Daily Leaders
Righthander Gage Dollar (2017, Smiths Station, Ala.) put together a quality outing on Friday for the Triton Rays. Greene tossed a couple of hitless innings and stifled hitters all afternoon. He has a medium build with some room to fill out with added strength. Greene has a long arm circle with some looseness in the back and has a very quick and whippy arm action. He works on the first base side of the rubber with a quick tempo and adds a slight crossfire element to his delivery and landing. Greene sat at 82-84 mph and topped out at 87 on the day with some arm-side run and life to the pitch. He consistently attacked hitters with the pitch and specifically focused on jamming righthanders on the inside part of the plate. Greene has an easy delivery and mixed in a changeup and curveball into his repertoire. His changeup in particular stood out as he was able to replicate his arm speed and the pitch showed some solid fade away from righthanded hitters.
Greene’s teammate at shortstop, Parker Chavers (2017, Montgomery, Al.), showed some promise as a prospect primarily on the defensive side of the ball. Chavers has a smaller, athletic build and showcased athleticism at shortstop. He made a number of impressive plays to both sides of his body and showed solid arm strength throwing on the run to his right. Chavers has a good first step when reading the ball and has athletic actions in the infield, specifically his arm accuracy and strength on the run. At the plate he has an open stance with a big leg lift and elastic hand set. His bat speed is solid and will probably get better as he adds strength and his swing is very timing based with the amount of moving parts.
On the opposite quad righthander Mitchel Hoon (2017, Carlisle, Pa.) stood out with a three-pitch repertoire that showcased the upside of all of his pitches. Hoon has a medium build and stands at 6-foot with some build on his frame. He has a long arm action with a slight stab in the back of his arm circle. Hoon throws with intent and did a good job getting downhill and creating a good angle on delivery of his fastball. The aforementioned pitch sat from 82-84 mph on the day and he maintained his velocity throughout the outing. The George Washington commit’s delivery is quick and he throws from a high three-quarters arm slot and Hoon located his fastball on the glove side consistently. Hoon’s changeup is a hard one and came in from 75-77 mph. He maintained his arm speed on the pitch and it flashed plus throughout the afternoon. Hoon’s curveball has 11-to-5 shape and was soft with some depth to it. The pitch was able to be thrown for strikes and to get hitters to chase on two-strike counts.
Southpaw Mason Meyer (2017, Newnan, Ga.) also showed some interesting potential during the first day of the Southeast Qualifier #2. He has a skinny frame with some projection to his build and stands at 6-foot-1. Meyer has a short arm circle with tight arm action and clean glove-side mechanics. He has an arm hook with some stab in the back and has a high, curved leg lift with an online delivery. Meyer throws with intent and located his fastball well to the arm side. The pitch sat from 81-83 mph and topped out on the day at 85 mph with arm side run. He got downhill often on the day but struggled at times with an inconsistent release point. Meyer exhibited some drop-and-drive and mixed in a curveball and a changeup. Both pitches saw a decreased arm speed and the curveball had soft break with 2-to-8 shape to it.
Later on in the evening, shortstop Elijah Crowell (2017, Lilburn, Ga.) displayed a lot of tools both in the field and at the plate. Crowell is listed at 6-foot, 155-pounds (although he might be lucky to be 155-pounds soaking wet) and has a skinny frame. He appears young and physically has a lot of projection left in his body. Crowell has a quick transfer with soft hands at shortstop and makes very fluid, athletic actions fielding his position. He showed off his athleticism with a leaping grab to rob a line drive base hit early on in the game. At the dish he has a slightly open stance with a high hand set and a high back elbow. Crowell showed some above average bat speed with hip torque in the swing and a line drive plane. His approach at the plate allows him to spray line drives to all fields and presently doesn’t incorporate much of his lower half into the swing which robs him of some power. Although he is a high school senior he just turned 17 and looks to have a lot of room to add muscle and strength to his frame.
Another middle infielder who showed a strong skillset was Jarrett Ford (2018, Decatur, Ga.). Ford has a smaller build with some projection and a high level of athleticism. That athleticism showed at second base where he displays quick hands, quick feet and good range and overall coverage. Ford made a spectacular play when he made a good read on a line drive to his right and laid out to make the grab. Offensively he had a slightly open stance with a high hand set and high back elbow. Ford has quick hands at the plate with good bat speed and showed solid plate coverage. The Tennessee commit was in San Diego earlier this year for the Perfect Game Underclass All-American Games. He works at-bats, and although the stat sheet didn’t show much for Friday’s game, Ford has been a fun player to watch and continues to trend upward.
Ford’s teammate, righthander Trevor Higgs (2017, Douglasville, Ga.), had a strong start on the mound for East Cobb. Higgs is listed as a primary catcher and his 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame seems to be a conservative estimate as he has a strong, muscular build. Higgs has a long arm action with a slight arm hook and releases from a high three-quarters arm slot. He has an easy delivery with solid tempo and his arm moves pretty effortlessly throughout. He has a crossfire element to his landing and he lacks finish and lower half drive with his delivery. What he does have is arm strength and he utilizes that to get velocity on his fastball. The pitch sat from 83-85 mph and topped out at 87 mph while Higgs did a good job of maintaining that velocity throughout the outing. His fastball didn’t have much movement to it but the angle of delivery helped the pitch be tough to square up consistently. Higgs has a curveball with 11-to-5 shape and good depth to it. He drops his arm to a lower three-quarters slot when he throws it which tips the pitch to an extent.