2/22/2016 2:06:33 PM
Plenty of scouts and crosscheckers were already in Gainesville to see the University of Florida and big-time 2016 draft prospects A.J. Puk, Buddy Reed, and Logan Shore open up their season this weekend, but many of them made the most of their time on the road and “doubled-up” on Saturday afternoon, first seeing a pair of intriguing junior college arms face off.
Both Hunter Kiel and David Lee figure to be impact type of arms for Louisiana State and Florida, respectively – if they make it to campus.
Kiel of Pensacola State (FL) College has been detailed in a previous blog post by Jheremy Brown, as he just recently committed to LSU. The sophomore had been clocked as high as 96-97 mph in the past few weeks, and scouts settled in with great anticipation on Saturday.
While the sophomore didn’t show quite the same velocity this weekend, there are certainly things to like about the big, physical righthander. Listed at 6-foot-3, 214 pounds, Kiel appears to be a bit bigger in person, with a large frame and strong lower half. There is some effort to his delivery, but he has the frame and build to with stand it, and he did a solid job of maintaining his stuff throughout his start. Releasing from a high-three quarter’s arm slot, Kiel generates solid downhill plane and his 91-94 mph fastball was most successful when he was able to keep the offering down in the strike zone. His fastball command came and went (and will need to be tightened up at the next level) throughout the afternoon on Saturday, but Kiel battled well and did flash the ability to change eye levels with the offering.
Kiel’s feel for his secondary offerings – a slider and changeup – also came and went, but both flashed some potential. The slider in particular showed well as the 84-86 mph offering flashed hard gloveside slice and some short, late depth that should make it a quality pitch in either Baton Rouge or pro ball if he’s able to stay on top of the ball consistently. The changeup is still a work in progress, but Kiel did maintain solid armspeed on the mid-80s offering and flashed a more, comfortable fluid release with the pitch during warmups.
Santa Fe (FL) College’s David Lee was named as the seventh best JUCO prospect in Perfect Game’s most recent iteration of the rankings by Chris King. The sophomore is a known entity in scouting communities as he owns a super projectable 6-foot-3, 185 pound frame and pitched well in high school before attending Florida International University last season.
The Gainesville native and Gator commit has a simple, athletic delivery with an extended, loose arm-action and the ball comes out of his hand well. He worked predominately in the 88-91 mph range with his fastball, which featured some armside wiggle and late life down in the zone when he stayed on top of the ball at release. He’s been clocked higher in the past, and with the arm-action and frame, it easy to see him gaining a few more ticks with additional strength, physical maturity.
Lee also displayed a quality slider, with the 81-85 mph offering showing cutter-like qualities at time. The pitch has short, subtle tilt and late two-plane break and depth, and he used it adeptly throughout his start, using it in both plus and minus counts. Lee’s changeup wasn’t quite as consistent on Saturday, but he did flash some quality offerings and he does a solid job of replicating fastball armspeed and arm-action when throwing it. At times Lee got on the side of the ball and missed to his arm-side, but he generally did a very solid job of throwing all three pitches for strikes and his overall athleticism and feel for delivery portend quality command at the next level.
Although they’re different kinds of pitchers and prospects, both Kiel and Lee have the ability to step into the SEC and contribute immediately, assuming of course that pro teams don’t snag them up this June if they are in the market for a power-arm relief type or a loose, lean projectable starting pitcher.