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Tournaments  | Story  | 9/26/2016

Southeast Qualifier Day 3 Notes

Matt Czechanski      Vincent Cervino     
Photo: Perfect Game


Daily Leaders | Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes

In what was an eventful day of playoff action to lock up the next bid to Jupiter, several players continued to stand out. It was a very pitching dominant day with only two runs being scored combined in both semifinal matchups.

For Team Elite 18’s Prime, lefthanded pitcher Bryce Bowen (2017, Boman, Ga.) took the mound in their quarterfinal game. Bowen has an immensely physical frame, listed at 6-foot-4, 230-pounds with very broad shoulders and strength throughout his lower half. He starts with a leg raise to his waist and contorts his upper half slightly, pinching together. He showed a very short, quick arm action through the back with effort at release. He has impressive arm strength at 85-87 mph with mostly true action. He showed the ability to get to both sides of the plate, but had a lot of trouble repeating his release point. He worked over his front side with a shorter stride to the plate and landed closed down the mound. He was effectively wild, challenging hitters up in the zone and getting swings and misses on his fastball. Bowen showed a changeup as well in the upper-70s, but did not show a lot of refined feel for the pitch. He choked it, but replicated his arm speed, but had inconsistent life.

Catching for Team Elite in the game was PG All-American Steven Williams (2017, Albany, Ga.). Williams has a prototypical catcher look with big strength throughout his frame. Williams starts with an open, wide base and uses a leg lift timing mechanism into his swing. He tips his barrel slightly to help generate good bat speed that showed solid average at the plate. His swing tends to work long, but he does a good job of match plane and getting his hands into a consistent spot at the point of contact. Williams only worked from the outfield in Team Elite's two games on Sunday and did not see his strong arm tested. 

For the HP Chili Dogs, William Moore (2017, Peachtree City, Ga.) helped close out their close quarterfinal win. The 6-foot-2 righthander has a very young look and lean, slender frame with room to continue to fill out physically. He showed a very long arm action with a stoft stab in the back of his arm circle. He landed open down the mound with good tempo. More threw from a higher three-quarters arm slot with a clean release of the ball. His fastball worked 84-87 mph with occasional arm side life. He showed a curveball as well up to 75 mph with developing spin and good depth to the pitch. He tossed a pair of scoreless innings and struck out one.




Taking on Home Plate in the semifinals were the EvoShield Canes Prospects and they threw a pair of talented arms in what ended up being a very close 1-0 contest. Kieran Garner (2017, Clarksville, Mar.) started the game and impressed firing three one-hit innings on the mound. Garner showed a deeper arm swing into the back with a soft stab at the end of his arm circle. He threw from an extended three-quarters arm slot with good arm strength. He showed an exceptionally short stride to the plate with a closed landing and had some recoil over his front side, landing on a stiff front leg. His fastball showed heavy, sinking action at 84-87 mph with arm side life. There was very little effort at release and he repeated his slot well. The Maryland commit also featured a very tight spinning, but softly thrown curveball. It showed 10-to-4 shape at 68 mph and worked over for strikes. He looked to set up his curveball off his fastball usually in an 0-1 count looking to get hitters to roll over. It worked as he effectively pitched to contact, mixing speeds well and staying around the zone.

Backing him up out of the bullpen was Erik Stock (2017, Virginia Beach, Va.). Stock is a highly athletic player who showed actions at the plate over the course of the weekend. He has a very short, compact swing and uses an inside out approach at the plate with strength to drive the ball off the barrel. Listed as a primary shortstop, and having only played first base this weekend due to his talented teammate, Stock came into pitch and showed a very live arm. He pitched with a full arm action through the back and threw nearly effortlessly at release. His fastball came out very clean at 88-90 mph over two innings with short arm side life. He filled the zone and got to both sides of the plate. Stock also mixed pitches well, using both a curveball and changeup as well. He replicated his arm speed well for his changeup up to 83 mph with short sink and his curveball up to 77 mph with 11-to-5 shape. Both pitches showed well, while none was the sort of wipe out pitch he needed to garner additional swings and misses other than his fastball. Stock also turned in a pair of above average run times down the line earlier in the tournament, showing to be one of the better pure athletes in attendance. Stock is committed to his hometown Old Dominion.

Matching both of those arms for Home Plate was Georgia State commit, Mason Frady (2017, Sharpsburg, Ga.). Frady was very impressive against a potent Canes lineup tossing seven shutout innings allowing just three hits and striking out five batters. He utilized a drop and drive element in his delivery and threw from a high three-quarters arm slot. He has very impressive tempo on the mound and works quickly and efficiently around the zone. His fastball showed good arm side life working in the mid-80s and up to 86 mph. He showed the best ability to miss bats with his fastball up and out of the zone with good spin. He also mixed in a handful of sliders that showed 10-to-4 shape with very big depth and tight spin. I would have liked to see him use the pitch more as it showed the ability to be a strong swing and miss weapon.

Providing some of the loudest offense of the day was catcher and Alabama commit, Sam Praytor (2017, Helena, Ala.). Praytor has a very strong frame listed at 5-foot-11, 205-pounds with strength through his lower half and very broad shoulders. He works up to the ball effectively, collapsing his back shoulder and creating big lift off the barrel. He crushed a grand slam to deep left field that left the bat at 94 mph. He generates backspin well and uses his lower half well, firing to the ball. The home run helped push East Cobb’s lead to 8-0 in a very competitive and talented game against Team Elite 17’s Prime.

Savanah State commit, Ty Delancey (2017, Dallas, Ga.), impressed up the middle with smooth actions to both sides of the ball. He showed clean footwork with a strong arm across the infield. He was accurate with sure hands, especially to his backhand, and worked well around the bag. His glove is ahead of his bat at present, but he did show a middle of the field approach with present bat speed.

– Matt Czechanski



Triton Rays righty Evan Baber (2017, Phenix City, Al.) was on the hill and dominated early on with his three-pitch repertoire. Baber has a smaller build, listed at 5-foot-9 and 170-pounds, with physicality and shows his athleticism by fielding his position well on the mound. He has a tight arm action with some whip-like arm speed and throws from an extended three-quarters slot. Early on in the game he pitched almost exclusively with his fastball and the pitch is probably his best. The pitch sat from 87-89 mph on the afternoon and it had late life to it as well. The fastball comes out of his hand and into the strike zone from a good angle and he showed excellent command on both sides of the plate. Both of his secondary pitches, breaking ball and changeup, flashed potential but were inconsistent. The breaking pitch had 10-to-4 slider-like shape to it and came in hard sitting from 79-81 mph. When his release point was on he had sharp bite to the pitch and he could throw it for strikes and bury it down for swings and misses. His changeup was hard as well sitting in the upper-70s although he did slow his arm speed a bit on the pitch. Baber utilized all of his pitches and had a good approach. After the first he did a good job at mixing his pitches to effectively confuse hitters.




Pitching in the other dugout was lefthander Peyton Glavine (2017, Alpharetta, Ga.) for Team DeMarini. Glavine has a medium frame at 5-foot-11 and 175-pounds with some room left still to add on size. He pitches with a long arm circle in the back complemented by a soft stab and a wrist hook and delivers from a high three-quarters arm slot. Glavine has simple mechanics with a leg lift up to his belt and an easy delivery with a crossfire element on the landing. The Auburn commit works at a quick pace on the mound and has a closed delivery up until his release which helps him hide the baseball until the last possible second. His fastball has some down life to it and sat from 82-84 mph on the day topping out at 86 mph. Glavine had solid command of the pitch and was effective at filling up the strike zone. He showed a soft curveball with 1-to-7 shape that was effective at disrupting the timing of hitters at the plate.

Southpaw Marlin Willis (2017, Powder Springs, Ga.) tossed only one inning for East Cobb Baseball today but he showed some impressive stuff and tools. Willis has a very large and tall frame with still some room for projection and is listed 6-foot-4, 195-pounds. With a long and very loose arm action Willis fires from a higher three-quarters arm slot and bears the pitch down onto hitters. He gets great extension, delivery online, and has a very easy release. Willis gets some back leg drive on his release and the velocity comes easy. His fastball sat from 86-88 mph on the day and topped out at 89 mph. He showed a curveball that had 2-to-8 shape with some depth. With such an easy delivery and a projectable frame Willis could be a top pitching talent as he has quality stuff and already has some good fastball velocity.

Righthanded hitter Gavin Harmon (2017, Douglasville, Ga.) had a very strong day at the plate for the WWBA Southeast Qualifier #2 Champion, Nelson Baseball School. Harmon has a medium, physical frame and is listed at 6-foot, 175-pounds but judging from his size and muscularity he looks closer to 200-pounds. He has an open stance at the plate with a high hand-set and high back elbow. Harmon’s swing is very timing oriented but when his timing is right he showcases his above average bat speed and line drive plane with lift. He has some pure strength and is able to incorporate that into his swing with good hip torque and some lower half drive. Harmon’s swing is a bit long and he has a mechanical load but he squared up pitches consistently for 90-plus mph hits including a 91 mph double that traveled 339 feet per TrackMan Baseball. Listed as a primary catcher Harmon also saw some time in center field, which he was able to play well because of his athleticism. From the outfield he showed off his arm strength including an absolute rocket to hose the potential game-winning run in the championship game.

– Vincent Cervino
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