2017 Rawlings Select Classic #2 Daily Leaders
Starting the tournament on the right foot for the Barrington Broncos was talented lefthander Brooks Gosswein (2017, Barrington, Ill.). The southpaw, and the Broncos in general, set the tone early on in the tournament as Gosswein attacked with fastballs for his short outing. The delivery is very easy and he has a lean frame that projects well. The arm circle is shorter and the arm action is a bit stiff but he delivery from a high three-quarter arm slot that allows him to generate plane consistently on his fastball. Gosswein was working both corners of the plate, low in the zone, and was seemingly spotting his fastball wherever he wanted to. He throws with almost no effort and the delivery overall is polished with Gosswein staying tall on his backside through the delivery. The fastball was true in terms of movement and he was in the 86-88 mph range for the entire outing; Gosswein topped out at 89 mph for the day and the final pitch he threw to end the game was at 87 mph. He showed two breaking pitches during his outing: a curveball with 12/6 shape that showed quality depth and a slurvy pitch that lacked shape, although he didn’t throw that too often.
On the opposite field, junior righthander Saul Gonzalez (2018, Cidra, Puerto Rico) was going for the Montverde Academy. Gonzalez has an extra-large frame and is very physically imposing on the mound standing at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds. He has extremely long limbs too with tons of physicality on the frame and room to develop more as he matures. The arm action was long and whip-like with good arm speed throughout the back of the arm circle. He has a long front arm lever and threw across his body but did a good job at repeating his delivery on the afternoon. It was easy for Gonzalez to get on top of the ball consistently. The fastball was his go-to pitch and it was a bit of an enigma. Early on in the outing he sat 87-90 mph with decent life on the pitch, but as the game wore on he began to lose velocity and was working in the 83-85 mph range. The curveball was a bit inconsistent but when it was good it showed soft 10/4 shape with solid break. Gonzalez has high level tools and as he continues to develop and mature he has all the tools to succeed as a pitcher.
Gonzalez’ teammate and no. 19 ranked player in the class Nander De Sedas (2018, Montverde, Fla.) had an impressive tournament in nearly every aspect. The Florida State commit has a very strong build with advanced physicality and strength throughout including his lower half. De Sedas makes the game look easy at shortstop with fluid, agile actions and quick reads on ground balls. The footwork is very clean and he has plenty of arm strength to make throws off his back foot or in the whole. At the dish, De Sedas hits from both sides of the plate and has plus raw power from both sides as well. The swing is very fluid and the swing looks effortless and very smooth from both sides. Both swings showcased tons of bat speed and clean, quick hands as well. De Sedas coils his front leg trigger back and when he lands it helps him get his hips and lower half through into the swing. The combination of feel for hitting, power, speed, and defense skills makes De Sedas one of the early names to remember for the 2018 MLB Draft.
Rock Bridge put together an impressive run over the weekend finishing in third place and one of the main contributors was leadoff man and third baseman Nick Wohlbold (2017, Columbia, Mo.). The UT-Martin commit has a very lean, athletic build with room on the frame to add strength. The approach is geared towards line drives and, more specifically, hitting balls hard up the middle. He has very quick hands with a level plane swing that occasionally shows lift. The bat moves very quickly through the hitting zone. Mechanically he stands with a narrow base and has a high hand set and high back elbow. The speed is the factor that Wohlbod uses often as he routinely posted home to first times in the 4.4-4.5 range righthanded. He has good instincts on the base paths as well, and that combined with his compact, line drive stroke made him an ideal leadoff hitter over the weekend. Wohlbold also showed off some arm strength as he later pitched and sat in the low- to mid 80s. Wohlbold ended the tournament with the most hits (9) and was a constant threat in the batter’s box for opposing pitchers.
Two of the catalysts for the Barrington Broncos all weekend were outfielder, and eventual MVP, Tyler Acosta (2018, Barrington, Ill.) and infielder Clark Elliot (2019, Barrington, Ill.).
Acosta was detailed in Monday’s scout blog but he continued to impress all tournament long. Batting third in the lineup, Acosta was in a prime position to drive in runs which he did consistently throughout the weekend. He swings with intent and uses his combination of bat speed and strength to drive the ball with authority all over the yard. The Illinois commit showed off his wiry strength with a home run to left centerfield during Saturday’s championship game. His frame is projectable with broad shoulders and has the potential for future above average raw power that he gave a glimpse of with his home run. The speed plays as well with routine home to first times in the 4.3-4.4 range from the right side. As with the entire Broncos team, Acosta showed off solid defensive tools during the event. He makes quick reads on fly balls and has the arm strength necessary to make an impact on the opposing running game. Acosta has an entire collection of tools that make him an intriguing candidate for a very big summer leading into his senior year of high school.
Elliot made an immediate impact in the two-hole for the Broncos and played a large role in the success of the offense. The sophomore is a bit undersized, but the frame has room to fill out and quick twitch athleticism throughout. The speed played very well as he was extremely quick out of the box posting home to first times routinely of 4.2 seconds with 4.5 seconds on a turn. Elliot’s swing does not stray into the slappy category but is fluid and quick through the zone. He is able to create line drives and spray them to all fields and then let his legs do the work getting him around the bases. During the event, this scout observed him taking line drives to all fields and stretching doubles into triples and singles into doubles. Elliot showed polish at the plate with his overall approach and has the tools to back it up.
Ty Warmath (2019, Covington, Tenn.) started one of the earlier games for Covington High and showed off some intriguing pitching tools. Warmath is a bit small on the mound, listed at 5-foot-11 and 150-pounds, but what he lacks in size he makes up with arm speed. The arm action is long and pretty loose and he throws from a true three-quarter slot and showed off three pitches. The fastball sat in the 83-86 mph range with some arm side run and was a true weapon for him on the mound during his start. The Memphis commit repeated his delivery consistently though he struggled at times getting over his front side. The curveball had slider-like shape with soft break and 10/4 movement. Warmath’s changeup functioned as an effective pitch in terms of a change of pace in velocity.
Talented junior righthander James Parker (2018, Alabaster, Ala.) showed interesting potential on the mound from a sidearm slot. He worked primarily with his fastball that sat in the mid -80s, topping out at 87 mph, and has short arm side run. He lands online, although he did lose ectension when he was pitching in the stretch. There were signs of Parker using his lower half in his delivery although that was only on occasion. The changeup was his best secondary pitch on the afternoon and came in the low-70s with short tumble down and to the arm side. The curveball flashed but on the whole it looked like Parker got around it often.
One of the more impressive outings of the weekend came from the right arm of eighth grader Grant Taylor (2021, Florence, Ala.). He has a very strong, projectable pitcher’s build already, despite his young age, at 6-foot-2 and 195-pounds. Taylor’s arm action is very loose and pretty long throughout his full arm circle. What stood out about his delivery was his extension whish was routinely in the 8+ feet range on all of his pitches. Taylor is advanced for his age and showed a good feel for mixing speeds and hitting his locations often. The fastball was what stood out early on as he sat 87-89 touching 90 mph a few times early on. The pitch had excellent life that wluld ride up and in to righthanded batters. He mixed in a changeup and slider, and the slider was what stood out. Taylor had advanced feel for the pitch and it flashed tight spin in the upper-70s touching 80 mph a couple of times. Taylor is one of the top arms for his draft class and it will be fun to monitor him as he continues to develop and refine his tools.