As part of Perfect Game's recurring PG in the Pros series David Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to past installments of the PG in the Pros series for other reports on prospects, both past and present.
2016-17 PG in the Pros Series: NL East | NL Central | NL West | AL West | AL Central
Baltimore Orioles
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Hunter Harvey, Chance Sisco, Christian Walker, Josh Hart
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Mychal Givens
Ryan Mountcastle, SS/3B
Mountcastle's coach both at Hagerty (Fla.) High School in the Orlando area and for the FTB Tucci travel team in the summer and fall was Jered Goodwin, now an assistant coach at Florida International. Goodwin started Mountcastle at PG events between his eighth grade and freshman years and he was seen by Perfect Game scouts well over 20 times during his high school career, culminating in the 2014 Perfect Game All-American Classic.
One thing became very obvious over that time; not only could the angular 6-foot-4, 185-pound Mountcastle hit, he seemed to hit best against the best pitchers he came up against. His signature at-bat seemed to be a ringing triple up the right-center field alley against a low-90s fastball.
This is a vitally important thing to evaluate in a teenage hitter and one of the most important things that scouts bear down on during the summers and especially at Jupiter in the fall. How a talented hitter handles 90-plus mph fastballs, especially in sequence with quality off-speed pitches is a far more important look into his future professional success than seeing what he does against 80 mph high school hurlers who are likely pitching him backwards with a heavy breaking ball diet.
Of course, Mountcastle hit the regular high school pitching pretty well, too. As a senior, he hit .500 and was named his district’s player of the year over fellow shortstop and PG All-American Brendan Rodgers, who later went third overall in the 2014 draft.
Much of the scout talk that spring, however, was about Mountcastle's overall athleticism and his perceived issues on defense and what his future position would be. That, quite frankly, confused much of the Perfect Game staff, myself included. Pro scouts spend lots of time talking about the value of hitters, that "you have to hit to play," etc., but here they had a big and projectable athlete with 6.8 speed and a fringy average throwing arm who could flat hit and had proven it and they seemed to ignore the bat in order to focus on the other tools. The consensus before the draft seemed to be that Mountcastle was a third- to fourth-round talent.
The Orioles thought otherwise, though. They picked him with the 36th overall pick and signed Mountcastle away from a UCF scholarship for a $1.3 million bonus.
Boston Red Sox
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Jackie Bradley, Henry Owens, Garin Cecchini, Blake Swihart, Mookie Betts
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Rafael Devers, Matt Barnes, Brian Johnson
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Michael Kopech
Andrew Benintendi, OF
Benintendi was one of the best high school athletes you'll ever hear about, but unless you lived in the Cincinnati area, you probably didn't hear much about him.
To warm up for his baseball in the spring, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Benintendi played basketball during the winter at Madeira High School, scoring 1,753 points during his four years as a starter, including 23.4 points per game as a junior and 25.5 points per game as a senior. On the baseball field in the spring, Benintendi ended his career as the all-time Ohio prep leader in hits and runs scored and posted a .564-12-57 line as a senior with 38 stolen bases. He was named the 2013 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings High School Player of the Year nationally.
Benintendi didn't create much enthusiasm in the baseball scouting community, though. While he attended several WWBA tournaments as a member of the Midland Redskins travel team he lacked national exposure, and as a result, PG had him as the 342nd ranked player in the class. The hometown Reds ventured a 31st round pick on him in 2013 but he fulfilled his commitment to Arkansas.
Benintendi's freshman year at Arkansas was a disappointment, as he hit .276-1-27 with 17 stolen bases and only had 10 extra-base hits in 61 games. Scouts were understandably taken by surprise when Benintendi dominated from the opening weekends of his sophomore season and he eventually finished the season with a .376-20-57 line with 24 steals and 50 walks.
Arkansas played against Creighton that spring at spacious T.D. Ameritrade Park in Omaha and I remember a national scout telling me afterwards, "Benintendi was hitting balls in BP that were landing in the concession areas beyond the stands. In a ballpark where college hitters can't even reach the warning track usually. Then he goes out in the game and does the same thing."
Benintendi was a draft eligible sophomore due to his age and there was no chance he was getting out of the first 10 picks from all the chatter before the 2015 draft. The Red Sox selected him with seventh overall pick and signed him for a $3.6 million bonus.
New York Yankees
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – J.R. Murphy, Tyler Austin, Greg Bird
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Ian Clarkin, Rob Refsnyder
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Aaron Judge
Justus Sheffield, LHP
Justus Sheffield followed his brother Jordan, older by just about one year, through the prospect ranks. Jordan was a 6-foot righthander who got his fastball up to 98 mph during high school and was a 2012 Perfect Game All-American. He unfortunately hurt his elbow during his senior year in high school and went to Vanderbilt, where he was the 36th pick in the 2016 draft by the Dodgers.
Justus is a completely different athlete than his older brother, though, aside from being 6-feet tall. He's a thicker and stronger athlete, lefthanded, of course, and had a completely different pitching approach than his power fastball focused brother in high school.
Even before Sheffield started pitching in PG tournaments, with the Knoxville Stars and Knights Baseball, he had a reputation as a high performance pitcher who simply overmatched high school hitters. He went 9-0 as a sophomore at Tullahoma (Tenn.) High School with 96 strikeouts in 53 innings and effectively did the same thing during the summers once out on the circuit.
Sheffield's first and only PG showcase was the 2013 National Showcase and he showed all his pitches effectively. This scout filed the following report afterwards:
Strong athletic build, fairly mature physically. Polished delivery, three-quarters arm slot, clean and fast arm stroke, repeats well and gets good plane to his pitches. Fastball to 92 mph, mostly straight with occasional arm-side run, can get fastball to the glove side very well and bust righthanded hitters inside. Has feel for two types of breaking balls, slider is sharp with late biting action and two-plane break, tends to tip curveball with a late wrap in back but it has hard spin and quick downer life, different shape than slider. Changeup has really developed, good arm speed and feel, throws with confidence. Has all the pitches and can sequence them for strikes. High ceiling potential. Excellent student, verbal commitment to Vanderbilt. Selected to the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
Sheffield's senior high school season was more of the same. He went 11-0, 0.34 with 131 strikeouts in 61 innings and even hit .405 with three home runs at the plate and was subsequently named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
The lack of a true plus fastball likely kept Sheffield from going higher in the 2014 draft but the Cleveland Indians were happy to pick him with the 31st overall pick. He signed almost immediately for a $1.6 million bonus and was part of this past summer’s blockbuster trade involving Andrew Miller.
Tampa Bay Rays
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Jake Odorizzi, Andrew Toles
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Justin O’Conner, Nathan karns, Taylor Guerrieri, Justin Williams
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Blake Snell, LHP
Ryne Stanek, RHP
Ryne Stanek went to high school in suburban Kansas City and went to the 2009 PG National Showcase. He showed a solid three-pitch mix at that event, working in the 87-89 mph range with his fastball and throwing a quality curveball and changeup, with his mid-70s curveball being his best overall pitch. He was consistent with that level stuff at other events through the summer, then bumped his velocity up to 92 mph at the Kernels Tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that fall.
Stanek's velocity picked up significantly during his senior spring and he worked consistently in the 91-94 mph range and touched as high as 96 mph. He moved all the way up to 20th in the PG class rankings prior to the 2010 draft and the Seattle Mariners took him in the third round. They were unable to sway him from his commitment to Arkansas, however.
Stanek enjoyed a solid three-year career at Arkansas, going 22-8, 2.55 overall while also pitching for the USA Collegiate National Team after both his freshman and sophomore seasons. His raw stuff remained outstanding his first two seasons, with a steady mid-90s fastball that showed big sinking life and limited hitters to two home runs in 92 innings as a sophomore. Going into the 2013 season, Stanek was considered a strong candidate for a top 10 slot in the draft.
Ironically, while Stanek enjoyed an extremely successful junior season, going 10-2, 1.39 in 16 starts, his draft stock slowly changed all spring. He was relying heavily on his fastball and not showing either the consistent velocity or life that he'd previously shown and the natural suspicion among scouts was that he wasn't fully healthy. The result was that Stanek slid to the Rays with the 29th overall pick, where he signed for a $1,758,000 bonus.
The scouts’ perceptions were correct, as Stanek underwent shoulder surgery before appearing in a professional game.
Toronto Blue Jays
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris, Chase DeJong
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Rowdy Tellez
Sean Reid-Foley, RHP
Sean Reid-Foley grew up in a baseball family in Jacksonville, Fla., in the shadow of his brother, David, who caught for four years at Mercer and has been pitching in the Dodgers organization the past three years. It didn't take Reid-Foley long to step out of the shadow, however, as he was touching the low-90s coming out of his sophomore year at Sandalwood High School while playing in the summer for the Jacksonville Royals at PG tournaments.
Performance is often a secondary concern at the PG National Showcase, but when a player really performs well, especially when a pitcher overmatches high-level hitters it resonates and is noticed. Such was the case with Reid-Foley at the 2013 PG National. He struck out six straight hitters in his two-inning outing, working in the 91-94 mph range with his lively fastball and putting a number of batters away with a powerful breaking ball. Here is his report from that outing:
Tall slope-shouldered build, good present strength. Back turn delivery, uses his lower half well, loose very fast arm coming through, has deception in his delivery, three-quarters arm slot. Consistent low-90s fastball, topped out at 94 mph, consistently plus fastball life, cuts at times, runs at others, velocity comes easily. Power curveball up to 80 mph with hard spin and biting action, tends to lower elbow on curveball release but doesn't impact quality. Works very quickly and throws strikes, struck out all six hitters he faced with minimal resistance. Impressive performance. Good student, verbal commitment to Florida State. Selected to the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
Reid-Foley went on to have a strong summer and fall on the showcase circuit, at the PG All-American Classic and pitching for the FTB Tucci travel team. He was even stronger the next spring, going 7-3, 0.64 with 120 strikeouts in 65 innings with only 17 hits and 15 walks allowed. Reid-Foley's stuff was even firmer, often sitting in the mid-90s and staying there throughout a start and his hard breaking ball was a swing-and-miss pitch.
Perfect Game listed Reid-Foley as the eighth best prospect in the 2014 high school class but the scouting community wasn't quite as optimistic, with concerns about his delivery and arm action and his ability to develop the command necessary to remain a starter. The Blue Jays liked him the most, drafting him with the 49th overall pick and signing him to a $1,128,000 bonus.