Tweet
Discuss.
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http://baseballbeginnings.com/2011/0...-gilbert-video
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MAN Jon Kilma loves this kid:
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2011/0...lbert-update-2
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more gushing from Kilna:
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2011/0...gilbert-update
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more video at this link:
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2011/0...ilbert-video-2
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finally, more video here:
http://baseballbeginnings.com/2010/1...ilbert-video-3
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a non-Jon Kilma video here: http://www.ncsasports.org/college-re.../trent-gilbert
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http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1110018
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CynXRRVRSg[/ame]
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be6RDX58IrU&feature=related[/ame]
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http://rise.espn.go.com/baseball/art...t-gilbert.aspx
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Trent Gilbert is the subject of today’s lesson, class. So what do I want you to tell me from watching this clip? No, the answer is not “Hey, he finally made it to Blair Field!” The answer has to do with...
(SEE VIDEO IN LINK)
If you watched this and said to yourself, “Um, hey Beginnings, dude, why are you filming the kid standing at his position?”
Because I did this on purpose. If you said HIS FEET ALWAYS MOVE, you are correct. You cannot play middle infield at the advanced levels if you do not have active feet. I never saw a shortstop who planted himself like a chia-pet at his position (what with his cool sunglasses and designer spikes) be able to take that to the next level and stay in the middle. Your better up-the-middle defenders, all of them have active feet. This is a very subtle tool, but you can’t give it to a guy. Mays, his feet moved in center. Edmonds, same thing. Go look at your classic shortstops — Smith, Reese, guys like this — and their feet would have always moved as kids. By the time a ball went at Gilbert — and it went to his right — he was on top of it, and you can see a soccer player’s quickness. Oh, I have said it many times here — give me middle infielders who play soccer growing up, because those are the only American kids who will have a chance to survive as professional middle infielders. I bet you there is multi-sport athleticism in the backgrounds of guys like Utley and Uggla. That also indicates that more speed is on the way, perhaps a surprising 60-time or two in those feet as well.
(SEE VIDEO IN LINK)
If you watched this and said to yourself, “Um, hey Beginnings, dude, why are you filming the kid standing at his position?”
Because I did this on purpose. If you said HIS FEET ALWAYS MOVE, you are correct. You cannot play middle infield at the advanced levels if you do not have active feet. I never saw a shortstop who planted himself like a chia-pet at his position (what with his cool sunglasses and designer spikes) be able to take that to the next level and stay in the middle. Your better up-the-middle defenders, all of them have active feet. This is a very subtle tool, but you can’t give it to a guy. Mays, his feet moved in center. Edmonds, same thing. Go look at your classic shortstops — Smith, Reese, guys like this — and their feet would have always moved as kids. By the time a ball went at Gilbert — and it went to his right — he was on top of it, and you can see a soccer player’s quickness. Oh, I have said it many times here — give me middle infielders who play soccer growing up, because those are the only American kids who will have a chance to survive as professional middle infielders. I bet you there is multi-sport athleticism in the backgrounds of guys like Utley and Uggla. That also indicates that more speed is on the way, perhaps a surprising 60-time or two in those feet as well.
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MAN Jon Kilma loves this kid:
Man, the 405 freeway sucks, but sometimes I get moments like this: fastball inside corner comes in at 85, goes out to right-center field on a line drive to 90. Real hitters, rare as they come, usually make my drive worthwhile. A few days later, at the field where John Stevenson carried his clipboard for all those years, this guy rapped out three more hits against a right-hander going to the Pac-10. I hope John took his clipboard with him, because I am sure he long ago put a circle around this boy’s name.
The best thing about Trent Gilbert is if I burn an afternoon to go watch him, he always hits for me. I can rattle off some names of some very high profile high school hitters in Southern California over the past two drafts who simply couldn’t hit high school pitching. Some of those guys who slumped then held out. They put themselves behind the 8-ball as young pros. Nobody cares what you did as an amateur once you sign on the dotted line. I never cared about all the excuses about, “Oh, this guy shut me down and messed me up.” Blah blah blah. I’m too nice to call them out. Hit or don’t.
Gilbert, on the contrary, just hits. I’ve seen him make hard contact against better pitching and I’ve seen him keep his hands back against slop. I’ve seen him pull hard grounders and sometimes fly off the outside pitch. But I’ve also seen him keep his hands and weight back and let his hands do the talking, such as at a recent look in Compton where he tripled twice and hit a home run. He’s the best hitter in the South Bay. Somebody call the local newspaper. Just don’t confuse me with the local newspaper.
In my last look at Gilbert, he did a couple of things I liked defensively. I have always said this guy has great infield hands. The ball usually finds him in the first inning. It did again in this look, where he started a 6-4-3 double play. Later in the game, he flashed quickness to his right to make a diving stop. Then he got up, licked an airmail stamp on the ball, and sent it overnight over the first baseman’s head. Some people don’t like that, but as a scout, I do, because he just showed me his arm strength. It’s not a cannon, but it’s enough, and it will be fine for second base.
The best thing about Trent Gilbert is if I burn an afternoon to go watch him, he always hits for me. I can rattle off some names of some very high profile high school hitters in Southern California over the past two drafts who simply couldn’t hit high school pitching. Some of those guys who slumped then held out. They put themselves behind the 8-ball as young pros. Nobody cares what you did as an amateur once you sign on the dotted line. I never cared about all the excuses about, “Oh, this guy shut me down and messed me up.” Blah blah blah. I’m too nice to call them out. Hit or don’t.
Gilbert, on the contrary, just hits. I’ve seen him make hard contact against better pitching and I’ve seen him keep his hands back against slop. I’ve seen him pull hard grounders and sometimes fly off the outside pitch. But I’ve also seen him keep his hands and weight back and let his hands do the talking, such as at a recent look in Compton where he tripled twice and hit a home run. He’s the best hitter in the South Bay. Somebody call the local newspaper. Just don’t confuse me with the local newspaper.
In my last look at Gilbert, he did a couple of things I liked defensively. I have always said this guy has great infield hands. The ball usually finds him in the first inning. It did again in this look, where he started a 6-4-3 double play. Later in the game, he flashed quickness to his right to make a diving stop. Then he got up, licked an airmail stamp on the ball, and sent it overnight over the first baseman’s head. Some people don’t like that, but as a scout, I do, because he just showed me his arm strength. It’s not a cannon, but it’s enough, and it will be fine for second base.
--------------------
more gushing from Kilna:
Readers here know I have an affinity for the players who have tools and get no fair looks from the majority of pro scouts because too many people in scouting look only for the finished product and don’t look into the future. Somewhere this has changed, and it’s making the game a worse place to be.
I understand the pressure to deliver ready-made players, but the more front offices demand players who do no require development, the more costly busts they will absorb. They will sign too many players who are finished developing at a young age and maximized performance will be confused with upside. They will not have been scouting for the future, but for the present, and this is not scouting projection. This is scouting performance. This is the cardinal sin.
What happens when you have a player who performs but isn’t yet at physical maturity? What happens when that same player comes closer to physical maturity and shows the work ethic and most important tool for a position player closer to the draft? What happens when you have a left-handed hitter with hands – by that I mean bat speed and bat control, the even more scarce commodity that you can take to the bank – and he’s flying under the radar this late in the draft cycle?
You get a guy like Trent Gilbert.
Many people missed Gilbert because he was not at the Area Codes, even though he was in the backyard of a national scouting showcase. Instead, there was a non-prospect named Trent there instead. Through a solid Fall, Gilbert just kept getting better – and the thing is, what he does best, he makes look easy.
What he does best is swing the bat. His second best tools are the very sound, sure and soft hands that play on the infield and will translate to any of the outfield corners. This is what happens when a player’s father has the keys to the field and won’t let the kid go home until he takes 30 grounders consecutively without an error. When you get a kid who wants those 30 grounders and can play – you got a ballplayer.
When I saw him in Fall, I liked the physical projection and the left-handed set-up, but what I wanted to see most was the bat speed. Out at a little field in the middle of nowhere, I got what I wanted, and it took one swing for me to know I had a guy.
Fast forward to this spring and a recent look in a double-header. Again, my kind of game. Not a scout in the stands, at a game that was rescheduled, which means that to even know where the closest future big leaguer was, you had to know your territory, which means you had to communicate with more than the scout you carpooled in with. You had to believe you were chasing a future big leaguer, not just a good college player.
I have said this before and I will say it again, regardless of if it makes me enemies: I am not anti-scout. I am anti-lazy scout. Why? Because players with talent who deserve to be found, who work to earn what the game will give them, get left behind in favor of the players those two or three source lists said to like. Talented kids get left behind. That’s not good scouting and it’s not good baseball. Not every club is like this. But many are frontrunners and that’s the end of story.
What Gilbert gives you is a good ballplayer. When you have a good player, a guy who should develop into an everyday major leaguer in the coming years, you can take this to the bank, too – it will never take him long to show you what he does best. There’s the irony – the present tools hunters would be thrilled with his bat and his defense – but how many times do you need to see the same four guys over and over again? As the saying goes, you’re missing a great game.
Or in this place, missing a good player.
Let’s talk about defense first. The second pitch of the game was a ground ball to Gilbert at short. I’m not about to go into a technical discussion about how to move your feet and use soft hands to absorb a ground ball other than to say he’s automatic. If you want to see flawless professional infielder hands on a high school kid, Gilbert’s your guy, and I’ve seen all the other infielders this year.
These hands allow me to project any number of positions for him in the coming years – third, second, first, left or right, though I believe his hands will be too valuable to remove from the infield and guys with hands like trash cans only play the outfield corners. His arm strength is going to be just enough for third, completely adequate for any of the outfield corners and easily enough to finish the double play at second. For me, he’s throwing better in spring than he did in Fall. That’s what long toss and a growth spurt does for you. In this look, Gilbert fielded his infield chances flawlessly and finished one double play. He is moving better to his right than he did in Fall, but he might not have the range to his right to compete with the Latin infielders. Then again, the guy grew up playing soccer for years, just like they did. We’ll see.
Let’s talk speed. Gilbert’s first step is slow out of the box, which kills his run times down the line. But watch him run the bases and he’s no 30 clogger. He’s a much better runner underway and will easily be able to go first to third and score from second on a single. With proper training, he has enough athleticism there to milk the old “45” out of his run times, which means sometimes he’ll be a 4 and sometimes he’ll be a 5. He’s got enough speed upside – not a lot, but just enough – to be able to milk out an extra five hits or so over the course of 500 at-bats. That can make a big difference to the batting average at the end of the year. He’s also going to be able to swipe a base here or there and he’ll have enough speed for a manager to play hit and run and not feel like he’s hanging himself out to dry.
Now let us talk about the bat. That’s the reason we should be watching this player.
First AB: Against a RHP, line drive single, left-center, showed bat speed, bat control, discipline, approach, trust in hands, letting slow pitch get to him, solid contact with the BBCOR tin can bats.
Second AB: Against a RHP, another squared up line drive, this time shot the other way to left field. I’m not seeing trouble versus right-handers in this boy’s future.
Third AB: In case you were looking for power projection, against a RHP we got a hard shot with lift to straight away center field. That’s about 380 feet away in his park and should have been a home run – except the ball got stuck in the CF fence. Sort of Roy Hobbs like, but we’ll leave the outcome to sandlot lore in Torrance (“Remember the ball Trent hit that got stuck in the fence?”) As for scouting, hey, guess what – power to straight away center field.
Fourth AB: Against a RHP again, hard pull shot right at second baseman. I thought it was the best bat speed I saw that day. The ball went right at the guy.
Fifth AB: Ground ball, second base, against a left-hander. You can’t win ‘em all. Time to make an adjustment. Now we have to decide if he will be solid lefty vs. lefty.
Sixth AB: Ground ball, second base, against same lefty. Hit harder, no luck. No batting helmets thrown across dugout floor. Scouting moment.
Seventh AB: Finally squares one up against same lefty. Curses! Line drive second base – long night for high school kids. Sells me that he can make adjustments against lefties. Very important for an aspiring pro.
Eighth AB: Gassed. Pulls off outside pitch and pops it into left field. Kid lefty has a story to tell six years from now when he’s sitting in the so-called cheap seats at Dodger Stadium about how he owned that dude playing down there with the visiting team. Old man watching game on TV near Long Beach has last laugh.
So what have we learned? Well, Gilbert showed you everything you need to know about why he is a major league prospect. The defense, athleticism and mobility will play. The speed is going to be enough. He’s got more strength and physical projection to come. The work ethic is there, because nobody learns to make ground balls look that easy without taking thousands of them. The intangibles – instincts, positioning, awareness, desire and perspective – are all there, if you have done your homework.
Above all, if you are going to be an everyday position player in the major leagues, you have to be able to hit and flash power. You cannot make a hitter out of a guy who is not a hitter. And that’s why I’d draft him good if I were you. Last thing you want is a writer looking smarter than a scout.
I understand the pressure to deliver ready-made players, but the more front offices demand players who do no require development, the more costly busts they will absorb. They will sign too many players who are finished developing at a young age and maximized performance will be confused with upside. They will not have been scouting for the future, but for the present, and this is not scouting projection. This is scouting performance. This is the cardinal sin.
What happens when you have a player who performs but isn’t yet at physical maturity? What happens when that same player comes closer to physical maturity and shows the work ethic and most important tool for a position player closer to the draft? What happens when you have a left-handed hitter with hands – by that I mean bat speed and bat control, the even more scarce commodity that you can take to the bank – and he’s flying under the radar this late in the draft cycle?
You get a guy like Trent Gilbert.
Many people missed Gilbert because he was not at the Area Codes, even though he was in the backyard of a national scouting showcase. Instead, there was a non-prospect named Trent there instead. Through a solid Fall, Gilbert just kept getting better – and the thing is, what he does best, he makes look easy.
What he does best is swing the bat. His second best tools are the very sound, sure and soft hands that play on the infield and will translate to any of the outfield corners. This is what happens when a player’s father has the keys to the field and won’t let the kid go home until he takes 30 grounders consecutively without an error. When you get a kid who wants those 30 grounders and can play – you got a ballplayer.
When I saw him in Fall, I liked the physical projection and the left-handed set-up, but what I wanted to see most was the bat speed. Out at a little field in the middle of nowhere, I got what I wanted, and it took one swing for me to know I had a guy.
Fast forward to this spring and a recent look in a double-header. Again, my kind of game. Not a scout in the stands, at a game that was rescheduled, which means that to even know where the closest future big leaguer was, you had to know your territory, which means you had to communicate with more than the scout you carpooled in with. You had to believe you were chasing a future big leaguer, not just a good college player.
I have said this before and I will say it again, regardless of if it makes me enemies: I am not anti-scout. I am anti-lazy scout. Why? Because players with talent who deserve to be found, who work to earn what the game will give them, get left behind in favor of the players those two or three source lists said to like. Talented kids get left behind. That’s not good scouting and it’s not good baseball. Not every club is like this. But many are frontrunners and that’s the end of story.
What Gilbert gives you is a good ballplayer. When you have a good player, a guy who should develop into an everyday major leaguer in the coming years, you can take this to the bank, too – it will never take him long to show you what he does best. There’s the irony – the present tools hunters would be thrilled with his bat and his defense – but how many times do you need to see the same four guys over and over again? As the saying goes, you’re missing a great game.
Or in this place, missing a good player.
Let’s talk about defense first. The second pitch of the game was a ground ball to Gilbert at short. I’m not about to go into a technical discussion about how to move your feet and use soft hands to absorb a ground ball other than to say he’s automatic. If you want to see flawless professional infielder hands on a high school kid, Gilbert’s your guy, and I’ve seen all the other infielders this year.
These hands allow me to project any number of positions for him in the coming years – third, second, first, left or right, though I believe his hands will be too valuable to remove from the infield and guys with hands like trash cans only play the outfield corners. His arm strength is going to be just enough for third, completely adequate for any of the outfield corners and easily enough to finish the double play at second. For me, he’s throwing better in spring than he did in Fall. That’s what long toss and a growth spurt does for you. In this look, Gilbert fielded his infield chances flawlessly and finished one double play. He is moving better to his right than he did in Fall, but he might not have the range to his right to compete with the Latin infielders. Then again, the guy grew up playing soccer for years, just like they did. We’ll see.
Let’s talk speed. Gilbert’s first step is slow out of the box, which kills his run times down the line. But watch him run the bases and he’s no 30 clogger. He’s a much better runner underway and will easily be able to go first to third and score from second on a single. With proper training, he has enough athleticism there to milk the old “45” out of his run times, which means sometimes he’ll be a 4 and sometimes he’ll be a 5. He’s got enough speed upside – not a lot, but just enough – to be able to milk out an extra five hits or so over the course of 500 at-bats. That can make a big difference to the batting average at the end of the year. He’s also going to be able to swipe a base here or there and he’ll have enough speed for a manager to play hit and run and not feel like he’s hanging himself out to dry.
Now let us talk about the bat. That’s the reason we should be watching this player.
First AB: Against a RHP, line drive single, left-center, showed bat speed, bat control, discipline, approach, trust in hands, letting slow pitch get to him, solid contact with the BBCOR tin can bats.
Second AB: Against a RHP, another squared up line drive, this time shot the other way to left field. I’m not seeing trouble versus right-handers in this boy’s future.
Third AB: In case you were looking for power projection, against a RHP we got a hard shot with lift to straight away center field. That’s about 380 feet away in his park and should have been a home run – except the ball got stuck in the CF fence. Sort of Roy Hobbs like, but we’ll leave the outcome to sandlot lore in Torrance (“Remember the ball Trent hit that got stuck in the fence?”) As for scouting, hey, guess what – power to straight away center field.
Fourth AB: Against a RHP again, hard pull shot right at second baseman. I thought it was the best bat speed I saw that day. The ball went right at the guy.
Fifth AB: Ground ball, second base, against a left-hander. You can’t win ‘em all. Time to make an adjustment. Now we have to decide if he will be solid lefty vs. lefty.
Sixth AB: Ground ball, second base, against same lefty. Hit harder, no luck. No batting helmets thrown across dugout floor. Scouting moment.
Seventh AB: Finally squares one up against same lefty. Curses! Line drive second base – long night for high school kids. Sells me that he can make adjustments against lefties. Very important for an aspiring pro.
Eighth AB: Gassed. Pulls off outside pitch and pops it into left field. Kid lefty has a story to tell six years from now when he’s sitting in the so-called cheap seats at Dodger Stadium about how he owned that dude playing down there with the visiting team. Old man watching game on TV near Long Beach has last laugh.
So what have we learned? Well, Gilbert showed you everything you need to know about why he is a major league prospect. The defense, athleticism and mobility will play. The speed is going to be enough. He’s got more strength and physical projection to come. The work ethic is there, because nobody learns to make ground balls look that easy without taking thousands of them. The intangibles – instincts, positioning, awareness, desire and perspective – are all there, if you have done your homework.
Above all, if you are going to be an everyday position player in the major leagues, you have to be able to hit and flash power. You cannot make a hitter out of a guy who is not a hitter. And that’s why I’d draft him good if I were you. Last thing you want is a writer looking smarter than a scout.
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more video at this link:
Trent Gilbert actually drove the pitch to straight away center field the moment a train was passing behind the field blaring its horn. I swear, you can’t make this stuff up. Later, he laced another hit as the ice cream truck was playing that annoying music that gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day. But the best sound in this video is the sound of contact, and man, oh man, how I do hate the BBCORs. Only very few guys have the hand speed to make solid contact and not make my ears bleed. One of them is down in San Diego. And the other is seen right here in Torrance.
Here, you can pretty much see all you’d need to know. Frankly, the guy is a better hitter than many college hitters I see and his bat speed is superior. One of these days, I’ll take my radar gun out and we’ll put it on the bat speed. As for the other tools, you got hands that work like a dream. I bet he could hold an ice cream cone and field a grounder at the same time.
Here, you can pretty much see all you’d need to know. Frankly, the guy is a better hitter than many college hitters I see and his bat speed is superior. One of these days, I’ll take my radar gun out and we’ll put it on the bat speed. As for the other tools, you got hands that work like a dream. I bet he could hold an ice cream cone and field a grounder at the same time.
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finally, more video here:
Trent Gilbert is going to be a new name to most of the readers here. He’s also a fine lesson in the fact that not every player who is talented enough to be at the Area Codes gets to the Area Codes.
I first came across this guy in 2010 when I was scouting his former high school teammate, Angelo Gumbs, who became a second-round pick of the Yankees. Gilbert was a little bit shorter last year, but you couldn’t miss the wrists from the left side. He helped himself when he had three hits against left-hander Gabe Encinas, another player who signed with the Yankees, who shut down Gumbs but couldn’t get Gilbert out.
Have a look at the video here and we’ll break him down a bit more. If the draft doesn’t beat a path to this guy’s doorstep, he’ll get to the University of Arizona, where he committed earlier this fall.
The hands have it. The swing is loose and easy from the left side. Gilbert hits line drives, shows bat control and bat speed and the ability to drop the barrell on the inside fastball. He’s at his best hitting hard line drives up the middle. The power he develops in later years will be in the form of home runs that gradually climb as line drives, not as towering fly balls. He won’t be an above-average runner, but his speed will be enough to score from second base and to go from first to third. His body has physical projection remaining, and the clue is his long legs and high hips.
Defensively, he’s playing shortstop in this clip, but he’ll be a second baseman. His hands are soft and sure and you can see him swallow up ground balls and effortlessly redirect the ball. He lacks the lateral range to his right and the pure arm strength to stay at short, but his actions, hands, instincts and arm all play up at second.
One last thing about Gilbert. I have seen this guy play hard when nobody is watching. You can’t give a guy the desire to play hard, period.
I first came across this guy in 2010 when I was scouting his former high school teammate, Angelo Gumbs, who became a second-round pick of the Yankees. Gilbert was a little bit shorter last year, but you couldn’t miss the wrists from the left side. He helped himself when he had three hits against left-hander Gabe Encinas, another player who signed with the Yankees, who shut down Gumbs but couldn’t get Gilbert out.
Have a look at the video here and we’ll break him down a bit more. If the draft doesn’t beat a path to this guy’s doorstep, he’ll get to the University of Arizona, where he committed earlier this fall.
The hands have it. The swing is loose and easy from the left side. Gilbert hits line drives, shows bat control and bat speed and the ability to drop the barrell on the inside fastball. He’s at his best hitting hard line drives up the middle. The power he develops in later years will be in the form of home runs that gradually climb as line drives, not as towering fly balls. He won’t be an above-average runner, but his speed will be enough to score from second base and to go from first to third. His body has physical projection remaining, and the clue is his long legs and high hips.
Defensively, he’s playing shortstop in this clip, but he’ll be a second baseman. His hands are soft and sure and you can see him swallow up ground balls and effortlessly redirect the ball. He lacks the lateral range to his right and the pure arm strength to stay at short, but his actions, hands, instincts and arm all play up at second.
One last thing about Gilbert. I have seen this guy play hard when nobody is watching. You can’t give a guy the desire to play hard, period.
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a non-Jon Kilma video here: http://www.ncsasports.org/college-re.../trent-gilbert
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"Trent Gilbert is a guy everyone asks about, but he couldn't make the final cut for the Area Codes," Butler says. "I call him a poor man's Chase Utley. And Thomas Walker is a third baseman that's going to hit for power, but he couldn't make it either."
Gilbert goes to Torrance (Calif.) High. He hit .527 with 17 doubles as a junior this past season. He set the Torrance High single-season hits record with 58.
Walker plays for Long Beach (Calif.) Poly just down the road from Blair Field. This spring, Walker hit .526 with six homers in 76 at-bats. Butler said players such as Gilbert and Walker would normally make these showcase teams, but it's a different time.
"The problem with some kids today is that you take a lot of (stuff) from their parents," Butler said. "It didn't used to be that way, but that's a few of my experiences on the West Coast, anyway."
Gilbert goes to Torrance (Calif.) High. He hit .527 with 17 doubles as a junior this past season. He set the Torrance High single-season hits record with 58.
Walker plays for Long Beach (Calif.) Poly just down the road from Blair Field. This spring, Walker hit .526 with six homers in 76 at-bats. Butler said players such as Gilbert and Walker would normally make these showcase teams, but it's a different time.
"The problem with some kids today is that you take a lot of (stuff) from their parents," Butler said. "It didn't used to be that way, but that's a few of my experiences on the West Coast, anyway."
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CynXRRVRSg[/ame]
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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be6RDX58IrU&feature=related[/ame]
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Trent Gilbert has a picturesque left-handed swing that nobody taught him. The swing shows compact bat speed and bat control and could give him a bright future, either playing for the University of Arizona or by pursing a professional career after the Major League baseball draft in June.
But for Gilbert, who might be the most advanced hitter to come out of Torrance (Torrance, Calif.) since longtime major league catcher Jason Kendall graduated in 1992, the path to a baseball career doesn't come without perspective.
Trent’s older brother, Miles, who is 16 months older, was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after he was born. Miles wasn’t considered cancer-free until he was nearly five years old. He underwent two years of intensive radiation before he could begin going to school. He has recovered to live a typical life, even playing golf for Torrance. Miles swings left-handed like Trent, which is no coincidence.
Gilbert learned to hit left-handed by copying his older brother’s swing. He also inherited a sense for battling to get what he wanted out of life. The work ethic of the Gilbert boys was also honed from father Bob, a longtime Los Angeles County Fire Fighter, who made a habit out of hitting thousands of ground balls to Trent, softening his hands defensively.
He developed his swing from years of practice and from hotly contested backyard whiffle ball games in which he and Miles tried to strike each other out. Trent said he knew at and early age that Miles had endured a great deal of struggle, but Trent looked up to his older brother the way any brother would – so much so that Trent taught himself to hit left-handed because his brother was a natural lefty.
“He taught me from an early age that you can’t take anything for granted,” Trent said. “I think I probably have an easier time keeping things in perspective as far as baseball goes because anything can change anytime.”
Gilbert was first discovered by Chicago White Sox scout Tommy Butler, who believed in him from the start and invited him to play on his scout team. Butler told other scouts that Gilbert reminded him of a Chase Utley, another left-handed hitting second base-type who Butler scouted as a high school player at Long Beach Poly.
But Gilbert didn’t find an easy road. He was lesser known that other high school prospects in his class. He was turned down to play at the Area Code games and not invited to play at the Major League Scouting Bureau’s pre-season showcase at the Urban Youth Academy.
Determined to get noticed, he let his bat do the talking. He hit .527 as a junior with 58 hits and gained some attention as a high school teammate of Angelo Gumbs, who was a second-round draft choice of the New York Yankees. Through the first half of his senior season, Gilbert picked up where he left off, taking high school pitching to the tune of a .400 clip.
At the Urban Youth Academy against Compton Centennial and speedy outfielder Desmond Henry, Gilbert stole the show in front of several scouts. He hit a home run, tripled twice and knocked in five runs at a park with major league dimensions. Against rival El Segundo (El Segundo, Calif.) on their home field, he rapped out three hits and helped Torrance sweep the series to win the Pioneer League.
“He always seems to come up with the big hit when it counts most,” Torrance coach Ollie Turner said. “He’s definitely the kind of guy you don’t want to face in a big spot.”
Big spots may come and ago, but you can’t replace a relationship between brothers, who will both graduate from Torrance in June. Trent and Miles still compete against each other. Their video game battles are always hotly contested. The game of choice is any baseball video game.
“I always kick his butt,” Miles Gilbert said.
The pitchers can’t say the same thing about Trent Gilbert.
But for Gilbert, who might be the most advanced hitter to come out of Torrance (Torrance, Calif.) since longtime major league catcher Jason Kendall graduated in 1992, the path to a baseball career doesn't come without perspective.
Trent’s older brother, Miles, who is 16 months older, was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after he was born. Miles wasn’t considered cancer-free until he was nearly five years old. He underwent two years of intensive radiation before he could begin going to school. He has recovered to live a typical life, even playing golf for Torrance. Miles swings left-handed like Trent, which is no coincidence.
Gilbert learned to hit left-handed by copying his older brother’s swing. He also inherited a sense for battling to get what he wanted out of life. The work ethic of the Gilbert boys was also honed from father Bob, a longtime Los Angeles County Fire Fighter, who made a habit out of hitting thousands of ground balls to Trent, softening his hands defensively.
He developed his swing from years of practice and from hotly contested backyard whiffle ball games in which he and Miles tried to strike each other out. Trent said he knew at and early age that Miles had endured a great deal of struggle, but Trent looked up to his older brother the way any brother would – so much so that Trent taught himself to hit left-handed because his brother was a natural lefty.
“He taught me from an early age that you can’t take anything for granted,” Trent said. “I think I probably have an easier time keeping things in perspective as far as baseball goes because anything can change anytime.”
Gilbert was first discovered by Chicago White Sox scout Tommy Butler, who believed in him from the start and invited him to play on his scout team. Butler told other scouts that Gilbert reminded him of a Chase Utley, another left-handed hitting second base-type who Butler scouted as a high school player at Long Beach Poly.
But Gilbert didn’t find an easy road. He was lesser known that other high school prospects in his class. He was turned down to play at the Area Code games and not invited to play at the Major League Scouting Bureau’s pre-season showcase at the Urban Youth Academy.
Determined to get noticed, he let his bat do the talking. He hit .527 as a junior with 58 hits and gained some attention as a high school teammate of Angelo Gumbs, who was a second-round draft choice of the New York Yankees. Through the first half of his senior season, Gilbert picked up where he left off, taking high school pitching to the tune of a .400 clip.
At the Urban Youth Academy against Compton Centennial and speedy outfielder Desmond Henry, Gilbert stole the show in front of several scouts. He hit a home run, tripled twice and knocked in five runs at a park with major league dimensions. Against rival El Segundo (El Segundo, Calif.) on their home field, he rapped out three hits and helped Torrance sweep the series to win the Pioneer League.
“He always seems to come up with the big hit when it counts most,” Torrance coach Ollie Turner said. “He’s definitely the kind of guy you don’t want to face in a big spot.”
Big spots may come and ago, but you can’t replace a relationship between brothers, who will both graduate from Torrance in June. Trent and Miles still compete against each other. Their video game battles are always hotly contested. The game of choice is any baseball video game.
“I always kick his butt,” Miles Gilbert said.
The pitchers can’t say the same thing about Trent Gilbert.
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