2015 PG High School Showdown Championship Feature


Under most circumstances there would be plenty of concern if a young freshman pitcher threw four innings on a Thursday night, then came back to throw six innings on Saturday morning. In the case of Cartersville's Anthony Seigler, those circumstances wouldn't apply. Seigler threw the first four innings on Thursday from the left side while picking up a win out of the bullpen, then came back Saturday morning to throw righthanded as a starter in the first semifinal of the day against Parkview. His stiff is virtually identical from both sides, with a fastball that tops out at 84 mph to go with an advanced change up and solid curveball.

Alas, the story didn't end well for Seigler, as the opportunistic Parkview squad manufactured two runs in the sixth inning after Seigler entered the frame with a one-hit shutout in the works, much as they did in their epic win Friday against IMG Academy. The Panthers rode sophomore lefthander Cody Collett's complete game seven-hitter to a 2-0 win. Parkview had allowed only two runs in three games heading into the finals.

Seigler is going to be a unique player to watch develop over the rest of his high school career and beyond. His coach, Stuart Chester, says Seigler – who stands 5-foot-10, 175-pounds – projects best as a catcher moving forward but is playing second base now because he can and there is a team need at that position.

The more one watches Parkview play, the more one appreciates the skills that senior shortstop Trevor Brown brings to field on both sides of the ball. As mentioned in yesterday's column, the Kennesaw State signee is a high level defender who makes the routine play easily and the difficult play with flair and athleticism. Brown made a back-handed glove flip to second base for a force play yesterday that any big league shortstop would have been proud of. His key contribution to this victory was an attempted sacrifice bunt in the Parkview sixth inning that was so perfectly placed that it turned into a single and provided a distinct momentum shift.

The second semifinal game of the day between Concordia Lutheran and Kennesaw Mountain was a close affair for five-and-a-half innings before the versatile Mustang offense erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of what became an 8-3 Kennesaw Mountain win. A booming triple by catcher Tyler Stephenson to lead off the inning and outfielder Terence Norman's double to punctuate the scoring highlighted the rally.

Norman went 3-for-3 and drove in two runs with his bases loaded double. The details of his three hits showed the maturity of the junior's approach at the plate. Facing Crusader southpaw Brandon Ivey his first two times up, Norman was content to take Ivey's fading mid-80s fastballs to right field for clean singles. His third at-bat was against Ke'Bryan Hayes throwing in the upper-80s from the right side. Norman turned on the inside heat, and, just as he also did on Thursday, roped a line shot over the left fielder's head.

Hayes continued to put on a show with his bat and any scout watching the past two days has to have come away extremely impressed. In the first inning, hitting against Kennesaw Mountain righthander Ryley Giliam and his 89-91 mph fastball, Hayes took three straight sliders, then lined a fastball for a laser triple one bounce off the center field fence that registered 102 mph off the bat. After a walk in his second at-bat, Hayes rolled a slider through the hole on the left side of the infield to drive in the run that tied the game at 3-3. With Hayes, you throw him a fastball at your own risk and the Crusaders knew this, as about 80 percent of the pitches Hayes saw were breaking balls.

Giliam, a Clemson signee, was very impressive himself for five innings, striking out 11 hitters. He has a tightly wound 5-foot-11, 175-pound build and an athletic cross-body delivery and high three-quarters arm slot that creates great angle to the plate. He was able to locate both his fastball and slider to his glove side consistently and keep righthanded hitters reaching for the ball.

The win highlighted the versatility and depth of the Kennesaw Mountain offense. It was obvious from the first inning that they weren't going to play their speed game with Garrett Wolforth behind the plate when they chose to attempt to bunt over Reggie Pruitt (unsuccessfully, too) after the speedster led off the game with a single. Instead, they pounded out 11 hits by seven different hitters, with all but one player contributing either an RBI or run scored.

The championship game between Parkview and Kennesaw Mountain proved to be anti-climatic, with Parkview taking advantage of six Mustang errors to post a 10-0 run-rule victory in six innings. The win put a stamp on what Parkview does best as a team, which is quite simply just executing clean baseball. The Panthers committed one error in four games while their pitching staff issued only five walks in 29 overall innings. They are especially strong up the middle defensively with shortstop Trevor Brown, second baseman Daino Deas, catcher Austin Biggar and center fielder Brandon Hill. Coach Chan Brown has things working pretty smoothly on the east side of Atlanta.


Top Prospect Quick Hits:

• It's hard to quantify lefthander Jason Groome right now as his ceiling is so high. The 2016 draft class, both high school and college, is shaping up to be historically good. Groome will be a major part of it.

• Based on everything I know about Ke'Bryan Hayes right now, which is plenty, I'd have him slotted to go in the 25-40 pick range. The bat is becoming increasingly special, everything else is solid and there isn't a better young man and family in the draft class. It's hard not to imagine him not playing in the big leagues in the same way his father did.

• Aside from Chris Betts, there might not be a more draftable catcher in the high school ranks than Tyler Stephenson. He has the prototype body that scouts love and big tools on both sides of the ball. He didn't take a bad swing in four games and the ball just explodes off his bat. I'm thinking third round potential right now.

• Garrett Wolforth is a force defensively and will likely play in the majors just because of that. A switch-hitter, his bat from the left side is far less developed. I can see him really benefitting from three years of college baseball as opposed to signing professionally as a re-classified 2015.

• If you don't like watching Reggie Pruitt play baseball, you don't like baseball. I had him at 3.41 on a bunt on Saturday and I'm confident I nailed it. He was at full throttle when he made contact and it was perfectly placed down the third base line.

• Perhaps fittingly, the 2016 high school class is also loaded with catchers. Parkview's Austin Biggar will be among the best of them, especially considering his balance of offensive and defensive tools.

• Now that I've talked to Logan Allen and met his mother, my resume is complete on him considering how often I've seen him pitch. He's a very mature young man who is going to be successful in life. That could very well start by being a second/third round pick this June depending on how things play out. It was interesting hearing from both Logan and his mother about realizing this is their last Perfect Game event and how much they are going to miss them in the future.

• Cartersville is a national class program that has four freshman playing on varsity. They could be pretty good over the next three years. Having LakePoint in their back yard certainly won't hurt them.


Consolation Game Notes:

• The Magnolia Heights Chiefs beat IMG Academy 15-10, scoring nine runs in the sixth inning to turn the game around. Shortstop David Herrington went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and a pair of RBI to lead the Chiefs, but IMG did themselves no favors, walking nine hitters and making four errors. Herrington ended up the Showdown going 7-for-13 at the plate, while Magnolia Heights went 2-2 while scoring 28 total runs in four games.

• Venice third baseman/righthanded pitcher Trevor Holloway, a High Point commit, continued to showcase his two-way potential, throwing four shutout innings as Venice rebounded from Friday night's loss to Kennesaw Mountain with a 5-0 win over Savannah Christian. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Holloway threw in the 86-88 mph range with a quality curveball and changeup. Venice also topped Cartersville 8-2 later in the day to finish the Showdown with a 3-1 record. Venice's style of play strongly resembles Parkview's as they unfailingly execute the game's fundamentals and always put themselves in a position to win. Senior outfielder Langston Provitt had a strong overall weekend for the Indians, going 5-for-11 (.455), while sophomore shortstop Shane Shifflett was 4-for-10 (.400) with three runs scored.

• Catcher Carson Keyser doubled in the lead run in the sixth inning as Sarasota overcame an early 5-0 deficit to pull off a 6-5 win over Collierville. Collierville senior righthander Peyton Culbertson threw five strong innings but got a no-decision. An Arkansas State signee, Culbertson worked in the upper-80s with good heavy sinking life on his fastball.

• Third baseman Cody Brickhouse of Sarasota capped his 18-event Perfect Game career by going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate as the Sailors scored eight runs in the sixth inning to defeat Murfreesboro Central 9-3 in their second game Saturday. Sarasota finished 2-2. Brickhouse accounted for Sarasota's first run with a solo home run and contributed an RBI single to their big rally. The Chipola JC signee hit a rousing 8-for-13 (.615) at the Showdown.