Zach Reed, a 2016 righthander from Las Vegas, started on the mound for Southern Nevada Baseball on Friday morning. Southern Nevada Baseball brought a loaded roster to the Phoenix Rarea this weekend, and Reed certainly started them off on the right note. Reed wasn’t overpowering, but he did work 81-84 with his fastball, touching 85, and showing some of the best sink on the fastball that one is likely to see from a high school prospect. He shows a very balanced, very repeatable delivery with some deception and an overall clean arm action. The heaviness and command he featured on his fastball allowed him to get weak contact early in counts, and he showed the ability to elevate the fastball to chest height and gets swings and misses as well. He complemented the bowling ball fastball with a quality slider, showing sharp, two-plane break down and away from righthanded hitters with excellent out-pitch projection, especially against those righties.

CBA Marucci is no stranger to Perfect Game events, and then always bring loads of talent with them to whatever event they may be attending. That’s no different this weekend, as CBA often walks off the bus as prohibitive favorites, nearly regardless of the event taking place.




Taking the mound for CBA on Friday was 2016 righthander Jack Moberg (Murrieta, Calif.). A Division I commit to UC-Irvine, Moberg was almost unbelievably efficient through his first four innings, throwing right around 30-35 pitches to work quickly through the opposing hitting order with ease. Showing longer arm action into slight hook at bottom of arm circle, Moberg’s arm worked well for the most part and shows projectable arm speed. He spine tilts into slight drop-and-drive mechanics, but stays on top of the ball well and generates some downhill plane to the plate. His fastball worked 82-85 and touched 86, commanded well down in the zone to both sides of the plate, and as mentioned above, got tons of weak, quick outs all over the zone. He came after hitters with aggression, not afraid to come inside, and doing an exemplary job of missing barrels.

He complemented his fastball with both a curve and change, with both secondary offerings showing swing-and-miss potential at the next level. The curve featured showed very good spin and depth with the spin and overall shape projecting well to add more snap with continued development. He showcased advanced feel for the change as well, replicating his fastball arm speed and arm slot, allowing the change to come off the hand with excellent deception. The change worked in the 74-77 range and featured solid fading action and his command of the change was excellent as well.




Moberg’s teammate, 2017 shortstop Nick Allen (San Diego, Calif.), is one of the top overall players in his class, and he showcases that ability and upside every single time we see him. He has an advanced approach at the plate, with simple and quick mechanics and a swing geared for line drive contact to all fields. He doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone, recognizes spin at an advanced level, and is an on base machine, working lots of walks and showing more than enough willingness to crowd the plate and get hit by pitches.

His exemplary exploits at the shortstop position are truly what set him apart from the rest of the class, however. He’s a cerebral defender, with an uncanny ability to position himself pre-pitch where he believes—knows—the baseball will be hit. His quick feet, plus athleticism, clean actions and above-average arm all make him a for sure candidate to stick at the shorstop position at the next level, as well. He had a relatively quiet day at the plate on Friday, but his day on defense was anything but quiet, making a Sportscenter Top 10-caliber play by ranging back and to his right into shallow left field near the foul line on a dead sprint, and making a full-extension diving catch to end an inning. He’s committed to USC, and Trojan fans everywhere should be absolutely ecstatic about that fact.

In the late game Friday night, North East Baseball took the field for their second game of the day, and moved to 2-0 in pool play with a close win over Turn 2 Baseball. North East Baseball features a loaded roster, as many do in this event, with national-level players from all over the United States.




Starting on the mound for NEB was 2016 righthander Ethan Routzahn (Crystal Lake, Ill.). Routzahn is committed to Dallas Baptist, who set the collegiate baseball world on fire with their stable of flame-throwing arms in 2015. Routzahn certainly has a chance to add his name to that list in the years ahead. With a delivery featuring excellent deception and aggression, Routzahn came out pumping 87-88 mph and did an excellent job holding his velocity at 84-86 for five very good innings. His arm action is a bit shorter and tighter than traditional, but he couples that with above-average arm speed to a high three-quarters slot. The ball seems to come from behind his head at release, making it very hard for opposing hitters to pick up and see early, certainly making the fastball seem a few ticks harder than what the radar gun says. The fastball explodes at the plate with hard, late life at the plate, and he did an excellent job working to all four quadrants of the zone with the pitch and getting a good number of whiffs on the pitch. He gets downhill well with authority, creating solid plane on his pitches and using his well-built lower half very well.

He showed three secondary pitches to complement his fastball, all with quality feel and varying levels of effectiveness and projection. His favorite off speed pitch was his power slider, thrown in the mid- to upper-70s with sharp, late tilt, and the ability to bury it down and out of the zone, getting many weak swings over the top of the pitch. He showed a traditional curveball as well, working between 12-to-6 and 11-to-5 shape depending on his release point, but showing overall excellent feel for the pitch with excellent spin and depth. He preferred to use the curve to throw strikes over the plate, whereas the slider was the swing-and-miss out pitch. He also flashed a changeup early on with solid fading action down in the zone in the mid-70s. He threw all four pitches with effectiveness and showed the ability to throw all four for strikes as well.

Relieving Routzahn and ultimately earning the save for NEB was 2016 righthander and Oklahoma commit Braden Minor (Goddard, Kan.). Minor projects very well physically, with an athletically built 6-foot, 170-pound frame that has plenty of potential filling out room remaining. He worked with a longer, easy arm action up to high three-quarters slot with excellent downhill plane and command to both sides of the plate. He creates excellent angle due to his extension, and projects very well at the next level in terms of both stuff and pitchability. He worked 85-87 through his two-out save, commanding the fastball well for the most part to both sides of the plate and down in the zone. It’s often said that the toughest pitch to hit in baseball is a perfectly located fastball at the knees on the outside black, and Minor threw several of them to his glove side versus righthanded hitters. He mixed in a slider as well, with slurvier break in the mid-70s but with projectable, two-plane break and overall command.




2017 third baseman Blake Diggle (Mountain View, Calif) had a very impressive showing at the plate, as the 6-2, 220-pound Southern California commitment murdered a pair of shots to the pull field. He showcases advanced forearm/hand strength to go along with excellent bat speed, both attributes helping to generate very good raw power. Where his power really comes from, however, is the powerful amount of force he creates with his lower half, really driving his backside into contact and generating lots of hip torque, so much so that he rolls over his front foot after contact. His swing is leveraged with lots of strength, as highlighted above, and he has some of the more impressive raw power and exit velocities of the 2017 class. He also showcased a plus arm at third base to go along with clean fielding actions and enough lateral agility to handle the hot corner at the collegiate level.

Playing just to Diggle’s left in the NEB infield was 2017 shortstop Trent Brown (Victoria, Texas). Brown, a Texas Longhorns commit, was very, very impressive defensively, showing the kinds of actions of overall athletic flair that collegiate recruiters and professional scouts love to see in middle infield prospects. He has very good range to both sides with quick feet and plus athleticism, putting it all together in the form of excellent body control. He made several plays that not many prep shortstops make, and he made them look easy, charging well and fielding on the run before firing accurately across the diamond with certainly enough arm for the left side of the infield. He’s clean to and through fielding the ball, the transfer is very quick, and overall he’s a high-upside defender at a premium defensive position.

– Brian Sakowski



North East Baseball is one of the top teams at the EvoShield Upperclass and a true national based team. Nineteen players on the roster have D-I commitments, including schools such as Vanderbilt, Louisville, Texas, Southern California and Mississippi. They also have a roster that many a high school football coach would envy, including 11 players listed at 200 pounds or more and a couple of more who will surpass that mark before long. They are an impressive looking team physically.

They also barely squeaked by with a 2-1 win over the Salt Lake Gulls in their first game, courtesy of strong pitching by righthander Joe Fulcher (2016, Munford, Tenn.) and lefthander William Hesslink (2016, Selburne, Vt.) and a sixth inning bloop double by first baseman Dylan Carlson (2016, Elk Grove, Calif.).

Fultcher, a Vanderbilt commit, worked the first five innings allowing two hits, a run and striking out five. He worked at 86-88, touching 89 mph, from an extended three-quarters release point and showed very good feel for a sharp breaking slider he threw between 74 and 79 mph. Hesslink, a rare prospect from Vermont and a Boston College commit, worked 83-86 from a deceptive delivery to go with a 77 mph slider and nice 75 mph change up and struck out five in two innings of work.

Second baseman Scott Ogrin (2016, Valencia, Calif.), a Cal Poly commit, played a strong game on both sides of the ball for North East.

Salt Lake righthander Nate Dahle (2016, Tremonton, Utah) threw a six inning complete game and took the hard luck loss. The 6-foot-5, 200-pounder works from a high three-quarters arm slot and gets outstanding downhill angle on a fastball that worked from 81 to 86 mph. He was consistently at the bottom of the strike zone with some heavy life and kept the North East hitters from squaring up the ball with any consistency. He doesn't have a college commitment yet.

A pair of long and lean and very projectable 2016 righthanders also pitched during the same time as Dahle and are also uncommitted. Bryson Wheatley (2016, Queens Creek, Ariz.) is a 6-foot-6, 195-pounder who threw three scoreless innings for MD AZ Blue Jays, striking out three hitters with an 83-86 mph fastball from a loose and fast arm that really worked well coming through. He has some high ceiling velocity potential in his arm. Tony Contreras (2016, Santa Paula, Calif.) has much the same proportions as Wheatley, only a little shorter at 6-foot-3, 175-pounds, although his arms seem much longer. Contreras worked at 83-85 mph with a nice curveball and struck out six hitters in three near perfect innings. He, like Wheatley, has lots more in his arm with physical maturity.

BPA DeMarini, the runner-up in the PG/EvoShield Underclass Championship last weekend, brought a strong team to the Upperclass as well, even though Underclass co-MVP Jayson Gonzalez wasn't in town on Friday. That didn't matter much, as BPA won two games by a combined score of 30-0. In fact, they batted only five times in the two run-rule victories, hitting a combined 19-33 (.576) as a team with an additional 16 walks verus only one strikeout. We'll undoubtedly go into more detail about their players over the next few days.

GBG Marucci's infield trio of shortstop Will Proctor (2016, Manhattan Beach, Calif.), third baseman Spencer Steer (2016, Long Beach, Calif.) and second baseman Ben Baird (2016, Aguoura Hills, Calif.) is one of the most talented groups in the country, along with one of the most experienced. They have played in a combined 32 Perfect Game sponsored tournaments in addition to numerous regional and national level showcases, and in the case of Baird, the 2015 Perfect Game All-American Classic. Ironically, they are all planning on going out of state for college, with verbal commitments to Georgia, Oregon and Washington, respectively.

The trio did their job in GBG's 12-0 first day win, with Baird going 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI to lead the team's attack. Steer went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two runs scored, while Proctor lined one double into the left field corner for an RBI and just missed driving another pair in when a similar drive just hooked foul.

Two more key players for GBG if they are going to bring yet more hardware home from the desert will be a pair of speedy outfielders with far less experience with the team. Center fielder Dylan Hirsch (2016, West Hills, Calif.) and left fielder Collin Brophy (2016, Encino, Calif.) are both solid average to plus runners. They reached a combined base a combined six times Friday while scoring five runs. Neither have a college commitment.

The best pitching duel of the day at Goodyear was undoubtedly the matchup between Trombly Baseball and Slammers Corsican, or more accurately, the matchup between Trombly righthander Ben Moralez (2016, Temecula, Calif.) and Slammers righthander Aaron Hammann (2016, Parker, Colo.).

The tale of the tape on TrackMan showed that both pitchers had basically the same stuff, with each working in the 85-88 mph area with their fastballs and throwing a hard breaking ball that reached the mid-70s at times. They were actually much different in their approach. Moralez, who ended up with a no-hitter while walking three with nine strikeouts, has a power approach to pitching, with a strong 6-foot-2, 190-pound build and a deceptive and aggressive delivery. He would regularly blow high fastballs past Slammers hitters or buckle their knees with a sharp curveball. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Hammann, who is listed as a primary infielder and looks like one, was more of a technician, needing only 81 pitches in seven innings, most of those fastballs that he precisely placed on corners or induced early count ground balls from. He allowed four hits against five strikeouts and a lone walk.

Another top pitching performance was turned in on the very next field at the same time, with the AZ Athletics 2016 edging the Minnesota Mob 2-0. A trio of Athletics right handers combined on a one-hitter with no walks, 13 strikeouts and not a single runner left on base. First baseman Bryce Ball (2016, Mason City, Iowa) picked up the only Mob hit but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. Nick Brauns (2016, Glendale, AZ) opened with three perfect innings, striking out five, with Keegan McCarville (2016, Glendale, Ariz.) picking up the next three innings and striking out eight. Austin Worrell (2016, Phoenix, Ariz.) picking up the save with a perfect seventh.

McCarville, who is a primary infielder, was the most impressive from a prospect standout, topping out at 87 mph with a very sharp 75 mph curveball that Mob hitters had no chance at.

Mob righthander Connor Stroh (2016, Lakesville, Minn.) was very impressive as well in throwing a complete game three-hitter. Stroh was wild to start the game, which led to the Athletics two first inning runs, but settled down and peppered the bottom of the zone with heavy 84-87 mph sinkers the rest of the way.

The most impressive player on the field, however, was Athletics shortstop Hunter Lessard (2016, Peoria, Ariz.). Lessard is a 5-foot-9, 160-pound sparkplug with lots of physical tools and plenty of flair and energy in his game. He walked twice while fighting off numerous tough pitches and showed plenty of bat speed but was much more impressive on defense. Lessard has outstanding range and made one play in the top of the seventh inning, ranging far to the right of second base to get a sure base and turn it into an out with a perfect throw, that was the defensive highlight of the first day.

The Colorado Marlins dropped a 5-3 decision to the CBA Wave Friday at the Reds Complex but had some interesting young players that warrant following. Right fielder Mitch Tyse (2017, Boulder, Colo.) has a long and lean 6-foot-5, 195-pound build with lots of physical projection. He creates lots of leverage in his swing and hit a sacrifice fly to center field that hung up for a long, long time. First baseman Hunter Owens (2018, Erie, Colo.) is a big young man of a different type at 6-foot-3, 225-pounds. He has a loose and fast left handed swing with lots of raw bat speed and lift out front. Owens sets up very open and has some direction issues with his lower half to contact but he has the strength and bat speed to really impact the ball.

Righthanded pitcher Drake Davis (2017, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) threw the first 4 2/3 innings for the Marlins and showed a loose and projectable arm. He topped out at 85 mph on his fastball but his best pitch was a curveball up to 75 mph that showed hard spin and bite at times. He'll throw harder in the near future.

The story for the Wave is a human interest story and definitely a baseball story. The team's starting left fielder and eight-hole hitter was Kelsie Whitmore (2016, San Diego, Calif.). Whitmore was third youngest member of this summer's gold medal winning USA National Women's team, going 2-0, 0.90 in 10 innings on the mound and hitting 2-for-12 with three stolen bases. She also has a verbal commitment to Cal State Fullerton to play softball. Whitmore went 0-for-2 in the game with a strike out, a walk and a 5-3 putout when she ran a 4.61 from the right side. She singled and made a nice running catch in left-center field in CBA's second game later in the day.

Another interesting young 2018 player at the Reds Complex early Friday was ASD Bulldogs third baseman Preston Miller (2018, San Clemente, Calif.). Miller has a strong 6-foot, 180-pound build with some defined strength and a short and fast righthanded swing. He also looked very fluid and athletic defensively at third base.

Righthanded pitcher Jake Lopez (2017, Orange, Calif.) showed good arm strength and command in throwing five shutout innings for OC Premier. Lopez struck out eight hitters while allowing only two hits and not issuing a walk, working in the 84-87 mph area with his fastball. A barrel chested 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Lopez only threw 63 pitches in his shutout.

– David Rawnsley