Daily Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2




The beauty of seeing players over an extended period of time is the ability to track their progress, especially when it’s a young 6-foot-6 righthanded pitcher like with Nicholas Storz (2017, Brooklyn, N.Y.). Currently uncommitted, Storz has continued to evolve from a hard thrower who was new to pitching to a hard throwing pitcher all the while firming up his mechanics and taking several jumps with his secondary offerings.

You can’t teach the imposing 6-foot-6, 245-pound frame that Storz possesses on the mound, and once he settled in with his command after the first inning he proved to be difficult to square up. Sitting in the 88-90 mph range rather comfortably while bumping a 91, Storz showed a quick and fluid arm action while locating his fastball to either side of the plate with solid generated angle when he spotted to his glove side. The velocity is nothing new for Storz who has always been able to light up the radar guns, but the biggest takeaway was the feel and frequency of which he threw his slider. A pitch that lived in the 78-80 mph range, Storz’s slider was the best I had seen it in my handful of viewings. At it’s best the pitch showed solid tilt and proved to be a power swing-and-miss offering, and even when he got on the side and gave it more horizontal life it was effective as it looked more like a cutter than anything. You could tell Storz’s confidence grew in the pitch each time he threw it and by the end of his outing he showed the ability to locate it to either side of the plate, making it truly unfair to the opposing hitters.

When you spend three weeks in Georgia covering high level tournaments and see some of the top players in each of them you begin to build a profile and somewhat know what to expect. For example, outfielder Colin Hall (2017, Alpharetta, Ga.) has become renowned for his barrel skills from the left side as he seems to do nothing but square the ball up hard to all parts of the field for solid line drive contact. On Monday afternoon Hall got a pitch he could handle on the inner half, and rather than ripping it down the right field line for a base hit he pulled his hands in and was able to drive the ball. And drive the ball he did as the uncommitted Hall cleared the right field fence for a grand slam, putting an exclamation point on Team Elite’s opening round win.

Tyler Simon (2017, Leesburg, Ga.) got things going quickly in the bottom of the first for Game On Stealth wasting no time as he jumped on the very first pitch of the game for a hard line drive double, showing a short and quick swing with some leverage at contact. Currently uncommitted, Simon also starts up the middle at shortstop where his athleticism truly shines. He does a nice job of making the routine plays look easy but he also made a play late in the game that was nowhere near as easy as he made it seem. With a runner on first and no outs, a soft chopper was hit up the middle to which Simon gathered, and in mid-stride, as the runner was barreling down on him, he tagged second base and proceeded to deliver a strike to first base.

The only thing quicker than the right arms of Joseph Perez (2017, Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Matthew Dickey (2018, Tallahassee, Fla.) was the inning each of the two young arms threw for their respective teams on fields adjacent to one another.

Perez, who’s listed as a primary third baseman, is already committed to the University of South Florida where he potent righthanded bat and strong arm on the mound would allow him to make an impact on both sides. His loudest statement on Monday night came in the bottom of the sixth inning as he picked up the save for Elite Squad Prime recording three quick outs while working heavily off his fastball. Showing a fast and loose arm action through the back, Perez sat in the 91-93 mph range and did a nice job of getting on top of the ball to generate downhill plane, furthermore adding to the difficulty of trying to catch up to his heater.

While Perez flashed a curveball a time or two, Dickey showed a handful more in the 68-70 mph range which featured 11-to-5 shape and late biting life. Listed at 6-foot, 175-pounds, Dickey appears both taller and stronger when he toes the rubber and he does a nice job of incorporating that strength into his delivery on the mound. The young, uncommitted righthander employed a short stroke and consistently worked on top of the ball with a fast arm action leading to a fastball that steadily sat in the 85-87 mph range.




North Florida Christian has been steadily producing high end talent over the last couple of years with several draft picks such as Matthew Railey as well as both Cole and Carson Sands, along with current Perfect Game All-American Cole Ragans. And while those are some big names, the future appears just as bright with the rising sophomore Dickey, as mentioned above, and incoming freshman righthander Brandon Walker (2019, Tallahassee, Fla.).

Despite being listed as a primary shortstop on his Perfect Game profile, the 6-foot, 165-pound Walker is impressive with his present abilities on the mound and what the futures holds in store as he continues to add muscle and gain repetitions. Already showing a long and fluid arm action, Walker came out and sat in the 83-86 mph range over the first couple of innings and did so while generating downward plane. Walker works from a high arm slot and he showed the ability to generate slight running life to his fastball as it left his hand cleanly and with low effort. Unlike most young pitchers who are able to throw harder than most in their class at an early age, Walker also showed a nice feel for a breaking ball that was up to 75 mph and featured quality depth and late bit when he got on top and lived down in the zone.

Nic Nolan (2018, Niceville, Fla.) is another young standout on the Orlando Scorpions who looks to have a bright future ahead of him, especially as he continues to fill out his long and lean 6-foot, 160-pound frame. His defensive actions up the middle are pretty advanced for a player who’s just entering his sophomore season of high school. Uncommitted, Nolan showed fluid footwork around the bag and high-end athleticism to complement the glove work and comfort he displayed going to his backhand into the 5-6 hole.

Kumar Rocker (2018, Watkinsville, Ga.) is no stranger to these recaps over the last three weeks of playing in Perfect Game events. Listed at 6-foot-4, 220-pounds, Rocker continues to show growth on the mound seemingly each time he takes the ball and Monday night was no different. Aside from the velocity, as he was up to 88 mph, and the ease of which he’s able to produce it, Rocker began working backwards on the mound and showed a consistent feel for both his slider and changeup rather than relying almost solely on his heater. Doing a nice job of maintaining his arm action at release, Rocker showed the most comfort in his slider that I’ve seen in my four viewings as he back-doored it a couple of times to lefthanded hitters with late bite and depth. It remained a consistent pitch from the moment he entered the game and his changeup also proved to be a solid pitch at 78 mph, giving him a full three-pitch mix.

Currently ranked No. 6 overall in the 2017 class rankings, outfielder Jordon Adell (2017, Lexington, Ky.) continues to make strides as a hitter and continues to hurt the baseball from the righthanded batter’s box. With a long and muscular fast-twitch frame, the University of Louisville commit continued to amaze Monday evening as he once again showed off his fast set of hands and premium bat speed by turning on a ball into the left-center field gap for a three-run home run, jumping off the barrel at 100.4 mph. Adell also worked a handful of innings on the mound, showing a full and easy arm action that produced a fastball up to 88 mph with solid downhill plane and a big 12-to-6 curveball with bite in the upper-70s.

The display of hitting that center fielder Elijah Cabell (2018, Winter Park, Fla.) has put on over the last few days is as impressive as any this summer. After nearly putting a ball through the scoreboard two days ago, the uncommitted Cabell collected multi-hit games, with a home run, in each of Central Florida Gators' two games. Two home runs in a tournament is considered exceptional, let alone two in one day, though the first may have been the more impressive of the two as Cabell blasted a shot to the right-center field gap that got out and provoked a college coach to say something to the effect of “you just don’t see that at this level.” Full of quick-twitch and athleticism, Cabell is able to generate bat speed that would stand out in a 17u tournament, let alone a 15u tournament, and he’s catching fire at the right time for the Gators.

Tyler Solomon (2017, Haymarket, Va.) and Noah Campbell (2017, Durham, N.C.) are two highly sough after prospects in the 2017 class and each already have their college commitment taken care of. Solomon, who’s a Vanderbilt University commit and a switch-hitting catcher, dug in lefthanded yesterday afternoon and turned on an inner-half pitch for a hard line drive triple to the pull-side gap, showing a fluid swing with natural lift and solid speed around the bases for somebody listed at 6-foot-4, 215-pounds. A University of South Carolina commit, Campbell followed up Solomon’s impressive shot with a hard double of his own, hitting it to a similar spot of the field and turned in a time of 4.26 rounding first base.

While the Marucci Elite lineup already featured a pair of smooth lefthanded swings in outfielders Tanner Allen and Jacob Pearson, Coach Chad Raley had another lefty emerge in his lineup; Nicholas Webre (2017, Youngsville, La.). Listed at 5-foot-10, 180-pounds, the Louisiana native has put together a solid tournament and Monday afternoon put a really good swing on a ball showing loose hands and a fluid stroke as he tripled to his pull-side gap.