Cape Cod notes: Hart stands tall

The Perfect Game National Showcase is the unofficial beginning point of the 2016 summer circuit with the top prep players then making their way from the Tournament of Stars, to the 17u WWBA World Championship, and eventually to the East Coast Pro, Area Code Games and the PG All-American Classic (for the very best). Of course, these are for the high school players and it's on Cape Cod that you'll find most of the top collegiate players, several of whom have already been deemed as "must sees" for the 2017 MLB draft despite still being a full calendar year away. Jheremy Brown will be on hand and to provide several recaps throughout his two weeks in what become the pinnacle of college baseball with top talent (and scouts) coming in from all over the country.

*All references to graduation class refer to their standing in the upcoming school year.


It’s far too early to start pegging players to certain round but after my look of Southern California righthander Mitch Hart the other night it’s not unrealistic to see him going in the top two rounds, and potentially the first, if things correctly fall into place. Listed at a long and still projectable 6-foot-4, 195-pounds, the 2016 season was anything but what Hart envisioned as he went 2-4 with a 6.21 ERA over 10 starts, spanning 29 innings in which he walked more than he struck out.

Now erase the last sentence you read from your memory because the Mitch Hart that threw Sunday night was the complete polar opposite of the spring version. His delivery is rather simple and he does a nice job of incorporating his strong lower half, even if he is a bit of a short strider down the mound. But with the short stride comes the ability to sink the fastball and that’s exactly what Hart’s capable of doing while showing lots of comfort working in and out to hitters with obvious intent. Early in the game Hart sat in the 89-92 mph range with his fastball before sitting more comfortably at 90-92 mph and bumped a few 93s though he didn’t show his fastball as often as one would imagine. And the feel for the secondaries and ability to sequence them are exactly why we can put the early round aspirations on the young righthander.

Of the four-pitch mix, the curveball was the most prominent pitch in the opening frame, a 12-to-6 offering at 74-75 mph with sharp and late depth with which he’s capable of changing a hitter’s eye level. However, it’s the slider that’s the better of the two pitches though that’s not said to take away from his curveball which is at least average and can project for better. Hart’s slider, which routinely came across at 82-84 mph, featured short and tight tilt life, both of which come extremely late and read fastball out of the hand. He threw several of them but perhaps the single most impressive offering came as the put away pitch to the dangerous Pavin Smith of Virginia in which Hart located to a slider to Smith’s back foot for a swinging third strike.

Rounding out the arsenal for Hart of course is his changeup, the same pitch he was renowned for as a prep arm in California. Though it took him until about the third inning to break it out, it proved worthy of the wait (unless you’re an opposing batter in which you’d wish he never threw it). Another low-80s pitch, the changeup features pretty late dive down in the zone and grades out as a present above average offering. Like everything else he throws, Hart does a nice job of maintaining his short and quick arm action on each pitch and shows the comfort to double up on any offering in any given count.

The only time we saw Hart get barreled was when he left fastballs up in the zone, which naturally took the sink away from the pitch and became rather hittable. But when he was on top and sinking to the low quadrants while mixing, it was easy to envision big things for Hart and his legit four-pitch mix.

There’s been some coaching turnover in Starkville this offseason, but Mississippi State fans have a throng of talent to welcome back including sophomore lefthander Konnor Pilkington. He certainly looks the part on the mound with broad, wide shoulders and present strength throughout with additional room for added strength and the fact that he’s lefthanded automatically makes him that much more interesting. Then add into the equation his loose and whippy arm action and extended three-quarters release point then you’re really cooking in terms of a top flight prospect for the 2018 MLB draft.