The Recruiting Game - 2016

Since at least mid-February, the temperatures in the Upper Midwest have been unseasonably mild, much like they have been in the rest of the country.  That's given players at all level the chance to get outside very early and get their work in, often on grass that is uncommonly green for this time of year.

But high school and college baseball schedules don't kick off in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas until mid to late March, dates that in some years seem optimistic at best for baseball.  But baseball has indeed started up and with a talent base and schedule that has drawn dozens of scouts, including a healthy percentage of cross-checkers, to the three games I've seen thus far.

Friday, March 18, led off the season for Nebraska high school baseball with a match up between two of the top teams in Nebraska, Westside and Millard West.  PG All-American SS Cole Stobbe of Millard West was the main attraction.  Unfortunately, both coaches seemed to recognize that their teams would play each other many times this spring and again in the Legion summer season (all important in Nebraska) and held back their top pitchers.

Westside didn't throw two-way prospect 1B/LHP Mitchell Hagan, a Tulane signee who has reportedly been touching the low 90's in winter workouts.  Nor did Millard West throw 6-5 sophomore Colby Gomes, a Nebraska commit who admittedly is just coming out of basketball, where he was a starter for the Millard West team this winter.

While it was a successful day for Millard West, which won 8-0, it wasn't a win for Stobbe and the scouts, many of whom left early for a Creighton game 10 miles away.  The right handed slugger struck out his first at-bat while expanding the zone and was seen to mutter "That is way too slow to hit" to the next hitter as he walked back to the dugout.  Stobbe walked his next two times up without swinging the bat, once intentionally with Millard West already holding a four-run lead.

One fears that such a day will repeat itself often this spring for Stobbe, who fortunately has one of the longest and best developed resumes against top level competition in the 2016 class nationally due to summer ball.

Sunday featured the Perfect Game Iowa Spring League's annual swing through Council Bluffs across the river from Omaha.  The main scouting attraction was left hander Spencer Van Scoyoc, the 58th ranked player in the 2016 class and an Arizona State signee.  Despite some of the coldest conditions in the last month, with temperatures in the upper 30's, Van Scoyoc threw well, working mostly 87-89 mph with his fastball and showing the usual power and bite to his mid-70's curveball.  His mechanics were in early season form, as he tended to drift out early in his delivery and leave his arm behind and late, causing his fastball to miss arm side consistently.  This is something that Van Scoyoc has fought against in the past at times but the two-way standout is too athletic not to eventually make the adjustment.

Van Scoyoc's younger brother, Connor, a 2018 right hander, was also very solid in the same game, showing the same type of loose and easy arm his brother has.  He worked at 84-87 mph with excellent life at times on his fastball to go with a low-70's curveball that had big depth when he got out front with it.

6-foot-4, 205 pound Iowa Western CC signee Keaton Winn also showed off his arm strength, topping out at 90 mph and working consistently in the upper 80's.  Iowa signee shortstop Kyle Crowl's right handed bat looked to be in mid-season form and he impacted the ball hard while also playing well in the middle of the field.

Monday, March 21, marked the start of high school baseball season in Kansas.  As has been noted before in other stories on the PG site, the state of Kansas has perhaps its best collection of premium high school talent ever and most of it is centered in about a 25-mile area in south and west Kansas City suburbs.

The first game of what looks to be an outstanding scouting week featured PG All-American shortstop Nonie Williams of Turner High School.  Williams is actually home schooled but lives a couple of long throws from Turner and is allowed to play at the school due to high school regulations in Kansas.

Williams, an LSU signee, looks even stronger than he did last summer and may be faster as well.  According to sources, a Major League team held a workout for 20-25 elite prospects in early February in Chicago and conducted some NFL combine-type workouts as part of it.  Williams swept all the different aspects of the workout, including a 10-foot, 6-inch standing broad jump, then went out and ran a 6.46 sixty the next day.

A switch-hitter, Williams alternated right and left handed rounds during batting practice.  He was outstanding from the right side, showing big bat speed and easily hitting 10-12 home runs on the very small Turner field.  His left handed swing didn't have the same bat speed or lift with more of a sweeping action to it.  Interestingly, when the PG All-Americans were measured for bat speed by Zepp at the All-American Classic last August, Williams posted the two top swing velocities, one right handed and one left handed.

The most impressive part of Williams' performance on the day was his big improvement on defense.  While he took In and Out both in centerfield and at shortstop, his arm action is much better suited at present for the infield.  What stood out was how much better Williams footwork and approach through the ball was on grounders in all directions.  His actions last summer were often tentative, like someone learning a new position, but they were natural, confident and aggressive on every ball both before and during the game.  Virtually every one of his throws were mid-chest strikes as well.

I asked Williams about his improvement defensively and he answered "What really stands out for me was all the time I spent with Gavin Lux and Tyler Fitzgerald at the All-American Classic last August.  I watched them and talked to them about playing shortstop and really learned a lot that I've tried to work into my game."

Williams opportunities on offense in the game somewhat mirrored Stobbe's.  He has decided, at least for the time being, to alternate hitting right handed and left handed in games regardless of which side the pitcher is throwing from, something this scout doesn't remember seeing but does give him far more at-bats from his right, or stronger, side.  It also creates the amusing sight of a large group of scouts moving back and forth from side to side to follow each of his at-bats.

Hitting left handed his first time up, Williams hit a very sharp one-hop ground ball to second base and ran hard the entire way despite being out by 15-20 feet, posting a nice 4.09 home to first time.  His second time up resulted in a high wind blown pop up single, then he was walked and hit by a pitch in his final two trips to the plate.  He did end up scoring three runs in a 8-6 come from behind Turner win.

The rest of the week in Kansas city looks just as promising.  The schedule maps out as:  Tuesday:  LHP/1B Joey Wentz, Wednesday:  RHP Riley Pint, Thursday:  LHP Lucas Krull, Friday: RHP Ryan Zeferjahn.

Check back on this blog for updates!