Player Name: Dalton McCarthy
School: Farmingdale State
Position: 1b/ RHP
Dalton is a 2012 graduate of Eastport-South Manor HS. He transferred to Farmingdale from the University of Delaware. He is listed at 6’7″ 240 lbs.
Offensively: He hits from a tall stance, knee not bent at all. He has hit bat wagging back and forth and his back elbow up. He has a big leg kick as a timing mechanism. He has quick hands, keeps his head down on the ball well and finishes with both hands on the bat.
In the April 7 game, he went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk. All of his at bats were quality.
In his first at bat, he swung at the first pitch and hit the ball well to the second baseman, which scored the runner from third base.
In his next at bat (featured above), he worked the count to 2-2 before lining an RBI single to right field. As is the case with all good power hitters, he’s adept at generating lift on his swing. Rather than rolling over, he generates power from the bottom hand and produces massive fly balls. Earlier in the season, he did not square a ball up and got under it. The ball went to the warning track in center field, roughly 390 ft away.
In his third at bat, he also smacked an RBI single to right field. He watched a 1-1 curve go for ball 2, before a wild pitch advanced the runner to scoring position. He ripped the next hittable fastball to the outfield.
In his fourth at bat, he walked on a 3-2 pitch. He displayed very good patience. As the lineup is currently constituted, he is the only power threat. Generally, those types of hitters will get pitched very carefully–as he has. He can hit the breaking ball, and he is a dangerous low-ball hitter. He did show the tendency of chasing high fastballs. If pitchers want to avoid damage, they will try to get him to chase up and out of the zone.
Defensively: He is very athletic, and shows good footwork around the bag. Since he is also a pitcher, he is one of the rare first baseman who can also use their arm as weapon. Unfortunately, both times I have been to their game, he has nearly had his wrist broken on throws by the third baseman. While this may be simply misfortune, it’s also possible he is putting himself into a less-than-ideal position around the bag when the throw heads towards the runner.
Base Running: He is a big man that can run. He gets out of the box well, he also has stolen four bases in six attempts this season. Dalton got a good read on a bloop base hit with one-out while he was on second base. This enabled him to score easily. He showed good instincts on the base paths.
He is also a pitcher, but I did not see him on this evening.
