3/15/2016 10:39:11 AM
Justin Farmer, OF, 2017, Riverview HS (Riverview, FL) | Florida commit
Farmer is currently 14th in the national outfielder rankings for the class of 2017, so there was a mix of disappointment and excitement when I got to the field and found out he was scheduled to pitch. Pitching isn’t something Farmer does. It is almost foreign to him, but his pure and natural athleticism translated well to the mound to the point where you would never think this isn’t a secondary position for him.
On the mound his arm was long and strong while firing from a high three-quarters slot. The ball comes out of his hand clean and his arm the strength was evident. The delivery is pretty simple as you would expect without a lot of moving parts. Farmer’s fastball was sitting 84-87 through the first inning and a half and then was more 83-85 the rest of his outing. While the fastball was quick and showing a heavy feel, the University of Florida commit started spinning a decent 12-to-6 curveball in the second inning. The breaking ball wasn’t sharp every time, but he spun a few that really had some teeth in the 67-69 mph range. The athletic righthander wasn’t showing a lightning quick arm, so to see him easily pumping mid to upper-80s really speaks to just how strong his arm is.
Farmer has a solid 6-foot, 190-pound frame that oozes speed and quick-twitch athleticism. He has a high waist and solid strength from top to bottom. At the plate, Farmer stands closed and balanced with his hands high and near his head. They drift a bit while loading, but he gets them set and ready to fire on time without any timing issues. He gets the barrel into the zone quickly and keeps it on a level plane throughout the zone. With the present bat speed and swing plane, Farmer has a swing that will produce a lot of loud and hard line drive contact. Still only a junior, Farmer showed a very good idea of the strike zone and would not help the pitcher out by expanding. He spit on a few very solid pitchers pitches without hesitation. This type of strike zone discipline paired with his swing and bat speed has the makings of a big time draft prospect come June 2017.
Austin Bergner, RHP, 2016, Windermere Prep HS (Windermere, FL) | North Carolina commit
There wasn’t an empty seat in the scout section for Bergner’s latest start with many heavy hitters from major league clubs in attendance. The top ranked righthanded pitcher in Florida wasn’t as sharp as I’ve seen him in the past, but he battled his way through five innings and even hit a home run over the left-center wall.
The tall and lanky righty was mostly 88-91 on the day and hit a few 92’s along the way. The arm was still pretty quick, but it wasn’t as loose and he was cutting it off short on the backswing causing him to have trouble finding the right release point. The fastball was much more lively up in the zone where the late arm-side run really started to show. When he was thigh high or lower, the pitch got flat and found it’s way to the barrels of opposing bats. Without possessing his best fastball, Bergner started to turn to his big looping 12-to-6 curveball to setup the fastball and he had some success doing it. By pitching backwards, the UNC commit was able to disrupt the timing and get the opposition on their heels a bit instead of them digging in and sitting dead red on the fastball. Bergner got on the side of a few breaking balls, but for the most part, coming in anywhere from 68-73 mph, it was his best pitch of the day.