Listed at a very believable 6-foot-4, 195-pounds with broad shoulders and plenty of room to still fill out with additional strength, his pure stuff wasn’t quite at the level of Garrett’s, but then again it wasn’t all too far which is scary to imagine has he’s just begun his sophomore season. Moving into his delivery with a small side step, Henry raises his lead leg just up past his belt before breaking his hands and showing a full and very loose arm action through the back. What comes next isn’t normal for your typical sophomore as the Louisiana State commit pumped fastball in the 91-93 mph range for the first three innings, creating extreme leverage and plane when on top with late life to the bottom of the zone.

As he continues to finish towards the plate a little better and stay more directional, along with just pure physical growth, there’s going to be more velocity there and it’s not out of the realm of possibilities to see Henry as a mid-90s type arm come his senior year. And unlike most young, hard throwing arms Henry has a feel for a hard downward curveball and a potential plus changeup in the mid-80s.

The overall feel for the changeup and the arm speed he showed on the pitch was rather remarkable considering his age. Thrown in the 84-86 mph range early, Henry, who’s ranked No. 30 in the 2018 class per Perfect Game, was able to execute his changeups down in the zone even on 3-1 counts and showed a natural feel for the pitch that most seniors around the country can’t, even doubling up on the pitch 3-1 and 3-2, locating to the inner half against a righthanded hitter.

Right now the curveball is his third best pitch but it still showed potential to be an above average offering in the future as he’s able to generate impressive spin and still showed depth with 11-to-5 shape in the 75-78 mph range. Like everything else he threw the ball came out cleanly and as he continues to tinker and refine a couple of things there’s no reason not to envision Henry in the same place two year from now as Garrett is right now.

Opposing Henry in the first stadium game of the day was The First Academy’s Joseph Charles, a freshman righthander who already made waves last summer on the summer circuit before taking home a gold medal with the 15U USA club. Ranked No. 40 in the nation, it’s not too surprising that Charles appears to have grown since my last viewing considering his age as he appears taller and leaner out on the mound and projects nicely with plenty of room for additional muscle mass.

Something else that’s changed with Charles since the summer is his arm action as he’s shortened it up through the back and hides the ball well behind hip upon release, still showing the same balance and deliberate tempo to his delivery. Working from a high three-quarters arm slot, Charles came out and touched 88 mph on an 0-2 offering and worked 84-87 mph with his four-seam while also mixing in a two-seamer around 83-84 mph with short running life to his arm side. He struggled early to find a consistent release point but he was still able to compete, showing both a changeup in the upper-70s and a breaking ball in the low-70s, and come this summer he’ll be an arm on all college coach's radar if he’s not already committed by then.

As a whole, The First Academy offense wasn’t intimidated by what Henry was showing on the mound and several players went up to the plate with a plane, some of whom were able to execute. Notre Dame commit and junior shortstop Cash Case had perhaps the biggest hit for the Royals as he took a 90 mph fastball middle away and put it into the right-center field gap for a standup triple, easily cruising into third. Bernard Gilot, an uncommitted senior first baseman, continues to swing the bat well as he barreled up 91 and shot it back up the middle. With no commitment listed according to his Perfect Game profile, Gilot would be a very nice addition for a club looking for a bat who can hit for both average and power. Senior second baseman Cody Oerther is committed to High Point and he too put together a nice at-bat, putting a 93 mph fastball back up the middle after fouling off a tough 3-2 changeup on the inner half. 

Kicking things off in the first time slot of the day yesterday was uncommitted lefthanded sophomore Oliver McCarthy out of Poly Prep, who if I had to guess will have a busy summer ahead of him with college coaches flocking from all around to get a look and put their name in the recruiting hat. And similar to the way we had to look at teammate Nick Storz’s performance in yesterday’s recap, Thursday marked just the second time McCarthy has been able to throw live off the mound and it came against a Flanagan (Fla.) club who’s already at the mid-way point in their season.

Extra-long and oozing projection at 6-foot-4, 180-pounds, McCarthy may not have necessarily lit up the radar guns, but he sat comfortably in the 82-85 mph range and did so looking like he was simply playing catch. With an arm action that’s as long and fluid as his frame, McCarthy showed a balanced set of mechanics and consistently worked down in the zone with his fastball, showing both plane and subtle running life to his arm side. He incorporates some lower half into his delivery and it’s more than he used this past summer and it’s something that’s only going to develop moving forward and will add additional velocity to his fastball.

He pitched to contact and had to work out of the stretch a good bit but he continued to show the same loose arm action and produced the same readings on the radar gun. Early in the game McCarthy used a 12-6 curveball as his primary secondary, a pitch that worked in the mid-60s and though he slows his arm action some he’s able to generate nice shape and depth to it. As the game wore on (he was still touching 85 mph out of the stretch in the fifth), McCarthy began to show a nice changeup in the 75-78 mph range with nice fade while maintaining his arm speed on the pitch. He also flashed a changeup at 72 mph that offered sweeping life, though I only saw one of them in this look.

They may be from the Northeast but Poly Prep offers one of the more exciting left sides of the infield in the tournament as seniors Anthony Prato (shortstop, UCONN commit) and Daniel Bakst (third base, Stanford commit) both showed well defensively and ran into a couple of balls offensively. Pratto is full of quick-twitch muscle and will be a nice player for Coach Jim Penders as he showed the reactions and footwork to stay up the middle at the next level with solid arm strength, all of which he showed on a diving play up the middle to rob Flanagan’s Mark Vientos (detailed below) of his second hit of the game. Bakst has been one of the main draws for scouts this tournament as he did nothing but his last summer everywhere he went and early yesterday he was able to pick up his first hit of the tournament, pulling an 87 mph fastball through the 5-6 hole. He also made a nice play charging in on a slow roller before throwing a strike from beneath his hip while off balance, all the while making it look routine.

Watching junior shortstop Mark Vientos, a Miami commit and No. 6 in the class rankings, take infield pregame you quickly forget that he’s not eligible for this June’s draft with how advanced he is. And then when you consider the fact that he’s extremely young for the 2017 class (he’s younger for the 2017 class than fellow shortstop Delvin Perez is for the 2016 class) you’re left scratching your head with how it’s possible for him to be that good, that young. Listed at 6-foot-4, 185-pounds Vientos certainly looks longer from this past summer and he also looks stronger in the upper body, though it doesn’t inhibit his abilities nor his range. He takes long, graceful strides to either side and to top it off has present plus arm strength across the diamond with plenty of carry.

After being held hitless in Flanagan’s first game, Vientos came out swinging a hot bat Thursday and though he only had one hit to show for it, he found the barrel in each of his first three trips to the plate. He’s rather quick and direct to the ball for his size and if he can continue to develop the power he showed at last June’s Junior National Showcase then you’re looking at a potential monster for the 2017 MLB draft, especially considering the age factor.

It wasn’t the start he was looking for as he was scattered throughout the zone in his couple of innings, but righthanded senior John Flowers showed the type of arm speed, fluidity, easy, and breaking ball that can easily entice scouts and has to this point in the spring. Working in the 88-92 mph range against a dangerous Huntington Beach club, bumping a 94 in the first on an 0-2 count, Flowers was able to create the velocity rather effortlessly with short and quick arm action through the backside. He also threw his slider rather frequently in the low-80s, coming out of the same arm slot and showing above average bite, eliciting empty swings and proved to be his go-to offering.

After impressing on the mound yesterday, ultra-talented junior and UCLA commit Hagen Danner swung the bat well for Huntington Beach and was pivotal in his team’s victory over Trinity Christian. Staying short and fast through his swing, all the while showing balance, Danner picked up three base hits on the day including an RBI line drive single to center field in the bottom of the second. It’s worth noting that all three of Danner’s hits were singles and each one went to a different part of the field, working his way from left to right.

The big hit of the game for Huntington Beach came right after Danner’s single to center field as UC Santa Barbara commit Landon Silver took an elevated 90 mph fastball to the opposite field for a three-run home run, ultimately chasing Flowers from the game. 

If you were to draw up what a young pitching prospect were to look like physically odds are you’d craft up something that looks similar to Walton sophomore lefthander Luke Bartnicki. Bartnicki, who’s also a swimmer, very much looks the part of one with very broad shoulders, long arms, and a lean, long torso, though his upside on the mound is as high as any young arm in the tournament. And similar to the other young arms detailed, Bartnicki was able to generate intriguing velocity, topping out at 88 mph frequently, with relatively no effort and downhill plane.

With a shorter stride down the mound, Bartnicki did a nice job of consistently getting on top of his fastball, working to the bottom of the zone from a high three-quarters arm slot with a clean and easy release. Landing slightly closed with his front foot and working across his body, Bartnicki was able to create nice angle when getting down to his glove side though he showed more running life when located arm side. Similar to other young arms mentioned above, Bartnicki is only going to improve as he continues to better utilize his lower half, though he already works comfortably in the 84-87 mph range. Along with his four-seamer, the uncommitted lefty showed a two-seam in the lower-80s, as well as a mid-70s breaking ball that he showed mostly in left on left matchups, pitching mainly off of his four-seamer.

With Georgia Tech playing right down the road at Chapel Hill, you could put junior outfielder Jason Rooks (a Tech commit) in their lineup and you wouldn’t think twice that he still has another year and a half of high school remaining with the type of physicality he shows on his 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame. And the righthanded hitting Rooks put that strength to use immediately in his first at-bat as he kept his weight back very well on a 70 mph changeup and drove it deep over the left-center field gap, roughly 380-feet away and did so with ease, showing big bat speed and plenty of leverage.

Of course, the Chaminade-Walton game also pitted the top two positional draft prospects in attendance against one another in Blake Rutherford and Carter Kieboom. Rutherford put a nice day at the plate together picking up four base hits, including a sixth inning double to center field. Though they ultimately resulted in foul balls, Rutherford turned on a Bartnicki fastball in each of his first two at-bats, both of which may have been home runs while showing quick hands and fluid barrel path. On top of showing well with the bat, Rutherford showed off some range to the right centerfield gap, making a diving play to take away what would have been extra bases.

Kieboom wasn’t able to swing the bat as much, walking in each of his first two at-bats in which he saw a total of ten pitches, both strikes coming in 3-0 counts. Rather than expanding the zone and pressing a bit, knowing that scouts were watching his every move, Kieboom took his walks before doubling to center field in his third at-bat in the top of the fourth.