2/6/2016 3:06:10 PM
Over the last week or two Miami has hit the recruiting trail hard and have come away with several key pieces to nearly every class. A quick look at the 2016 Canes roster reveals a heavy throng of talent from Florida, particularly from Miami, with just five players listed from outside the Sunshine State. While they’ve stayed true to their roots and still commit some of the top talent from Florida, the coaching staff has shown a willingness to go outside the state and broaden their reach. Since January 18th the Hurricanes have received eight commits; righthander Kieran Casey is the lone 2016 and is an arm who’s come on strong recently, showing a fastball up to 91 mph with solid feel for a sharp slider at the World Showcase in early January. The other seven are as follows:
2017: SS Tyler Paige (FL), LHP Jeremy Cook (FL), RHP Christopher McMahon (PA)
McMahon is the newest of three and is one of the previously eluded to out of state commits as he was pulled out of Pennsylvania where fellow 2017 commit LHP Brendan Cellucci hails from. Listed at a long and loose 6-foot-2, 185-pounds, McMahon has seen his velocity climb in each of his last four Perfect Game events; August 2014-81 mph| early July 2015-86 mph| late July 2015-89 mph | October 2015-90 mph. There’s reason to believe McMahon has more in the tank in terms of velocity though during the WWBA Underclass World Championships he was able to simply overpower the opposition with solid angle.
The 2017 class is a large and well rounded one featuring a little bit of everything, including the top ranked player in the country with first baseman Alejandro Toral. Head Coach Jim Morris and staff have been able to assemble this class piece by piece from early on in the recruiting process and it’s culminated in the current No. 2 ranked class in the country, trailing only Vanderbilt.
2018: RHP Jacob Steinberg (MD), LHP/OF Jonathan Gates (FL)
Jacob Steinberg came on board after he announced his commitment to the Canes on January 18th via Twitter. The Maryland native has been a strong two-way talent throughout the early portion of his prep career with strength in his swing and a fastball that sits steadily in the upper-80s, something similar to the newest Cane, Jonathan Gates. Gates is a talented lefthanded arm who we are Perfect Game first saw in October of 2013 where he was up to 81 mph despite just beginning his eighth grade year. Jump to present day and Gates now works in the upper-80s with fastball and shows some of the better fastball command and overall pitchability of the entire class. Amongst his full array of offerings is a 1-7 shaped curveball in the mid-70s and a tighter, late breaking slider in the upper-70s, both of which are thrown from the same arm slot and with as much command as he shows with his heater.
Similar to the 2017 class, the sophomore recruiting class already has depth and plenty of talent despite being two years away from making it to campus. A group that recently came in at No. 4 in the Perfect Game class rankings, Miami is nine commits deep (four righthanders, two lefthanders, two shortstops, and a catcher) and of those nine, six are ranked within the top 100 national prospects while the entire class is in the top 200.
2019: C Jake Holland (FL), OF Mykanthony Valdez (FL)
Catcher Jake Holland turned in a standout performance at the Perfect Game Main Event at the beginning of the year and shortly thereafter committed to the Hurricanes. Upon his commitment the 2019 class rankings were updated and Holland shot to No. 4 overall in the class joining top ranked Triston Casas and No. 3 ranked righthander Matthew Allan, quite the haul for a class still in its early stages of recruitment. Miami pulled in their fourth commit yesterday afternoon with outfielder Mykanthony Valdez, a physically built 6-foot-1, 200-pounds third baseman from Mater Academy Charter, the alma mater of former Canes commit and now Cubs top prospect Albert Almora. During a three tournament stretch this past summer with the Miami-base Elite Squad organization Valdez was named to the All-Tournament team each time and has shown plenty of present strength and bat speed from the right side.
It's still very early in the process of committing 2019s but the Canes are off to a hot start grabbing three of the top four nationally ranked prospects and a fourth in Valdez who's a quality commit from their own backyard.