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College  | Story | 4/26/2017

College Spotlight: Week 10

Jheremy Brown
Steve Fiorindo
Vincent Cervino
Photo: Dave Nishitani
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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 several reports on players from the Oregon State/UCLA, Vanderbilt/Georgia, NC State/Boston College and Jacksonville/Kennesaw State series. 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.




Luke Heimlich, LHP, Oregon State

Although Heimlich is listed at 6-foot-1 he seems smaller in stature. Working from the extreme third base side of the rubber, he creates exception deception and it is very hard for opposing hitters to pick up the ball out of his hand. With a long stride, slightly closed off towards home plate, he drives the ball to the bottom of the zone very well with an efficient use of his lower half, stepping over after his finish.

Heimlich worked all four quadrants of the strike zone effectively with his fastball, which sat in the 91-93 mph range early in his start against UCLA. The pitch had occasional cutting action and eventually settled into the 89-91 mph range in the middle to later innings. He was also able to vary the break on his curveball, which he threw shorter and firmer in the 78-80 mph range – frequently to lefthanded hitters – and with much bigger, more traditional break in the 72-74 range. The difference in shape and velocity made the two variations look and feel like two distinct pitches. While he didn’t throw many changes it sat right at 79 mph.

Overall Heimlich displays excellent presence on the mound, and really did a good job getting himself out of jams and minimized hard contact by not making mistakes over home plate. He picked up the hard-luck no decision in this game opposite Griffin Canning, as he was completely dominant and in control, with 10 strikeouts and only two base hits allowed in 7 1/3 innings of work.

Other NC State players added to College Player Database:

• K.J. Harrison




Griffin Canning, RHP, UCLA

Physically Canning looks bigger and more sturdy than his listed 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame would suggest, but he does have a lean and athletic, wiry-strong frame. Working from the first base side of the rubber he shows good tempo in his delivery, with a direct, slightly open line towards home plate. He hides the ball well behind his body, creating good deception, and his fastball velocity has ticked up from a year ago.

In his first inning of work against Oregon State Canning worked in the 93-95 mph range, and then settled into the 92-93 range after that. The fastball has late arm-side run and sink with more life when located down in the zone. He does have enough velocity to get swinging strikes up in the zone when he elevates.

Canning has a full, four-pitch mix which includes a curveball, slider and changeup, but used the slider and change less frequently as the game progressed. His curveball sat in the low-80s, at 80-82 mph, and was fairly inconsistent but at it’s best showed depth and solid downward break with some lateral tilt. The slider was throwin in the 84-85 mph range with shorter break and late lateral action while the changeup was on the firm side, thrown at 87, and played well off of his fastball with arm-side run and sink.




Jeren Kendall, OF, Vanderbilt

Arguably the top position player in all of college baseball, Jeren Kendall is a supreme talent with tools that likely have MLB scouting directors wanting to take him in the first round of the MLB Draft. Kendall is an excellent athlete with the ability to run consistently in the sub-4.0 second range to first base from the left side of the batter's box. 

The biggest question mark, in terms of being a professional prospect, for Kendall is the concern over the swing-and-miss to his game. Kendall has already surpassed the 50 strikeout mark on the season and struck out twice in two games on Saturday in a doubleheader against Georgia. 

The power is real both by the stats that he has put up in his college career and by the strength throughout the swing. The stance and swing itself are simple in nature but Kendall is able to generate excellent bat speed with explosive hands in the batter’s box. Despite his size and speed Kendall doesn’t fit into a typical leadoff profile as he has plus raw power that translates well in-game as he has a team-leading 12 home runs on the season.

Other Vanderbilt players added to College Player Database:

• Chandler Day
• Julian Infante
• Will Toffey
• Kyle Wright




Cam Shepherd, SS, Georgia

A true freshman and starting shortstop for the Bulldogs, Cam Shepherd has been extremely impressive this season showing maturity and may be one of the next stars for Georgia. Shepherd shows impressive tools across the board which makes him a valuable asset in all facets of the game.

Shepherd has very clean actions at shortstop and has the athleticism and agility to range to both sides and made a couple of plays deep in the hole in a doubleheader against Vanderbilt. He made an outstanding play late in game one to preserve the a scoreless tie; Shepherd shaded up the middle and leaped high in the air to snag a line drive and made a strong throw to first base to get a double play.

An inning and a half later, Shepherd stepped up to the plate and clobbered a long home run to deep left-center field, which would prove to be the deciding run in the game. The opposing pitcher went slider, changeup, slider, changeup and hung the changeup high in the zone which Shepherd deposited outside of the field of play.

Shepherd's swing gets a big long at times but he has good bat speed at the plate and is able to generate loft and carry on fly balls. The lower half of the swing is pretty sound as he gets his hips through the swing and has some rear leg drive as well. The path will get muddled at times but when the swing is on plane he is very dangerous at the plate.

The athleticism combined with excellent play on both sides makes Shepherd one of the better players on the Georgia team. His production up to this point makes him one of the most talented freshmen in the country and he should continue to produce for the Bulldogs.

Other Georgia players added to College Player Database:

• Ryan Avidano
• Blakely Brown
• Michael Curry
• Kevin Smith




Michael Baumann, RHP, Jacksonville

Baumann, who threw against Kennesaw State on Friday, is a prospect who was drafted coming out of high school and has come in at No. 145 on Perfect Game's updated Top 150 Prospect list for the 2017 MLB Draft. Baumann's frame is very physical with present strength throughout his 6-foot-4, 225-pound body. 

The delivery and arm action are both very easy with the arm being long and traveling through a full arm circle. The delivery itself is a bit stiff but that could also just be due to the physical nature of his frame. Baumann is able to consistently get on top of the ball and get downhill despite a shorter stride toward the plate. There is spine tilt near the top of the delivery and the upper half of the delivery will occasionally get in front of the lower half which leads to some timing and strike-throwing issues.

The fastball was good when he was able to command it effectively low in the zone with late, downward life. The pitch sat in the 92-94 mph range for the first few innings and settled in the 90-93 mph range as the outing went on. Baumann missed his spots occasionally which would lead to the pitch being left middle-middle and led him to give up two long balls. 

The secondaries were very polished with the slider being the better of the two breaking balls and showing consistently above average. The pitch sat 83-86 mph with tight spin and sharp, two-plane break. The pitch would seemingly fall off the table down with short movement to the glove side. The slider was Baumann's best pitch in terms of swings and misses and was used as a pitch to rack up strikeouts; he finished with seven strikeouts on the day.

The curveball was softer but showed refined 12-to-6 shape with quality depth. He would slow down his arm and overall delivery to throw it and it was best used as a change-of-pace pitch to set up other pitches. The curveball would rarely get thrown to induce chases, but rather used as a pitch to throw for called strikes. 

Baumann only walked two batters throughout the outing which is a positive considering that walks were an issue for him at the Cape last summer. He still had 21 walks in only 51 1/3 innings pitched coming into the game and strikes will be the determining factor in how high he can raise his stock considering he already has two pitches that show average to above average.

Other Jacksonville players added to College Player Database:

• Chris Gau




Tony Dibrell, RHP, Kennesaw State

Dibrell has been the ace for the Kennesaw State Owls all season long and he took the ball on Friday night against Jacksonville. Dibrell was his usual self in terms of stuff, showing off a low-90s fastball with quality secondaries and a four-pitch mix in total. He ran into issues with fastball command and control of the strike zone, but still showed why he is highly thought of as a prospect.

The fastball was mostly straight, but showed occasional heaviness when thrown low in the zone. That was the pitch Dibrell struggled the most with as the pitch was not too sharp in terms of location and got hit around hard. He showed an adjustment the second time through the lineup and started showing his secondary pitches more often.

The slider was a pitch that Dirbell relied upon as the game wore in. The pitch sat in the 79-81 mph range and had short, sharp break down and to the glove side. The pitch was a neutralizer against same-handed batters and was able to induce weak ground balls or whiffs altogether. Dibrell also showed his changeup that flashed above average potential with it's tumble down and to the arm side. 

He only showed his curveball a few times and it was a slow-breaker in the low-70s with more traditional curveball shape. Dibrell finished the outing with six walks on the evening and that was the big issue for him on the night. Dibrell showed three quality pitches again on Friday night in a game that was heavily attended by professional scouts.

Other Kennesaw State players added to College Player Database:

• Gabe Friese




Michael Bienlien, RHP, NC State

A one-time South Carolina commit, freshman righthander Michael Bienlien looks to be a future front of the rotation type arm for Head Coach Elliott Avent and could develop into one of the better arms in the entire ACC come his junior year. Proportionally built throughout his 6-foot-3, 205-pound high waisted, long limbed frame, Bienlien turned in six-plus innings of quality work on the mound Sunday afternoon and offered an array of intangibles on the mound to make him an attractive name come June of 2019.

You can’t help but notice just how easy his delivery and release are after a pitch or two and that’s a vital component that allowed Bienlien to maintain his velocity as well as he did. With a simple side step and higher leg lift Bienlien uses his length to his advantage by creating excellent extension out front from a loose and extended three-quarters slot. By staying on top and finishing through the pitch he was able to generate nice sinking life to his fastball which sat within the 90-93 mph range throughout, still showing 93 in the sixth inning with the same low effort release. As I’ve seen with other freshman arms this spring, Bienlien worked almost exclusively off his heater early in the content though he’s much more than a one-pitch pitcher. 

Though he showed the ability to miss bats with his fastball as he collected more than a handful of whiffs, Bienlien also showed the ability to locate to either side and wasn’t afraid to challenge hitters in on their hands. 

The difference maker for Bienlien and the pitch that could end up being his best pitch as the end of the day is his changeup. It’s an 81-83 mph offering that hitters read as fastball out of his hand as he does an excellent job of replicating his arm speed and release point on the pitch, living down in the zone with late fading life. The confidence he exhibited in the pitch was uncanny for a freshman arm too as he’d throw the pitch for strikes even if he was behind in the count. 

Thrown slightly slower but still bumping 81 mph, Bienlien’s slider is a very viable third pitch giving him the arsenal to start long term. As with his changeup, Bienlien maintains his arm action and release well, creating short and late tilting life away from righthanded hitters. 

Bienlien offers everything you want to see in a starting pitcher as he not only maintained his velocity and the life on his pitches, but continued to pound the strike zone while showing a delivery that’s conducive to heavy work load.

Other NC State players added to College Player Database:

• Brian Brown
• Brad Debo
• Joe Dunand
• Dalton Feeney
• Josh McLain


Brian Rapp, RHP, Boston College

The biggest thing Boston College righthander Brian Rapp needs to be successful is his command and as we’ve seen this spring, when he’s down in the zone he can cruise through a difficult lineup without many hiccups. Such was the case in the second game of the BC-North Carolina State double header as Rapp had everything working his way and put together a complete game, three-hit (all singles) shutout, the first time he’s gone the distance in his career. 

Because Rapp isn’t over physical at 5-foot-11, 195-pounds being on top of the ball is key in generating plane on his heater and that’s exactly what he did. We’ve seen mid-90s fastballs out of Rapp in the past out of the bullpen but this spring he’s worked more in the 88-90 mph, though it’s from the first to very last pitch of the game. He showed plenty of balance to his delivery in his most recent outing and threw a slew of strikes to either side of the plate while mixing four different pitches to keep Wolfpack hitters off balance. 

Still showing 90 mph in well into the eighth inning, Rapp’s ability to throw three distinctly different off speed pitches for strikes has been his biggest key while transitioning into a starting role. At its best Rapp’s curveball shows 12-6 shape with solid depth in the 76-78 mph range and there’s no shortage of confidence in the pitch as he tripled up at one point in the game. 

His slider, thrown as hard as 85 mph against NC State, is a much shorter pitch with tighter rotation and should he move back into the bullpen at the next level it’ll complement his fastball nicely. Rapp also flashed a change up at 81 mph with short fading life, giving him a four-pitch arsenal with which he can throw for strikes. 

It was a very sharp outing for Rapp and his best to date as he allowed just two hits through the first eight, walked only two and punched out six to help complete the sweep for Head Coach Mike Gambino and the Boston College Eagles.

Other NC State players added to College Player Database:

• Donovan Casey
• Gian Martellini
• Daniel Metzdorf
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College | Recruiting | 12/22/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 22
Jheremy Brown
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Lucien Saint Cyr, INF, Class of 2026 Commitment: Bucknell Saint Cyr announced his pledge to Bucknell, giving the Bison an interesting blend of present tools and projection. Saint Cyr stands 6-foot-1 and offers room to fill in his medium frame, profiling in the middle infield defensively. The New York product starts wide at the base in the right-handed box, keeping his hands high behind the ear. He works into a subtle outward step load, firing through a compact barrel that showcases bat speed and gap-to-gap impact. For head coach Scott Heather and Bucknell, they land a high-quality Northeast infielder in the ’26 cycle, adding to a class that takes the quality over quantity approach. Patrick Diaz ('26, NY) 102 EV off the bat. Impact to the pull side. #PGNational @PGMidAtlantic @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/NN0L3FRdO9 — PG Showcases (@PGShowcases) July 9, 2025 Patrick Diaz,...
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Draft | Rankings | 12/23/2025

Top 2028 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Vincent Cervino
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The college players in the 2028 draft class have yet to step on campus, but they're positioned to make an immediate impact. Several high end talents either turned down significant money last year or honored strong college commitments, resulting in their arrival on campus this fall. The class is currently led by a trio of high-upside arms in Jack Bauer, Angel Cervantes, and Cameron Appenzeller. They are followed by a deep group of bats that rounds out a strong, high end Top-10. Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State 1 Jack Bauer C LHP L-L Mississippi State Frankfort IL 2 Angel Cervantes C RHP R-R UCLA Lynwood CA 3 Cameron Appenzeller C LHP L-L Tennessee Springfield IL 4 Brayden Jaksa C C R-R Oregon Fremont  CA 5 JD Stein C SS R-R Wake Forest Carmel IN 6 Mason Ligenza C OF L-L Pittsburgh Brockton PA 7 Ty Peeples C OF L-R Georgia Lavonia GA 8 Lucas Franco C SS L-R TCU Katy TX 9...
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Juco | Story | 12/23/2025

2025 Year in Review: JUCO

Blaine Peterson
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Looking Back at the 2025 Top 10  Matt Barr (‘25 Niagara, ‘26 Minnesota Twins) Bursting onto the scene last winter, footage of an indoor bullpen rocketed Barr onto the radar of many. Explosive fastball reaches near triple digits with incredible spin numbers across the secondaries. Huge numbers at Niagara earned him the title of the first Juco player drafted in 2025. JC Vanek (‘25 Chipola, ‘26 Kansas City Royals) Just a professional hitter. Vanek for two years at Chipola was an impossible out. While there are questions if the power will ever reach what it takes to play first base at the big league level, the bat and quality defensive skillset at first base may carry. Donovan Becerra (‘25 New Mexico, ‘26 Texas Tech) One of the more high octane arms anywhere in the country last year. Can reach back for upper 90’s and has shown serious swing and...
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Draft | Story | 12/22/2025

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Isaiah Burrows
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2025 Year in Review: Draft We’ve reached the end of the 2025 calendar year, and while we’ve already jumped in on the 2026 cycle with some of the fall events and post-draft content we’ve had here at Perfect Game, there’s still one more piece on the docket, and that’s the 2025 Year-In-Review piece here from the PG Draft staff.  The 2025 MLB Draft took place in July, when many highly talented players heard their names called and continued their journey through the game to the next level. There’s already been some of those names making noise in the minors and guys who are moving up prospect lists and becoming names to know for MLB fans digging deep into the future of their organizations. While we are going to “close the book” on 2025 with this article, these players still have many years ahead of them, and many blank pages to continue...
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High School | General | 12/19/2025

Huntington Beach HS World Series Recap

Steve Fiorindo
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MVPitcher: Duncan McLeod The uncommitted junior toed the slab in three of the four games for Team Mick, tossing 3 2/3 innings.  Zero walks, zero hits and 6 punchouts for the lefty who was used both as a starter in the series clinching game 4 and he closed out game 3 on Friday in quick fashion.  McLeod was very efficient as well, needing just 42 pitches over all his outings.  In the game 4 start, over two innings he punched out 3, with one strikeout with all of his offerings.  The mid 80’s fastball regularly played up, set up with efficient use of the secondaries, with the breaking ball 73/74 and fading change-up 72-74.   Owen Bone (2026) at it again... Solo shot in the 5th to tie things up. Back to back days with a home run for Bone. #PGHS pic.twitter.com/2JC9qETI5h — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) December 13, 2025 MV Hitter: ...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

13u Tourney All-American Team

Jheremy Brown
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What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

14u Tourney All-American Team

Tyler Russo
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Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
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Draft | Story | 12/18/2025

PG Draft: Gut Feel Guys

Tyler Henninger
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While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/17/2025

15u Tourney All-American Team

Jason Phillips
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Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

16u Tourney All-American Team

AJ Denny
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Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
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