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Tournaments  | Story  | 3/12/2016

PG HS Showdown: Day 2 Recap

Matt Czechanski     
Photo: Perfect Game

2016 PG HS Showdown Event Page | 2016 PG HS Showdown-Academies Event Page
Day 1 Recap




Friday morning’s action re-opened with several academy games, highlighted by talented sophomore Makenzie Stills (2018, Fayetteville, Ga.) for the Home Plate Citadels. Stills made his second start of the weekend at LakePoint firing a pair of scoreless innings.

He’s generously listed at 5-foot-10 but showed incredibly impressive arm speed with a very loose arm action from a lower three-quarters arm slot. He generated good downhill plane and was well balanced throughout his delivery.

His fastball showed very impressive arm-side life sitting between 88-90 mph and hitting 91 mph. He mixed in a slider offering in warm-ups, but was fastball only during the game. He was able to generate a swing and miss fairly frequently when he elevated the pitch at the hitter’s eyes, but was barreled when he left it over the plate.




After the morning time slots came and went, the High School Showdown settled in for a mid-afternoon start. Taking the ball for a talented Houston County team was lefthander and Florida State commit, D.L. Hall (2017, Warner Robbins, Ga.). The lean, projectable lefty opened the game on rocky ground, lacking feel for his fastball command and the strike zone overall.

When the game moved into the second, Hall looked like a totally different pitcher. He utilized a very loose arm action and created good angle working downhill with his fastball. He was able to work arm-side significantly better after the first inning and did well to keep the ball low. Hall’s fastball sat 88-91 mph on the mound and hit 93 mph several times with arm-side life.

Working off his fastball, Hall showed very strong feel for his curveball. With very sharp 1-to-7 shaped break, Hall began pitching hitters backwards showing high levels of pitchibility, keeping hitters off balance and working both sides of the plate. His curveball topped out at 76 mph and showed very tight spin and depth, keeping it low in the zone. Hall showed a changeup at 79 mph with slight arm-side fade, but used it sparingly.

Facing off against Hall’s Houston County Bears was talented young outfielder, Jordan Adell (2017, Prospect, Ky.), of the Ballard Bruins. Adell’s physical description is the definition of athletic and projectable. Standing at 6-foot-3, 200-pounds, Adell shows off long, lean limbs with strength throughout and the ability to even add more.

The raw tools of Jordan Adell rival those of any person in the 2017 class, or even the 2016 class. At the plate, he showed exceptional raw bat speed, collecting a single off Hall in the first inning that left the bat at 106 mph per TrackMan. He generates a lot of extension in his swing and his strength should allow him to drive any pitch to any part of the park.

In the field, Adell’s throwing arm was not tested in the outfield (playing center), but he showed smooth lateral quickness and a good jump on fly balls. Adell being only a junior will allow him plenty of time to continue to harness his aforementioned tools and keep improving.




As the Showdown’s quarterfinal games wrapped up, one semifinal was set with an incredibly strong matchup between Oxford HS and Gulliver Prep. Oxford’s starting pitcher was Ole Miss commit, Jason Barber (2016, Oxford, Miss.).

Barber possesses a medium frame with some remaining physical projection at 6-foot-1, 190-pounds. He utilized a long arm action with a slight stab at the end of his arm circle with an easy, repeatable delivery. He separated his hands late and showed a short, compact arm action.

He stayed online well and landed with a flexible front leg with athletic actions off the mound. When kept low in the zone, Barber showed the ability to generate good arm-side life that tailed away from lefthanded hitters. When he left the pitch up, it straightened out and became hittable. Barber worked the pitch between 86-89 mph and topped out at 90 mph in route to seven strikeouts in his six innings.

Baber showed good feel for the strike zone, filling it with his fastball, curveball and a changeup. The slider had sharp, vertical break up to 77 mph showing good depth and swing-and-miss potential. The pitch will play average at higher levels when the righthander reaches the SEC. His changeup showed slight sink and he had feel for the offering, throwing it up to 79 mph.




Barber was the victim of several defensive miscues behind him, which greatly benefited his Raider opponents. Headed into the sixth inning, the Raiders held a 3-0 lead and brought on Giovon Soto who had primarily just been a catcher and outfielder.

Soto showed an exceptionally easy arm action for a player who is not a primary pitcher. His raw arm speed and looseness was very present as he worked his fastball 87-90 mph and touched 92 mph with good arm-side wiggle. Soto also worked in a sharp curveball up to 74 with 11-to-5 shape.

He did see his velocity dip slightly in his second inning of work and saw his ability to throw strikes leave him. The outing was still incredibly impressive as he earned the save and struck out a pair of batters in the process.




The last time slot of the day on the south quad featured a unusually high powered consolation game between the TNXL Ducks and the St. Anne’s Belfield Saints. The Ducks sent out talented junior Jack Leftwich, while the Saints sent out senior Bobby Nicholson (2016, Charlottesville, Va.).

The University of Virginia commit came out firing from a lower three-quarters arm slot with plus arm speed and downhill action on his sinking fastball. He has a slight spine tilt in his delivery with a short, compact arm action. He generated really impressive angle when he kept his fastball down, generating consistent weakly hit groundballs.

Nicholson stands at a physically impressive 6-foot-3, 215-pounds with clear present strength in his lower half as well as long limbs. He should be able to continue to add strength in his frame without affecting his mechanics on the mound. He looked his best when keeping his fastball low in the zone as that’s where it played best, keeping away from hitters’ barrels. When the pitch was elevated it flattened out and the Ducks’ hitters were not shy about swinging, and doing it with intent.

He worked with primarily fastballs in the outing that ranged from 90-92 mph while hitting 93 on several different pitches. His only noticed breaking ball offering was a downward spiking slider that hit 83 mph. He did well to replicate his arm speed, but the pitch lacked the needed depth to find the bottom of the zone.

– Matt Czechanski



In what has been a truly eye-opening weekend from an evaluative perspective, 2016 center fielder Chavez Young (Brandon, Fla.) of Faith Baptist Academy has vaulted himself into legitimate discussion as a Day 2 pick in the MLB Draft. He’s shown at least a pair of plus tools, with both his arm from the outfield and his speed grading out that high, in addition to quality feel to hit from both sides of the plate with developing power. While more of a free swinger on day one, Friday’s action saw him employ more of a professional approach at the plate, taking borderline pitches, waiting back on off speed, and using the entire field.

His swing is loose and quick from the left side, with leverage at contact and enough strength to drive the ball deep on a line. He’s shown the ability to use both gaps from the left side, with plenty of carry, and the potential for solid home run power. While the righthanded swing isn’t as loose or easy, there’s still bat speed and raw strength, which he uses effectively to give him potential to be a legitimate switch hitter. He has placed himself pretty firmly into the rounds 3-7 discussion right now.




Young’s Faith Baptist teammate, 2016 righthanded pitcher Chavez Fernander (Brandon, Fla.) was very good late on Friday night, and while the delivery had some effort and there was a bit of head whack at release, it wasn't overly violent and he was able to remain in command for the most part. His fastball worked 88-91 mph, touching 92-93 a few times throughout. He worked from a very near over-the-top arm slot, really getting on top of the ball and powering downhill with excellent plane, finding the bottom of the zone consistently. While the overall command wavered a bit, he was definitely in control, pounding the zone and flashing feel to work side to side. He can spin a curveball pretty well with solid depth, though we would certainly like to see the pitch a little harder and a little softer. His body and arm speed both project well, leading one to believe that there’s more velocity—and better spin on his breaking ball—in the future.




IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) is loaded with high-end talent perennially, and 2016 is no different. 2018 righthander Levi Kelly (Saint Albans, West Va.) threw in IMG’s first game, and the future LSU Tiger was very impressive, especially given his age. His body projects extremely well to continue to add strength, and his height (in addition to straight over the-top-arm slot) allows him to generate steep plane to the plate. His fastball touched 94 mph several times over his outing, and the four seam fastball worked comfortably 90-93, while he turned over his two seam in the 88-91 range, with late diving sink at the bottom of the zone. The arm action does have some stiffness in the back of the arm circle, but he accelerates out of it cleanly and does a good job extending through release.

He got caught in between a slider and a curveball at times when trying to spin the ball, but flashed both a solid 11-to-5 curveball with good depth and a sharper slider in the upper-70s with late tilt. While inconsistent, his changeup was arguably his best secondary pitch on this day, working 83-85 mph with good arm speed and fade.

For the second day in a row, 2016 shortstop Michael Feliz (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.) of IMG Academy stood out with the bat, and looks more and more like he’s going to be a true impact talent at Notre Dame. I don’t think he’s hit a ball softly all tournament, consistently squaring up rising line drives to all parts of the ballpark, with a swing that’s very loose and easy with lots of bat speed. There is definitely power in there as well, due to the bat speed and swing path, and it certainly wouldn't shock anyone to see him be a solid home run threat in the future. He’s also showing improvement with the glove, with better range than we had seen from him in the past in addition to enough arm strength to make it work from the left side of the infield.

In IMG’s second game of the day, righthander Anthony Holubecki (Elburn, Ill.) started and was pretty solid. Like Feliz, Holubecki will be headed north to South Bend in the fall to play for Notre Dame, and, like Feliz, Holubecki showed on Friday that he has made significant strides forward in the past several months. With a great body and frame at 6-foot-4, 200-pounds, Holubecki is built like a starter and still projects somewhat. He worked 90-93 mph consistently during his outing, with a crossfire delivery due to a closed off front side at foot strike, but unlike in the past, he showed the ability to get down to the glove side with consistency. He’s deceptive and hides the ball pretty well, and the arm certainly works, leading to the belief that he may still have a few more ticks of velocity left in there.

Holubecki still has a tendency to miss to the arm side, probably due in part to the natural delivery, but the command was still the best this evaluator had seen from him. His changeup has always been the better of his secondary pitches, and it took another step forward on Friday, consistently finding the bottom of the zone with good fade; generating weak swings-and-misses from opposing hitters.

2016 outfielder Ted Sabato (Rye Brook, N.Y.) had a good day at the plate on Friday, showing why UNC is excited about getting him into their program in the fall. He made consistently loud contact in Brunswick’s game, showing the ability to use the whole field with an advanced approach and highly projectable power. The body is as projectable as one is likely to see, with plenty of room to continue adding strength while retaining his above-average athleticism. His swing is geared for hard contact with quality leverage, and he did drive the ball well into both gaps.




2017 uncommitted righthanded pitcher Jack Leftwich (Maitland, Fla.) was very impressive for TNXL late Friday night, and surely won’t remain uncommitted for much longer. With a great body and size that projects extremely well, Leftwich’s mechanical profile stood out especially for the amount of extension he’s able to generate through his release, allowing his fastball to play up several ticks. The raw velocity was just fine, working 87-89 mph and touching 90, but he missed tons of bats with consistency just rearing back and firing his fastball, and it’s pretty easy to see that it was jumping at the hitters.

The arm action is loose and easy, and he’s certainly going to continue adding velocity as time goes on. He pounded the strike zone with the fastball and had no problem elevating the pitch to elicit swings and misses, complementing the fastball well with a very good changeup. The change is easy out of his hand with excellent deception, and even if the inconsistent life was straighter, the pure velocity differential and the fact that he kept the same arm speed as his fastball allowed the pitch to be really effective.

Fellow TNXL’er Brock Howard (St. Cloud, Fla.), a 2016 outfielder committed to Clemson, was impressive in several facets on Friday night. He’s a quick-twitch athlete and plus runner who projects, athletically and defensively, to stay in the middle of the field, whether it be in center field or potentially in the middle infield. Where he impressed the most, however, was with the bat, consistently squaring up balls and driving them deep down the line and into the gaps, where his speed allowed him to leg out extra bases. He has way more power than his frame would suggest, even with his swing being built more for line drive contact than power. He has plenty of bat speed and his hands are very quick, allowing him to make hard contact on pitches all over the zone. He’s got a legitimate shot to be an impact top-of-the-order hitter for the Tigers of Clemson.

– Brian Sakowski


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