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College  | Story | 3/22/2017

College Spotlight: Week 5

Matt Arvin
Photo: UNC Athletic Communications
 


Perfect Game College Player Database

Every week during the 2017 college baseball season we will be pulling at least one report, and corresponding video when available, of a player entered into the College Player Database. This week we will share reports on players from North Carolina/Georgia Tech and Morehead State/Belmont following their three-game series last weekend in Atlanta, Ga., and Nashville, Tenn., respectively. All of the reports entered into the database can be found in one, easy-to-find place as linked above, and can also be accessed off of the individual PG player profile pages.

To access all of the reports you will need a College Baseball Ticket (CBT) subscription. To learn more about the CBT and to sign up today please visit this link.




J.B. Bukauskas, RHP, North Carolina

Coming into his start against Georgia Tech on St. Patrick’s Day evening J.B. Bukauskas had been putting up ridiculous numbers as he continued his ascent up draft boards. He surely didn’t do anything to hurt his stock on this night, when he struck out a career-high 14 Yellow Jackets on the way to his third win of the season. 

Bukauskas isn’t physically imposing by any stretch, listed at 6-foot but likely coming in around 5-foot-10, though he is well built throughout. His delivery and arm action have raised some concerns in the scouting community in regards to just how viable they are, mechanically, in terms of holding up as a starting pitcher at the next level. The concerns are somewhat validated in that his delivery does feature some violence and effort, and he does throw cross-body. However, in his defense he throws strikes consistently and his stuff held up over 100 pitches. The arm speed is plus-plus and he does hide the ball well through the back before releasing from a tight three-quarters arm slot, and the arm action itself does feature a prominent back elbow that rolls into a flat arm at foot strike, which can cause some timing concerns.

His size and arm slot also cause the fastball to play without much in the way of downhill plane, though he is capable of creating angle to the glove side. When down in the zone, the fastball is just fine for the most part, but when he leaves the ball up it flattens out and lacks life, causing it to be inherently hittable despite his plus velocity. 

It is unlikely there is any pitcher in the ’17 draft class with better pure stuff than Bukauskas. Alex Faedo has a plus slider and Tanner Houck has high-octane heat, while Kyle Wright will show flashes of everything. Coming out 94-96 mph, peaking at 97 and basically sitting 95 mph for 3-4 innings, Bukauskas’ fastball is a true plus pitch in terms of velocity, which he held throughout his seven innings (99 pitches). Even when his velo “dipped,” it fell to 92-95 in his final innings.

Even with the fastball, the most impressive pitch was his slider, which elicited any number of colorful language from the scouts seated behind home plate, none of which can be repeated here. It’s a hellish, dynamic breaking ball with hard velocity (it sat 86-88 and touched 89) with two-plane snapdragon bite that worked equally well to both righties and lefties. It’s extremely deceptive in that it looks like a fastball for about 45 feet out of the hand before taking a severe lefthand turn while also diving, and basically just made hitters look foolish at times. He was able to throw it for strikes whenever he wanted, as well as bury it down and out of the zone.

Bukauskas also showed a changeup that would project as a potentially above average third pitch for him, with ideal arm speed replication and pronation at release, generating quality arm-side fading action. He’ll need to be more consistent with it as it had a tendency to stay up in the zone, but the feel for the pitch is obvious. 

In summation, Bukauskas remains a bit of a quandary for scouts picking in the top 10 of the draft. It’s premium stuff and arm speed but if one wanted to get nit-picky about a few important things you could. He has average control but fringy command within the zone, and the violence of his delivery does not equate to projecting out eventual average (or better) command, and the fact that he’s shy of 6-feet tall is a hindrance in some ways, whether you like it or not. On the other hand, it’s a chance for two plus-plus pitches and an above average third with strikes and a big-time performance track record.

Bukauskas is undoubtedly a top 10 pick and should absolutely be drafted as a starter, but there remains a strong chance he ends up as a reliever down the road, although the upside of that potential move is he could wind up a dominant closer.

Other UNC players added to College Player Database:

• Kyle Datres
• Brian Miller
• Logan Warmoth


Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech

Ranked No. 120 in the final edition of the PG high school class of 2015 rankings, Bart came to Georgia Tech with no small amount of hype, and he's definitely delivered on that hype less than two seasons into his collegiate career. 

The standout tools with Bart, an extremely physical and strong prospect, are his arm strength and his power. With legitimate plus arm strength and quality athleticism behind the dish, Bart has done a very good job developing his defensive skill-set in the past couple of years and has turned himself into a very good catching prospect. He moves relatively well and has the athleticism to block balls to either side, and his receiving skills have improved as well. The loudest tool, as mentioned above, is the plus throwing arm he possesses that is a weapon whenever opposing hitters get on base. 

Offensively, Bart already has nine home runs this season through 78 at-bats, up from a single homer last year in roughly 160 at-bats. The swing is definitely geared for driving the ball into the air with authority, as he combines big-time strength with quality bat speed to attack the ball out front and drive it whenever possible. He does, however, show a bit of a deficiency in terms of pitch recognition. Now, this may not be fair considering UNC ace J.B. Bukauskas may have the best breaking ball in all of college baseball right now, but Bart swung and missed through quite a few Bukauskas sliders before finally getting an elevated fastball in his third at-bat and launching it deep over the wall in right-center field. 

Still a year away from draft eligibility, Bart is undoubtedly on the radar thanks to a pair of very loud tools and a good track record of performance thus far. With refinements – and he's already done an excellent job of development since his high schools days – Bart has a chance to be a pretty high round selection when the 2018 draft rolls around. 


Aaron Leasher, LHP, Morehead State

Leasher’s fastball sat 87-89 mph and touched 90 through the first five innings in his eight-inning win over Belmont that allowed him to move to 4-0 on the year. Maintaining his velocity late into the game, he only saw a slight tick in velocity drop in his final two innings at 86-88 mph in the seventh and eighth innings.

While Leasher’s fastball velocity is not league average for a starting lefthanded pitcher he has the uncanny ability to get either arm side or glove side run depending on what side of the plate he pitches on. The late movement and unpredictable action grades the fastball up some. Aaron commands the strike zone with his fastball, not being afraid to use both sides of the plate. Leasher is a groundball machine, often induces weak contact that is easy for his defense to gobble up.

Early on, Leasher threw an 81-83 mph slider. However, by the next inning, the pitch was sitting at 79-81 mph where it sat for the rest of the game. While the slider was hard, it had one plane. As the game went along, he got on top of the pitch more creating more boring, downward action. At its best, the pitch is an above average offering. Leasher hung one bat cement mixer in the first inning that he luckily got away with.

Leasher also throws a changeup that sits around 80 mph. He throws the changeup and the slider at similar speeds making it very difficult for hitters to recognize the pitch early. The changeup flashes average and he likes to pound the zone away with it.

Mechanically, Leasher checks all the boxes. He has a very good arm action that is loose and easy and the ball comes out at an ideal slot. There is very little stress on the arm. Leasher stays compact and online and he lands on a bent front knee and has a good finish. He uses his legs as well as anyone in the college ranks with a good drive to the plate, good balance and good weight transfer into the pitch. He has an athletic look on the mound that will serve him well as a professional.

Leasher compares similarly to Jaime Garcia in his stuff and physically. The quick arm and clean arm action suggests that he could develop further and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Leasher sitting 90-91 in a few years.

Other Morehead State players added to College Player Database:

• Alex Garbrick
• Reid Leonard
• Braxton Morris
• Will Schneider


Dylan King, RHP, Belmont

King is one of the most promising sophomores in all of the Ohio Valley Conference. He has a good pitcher’s body with good strength, broad shoulders and a high waist at 6-foot-4, 215-pounds. He throws from a low three-quarters arm slot with a lot of moving parts in his delivery. The funkiness, while causing some stress, does add to deception and his crossfire delivery creates good run into righties. In the first inning of his start against Morehead State King sat in the 90-92 mph range, touching 93 mph. He was 89-92 in the second and third innings (with most of his pitches being 90s or 91s) and by the fifth inning he sat at 88-91 mph with more of his pitches being in the upper-80s.

In the first inning, King threw a good slider at 76-78 mph with some tilt. While his command of the pitch is inconsistent and needs refinement, there were moments where the pitch flashed above average. When he gets on top of the pitch it has a deep 12-to-6 boring action. However, by the second inning the slider wasn’t as sharp and overall he had bouts with wildness as he started the game walking the leadoff hitter, which led to a run.

Aside from a shaky start in a 6-5 loss to Morehead State, King has had a very good start to the 2017 season. While there are some things that he needs to work on there is also a lot to build on.

Other Belmont players added to College Player Database:

• Dom Veltri
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