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High School  | Blog | 5/30/2017

Memorial Day West Days 3-4 Notes

Several 2021’s stood out over the course of the weekend; which, when you consider that players of this grad year are just now finishing up middle school, it makes it all the more impressive that they stood out in such highly competitive events. 



Tyler Whitaker (2021, Nev.) has been highly-followed for a good while now, and currently ranks as the No. 10 overall prospect in the class of 2021; and for extremely good reason. We’ve written before about Whitaker’s prowess with the bat, where the primary righthanded pitcher and Arizona commit shows a loose, easy swing with solid pop and the ability to work to all fields. Whitaker, however, is a primary righthanded pitcher for a reason, and he showed that on Monday morning, closing out the semifinal win for LVR 16u. 

With a highly projectable, broad-shouldered frame, Whitaker currently checks in around 6-foot-3, 175-pounds or so; but it’s easy to see him becoming a physical monster at maturity. As it is right now, Whitaker worked 84-87 mph with his fastball, with an easy delivery and quick arm that all projects extremely well. The pitch features solid sinking life with a little two seam run as well; and he did a pretty solid job overall of filling up the strike zone with the pitch. Though only a quick, one-inning look; Whitaker still showed both his slider and changeup and without a doubt has the feel for both necessary to make them each bat-missing offerings long term. The slider was more 73-74 mph with solid tilting shape and spin; though it will need to sharpen up a bit. The changeup came in at 79 mph and faded well to the arm side with no noticeable deceleration of his arm stroke through release. The upside here for Whitaker is enormous, and he’s rightfully ranked near the top of the 2021 class as it sits. 

Another 2021 who stood out in this past weekend’s action was Josiah Chavez (2021, Calif.), who, at 6-foot-2, 174-pounds has the type of physical projection, present strength, and swing mechanics that all mix together to look like a big time power bat in the future. He’s pretty strong right now, especially for his age, but the body still has a good amount of room left to fill out with additional strength, and at maturity he could be one of the more physically strong players in his class. The swing is geared to drive the ball into the air, with consistently positive launches and good bat speed on a compact path, consistently getting the barrel out front with leverage and bat speed and making firm contact into the air as a result. He’s got very fast hands for a player of his age and the swing is nice and loose at this point; and he definitely looks like he’s going to be a serious power threat as he continues to mature. 



Joseph Acosta (2021, Calif.) looks like he’s going to pop pretty soon as a good 2021 pitching prospect, as the very long, very lean young righthander has the physical projection and type of arm speed that usually ends up producing pretty good velocity. At present, Acosta works in the 78-82 mph range with his fastball, generating natural cutting action to the glove side that occasionally even acts like a shorter slider within the strike zone. He’s understandably raw in terms of his delivery and offspeed stuff; but the physical projection and quality arm speed give him legitimate upside as a pitching prospect as he moves forward into high school. 



Yet another 2021 who stood out in this event was Thomas Dilandri, a primary outfielder who is getting several looks as a righthanded pitcher. He got the start in the 14u championship game for LVR vs. the Banditos; and was very solid. Dilandri checks in at roughly 6-foot-1, 170-pounds right now with solid build throughout as well as plenty of projection remaining. He worked in the 80-84 mph range with his fastball, creating steep plane to the plate from a high three quarters arm slot, powering downhill and doing a good job of finding the bottom of the strike zone with his fastball pretty consistently. He also has advanced feel for his curveball, thrown in the low 70’s at present with good depth and 11/5 shape; doing a good job spinning it down and out of the zone, getting swings and misses over the top of the pitch. 



Another repeat performer in these recap sections, Emilio Morales (2020, Calif.) deserves mention again, this time due to his pitching performance. A primary catcher who really impressed this evaluator earlier in the week with his defensive abilities, the recent USC commit started on the mound for LVR 16u in their semifinal game and was pretty good, especially when considering he’s not even a primary pitcher at this point. 

Morales worked in the low-mid 80’s with his fastball, touching 85 mph several times as his peak velocity, and though the arm stroke itself is a bit rigid, he has legitimate arm speed and is able to generate that velocity relatively easily and complements that velocity with quality sinking action on the fastball. He lands closed off and creates some crossfire to his delivery, but is athletic enough to repeat a relatively complex delivery like that and still throw strikes, which he did consistently. The slider feel came and went a bit; but Morales was especially successful at just throwing his sinker to the bottom of the strike zone and eliciting a good deal of both swings-and-misses and weak contact. 



One of the stars of the weekend from both a prospect and performance standpoint was Wesley Scott (2019, Calif.); a rising junior righthander who is committed to Vanderbilt. Scott throws from an extremely tough extended low three quarters arm slot and as a result creates tremendous movement on his fastball; so much so, in fact, that it’s a tougher task for him to command the fastball than for a traditional pitcher. The pitch worked consistently in the 88-92 mph range throughout his 6+ inning start, with what was at times a ridiculous amount of arm side life. When he’s throwing strikes with the pitch; it’s one of the most dominating single pitches in the class of 2019, thanks to a combination of pure velocity, the aforementioned movement, and the deceptiveness of where he throws from. In addition to the fastball, Scott worked in a slider that flashed legitimate biting snap and depth; with two-plane shape that fits perfectly with his release point and arm slot. He’s got extremely high levels of ability and is ranked highly in the class of 2019 for very good reason. 

Fellow Vanderbilt 2019 commit and Phenom Signature player Spencer Jones (2019, Calif.) is one of the more intriguing two-way prospects in the country at this point; as the extremely long-framed (6-7/195) lefthanded hitter and pitcher has drawn some comparisons to AJ Puk at a similar age. Normally it’s difficult for hitters of Jones’ limb length to consistently get the barrel through the zone on time, given how long their arms are therefore creating a naturally longer swing, but Jones has extremely fast hands and as a result is able to cover the inside part of the plate with no problems at this juncture of his development. He can work to all fields and has quality pop as well; and certainly looks at this point like a legitimate two-way talent. 



When we talked about Wesley Scott above, it was mentioned how his low three quarters arm slot benefits him in terms of deception from the right side. Well, Campbell Holt (2019, Nev.) may have him beat in terms of low slot deception, seeing as the young lefthander throws from pretty much a direct sidearm angle from the left side. The arm is very loose and quick and as such it’s easy to imagine him working in the upper-80’s or higher at physical maturity. He currently works in the 82-85 mph range with his fastball, which plays up several ticks in terms of effectiveness simply due to the deception and uncommon look he provides. He has a quality Frisbee slider at his disposal as well as a good changeup that fades even further away from righthanded hitters. Generally speaking, these types of pitchers are usually seen as lefty specialists because they’re almost impossible for lefthanded hitters to hit; but Holt has the entire arsenal and looks like he’ll be able to handle hitters of either handedness as he continues to work up the ladder. Either way, I’m sure Southern California is ecstatic to have him in the fold for 2019. 



Zachary Martinez (2019, Ariz.) got the start in the championship game for Phenom Signature 16u and did not disappoint, throwing a 6 inning no hitter, allowing only a single walk while striking out 10. Martinez reminds this scout in terms of his delivery of a righthanded version of 2016 PG All-American Logan Allen from Florida. They’re both crossfire with good deception, but have the athleticism and flexibility to not only repeat their deliveries, but to do so with command. Martinez worked 85-89 mph with his fastball throughout his start with impeccable command to both sides of the plate along with excellent arm side life to the pitch; though it would get a bit flat at times. He doesn’t create much in the way of plane but does create good angles consistently from an extended three quarters slot; allowing the pitch to play up in effectiveness more than the raw velocity would indicate. He flashed a good changeup as well; thrown with consistently 8-10 mph difference from his fastball but with no noticeable change in arm action or arm speed; generating solid fading life on the pitch and doing a good job working it away from lefthanded hitters. He’s committed to the University of Arizona, and looks like he’ll be a good one there for several years. 
 
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