Daily Leaders
The PG WWBA Florida Qualifier is stacked with elite, home grown talent. Florida is also recognized as the lightning capital of the U.S., if not the world, so, on a Friday night of games riddled with delays, two pitchers from two blue-blood Florida organizations rose to the top; the arms would continue to stand out as the night progressed.
David Mata, a right handed pitcher for SWFL Baseball, took the mound and immediately made his presence known. Mata has strong athletic frame, clean mechanics and an easy arm action, and with a balanced delivery to the plate he uses a high leg lift that gets him in a torqued position at the top. The right hander drives down the mound striding directly to the plate. The arm action is short and smooth which leads up to an over-the-top delivery. Mata utilizes his body extremely well, allowing him to reach 91 mph with his four-seam fastball with ease. He commands all aspects of the zone with the fastball that also shows life.
Entering the game in relief for FTB Platinum was left-hander Michael Perez. He has a tall, lean, athletic frame with room to fill out and presence on the mound. His smooth delivery to the plate, clean arm mechanics, and arm action creates a sharp descent angle on his primary pitches. That paired with a high three-quarter crossfire release point makes him devastating when working to his glove side; the four-seam fastball shows life at 88 mph. Perez only threw three pitches in his appearance, which allows him to come back Saturday and potentially even more often throughout the weekend.
Right-hander Alston Pough (2017, Paramus, N.J.) came in short relief for IMG Academy after a lightning delay. Pough has a strong athletic frame with impressive mechanics and a smooth delivery with high leg lift, coil front side, and creates torque in the rear hip. He drives directly to the plate and has clean, long, whippy arm action to over the top release point and creates downhill plane on his fastball, commanding both sides of the plate and generating swing and miss; the four-seamer has life touching 87 mph. Worked mainly arm side and also elevating with two strikes. Flashed a hard sweeping slider in warm ups at 74, lacked feel in game but promising pitch with command.
Another right-handed pitcher that impressed was Matt LePoint (Punta Gorda, Fla., 2017) throwing for SWFL. LePoint has medium height with strong build and came out of weather delay touching 88 mph with his four-seam fastball. Compact arm action to a short and low three-quarters release point with a repeatable delivery. Good direction to the plate with some effort at finish. Sharp slider at 72 mph that he kept low in the zone and had good success with two strikes. Flashed a changeup also at 72 mph with good arm speed.
Uncommitted 2017 Joshua Crouch (Sebring, Fla.) from the Orlando Scorpions-Martinez stood out at the plate. Really strong and athletic build with room to fill out physically. Impressive looking athlete that runs well and shows good range in the outfield. At the plate, he has a square stance with simple lower half mechanics. Gather to rear hip, lands early on lead leg, tips barrel to strong launch position. Showcases good bat-speed and great barrel path that works up to the ball. Homered in his first at bat to deep left field on Terry Park Brett to give his team an early 2-0 lead.
Matthew Liberatore (Peoria, Ariz., 2018), a left-handed pitcher for the Central Florida Gators and an Arizona commit, took the reins in the first leg of a combined no-hitter in a wild game. Tall projectable body shows a smooth delivery to the plate. High leg lift, extends arms away from the body, separates in to a long clean arm swing with easy power behind four seam fastball at 89 mph. Impressive command and downhill plane with extension allowed him to spot up and pitch effectively in the zone. His ability to command the fastball allowed him to only show his 12/6 curveball sparingly. Curveball came in at 74 mph with good arm speed and worked in the same plane as the fastball – three innings, no hits, seven strikeouts in the outing.
Anytime the Central Florida Gators offense is neutralized it commands attention, which is why the performance of Elite Squad Underclass Red’s Danny Garcia (Pembroke Pines, Fla., 2018) and Timothy Watkins (Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 2018) is being noted here. The two pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout against arguably the best offensive lineup in the nation, and allowed their team to take the game into the bottom of the seventh. Right-hander Danny Garcia worked five innings and allowed the game’s only two hits. Garcia has a smooth delivery and clean arm action. A lot of his success was attribute to the command of his fastball at 85 mph and timely mix of 12/6 curveball at 74; Garcia finished with eight strikeouts.
Relieving Garcia was left-hander Timothy Watkins, who came in and showed a nice presence on the mound while working a good mix of fastball, curveball. Watkins has a clean delivery and mixed speeds with his fastball that sat 82 mph, and relied heavily on his big 1/7 curveball at 70. The curveball worked in the same plane as fastball while maintaining arm speed, freezing the Gators’ hitters and causing swing and misses. Watkins finished the game with two innings pitched and recorded five strike outs and no hits.