Class in session at PG National (Alex Speas feature)
Handley
balances baseball, books
FORT
MYERS, Fla. – Maverick Handley arrived at the Perfect Game National
Showcase Wednesday morning with a noticeable bounce in his step and a
smile wider than the Green Monster that constitutes JetBlue Park’s
leftfield wall.
This
is what Handley – a highly regarded catching prospect from the
Denver suburb of Lakewood, Colo., who will be a senior at Denver’s
Mullen High School in the fall – lives for. If he arrived in
Southwest Florida feeling slightly overlooked coming from the shadow
of the Rocky Mountains, he knew this is a perfect place to get on the
map.
“Me
being from Colorado, it’s really tough to see new kids, so being
invited to these events out here in Florida and seeing kids of this
scale on the national talent level, it’s unbelievable,” Handley
said Wednesday. “I’m excited to see kids throwing 96 (mph) and
it’s going to be an amazing event.”
Handley
is a cerebral kid – not exactly breaking news considering he’s a
Stanford University commit – and he admits it’s a trait that
sometimes gets him in trouble. He plays his best when he plays
relaxed, and he only gets himself tied-up in knots when he starts
thinking too much. Over these next three days he plans to work up a
nice sweat while just doing his “thing”, which is staying loose
and playing at the highest level possible.
His
past performances have earned him the No. 75 overall ranking
nationally in the 2016 class (he is ranked the No. 10 catching
prospect) and the No. 1-ranked prospect in Colorado. Due to a short
spring season, the level of play at Colorado high schools is often
pooh-poohed, and that is regrettable. The state annually produces its
share of Division-I caliber players along with a fair number of draft
picks.
“We
have some of the best coaches out in Colorado and we have the
facilities that can help us perform,” Handley said. “The level of
baseball in Colorado has often been criticized … but coming in here
I feel as prepared as I can be.”
An
all-around athlete, Handley takes complete advantage of Colorado’s
four seasons. He has played football, basketball and baseball at
Mullen HS, and at one time was an avid skier. He has put each one of
those endeavors on the shelf now that baseball has become his
priority.
Academics
is another priority that Handley’s parents, Jeff and Jill, have
made sure he doesn’t lose sight of. He carries a 4.3
grade-point-average and scored a 32 on his ACT college entrance exam,
a test he took as a high school freshman just to see where he stood.
Stanford
demands excellence in both academics and athletics, which is the
reason Handley made the prestigious Pac-12 Conference university in
Palo Alto, Calif., his school of choice.
“Stanford
has always been a dream school for me,” he said. “I was talking
to a couple of other schools but once Stanford popped its head in
there it was hard to look anywhere else. With my parents being so
high on my grades … and just how high they feel I should be
academically … when Stanford came knocking I didn’t need anything
else.”
Handley
has been involved with Slammers Baseball and its owner Mark Holzemer
for five years and played in eight PG tournament with Slammers
Black-Holzemer the last two years (he was at the PG WWBA World
Championship in Jupiter, Fla., last October with Mountain West). He’s
got another full slate of tournament play planned with Slammers Black
and Holzemer this summer.
Holzemer,
who also attended Mullen HS, was a fourth-round pick of the
California Angels in the 1987 MLB Amateur Draft and pitched briefly
for the Angels in parts of six big-league seasons. Holzemer started
coaching the summer ball team Handley plays for when the youngsters
were 12 years old and has continued to coach them right up through
high school.
“He’s
really been a second father for me,” Handley said. “He’s helped
me along and he’s traveled with me and he’s really shown me what
type of man I want to be when I’m older."
That
in no way diminishes the impact Handley’s parents have on him.
Other obligations often keep Jeff and Jill from traveling to
Maverick’s events – he made this trip on his own – but their
influences are always with him.
“They’ve
pushed me to be the best I can be,” Handley said. “They won’t
let me make any excuses like, ‘I play in Colorado’ and they
believe in me and they do everything they can do to send me off to
these (events) – and it’s not cheap at all. … They love me and
I’m so lucky to have such great parents.”
Catching
is Handley’s forte, although he played every position on the field
growing up. He feels that’s the position he’s best suited for and
he loves everything involved with it, particularly handling all the
high-level arms at events like the PG National Showcase. He describes
himself as a “high-energy guy” loves to play the game and goes
crazy when he’s sitting on the bench. Catching allows him to be in
on every play.
“Baseball
is just such a great sport because every pitch is so important, and a
lot of people don’t understand that,” Handley said. “One single
pitch – even though there are hundreds of them in a game – can
turn around the whole momentum of the game. I get antsy just thinking
about it because I just want to play all the time.”
Handley
broke an ankle playing basketball in the winter of 2013-14 and it
took five months of rehabilitation before he was able to start
playing baseball. He came back strong and performed well at the 16u
PG WWBA National Championship in mid-July and the 16u PG World Series
later that month before earning all-tournament recognition at the
PG/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass) in late September.
He
feels stronger in every respect as this summer of play gets under
way. He feels like the ball is jumping off his bat with a real sense
of urgency and his catcher’s Pop time is dropping every time he
makes a throw.
More
than anything, perhaps, he is respectful of the higher profile he is
enjoying within the close-knit Colorado baseball community – being
the state’s top-ranked prospect has its rewards – and he likes
that he has become not only one of the best players in the state but
a leader who younger kids look up to.
“This
helps bring me back down to earth,” Handley said of being at the PG
National. “It keeps me humble and lets me know I have to keep
working, because you might think you’re really good in Colorado but
you come to these showcases and you see some high-level pitching and
makes you want to go back into the classroom – go back into the lab
– and start working some more.”
– Jeff
Dahn
Live
Streaming
For
the fourth consecutive year the Perfect Game National Showcase is
available for everyone to watch online. The live stream to all of the
workouts, batting practice sessions and games can be accessed in real
time here (archives of the events will be added at a later point in
time):
https://iframe.dacast.com/b/53363/c/70773
PG
National Scout Blogs
Read
even more about the game-by-game highlights and the workout results
from the 2015 Perfect Game National Showcase scout blogs:
https://www.perfectgame.org/blogs/View.aspx?blog=534
National
Impressions
• Lefthander
Mitchell Miller is going to be an interesting arm to follow moving
forward given his highly projectable 6-foot-5, 180-pound frame with
impressive stuff to match. Working with an up-tempo delivery, Miller
shows a fast and loose left arm from a lower three-quarters slot,
creating nice velocity and difficult angle on hitters. Running his
fastball up to 89 mph while sitting consistently in the upper-80s,
Miller has the ability to work down in the zone. To complement his
fastball, the Mississippi State commit featured three different
off-speed pitches with his changeup featuring some late fade in the
in the 78-80 mph range.
•
One of the louder
overall performances of the 2015 PG National Opening Day belonged to
Clemson commit Carter Kieboom. Beginning the day with a 6.72 60-yard
dash, the 6-foot-2 Kieboom showed well defensively with a top throw
of 88 mph, but it was with the bat where he truly stood out. Showing
a very fluid and easy swing with interesting power, and a steady feel
for the barrel, Kieboom put one of the better swings on live
pitching, keeping his weight back on a low-80s slider from
hard-throwing right-hander Zach Linginfelter for a standup double
down the left field line.
•
Speaking of Zach
Linginfelter, he caught the immediate attention of everybody in
JetBlue Stadium Wednesday afternoon. Strongly built and committed to
the University of Tennessee, Linginfelter came out pumping a steady
92-95 mph with his fastball, showing a fast right arm with sharp
running life to his arm side while locating down in the zone. Both
his changeup in the mid-80s and slider in the low-80s are solid
average pitches at present and project to be at least above average
in the future.
•
While day one belonged
primarily to the pitchers, Khalil Lee put an impressive swing on a
ball in game, and just like Kieboom, he took a loud and impressive
round of batting practice. A lefthanded hitter, Lee’s swing is
extremely fluid with looseness and whip in the barrel, generating
solid hard line drive contact.
•
With possibly the best
arm speed of the day and certainly the biggest velocity, righthander
Alex Speas came out firing for his two innings of work. A very long
and loose-limbed athlete with a high waist, Speas continues to make
impressive strides on the mound, peaking as high as 97 mph, working
comfortably in the mid-90s that comes out of his hand rather easily
with late life down in the zone. His curveball has also continued to
make strides since last summer and developed nicely throughout his
outing, with his last curveball serving as the best one, dropping in
at 82 mph with late depth, giving him another above average pitch.
•
Rivaling Speas for the
easiest arm action is Michigan native and University of Michigan
commit righthander Karl Kauffmann. With plenty of fluidity and ease
in his arm action, Kauffmann worked in the 89-92 mph range with his
fastball, touching 93 with nice extension and angle on his pitches.
The ball comes out of his hand cleanly and maintains his arm slot on
his changeup in the 80-83 mph range, flashing a curveball in the
upper-70s. He’s certainly an arm that will have eyes watching him
throughout the summer circuit.
•
Showing the biggest
velocity of game two, North Carolina righthander Bryse Wilson ran his
fastball up to 94 mph early while pitching in the low-90s throughout
and did so rather comfortably. He did a nice job of working down in
the zone and over his front side and showed the ability to work to
both sides of the plate. Wilson was able to miss bats on the strength
of his fastball but also shows a low-80s changeup with nice fading
life and flashed a slider at 77 mph.
–
Jheremy Brown