Daily Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

The day started as a continuation of the CBA Marucci Show. Then Orlando Scorpions outfielder Carlos Cortes decided that the 2015 17u PG World Series was his show. Then CBA and the Scorpions decided their side of the bracket in one of the more bizarre games this scout has seen in a long time.

When the Arizona dust settled late in the evening with a Tyler Baum 94 mph fastball, the Scorpions had ended CBA's incredible 16-game win streak in extra innings and advanced to Tuesday's championship game.

The other side of the bracket saw GBG Marucci do what they almost always do in Arizona tournaments; calmly execute with little drama and emerge with victories over a emotional and confident Dallas Patriots team (6-5) and a previously hot Elite Squad Prime (10-2).

Cortes has already been mentioned a couple of times both the daily recaps and by PG writer Jeff Dahn since getting to Arizona, but his performance yesterday, considering the level of competition, was extraordinary. He went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly to the right field warning track in the Scorpions 10-0 quarterfinal victory over the Southern California Bombers, then came back to go 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in the Scorpions eight inning 8-7 nail-biter over CBA Marucci in the semifinals. Cortes is now 8-for-17 in six games with a pair of doubles, three home runs and nine RBI. He has walked twice and has yet to strike out. He's owning at-bats, making early count square contact against any type of pitch and hitting with incredible confidence.


Playoff Scouting Impressions

• The Scorpions were probably saving Baum for the championship game once they took an early lead against CBA but needed him to close out the game in the eighth inning after CBA scored three runs in the seventh to tie the game before a Orlando run in the top of the eighth. Baum closed the game in rapid fashion, pumping 93-94 mph fastballs into the zone and retiring the side on 10 pitches, all of them strikes. The Florida righthander has shown the stuff this summer to make a big jump up the national rankings.

• Orlando lefthander Cole Ragans had outstanding raw stuff in his three innings of work, pitching in the 90-93 mph zone, but struggled with command while allowing four runs. Ragans has made delivery changes over the past year that has him throwing from a higher arm slot from a more directional delivery and that has caused some vertical control issues that he's still working through. When he's in the zone he looks like a young Jon Lester.

• CBA righthander Reggie Lawson, a PG All-American like Ragans, was outstanding in the semifinals, throwing five innings out of the bullpen and allowing only three hits and an unearned run while giving CBA a chance to get back into the ball game. Lawson sat at 90-93 for the entire outing and his curveball was big and well commanded. Scouts can dream on his 6-foot-4 long-armed build and his smooth arm action and mechanics.

• PG All-American catcher Blake Sabol of CBA swung the bat better and better as the tournament progressed and has picked up a pair of doubles and a triple the past two days and hit numerous other line drives. The Scorpions showed their respect for him with the highly unusual move of walking him intentionally with runners at first and second base in a tie ballgame in the bottom of the seventh inning. The move ended up working but the two coaches this scout was standing with admitted to have never seeing that done before.

• GBG lefty Chaz Montoya was the key performer in his team's win over Elite Squad, going five strong innings after GBG jumped on the board for seven early runs. Montoya has a deceptive delivery that produced a 85-90 mph fastball and a sweeping 77 mph curveball. His performance was especially noteworthy against an Elite Prime lineup that has hitting .322 in the first five games of the championship. Montoya also threw four pitches to get a one-batter save in the quarterfinal game.

• GBG's offense has been firing on all cylinders. Third baseman Spencer Steer should just move to Arizona or at least attend college here (he's an Oregon commit) the way he hits; he went 3-for-3 with a pair of walks in the semifinal and is 7-for-16 (.438) with six walks in six games. Second baseman Ben Baird has been outstanding defensively and picked up two hits and scored twice in the semifinals. Shortstop Will Proctor has added noticeable bat speed over the last year and is really driving the ball hard, which resulted in five RBI over Monday's two playoff games.

• Dallas Patriots third baseman Braden Shewmake impressed at the 17u WWBA National Championship and has continued to leave quite an impression on scouts here in Arizona. He's a very projectable 6-foot-4, 175-pound athlete with outstanding actions and tools on defense at third base. His lefthanded swing is quick and fluid and he hit 7-for-17 here with a pair of doubles and no strikeouts. Shewmake's father, Shane, is the head coach at Division III University of Texas at Dallas and his son's baseball grounding and fundamentals are obvious.


Consolation Game Quick Hits

• The EvoShield Canes unleashed a number of hard throwers over two consolation games that they had been hoping to use in the playoffs. PG All-American righthander Josh Lowe threw two scoreless innings, living comfortably at 90-92 mph with his fastball and flashing his power low-80s breaking ball. Lefthander Rian Haire continues to have a strong summer and showed his elite level southpaw velocity by sitting between 91 and 93 during his one inning of work. Reid Schaller, Anthony Holubecki, Henry Ryan and Michael Bienlien also showed low-90s stuff in short outings.

• Continuing the EvoShield summary on the hitters side, outfielder Avery Tuck had his best game of the event, going 2-for-3, including a rocket up the left-center field gap for a double. Shortstop Nicholas Quintana continued to show his big power, blasting a no-doubt home run to left field over an extra tall fence. Third baseman Joe Rizzo did his usual high-level execution, going 3-for-3 over two games with a pair of walks, four runs scored and three RBI. EvoShield finished with a 4-2 overall record.

• Baseball Northwest moved their record to 3-2 with a 5-4 win over the Houston Banditos and has been an enjoyable and talented team to watch play. Hard-throwing righthander Mitchell Verburg picked up a save on Monday and is definitely on the prospect map after his earlier performance. First baseman Easton Bents hit 7-for-14 (.500) with two doubles and a triple and a couple of other hard hit balls for the event and has lots of bat speed and strength in his swing.

• Triple plays are rare at any level but this scout happened to be watching the Elite Baseball Training Chicago versus Baseball Northwest game when Bents lifted a jam shot pop up into shallow right-center field with runners at first and second and no one out. Elite Baseball second baseman Nick Neville made the over-the-shoulder catch, threw to shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald at second to double the runner there and Fitzgerald threw to first baseman Sam Ferri for an easy third out at first base.

• Ferri has been mentioned earlier as a 2016 top catching prospect but he's also pretty good off the mound. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out four without issuing a walk while throwing 87-90 with a hard-spinning 77 mph curveball.

• Elite Baseball Training Chicago righthander Cameron Junker bounced back from a tough earlier outing against CBA Marucci to throw four shutout innings against SGV Arsenal. Junker relies mostly on an upper-80s fastball that will touch 90-91 on occasion and still has some projection moving forward. Elite Baseball's leadoff hitter, second baseman Michael Ruffolo, went 2-for-2 and finished the tournament 7-for-14 (.500) at the plate.

• Righthander Radd Thomas from NorCal is an interesting 6-foot-2, 185-pound 2016 arm with no college commitment. He threw four nice innings this afternoon, working at 86-90 mph and only allowed two hits while striking out five. NorCal finished the tournament with a 4-2 record and impressed with their sound fundamental play and pitching staff that pounded the zone consistently with quality stuff.