2015 PG High School Showdown Championship Feature
Under
most circumstances there would be plenty of concern if a young
freshman pitcher threw four innings on a Thursday night, then came
back to throw six innings on Saturday morning. In the case of
Cartersville's Anthony Seigler, those circumstances wouldn't apply.
Seigler threw the first four innings on Thursday from the left side
while picking up a win out of the bullpen, then came back Saturday
morning to throw righthanded as a starter in the first semifinal of
the day against Parkview. His stiff is virtually identical from both
sides, with a fastball that tops out at 84 mph to go with an advanced
change up and solid curveball.
Alas,
the story didn't end well for Seigler, as the opportunistic Parkview
squad manufactured two runs in the sixth inning after Seigler entered
the frame with a one-hit shutout in the works, much as they did in
their epic win Friday against IMG Academy. The Panthers rode
sophomore lefthander Cody Collett's complete game seven-hitter to a
2-0 win. Parkview had allowed only two runs in three games heading
into the finals.
Seigler
is going to be a unique player to watch develop over the rest of his
high school career and beyond. His coach, Stuart Chester, says
Seigler – who stands 5-foot-10, 175-pounds – projects best as a
catcher moving forward but is playing second base now because he can
and there is a team need at that position.
The
more one watches Parkview play, the more one appreciates the skills
that senior shortstop Trevor Brown brings to field on both sides of
the ball. As mentioned in yesterday's column, the Kennesaw State
signee is a high level defender who makes the routine play easily and
the difficult play with flair and athleticism. Brown made a
back-handed glove flip to second base for a force play yesterday that
any big league shortstop would have been proud of. His key
contribution to this victory was an attempted sacrifice bunt in the
Parkview sixth inning that was so perfectly placed that it turned
into a single and provided a distinct momentum shift.
The
second semifinal game of the day between Concordia Lutheran and
Kennesaw Mountain was a close affair for five-and-a-half innings
before the versatile Mustang offense erupted for five runs in the
bottom of the sixth inning of what became an 8-3 Kennesaw Mountain
win. A booming triple by catcher Tyler Stephenson to lead off the
inning and outfielder Terence Norman's double to punctuate the
scoring highlighted the rally.
Norman
went 3-for-3 and drove in two runs with his bases loaded double. The
details of his three hits showed the maturity of the junior's
approach at the plate. Facing Crusader southpaw Brandon Ivey his
first two times up, Norman was content to take Ivey's fading mid-80s
fastballs to right field for clean singles. His third at-bat was
against Ke'Bryan Hayes throwing in the upper-80s from the right side.
Norman turned on the inside heat, and, just as he also did on
Thursday, roped a line shot over the left fielder's head.
Hayes
continued to put on a show with his bat and any scout watching the
past two days has to have come away extremely impressed. In the
first inning, hitting against Kennesaw Mountain righthander Ryley
Giliam and his 89-91 mph fastball, Hayes took three straight sliders,
then lined a fastball for a laser triple one bounce off the center
field fence that registered 102 mph off the bat. After a walk in his
second at-bat, Hayes rolled a slider through the hole on the left
side of the infield to drive in the run that tied the game at 3-3.
With Hayes, you throw him a fastball at your own risk and the
Crusaders knew this, as about 80 percent of the pitches Hayes saw
were breaking balls.
Giliam,
a Clemson signee, was very impressive himself for five innings,
striking out 11 hitters. He has a tightly wound 5-foot-11, 175-pound
build and an athletic cross-body delivery and high three-quarters arm
slot that creates great angle to the plate. He was able to locate
both his fastball and slider to his glove side consistently and keep
righthanded hitters reaching for the ball.
The
win highlighted the versatility and depth of the Kennesaw Mountain
offense. It was obvious from the first inning that they weren't
going to play their speed game with Garrett Wolforth behind the plate
when they chose to attempt to bunt over Reggie Pruitt
(unsuccessfully, too) after the speedster led off the game with a
single. Instead, they pounded out 11 hits by seven different
hitters, with all but one player contributing either an RBI or run
scored.
The
championship game between Parkview and Kennesaw Mountain proved to be
anti-climatic, with Parkview taking advantage of six Mustang errors
to post a 10-0 run-rule victory in six innings. The win put a stamp
on what Parkview does best as a team, which is quite simply just
executing clean baseball. The Panthers committed one error in four
games while their pitching staff issued only five walks in 29 overall
innings. They are especially strong up the middle defensively with
shortstop Trevor Brown, second baseman Daino Deas, catcher Austin
Biggar and center fielder Brandon Hill. Coach Chan Brown has things
working pretty smoothly on the east side of Atlanta.
Top
Prospect Quick Hits:
• It's
hard to quantify lefthander Jason Groome right now as his ceiling is
so high. The 2016 draft class, both high school and college, is
shaping up to be historically good. Groome will be a major part of
it.
• Based
on everything I know about Ke'Bryan Hayes right now, which is plenty,
I'd have him slotted to go in the 25-40 pick range. The bat is
becoming increasingly special, everything else is solid and there
isn't a better young man and family in the draft class. It's hard not
to imagine him not playing in the big leagues in the same way his
father did.
• Aside
from Chris Betts, there might not be a more draftable catcher in the
high school ranks than Tyler Stephenson. He has the prototype body
that scouts love and big tools on both sides of the ball. He didn't
take a bad swing in four games and the ball just explodes off his
bat. I'm thinking third round potential right now.
• Garrett
Wolforth is a force defensively and will likely play in the majors
just because of that. A switch-hitter, his bat from the left side is
far less developed. I can see him really benefitting from three
years of college baseball as opposed to signing professionally as a
re-classified 2015.
• If
you don't like watching Reggie Pruitt play baseball, you don't like
baseball. I had him at 3.41 on a bunt on Saturday and I'm confident
I nailed it. He was at full throttle when he made contact and it was
perfectly placed down the third base line.
• Perhaps
fittingly, the 2016 high school class is also loaded with catchers.
Parkview's Austin Biggar will be among the best of them, especially
considering his balance of offensive and defensive tools.
• Now
that I've talked to Logan Allen and met his mother, my resume is
complete on him considering how often I've seen him pitch. He's a
very mature young man who is going to be successful in life. That
could very well start by being a second/third round pick this June
depending on how things play out. It was interesting hearing from
both Logan and his mother about realizing this is their last Perfect
Game event and how much they are going to miss them in the future.
• Cartersville
is a national class program that has four freshman playing on
varsity. They could be pretty good over the next three years.
Having LakePoint in their back yard certainly won't hurt them.
Consolation
Game Notes:
• The
Magnolia Heights Chiefs beat IMG Academy 15-10, scoring nine runs in
the sixth inning to turn the game around. Shortstop David Herrington
went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and a pair of RBI to lead the
Chiefs, but IMG did themselves no favors, walking nine hitters and
making four errors. Herrington ended up the Showdown going 7-for-13
at the plate, while Magnolia Heights went 2-2 while scoring 28 total
runs in four games.
• Venice
third baseman/righthanded pitcher Trevor Holloway, a High Point
commit, continued to showcase his two-way potential, throwing four
shutout innings as Venice rebounded from Friday night's loss to
Kennesaw Mountain with a 5-0 win over Savannah Christian. The
6-foot-2, 190-pound Holloway threw in the 86-88 mph range with a
quality curveball and changeup. Venice also topped Cartersville 8-2
later in the day to finish the Showdown with a 3-1 record. Venice's
style of play strongly resembles Parkview's as they unfailingly
execute the game's fundamentals and always put themselves in a
position to win. Senior outfielder Langston Provitt had a strong
overall weekend for the Indians, going 5-for-11 (.455), while
sophomore shortstop Shane Shifflett was 4-for-10 (.400) with three
runs scored.
• Catcher
Carson Keyser doubled in the lead run in the sixth inning as Sarasota
overcame an early 5-0 deficit to pull off a 6-5 win over
Collierville. Collierville senior righthander Peyton Culbertson threw
five strong innings but got a no-decision. An Arkansas State signee,
Culbertson worked in the upper-80s with good heavy sinking life on
his fastball.
• Third
baseman Cody Brickhouse of Sarasota capped his 18-event Perfect Game
career by going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate as the Sailors scored
eight runs in the sixth inning to defeat Murfreesboro Central 9-3 in
their second game Saturday. Sarasota finished 2-2. Brickhouse
accounted for Sarasota's first run with a solo home run and
contributed an RBI single to their big rally. The Chipola JC signee
hit a rousing 8-for-13 (.615) at the Showdown.