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Jun 04, 2012 - Jun 06, 2012     
TBD - ,
Shane Watson
RHP 6-4 195   R/R
FB
60
40
OF
IF
1B
C
Pop
Range
CB
SL
CH
Split
Knuckle
4/20/12: Watson was little known outside of Southern California until last summer despite going 10-2, 1.16 as a junior for Lakewood High School, one the top high school programs in Southern California. He made his 'National Debut' at last summer’s WWBA 17U National Championship pitching for Yak Baseball West against the Marucci Elite team that would later go on to claim both the WWBA Underclass and World championships in the fall. Watson threw a complete game 4-hitter with exactly 100 pitches in leading Yak to a 8-3 upset win, striking out 9 Marucci hitters in the process. Watson topped out at 91 mph with excellent life on his fastball to go with a mid 70s curveball. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound right hander followed that up with an equally impressive outing at the Area Code Games in early August, pitching in the 90-93 mph range with a hard and late breaking 77 mph curveball and mixing in a couple of 81 mph changeups. He immediately moved into the Perfect Game Top 50 in the 2012 class and into scout’s minds as a potential top two round draft pick for this June. Scouts have an insatiable urge to rank players (and plenty of other things as well) and there had been no obvious No. 2 high school right hander behind Lucas Giolito in the Southern California prep ranks. Ryan McNeil, Cody Poteet, Chase DeJong and Daniel Starwalt were often mentioned as possibilities, but Watson’s rapidly improving stuff and performance in at the Area Codes pushed him quickly into that No. 2 slot. Watson has continued to improve his stock this spring while going 3-0, 0.66 in 32 innings, allowing only 16 hits and striking out 45 hitters. He has been up to 94 mph with his fastball and scouts feel as if he still has the physical envelop to continue to gain a couple of more ticks of velocity in the future, especially given his improvement over the last 12 months in that area. Watson, who is signed with Southern California, also grades out well for his pitchability and pitching mechanics. He throws from a simple and repeatable delivery with few excess moving parts. Watson has a clean and compact arm action in back that hides the ball effectively from hitters and comes over top for a high three quarters release point that creates good angle on his pitches. He throws from the extreme right side of the rubber, which creates some horizontal angle to the plate that otherwise would lack to his high release point and 12-to-6 shape on his curveball. Interestingly, he has hit 10 batters in 33 innings this spring despite only issuing 15 walks and this is probably at least a partial product of his throwing from that position on the rubber. One of the biggest and most anticipated pitching matchups in Southern California this spring was at Blair Field on March 30 when Watson and DeJong (Long Beach Wilson HS, literally right across the street from Blair Field) faced off. Lakewood and Wilson are fierce rivals, although DeJong is also a USC signee and he and Watson are good friends off the field. With a sellout crowd of over 3,000 (for a high school game) in attendance, Watson and Lakewood shutout DeJong and Wilson 1-0. Watson cruised through his shutout performance only throwing 76 pitches and interestingly only registering 4 strikeouts. DeJong matched him in allowing only 4 hits while striking out 10, but two of those hits were back-to-back in the sixth inning to produce the game’s only run.




Sep 23, 2011 - Sep 26, 2011   So Cal Outlaws  1
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick - Scottsdale, AZ
Shane Watson
RHP 6-4 195   R/R
FB
60
40
OF
IF
1B
C
Pop
Range
CB
SL
CH
Split
Knuckle




Aug 05, 2011 - Aug 10, 2011     
Blair Field - Long Beach, CA
Shane Watson
RHP 6-3 200   R/R
FB
93
60
40
OF
IF
1B
C
Pop
Range
91-93
CB
77
SL
CH
81
Split
Knuckle




Jul 09, 2011 - Jul 15, 2011   Yak Baseball (West)  34
East Cobb Complex - Marietta, GA
Shane Watson
RHP 6-3 200   R/R
FB
91
60
40
OF
IF
1B
C
Pop
Range
87-91
CB
75
SL
77
CH
Split
Knuckle