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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/24/2017

17u PG World Series Day 4 Notes

David Rawnsley     
Photo: Perfect Game



Daily Leaders | Player Stats | Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes | Day 3 Notes

Lefthander Kaleb Hill (2018, Pine Bluff, Ark.) didn't match his five inning, 12 strikeout effort at the 17u WWBA National Championship earlier in the month, nor did he match his 91 mph fastball velocity from that game. But he did show a very quick and projectable left arm Sunday morning in the desert. Hill worked in the 85-88 mph range from a short and compact arm action that scouts would refer to as a "dart thrower." Hill's fastball seemed to get on hitters quickly and there were plenty of late swings due to his mechanics. Hill tended to slow his arm some and guide his curveball a bit but it had good shape and will improve with fuller arm speed. He is a Mississippi commit and currently ranked No. 363 in the PG 2018 class rankings.




Third baseman Ethan Long (2020, Gilbert, Ariz.) hadn't pitched at this event before the last two innings of D-Backs Scout Team's Sunday morning consolation game but certainly left an impression when he did. Long had played third base for two pool play games and had gone 1-for-7 at the plate. On the mound, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound athlete was 89-92 mph in two very quick innings, throwing 16 of his 17 fastballs for strikes and mixing in a trio of curveballs in retiring six straight hitters. Long is currently the 14th ranked player in the 2020 class and has an early verbal commitment to Arizona.

Left fielder and first baseman Justin Olson (2018, Colorado Springs, Colo.) has swung a dominant lefthanded bat the past two days. He hit a home run in each of Slammers Baseball's two pool play games Saturday, including a towering bomb that went just to the pull side of the batter's eye in center field. A Kentucky commit, Olson came back during consolation play and added a three-run home run to right field and a sacrifice fly, giving him three home runs and 10 RBI in six games. Aside from being a very strong 6-foot-3, 215-pound athlete, Olson has a very distinct pull and lift approach at the plate and is looking to put the ball out of the park. He's hit 14 home runs the last two springs in Colorado high school baseball.




One of the most interesting athletes here in Mesa is Northwest Baseball outfielder Brennen Davis (2018, Queen Creek, Ariz.). The 6-foot-4, 175-pound Davis is a primary basketball player who played a key role for the 6A Arizona State Champion Basha High School this winter and has Division 1 potential on the hard wood according to basketball websites. Basha's state title run limited Davis to only 15 games this spring, where he hit .395, and this 17u World Series is his first Perfect Game event.

Davis is a righthanded hitter who has a well conceived and executed coil load that keeps his swing short despite his extra long arms. He singled sharply to left-center field in his first two at-bats of this game, getting his barrel out front on a curveball well on one of them, and had another at-bat where he fouled off four two-strike pitches before getting out. With his build, basketball tools and easy running stride it would be hard to imagine that Davis isn't at least an average big league runner, if not plus. That combination of athleticism and projection should make scouts very interested over the next year. Davis does not have a college commitment but has 4.0-plus academics.




Righthander Ryan Segner (2018, Fredericksburg, Texas) pitched well enough to win for Premier Baseball Futures in the first round of the playoffs, allowing only three hits and a pair of runs in five innings in a 4-0 loss. The strong-bodied Baylor commit has a low hand coiled delivery that is well sequenced with a whippy high three-quarters arm action that is very projectable. Segner worked at 87-90 mph during the outing, with a big and sharp curveball up to 77 being his best pitch. He looked like the type of pitcher who could take a big step forward at some point, maybe during his college days. He is currently ranked 287th in the PG class rankings.




Infielder Tyler McKenzie (2019, Loxahatchee, Fla.) is the brother of 2014 PG All-American and current Cleveland Indians top prospect Triston McKenzie and bears a strong physical resemblance to his older brother, with a long-legged and slender 6-foot-1, 160-pound build. Tyler ranks 37th in the PG class rankings based on his very smooth and quick infield actions, his physical projection and a quick and short righthanded swing, not on his throwing arm. He hit .556 (5-for-9) here at the 17u PG World Series. McKenzie has rarely pitched at PG events in the past but was called on in relief during US Elite's first round playoff game when their starter was touched up for six runs in the opening inning. He calmed the fire over the next 3 1/3 innings, working 82-85 mph with his fastball and consistently working ahead in counts. The interesting thing about that is that velocity is almost exactly the same as what his brother was throwing at the exact same age. It's doubtful that the young McKenzie ends up the mound but the comparison is interesting to put into perspective how projectable members of the McKenzie family are at this age.




Evoshield's Landon Marceaux (2018, Destrehan, La.) can't do anything about being a 6-foot righthander, at least in scout's eyes, but his raw stuff, and more importantly, his ability to use it, puts him among the elite pitchers in the country. Marceaux worked five innings in the Canes’ first playoff game, topping out at 94 mph in the first inning and still maintaining 89-91 in the fifth. Marceaux throws from an over-the-top arm slot with almost no upper body lean, a rare combination that enables him to maintain his direction and angle to the plate. That combination also enables him to throw one of the best curveballs in the 2018 class, a true nose-to-toes 12-to-6 curveball that he commands extremely well given its size and shape. Marceaux's changeup is a very solid third pitch and he went to it more frequently as the game went on and did so effectively.

Perhaps not surprisingly, three of the five hits, all singles, that Marceaux allowed were to PG All-American Brandon Dieter (2018, Covina, Calif.). Impressively, Dieter picked up each of his three hits on a different Marceaux pitch, probably leading the Louisiana native to mutter "I guess I don't have a pitch to get this guy out," to himself. Dieter later added a two-run single, his fourth of the game and eighth of the tournament, in a seven-run CBA Marucci rally in the sixth inning.

Dieter came back in the quarterfinals to go 2-for-2 with a walk and score two runs, although he and his CBA Marucci teammates lost 7-5 to undefeated Midwest Elite.

GBG Marucci righthander Jack Miller (2018, Newbury Park, Calif.) threw in relief earlier in the tournament and looked a bit on the raw side, as befits an athlete who is young for his class and just started pitching full-time about a year ago. He started GBG's semifinal game against the San Diego Show and threw much better and more confidently and picked up the win with four strong innings. Miller is a very athletic looking pitcher with a strong 6-foot-2 build, especially in the lower half. His arm works very well from a high three-quarters arm slot that powers the ball downhill well at 88-92 mph and he did a nice job of staying low in the zone this outing. His curveball isn't as consistent as his fastball but flashes tight spin and power in the upper-70s.

PG All-American shortstop Jeremiah Jackson (2018, Mobile, Ala.) has been somewhat quiet most of the tournament, which hasn't stopped his talented Coast Titans from cruising into the semifinals. Jackson broke out in their quarterfinals win over Game On Stealth, making highlight reel plays in all aspects of the game. Defensively, he ranged far to his right on one play but was able to circle the ball with outstanding footwork and quickly whip a strike over to first base on the run. It looked like a routine play to a casual observer but it was big league quality all the way. Jackson showed his athleticism and instincts on a ground ball to third base. The first baseman had to come off the bag to the home plate side to get the throw and when he did, Jackson slid under the tag at the very last second when most runners would have just run through the tag. Lastly, Jackson showed his big power and bat speed by reaching on an outside pitch and lining a triple up the right-center field alley that got to the fence in a hurry, such a hurry that Jackson was thinking inside-the-park home run until the Titans’ third base coach held him up.

EvoShield shortstop Xavier Edwards (2018, Wellington, Fla.), another PG All-American, is a joy to watch play the middle infield. Edwards told Perfect Game at the All-American Selection Show in Miami prior to the MLB All-Star Game that all he really focuses on defensively is his footwork and that if his feet are positioned properly, everything else will work fine. Of course, most athletes don't have the quickness and balance that Edwards has, but it is a strong lesson for all young middle infielders. Edwards' throws from shortstop are so accurate it looks like he could throw batting practice from that distance.




Most baseball fans are familiar with the strange pattern in the game whereby when a player makes a great defensive play to end an inning, he seems to bat first the next inning a disproportionate amount of the time. That happened in the most spectacular fashion in the So Cal Birds dramatic 5-4 quarterfinal win over Banditos Scout Team. Birds’ shortstop Zachary Lew (2018, La Mirada, Calif.), a Cal State Fullerton commit, ranged far to his right with two out in the top of the seventh inning and runners on second and third in a 4-4 ballgame, made a sliding stop of the ball, popped up and gunned down the runner at first base to preserve the tie game (see the video above). It was a play any big league shortstop would have been proud of. Of course, Lew was the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh and he drove the first pitch over the left field fence for a walkoff home run, which was followed by a very fitting home plate celebration and a ticket to the semifinals on Monday.
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