see that some players are having remarkably good months.

Doug Mientikiewicz has led the way in June, posting a batting line of .429/.515/.500. Minky is 17-for-41 (.415) dating back to May 28, and he's raised his average in that time from .248 to .284. His still not an ideal three-hole hitter, but our complaints will be muffled a bit as long as he stays hot. David DeJesus has also played well this month after returning from the DL in late May, and his June line of .351/.467/.541 has raised his overall numbers to .280/.372/.467, which are very solid considering his slow start.

Of course, maybe the best news of all is that Mark Teahen is starting to hit the ball. Since his recall on June 3, Teahen has four multi-hit games and has posted a line of .393/.433/.536 with a home run. He's pulling the ball better, and he's only struck out four times after going down on strikes 23 times in his first 23 games. His defense, however, has been somewhat lackluster, and 810 WHB today reported that the word around the clubhouse is that Teahen's right shoulder is completely shot.


Teahen is reportedly playing through shoulder pain.

He was scheduled for an MRI when he was in Omaha, but he's apparently decided to gut it out and play through the pain. Nevertheless, it's good to see Teahen continue the blistering offensive pace he started last month in triple-A. We just hope he's not doing additional damage to his shoulder.

RC Correspondent Chris Ray today had an interesting question. It is well known that the Royals have followed the recent trend in baseball of having their top prospects skip triple-A on their way to the Majors. Across much of baseball, clubs now use their triple-A farm clubs to stockpile organizational types and aged veterans who can step into the big leagues for a short period to fill a hole if needed. Opinions on the wisdom of this change are mixed, but it's certainly the prevailing trend for an organization to house its best young prospects at double-A.

New Royals GM Dayton Moore, however, comes from the Braves organization, which is one of the few remaining organizations that does it the old fashioned way. For example, when RC went to Richmond last year, we saw a triple-A ballclub stocked with young talent, such as Andy Marte, Chuck James, Anthony Lerew, and Tony Pena, Jr.

Ray wondered if Moore, who has promised to replicate the Braves' model for scouting and player development, has a change in store for the way the Royals utilize their Omaha affiliate. We have no idea, but it was an interesting question that we hadn't yet considered. It's definitely something to watch for, and it wouldn't surprise RC one bit to see Alex Gordon and Billy Butler make stops in Omaha before graduating to KC.

Anyway, that's it for today. Stay tuned this week, as we should finally bring our promised draft analysis (barring another blogger meltdown). Up next, we plan to discuss some of the better collegiate pitchers who were drafted on Tuesday, as the Royals did a very nice job bringing in some quality arms.