Nuts Notes: Prime Time defense at first base for Modesto

First baseman Correlle Prime made three such super defensive plays in Sunday’s 5-1 win over the Stockton Ports, one has to assume that defense has always been his forte.

“No, I’m not going to lie to you,” said Prime, a 21-year-old native of Bradenton, Fla.

Mainly a pitcher in high school, Prime fully expected to be worked out as such during his pre-draft workout with the Rockies.

“I thought I was going to throw a bullpen, but I never did,” said Prime, who hit 21 homers and drove in 102 last season at Low-A Asheville, N.C. “Everything I did was at first base.”

He’s worked hard trying to master the nuances of the position, and it paid off Sunday with three web gems.

The first was a highlight-reel catch of a pop foul that kept drifting toward the grandstand. He used every bit of 6-foot, 5-inch frame as he leaped up and over the railing to snag the ball. He made a similar grab on another pop-up, racing up the fight-field line and catching the ball over his shoulder. Finally, he fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt and fired a perfect strike to third to nail the lead runner.

“I’ve worked really hard,” said Prime. “I’m still a work in progress.”

Tap, Tap, Tap – Prime is tied for the team lead in home runs, with six, and if you’d have asked any fan, before the start of the season, to pick out the team’s eventual home-run champ, most all of them would’ve selected the 6-5, 225-pound Prime.

He looks the part.

One player fans likely would not have chosen is Raimel Tapia, who is tied with Prime for the team lead in dingers.

At 6-2, 160-pounds, the baby-faced outfielder doesn’t look like he’d have much pop in his bat. But Tapia displayed decent thump, hitting nine HRs in Asheville, N.C. last year at cracker-box McCormick Field and seven the year before at Suplizio Field in Grand Junction, Colo., a park friendly to left-handed hitters.

“I know I’m a line-drive hitter,” said Tapia, who has hit half his total at spacious Thurman Field. “In the offseason, I worked hard in the weight room, and I know if I put a line drive swing on a ball, it can go over the fence.”

The power stroke doesn’t come as a surprise to manager Fred Ocasio (“He’s a strong kid”) or to Prime (“This is my third year playing with him; he gets his legs into his swing so well”) or to “Tap,” either.

“With the work I put in during the offseason, I knew I’d come in stronger.”

Up, up and away! – Hey, kids, be sure to go out and get your Superman socks if you want to be one of the top hitters in your respective leagues.

Outfielder Jordan Patterson, who leads the Nuts with a .322 average, good for third in the Cal League, wore a pair of Superman socks during the game.

Superman socks ... really?

“That’s right,” said the native of Mobile, Ala. “Ever since I started wearing them I’ve started hitting.”

Maybe Patterson would’ve started hitting without the socks. After all, he’s from Mobile, birthplace of players such as of Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Amos Otis, Satchel Paige, Jake Peavey, Juan Pierre and Ozzie Smith.

Perhaps you’ve heard of them.

Hut one! Hut two! – Following Sunday’s 5-1 win over Stockton, a few of the Nuts got together in the outfield at Thurman Field to toss the pigskin around. Leading the charge was third baseman Ryan McMahon, the Rockies’ second-round selection in the 2013 draft. McMahon played quarterback at Mater Dei (Santa Ana) High School, a school that produced Matt Leinart and Matt Barkley, as well as University of Hawaii quarterback Max Wittek, from whom McMahon inherited the job.

Not on the field was catcher Troy Stein, who fouled a pitch off his foot during Sunday’s game and probably wanted to get off his feet. Stein played quarterback at Medina Valley (Castroville, Texas) High School and locked horns with Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Manziel in a 2009 high school playoff game. Manziel and Tivy High won 45-31.

No word yet as to who is the better quarterback, Stein or McMahon.

This story was originally published June 8, 2015 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Nuts Notes: Prime Time defense at first base for Modesto."