Daily Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2




The very first time Perfect Game saw Nick O’Day (2018, Coatesville, Pa.) was two falls ago when he appeared in the inaugural WWBA Freshman World Championship as a rising eighth grader with the Tri-State Arsenal. Since the fall of 2013 O’Day has understandably developed physically and with the strength gains his stuff has continued to take jumps as well.

Currently ranked No. 21 in the class of 2018, O’Day shows interesting two-way potential moving forward and put his talent on display on both sides of the ball on Sunday. O’Day started the game for Phenom Signature and came out firing with his fastball, sitting in the 88-90 mph range early, bumping a 91 in the second inning. Showing a steady tempo in his delivery with balance throughout, O’Day pitched off his fastball early and was able to do so successfully by generating downhill plane to either side while missing bats. The righthanded O’Day is able to generate that type of high level velocity thanks to his strongly built, broad shouldered 5-foot-11 frame and short but quick arm action coming through the back.

Though he would have been able to work through the lineup while exclusively throwing his fastball, O’Day mixed in both a curveball and slider during live at-bats and flashed a changeup in between innings. Flashing a slider at 75 mph, O’Day threw his curveball most frequently at 70-71 mph and showed a strong feel for the offering. His curveball showed 12-to-6 shape with solid depth and froze a batter with a 71 mph offering.

O’Day also showed loose hands with the bat and just as much strength in the batter’s box as on the mound as he turned on a pitch and put it over the left field fence for a loud three-run home run.

You aren’t going to miss 6-foot-6 lefthander Jake Sweeney (2018, Hobart, Ind.) as he takes the mound as his stature and physicality immediately stand out at first look. He then takes the mound and instantly shows how much of an uncomfortable at-bat he is to go up against as he works from an extended lower three-quarters arm slot while running his fastball up to 86 mph.

Occasionally raising his slot up to a more tractional three-quarters, Sweeney is able to generate late sinking life on his fastball that sat in the 81-85 mph range throughout his four innings, creating angle with some downward plane. He stays short through his takeaway and is able to produce his fastball velocity with relative ease as the ball comes out cleanly from his hand. One thing that stood out about Sweeney on the bump was as he faced a strong lefthanded hitting lineup he showed no problem locating his fastball to his glove side and did so on a regular basis. With his size, velocity and arm slot it would make for a difficult at-bat two weeks ago at the 17u, let alone the 15u. Sweeney also showed a feel for both a slider and changeup, two offerings that will continue to develop nicely into the future. His changeup worked in the 74-77 mph and showed some tumble and fading life to his arm side and flashed a slider at 71 mph, featuring some sweeping life down in the zone.




Jacob Riordan (2018, Lilburn, Ga.) looks to be the latest in a line of high end talents to come from Coach Chan Brown and Parkview High School. Though Riordan just completed his freshman year of high school he’s already competed in 11 Perfect Game events and is presently ranked as the No. 51 prospect in the 2018 class.

The physicality is easy to project on Riordan as he stands 6-foot-2, 190-pounds but it’s the arm action and overall stuff that may project the best. Showing a very loose and whippy arm action at release with extension out front, Riordan peaked at 88 mph with his fastball, touching both 87 and 88 mph once early on. He sat comfortably in the 83-86 mph range throughout and all the while remained under control with a lower effort release. Riordan begins his delivery with a high leg lift up past his belt line while staying tall on his back leg before driving to the plate while remaining on top of the ball. Continuously getting on top of the ball helped Riordan generate some late running life to his fastball and consistently lived down in the zone with the pitch.

He also showed some hand speed as his slider peaked at 75 mph, another indicator that more velocity may be on the way. Riordan worked consistently in the mid-70s with the pitch showing short 10-to-4 shape and flashed a changeup early in the game at 81 mph.

Righthander Rhett Fetner (2017, Handley, Ala.) relieved Riordan and threw the next couple of innings after his start was washed away by Mother Nature after just two pitches the other night. Just as he did the other night, Fetner came out showing some solid velocity on his fastball and like Riordan did it with relative ease.

Listed at 6-foot-3, 190-pounds, Fetner lived in the 84-87 mph range, peaking at 88 mph, while showing a loose arm with solid downhill plane. With a slight hip turn at the top of his delivery Fetner then drives towards the plate, and while showing a lower effort release is able to generate nice running life on his fastball, particularly in the low end of his velocity band. He does a nice job of staying short through the back, something that helped him fill up the strike zone on a regular basis. To help keep hitters honest and off balance the uncommitted Fetner showed a sharp, late breaking curveball in the mid-70s, a pitch that comes out of the same tunnel as his fastball.

The abilities and exploits of Kumar Rocker (2018, Watkinsville, Ga.) are well known on the mound and even though he didn’t pitch today he still made noise for Team Elite Prime. In the first game of a doubleheader Rocker hit two no-doubt home runs before wrapping up the game with a hard line drive double. Similar to the way he pitches, Rocker shows a lot of balance and easy strength in his swing which was further evidenced by the line drive single to the opposite field that he collected in the second game.




It was a quick look as Game On Stealth called to Chase Patrick (2017, Ellaville, Ga.) in the seventh inning to lock down their 6-3 victory and he did just that. Patrick came in out of the bullpen with a full on attack mode mentality and challenged hitters instantly with his fastball that sat at 87-89 mph with every pitch he threw. Working from an up-tempo delivery, Patrick showed off his athleticism as he was able to repeat his delivery well and work on top of the ball, generating downhill plane while working to either side of the plate. He only showed two curveballs but the first one he snapped off (recorded in the video) drew some “oohs” from the fans behind home plate as it showed late biting 11-to-5 life and just narrowly missed the outer half black.




Another young, uncommitted right-handed pitcher, Ethan Smith (2018, Mount Juliet, Tenn.) threw three impressive innings for the Knights Baseball National 15u Team Sunday afternoon. Listed at 6-foot-2, 175-pounds, Smith looks the part with his long limbs and broad shoulders and it’s easy to envision him adding strength to his frame over the next 2-3 years.

Smith works from an up-tempo and rather quick delivery as he gets tall on his back leg, and then just as he breaks his hands there’s a slight pause before driving to the plate, adding some deception while throwing off hitters' timing. The arm action is short but very quick coming through and shows some whippiness to it allowing Smith to live in the 82-85 mph range despite not fully incorporating his lower half. The ball leaves Smith’s hand cleanly, showing running life at times and cutting life at others, but he consistently filled up the strike zone and allowed just a single base hit while walking none and punching out two.

Working from a high three-quarters arm slot, Smith showed some advanced pitchability for an arm his age as he possesses a strong feel for both a slider and a curveball and wasn’t afraid to throw them in any count. For instance most pitchers would go fastball on a 3-2 count whereas Smith showed he could not only throw a curveball in the count but execute the pitch as he got the hitter out front and rolled it over to the left side. His curve featured 11-to-5 life at 71-73 mph with some depth coming out of the same slot, as did his slider. Currently uncommitted, Smith threw his slider in the 75-78 mph range and was able to generate some sharp and late bite to it down in the zone giving him a strong three-pitch mix with the ability to throw each for strikes.

– Jheremy Brown


In a surprise to exactly no one, 2017 outfielder Malik Spratling was once again a star of the action on Sunday from the 2015 15u WWBA National Championship. This time showing off his present game and upside as purely a positional prospect, Spratling made a play that is hardly ever seen at the major league level, let alone in high school. Playing center field, Spratling chased down an extra-base hit that ended up in the right-center field gap, about 10 feet from the wall. With a runner trying to score from first, Spratling got there quickly, picked the ball up, turned, and threw. There was no crow hop, no exaggerated gathering of his body/arm and overall not much effort at all. He did exactly what was described: He picked the ball up, turned around, and threw it towards home. Only, his throw was to the catcher in the air on a line, from the base of the wall in right-center, and nabbed the runner trying to score easily.

It’s not often you see seasoned college coaches drop their jaws, stare in amazement and openly giggle at something they see on a baseball field. That happened on Sunday evening. Malik Spratling made that happen, and it was absolutely special. He’s a plus runner with the defensive chops to play center field with a cannon for an arm, a very good hitter with feel for the barrel and some power to go along with it, and to wrap things up, as has been discussed before, he has legitimate Division I potential on the mound as well. He’s a special player, one we’ve truly enjoyed watching this week.

2018 righthander Hunter Goodwin (Sylvester, Ga.) was impressive on the mound for the Game On Stealth squad as well. At 6-foot-3, 180-pounds, Goodwin is well built already but has the kind of broad-shouldered frame that is easily projectable to add some more size to it with physical development. Touching 87 early in his start with good arm-side run, Goodwin worked in the 82-85 range for most of his outing on Sunday night, showing (at times) explosive arm-side life on his fastball, but rawness in his command. Goodwin’s delivery is well-paced and can be balanced, but he struggles to rotate his front hip fully in his delivery, landing with his front foot pointing towards the third base dugout (an incomplete rotation), which in turn doesn't allow him to get all the way through his delivery and makes him off balance. At this point, because the hips and rest of his body aren’t getting through his delivery, his arm cannot catch up either, which causes him to miss high to the arm side often. Regardless, any mechanical issues Goodwin has are minor and can be easily corrected, but his arm strength and raw feel for pitching are both very advanced. He also shows excellent feel for 12-to-6, hard-biting curveball in the low-70s, with excellent depth and tight spin that flashes the potential to be a bat-misser moving forward.

2019 righthander Dylan Delucia (Port Orange, Fla.) started on the mound for FTB Mizuno on Sunday morning, and the first thing that strikes you is that he’s certainly bigger than his listed size (5-foot-5, 120-pounds). What strikes you next is that Delucia can flat out pitch, and for someone of his age, that in it of itself is very impressive. Touching as high as 83 mph, Delucia maintained his fastball velocity in the 79-82 range for the entirety of his five-inning, 80-pitch outing—something 14-16 year old prospects don't often do. He threw 55 of those 80 pitches for strikes, again, something 14-16 year old prospects just don't often do. His quick arm and repeatable delivery just pounded the fastball to the glove side, away from righthanded hitters, getting called strikes and whiffs consistently on the exact same pitch, seemingly all Sunday morning. He allowed only one hit and one walk while striking out five, picking up the victory and putting his name on the (very) early 2019 radar.

2018 switch-hitting third baseman Dylan Buck (Bradenton, Fla.) had a very good day as well on Sunday, showing off impressive strength from his highly projectable 6-foot, 155-pound body. He drove a double deep over the left fielders’ head, showing off that impressive strength as well as the natural loft and hand speed in his swing that we look for in future power hitters, something he could very easily become once he continues to add strength and physically develop into his frame.

2018 righthander Gavin Bloodworth threw early Sunday morning for Team Demarini GA Black 15u, and the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Bloodworth was impressive in his outing. His large frame is filled out well already, although there is some projection remaining. He throws from an over-the-top arm slot with an overall clean arm action, generating solid arm speed into good downhill plane to the plate. His fastball touched 84 but worked mostly in the 78-82 range with very good natural heaviness and arm-side life, keeping the ball off the barrel of the opposing hitters bats with consistency. He showed the ability to elevate the fastball up around the letters and get swings and misses as well. Having been up to 88 on his fastball as recently as a few weeks ago, Bloodworth possesses the type of arm strength and potentially premium velocity that makes him a well sought after prospect, but being able to pitch well and be effective without his best heat makes him an even more impressive prospect. He flashed very good feel for an 11-to-5 curveball with power depth and sharp, tight break. It’s a weapon pitch that Bloodworth showed the ability to command as well, throwing the pitch both for strikes within the zone as well as burying it down and out of the zone for potential swings and misses over the top of it.

– Brian Sakowski