Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap
Despite
battling some rain early on in the day, Day 3 of the 17u WWBA
National Championship went pretty smoothly from a weather
perspective, and as the sun shined on North Georgia, the stars of the
field were certainly shining as well.
Early
in the day, when the rain was still coming down, 2016 lefthander
Dylan
O’Connell (Pembroke
Pines, Fla.) of Elite Squad Prime 17u took the mound and delivered an
excellent performance. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound O’Connell showed off
an athletic, repeatable delivery with good arm speed and pretty easy
arm action, consistently working in the 87-89 mph range with his
fastball throughout the start. He has a bit of crossfire action in
his delivery, which can lead to the arm dragging a bit but also adds
to the deception he creates from his extended three-quarters slot. He
shows the ability to work to both sides to the plate, creating angle
and making him very tough to square up. He complemented his fastball
with a very good 1-to-7 curveball, showing excellent bite and depth,
inducing several swings and misses on the pitch from both
righthanders and lefthanders alike. O'Connell showed the ability to
consistently throw the curveball down and in towards the back foot of
righthanded hitters, allowing it to be a true weapon out-pitch vs.
hitters from both sides of the plate.
O’Connell’s
teammate, 2016 infielder Colton Welker (Coral Springs, Fla.),
impressed scouts at the PG National a few weeks ago and continued to
do so on Sunday, especially with the bat. Welker doubled loudly off
the left field wall early on in the game, showing the quick hands and
strong wrists necessary to get to velocity on the inner third of the
plate and do damage, which he did. He generated some topspin on this
particular shot, but has shown the ability to loft the ball with
backspin to both gaps and straight away center field, giving him
legitimate home run power in spades.
2016
lefthander Jordan
Roberts
(Euless, Texas) took the mound for the Dallas Patriots in front of
15-20 scouts and college coaches, and the uncommitted Texan impressed
before he even took the mound. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing in at
240 pounds, Roberts looks the part of a Big 12 conference defensive
end as well as being an obviously physically imposing presence on the
mound. The lefty immediately showed off impressive raw arm strength,
touching 90-91 early on in his start and generating significant
downhill plane from his high three-quarters arm slot. His very
well-built lower half gets involved well in his delivery, and though
there is some stiffness in the delivery, his arm works well and he
shows the ability to work down in the strike zone to both sides of
the plate with his fastball. He settled in around 85-88 for the
majority of his start, reaching back for 89 when he needed it, and
showed solid arm-side run on the fastball as well. He threw something
like 90-plus percent fastballs, but flashed a sharp slider with good
depth and tilt when he needed it, though the command of the offering
wasn't quite as sharp as he surely would have liked.
FTB
Tucci has a truly star-studded roster, full of several prospects who
competed at our PG National Showcase just a few weeks ago. 2016
catcher Herbert Iser (Miami, Fla.) is certainly no stranger to
PG events or the national baseball stage as a whole, as he checks in
at No. 15 overall in our class of 2016 rankings. Iser has
always shown legitimate plus power, generated by excellent strength
and bat speed, to go along with a potentially elite-level arm behind
the plate. On Sunday, Iser seemed to take a step forward as an
overall hitting prospect. Long lauded for that power and strength,
Iser’s approach was a “grip it and rip it” sort, trying to pull
everything and hit it out of the park. On Sunday, Iser showed a much
better command of the strike zone, laying off borderline pitches and
taking them for balls, then driving the baseball hard back through
the box for a line drive single. The more and more his approach
begins to mature, and the overall feel for hitting matures, the more
dangerous Iser will become as a hitter. Sunday was a big step in that
direction.
Fellow
FTB masher Bo Bichette (Terra Verda, Fla.) has likewise been
lauded for impressive bat speed, strength and overall power
potential, but on Sunday he showed, like Iser, a somewhat newfound,
more refined approach to hitting. He worked two walks on Sunday
morning, fouling off some tough pitches and taking a few that in the
past would likely have been reached for. He still has that huge bat
speed and big-time raw power, making him a threat to leave the park
every time he steps into the box. However, with a more patient
approach and the ability to lay off pitchers’ pitches, he takes on
a whole new level of being dangerous, and that is truly terrifying
for opposing pitchers.
FTB
Tucci threw several pitchers in short bursts during their run-rule
victory on Sunday, and 2016 righthander Michael
Ruff
(Apopka, Fla.) wowed scouts in his shortened stint on the mound. The
well-built and broad-shouldered Ruff showed off an impressively easy
arm action, with his fastball exploding out of his hand and downhill
to the plate at 88-89 mph with consistency. He generates excellent
plane to the plate from his high three-quarters slot, using his lower
half well in his delivery with very good balance throughout. He
complemented his fastball with a hammer 11-to-5 curveball, showing
excellent feel for the pitch with the ability to throw it in any
count and command it throughout the zone (as well as out of it). The
pitch features outstanding depth and hard snap, and he got several
whiffs on the pitch in just one inning of work.
The
Evoshield Canes often boast a roster of the “who’s who”
prospects in any event, and the 17u WWBA National Championship is no
exception. With a roster literally full of high-end Division I
commitments and legitimate draft candidates, there is no shortage of
scouts at their games. When 2016 righthander Joshua Lowe
(Marietta, Ga.) took the mound on Sunday afternoon, the LakePoint
stands were packed and scouts were four deep around the backstop to
watch. Lowe is perhaps the most athletically gifted primary pitcher
in his class, as a 6.5-6.6 runner with smooth actions defensively and
thunder in his bat, one could easily project Lowe as a high-end
positional prospect in next June’s draft. But after his showing at
the PG National a few weeks ago, there is little question that Lowe
has legitimate high-end potential on the mound. At 6-foot-4,
190-pounds with outstanding physicality, Lowe looks the part of a
first round righthander, and the stuff backs up that claim.
With
an easy, loose arm action and plus arm speed, Lowe sits comfortably
in the 90-93 range right now and projects for more velocity as he
continues to mature and add strength, not to mention the fact that
he’s only been a primary pitcher for about a year now. Lowe didn't
have the plus command that he had a few weeks back, but still managed
to work down in the zone with his fastball to both sides of the
plate, spotting the fastball on the black on several occasions
Sunday. At his best, he’ll show plus potential with both his slider
and change, and though the overall consistency in his arsenal lagged
a bit on Sunday, he certainly flashed the stuff that has scouts
salivating. The slider shows wipeout potential with excellent, late
tilt and tight spin, and the change flashes big-time fading action
away from lefthanders to go along with great deception out of his
hand. There’s little doubt that Lowe will continue to see his name
near the top as way-too-early 2016 draft lists start being
formulated.
Lowe
was followed in the Evoshield Canes’ pitching order by 2016
righthander Bryse Wilson (Hillsborough, N.C.), a 6-foot-1,
215-pound North Carolina commitment. Wilson was very good on Sunday,
working consistently at 91-93 mph with his fastball, showing command
to both sides of the plate with very good angle from an extended
medium three-quarters slot. Wilson complemented his fastball with a
very good slider, showing quality tilt and consistent command of the
offering. The slider can get a bit sweepy at times, but it’s very
deceptive out of the hand and has legitimate swing-and-miss
potential. Wilson is a well-built prospect, close to physical
maturity, and he uses that strength in his body and lower half to
drive towards home plate with authority without putting much stress
at all on his arm. The arm is overall very smooth and easy, and when
coupled with his good arm speed, leads one to project even more
potential velocity moving forward in his development on the mound.
Not
to be outdone, 2016 outfielder Avery Tuck (San Diego, Calif.),
the newly appointed No. 4 overall prospect in the nation, picked
right up where he left off at the PG National and put on a display
with his bat. The ultra-athletic and ultra-projectable Tuck hits
cleanup in the star-studded EvoShield Canes lineup, and there’s no
place he belongs better than right there. On Sunday, Tuck fell just a
home run short of the cycle, smashing a triple deep into the
right-center field gap, a double up the left-center field gap, and
lacing a single the opposite way after waiting back on a slow
curveball. He combines quick wrists, strong hands and outstanding bat
speed with an excellent overall feel for hitting to make an extremely
high-end prospect. He already has average-to-above major league
power, and as he continues to fill out his 6-foot-5, 195-pound frame,
the sky is nearly the limit for him in terms of power and his overall
hit tool.
2016
catcher Brad Debo (Durham, N.C.) is somewhat reminiscent of
2015 top prospect Chris Betts in that he’s a lefthanded hitting
catcher with legitimate high-end projection with the bat, both in
terms of hitting ability and power. The powerfully-built 6-foot-1,
210-pound Debo has the size you want in a catcher, and certainly
projects well behind the plate with good receiving skills, a quality
arm and the necessary agility. Where he really stands out, however,
is with the bat. He launched a mammoth home run to right field on
Sunday, clearing the fence by a good distance. He shows a short,
quick stroke through the zone with excellent natural loft and raw
power, to go along with good overall feel for the barrel as well.
– Brian
Sakowski
After
a strong showing at both the Perfect Game National Showcase and the
Tournament of Stars last month, Jason Groome (2016, Barnegat,
N.J.) was recently classified as Perfect Game’s top-ranked player
in the class of 2016. On Sunday evening, the 6-foot-6 southpaw
proved that his climb in the most up-to-date rankings was a wise
decision. As one would expect given his height, Groome has long
limbs, broad shoulders and some room to grow into his large frame.
He has some present strength in his lean, well-proportioned body,
notably in his long yet strong legs and lower half. As the Vanderbilt
continues to mature, he should easily be able to pack on an added 20
pounds or so as there is enough room for further growth and muscle
mass in his upper body. Starting from the third base side of the
rubber, Groome has an easy, well-paced delivery with a leg lift up to
his belt-level and he shows good body control, athleticism and a
looseness to his movements that is not often seen from pitchers of
his size and age. He uses his strong lower half well in his delivery
and does a solid job of staying balanced and online through release.
Everything works with extreme ease, and while there is some
presentation and wrap on the backside of his long, loose arm-action,
it comes through the path and he’s able to repeat his mechanics
without any issue.
On
Sunday evening Groome displayed wipeout stuff, and he threw six
perfect innings, retiring 14 of the 18 batters he faced via the
strikeout. Additionally, Groome was extremely efficient, throwing
just 66 pitches with 52 of them being strikes. The lefty came out
firing, with his fastball sitting in the 92-95 mph range and touching
96 in the first inning. Groome is able to generate good angle and
downhill plane from his three-quarters arm slot thanks to a deep
release and big extension over his frontside. As he continued to
pound the strike zone over the course of his six inning stint, Groome
settled more into the 91-92 mph range, but was able to reach back for
more whenever he deemed it necessary. Aside from the velocity and
angle, the offering showed solid life, with especially good finish in
the bottom part of the zone and to his arm side, and because he was
able to repeat his mechanics so well his command of the heater was
extremely good.
Groome
also showcased an extremely effective curveball. The breaking ball
largely sat in the 73-77 mph range and flashed easy plus potential.
Groome varied the tilt on the offering, which at times had more
1-to-7 shape but was very sharp when it featured more sweeping 2-to-8
shape. Often times Groome used the latter, more sweeping tilt to
backfoot the offering against righthanded hitters and on Sunday it
proved to be nearly impossible to get the barrel to the ball as the
curveball showed good depth, tight rotation and late, sharp break to
dive out of hitters’ swing paths.
Finally,
while it is a clear third pitch for him, Groome flashed a few
changeups in the upper-70s. The results were inconsistent, as he
choked a few into the dirt and left one or two elevated in the zone,
but a couple showed decent fade and Groome maintains solid arm speed
and has the requisite athleticism and feel for pitching that one can
see it becoming yet another quality pitch for him down the road.
Like
Groome, Drake Fellows (2016, Plainfield, Ill.) is a talented
pitcher from the 2016 class that is committed to Vanderbilt. The
6-foot-5, 205-pound righty also has a large frame with broad
shoulders, long limbs and room to project additional strength and
muscle as he continues to mature. Fellows works from the first base
side of the rubber and uses an exaggerated hip turn and coil where he
nearly he turns his entire back to the hitter (a la Luis Tiant and
Johnny Cueto) before coming uncoiled and picking up the plate in time
for release. Despite the upper-body movement and big turn, Fellows
does a good job of keeping his front side closed at release and he
maintains an online drive and path to the plate.
There
is also some funkiness to Fellows’ arm action as he separates his
hands a bit later and there is some slight stiffness, stab and wrist
wrap on the backside. However, he has such solid armspeed and
athleticism that he didn’t have any issues working through to his
three-quarters release point, getting extended over his frontside,
and repeating his mechanics. While he had been clocked as high as 94
mph in Perfect Game events last summer, Fellows’ fastball
consistently sat in the 87-89 mph range in his five innings of work.
The heater was a quality pitch, as it featured arm-side run and good
late life down in the strike zone. The tailing action and late
sinking life made it a tough pitch for opposing hitters to barrel and
Fellows induced lots of groundball outs over the course of his start
on Sunday.
His
slider was his money pitch however, as the 77-80 mph breaking ball
showed plus potential with true slider tilt, late break and sharp
glove-side finish. The depth of the offering varied a bit, but for
the most part the short slider was extremely effective and played
very well off of the fastball, coming out of the same plane or pocket
as the heater before disappearing to the glove side and breaking away
from barrels.
Fellows
also showed an advanced feel for his mid-70s changeup, as he did a
solid job of maintaining fastball arm speed and arm action and the
offering showed good dive and fading life off of the fastball. While
the slider was more of a weapon against same-side hitters, Fellows
used his changeup almost exclusively (and extremely effectively)
against lefthanded hitters. As with his slider, Fellows garnered at
least a half dozen swings-and-misses with his changeup, which also
shows above-average potential.
Tyler
Fitzgerald (2016, Rochester, Ill.) performed well at the Perfect
Game National Showcase, displaying high level tools on both sides of
the ball, and he continued to show well on Sunday. While playing
shortstop, Fitzgerald moved very well to both sides, showing good
lateral quickness and agility for someone of his 6-foot-3 frame, and
he was extremely quick and fluid in turning a 1-6-3 double play. At
the plate the righthanded hitter shows above average bat speed and a
strong feel for the barrel. With a wide base and high hand set,
Fitzgerald does a good job of being direct to the ball and he
maintains a level swing plane that is geared towards line drive
contact. On Sunday, Fitzgerald struck a double into left field on an
elevated fastball and also showed the ability to backspin the
baseball with a hard-hit line drive that carried directly over the
center fielder’s head and resulted in a triple.
A
couple other members of the Elite Baseball Training Chicago team
stood out as well. Sam Ferri (2016, Norridge, Ill.) is a
compactly built 5-foot-10, 170=pound athlete that shows good
defensive chops behind the plate. The Arizona State commit has a
strong arm, quick feet, and is able to explode well out of his crouch
to post above-average pop times (1.9 and 1.96) down to second base.
Nick
Neville (2016, Fairfax, Va.) is an athletic, lean 6-foot-1,
180-pound outfielder that flashed some solid tools. The lefthanded
hitter turned in a 4.2 home-to-first time on a ground out to second
base, and he showed good bat speed, strength and barrel utilization
in hitting a no-doubt home run to right field on an elevated
fastball.
Jake
Eissler (2016, Littleton, Colo.) is yet another talented pitcher
from the Denver-based Slammers program. Eissler, like other Slammers
players Bo Weiss, Travis Marr, Paul Tillotson, Travis Marr, and
Nathan Sweeney, pitched at the PG National. The Texas Christian
commit is a strong-bodied, physical 6-foot-2, 210-pound righty that
pounds the strike zone. Working from the first base side of the
rubber, Eissler has a slight hip coil, loading on the backside and he
stays online well with a good, balanced drive to the plate. He
worked mainly in the 86-89 mph range and held his velocity very well
across his six innings of work, and the pitch shows good life to the
arm side down in the strike zone.
As
with other Slammers pitchers, Eissler showed good command of his
heater, and was able to use it effectively to set up the rest of his
arsenal. His upper-70s changeup plays well off his fastball and shows
quality fading action and dive below the knees, and his breaking ball
showed varied tilt and depth but flashed solid depth and late break
from an 11-to-5 shape.
Matt
Burkart (2016, Gill, Colo.) is an intriguing infield prospect.
The uncommitted 6-foot-1, 190-pound righthanded hitter splits time
between shortstop and third base and has a nice, athletic and
well-proportioned build with good present strength and room left in
his frame to add even more additional muscle. Burkart has an ease
and confidence to his game on both sides of the ball. He displayed
good balance at the plate with a medium leg lift trigger and easy
weight transfer, and he showed off solid hands and feel for the
barrel in going 2-for-4 with singles to center field and right field.
Elliot
Zoellner (2016, Annapolis, Md.) has a long, lean build with
sloped shoulders and some strength in his lower half. The
uncommitted, 6-foot-2, 175-pound righty had an inconsistent outing,
but he flashed some big-time stuff, as his fastball sat in the 89-92
mph range and showed big arm-side run and some late life and riding
action when located up in the zone. He also worked in a
tightly-rotating breaking ball that had late break, 10-to-4 shape,
two-plane movement and solid depth. Most of his breaking balls
registered spin rates over 3000 rpm by Trackman (where MLB average
curveballs typically register 2700 rpm). Zoellner lost his command
and scattered the ball after a few runners reached via error, but the
raw stuff is impressive and could play at the next level.
Adam
Laskey (2016, Barrington, N.J.) came on in relief on Jason
Groome, and while it would be hard for anybody to match the
electrifying stuff that Groome possesses, Laskey displayed two
quality offerings in his fastball and slider. While it was a quick
one inning look, the Duke commit showed solid command of his 90-92
mph fastball with some late wiggle. Laskey showed the ability to cut
the offering and run it to the arm side depending on where he wanted
to locate the pitch, and when he kept it down in the zone the heater
was a difficult pitch for hitters to square up. The 6-foot-3,
185-pound southpaw also flashed a low-80s slider with two-plane
depth, later break and some sharpness when he’s able to stay on top
of the ball and extend over his front side.
Bobby
Nicholson (2016, Charlottesville, Va.) displayed good stuff and
stamina in a late night start for Chandler World Gold against CBA
Marrucci. The Virginia commit sat in the 89-92 mph range with his
fastball early in the start, before reaching back and firing in a few
heaters in the 93-94 range in the sixth inning. The 6-foot-3,
215-pound righty employs the UVA style crouched setup out of the
windup and has an up-tempo delivery that can provide some deception.
He struggled a bit with his timing and synching up his upper and
lower halves, but when everything is in rhythm he has good drive to
the plate and his compact three-quarters arm slot allows his stuff to
jump on hitters. Nicholson also worked in two distinct breaking
balls, a slider in the 79-81 mph range with short depth and enough
late gloveside break and finish to miss bats and a softer 74-76 mph
curveball with some more depth and 11-to-5 shape.
– Andrew
Krause