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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/23/2017

17u PG World Series Day 3 Notes

David Rawnsley     
Photo: Perfect Game



Daily Leaders | Player Stats | Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes

Perfect Game All-American Blake Burzell (2018, Laguna Beach, Calif.) threw four shutout innings, allowing only one hit and one walk, while throwing only 56 pitches, for the So Cal Birds in the 8:00 a.m. time slot Saturday morning. The 6-foot-6 righthander worked in the 88-92 mph range and was still touching 91 mph in the fourth inning. Burzell throws from an up-tempo turn-and-throw delivery and does a good job of staying on top of his fastball and powering it downhill. That quick delivery pace, however, tends to leave his arm behind on his hard curveball, with the result that he often leaves the pitch up and over the plate. A bit slower delivery or a pause at the top of his delivery might enable him to sync up more consistently. Burzell went with his changeup more often in the later innings and did so effectively.

Premier Baseball righthander Owen Meaney (2018, Houston, Texas) turned in a masterpiece Saturday, throwing six innings of one-hit baseball and striking out seven hitters while needing only 73 pitches. Meaney worked in the 86-90 mph range the entire outing but it was the quality and command he showed for his secondary stuff that really stood out. He struck out three of the game’s first four hitters on 80-81 mph changeups that had late diving action under the barrel and also showed very good feel for a mid-70s curveball. Meaney formally was a LSU commit but withdrew that and doesn't presently have a college commitment.

Lundray "T.J." Reeves (2018, Birmingham, Ala.) has been a hitting star for the Game On Stealth this week. The fleet-footed center fielder and Alabama commit has a quick and short righthanded swing and has been barreling the ball up constantly, as it seems the entire Game On team has done. Reeves hit a home run in the tournament's opening game and had three hits Saturday and is now hitting .538 (7-for-13) going into the playoffs. Game On, which not only hits the ball hard but also plays with as much enthusiasm as any team in Mesa, finished pool play with a 3-0-1 record.

The starting pitching in the NorCal/San Diego Show matchup drew lots of scouting attention, as NorCal's Dominic Pipkin (2018, Pinole, Calif.) matched up against the Show's Sam Wibbels (2019, Hastings, Neb.).




Pipkin has a very slender 6-foot-4, 170-pound body that can get stronger but will never be thick and he throws from a very low effort delivery. When he stays on top of the ball and keeps his slow up, he powers the ball to the bottom of the zone with an 89-91 mph fastball that touched 93 mph and gets lots of ground ball contact. During this and other outings this summer, Pipken has shown he still needs plenty of development in his secondary pitches but with his extremely smooth and fast arm and projectable body, it's easy to see him as a mid-90s arm that throws strikes.




Wibbels ended up going 5 2/3 innings in what turned out to be a 6-2 Show victory, with the Show's defensive advantage being the key factor in the game. Wibbels has really refined his delivery and arsenal of pitches since we first saw the young Nebraskan as a freshman. He works out of the stretch exclusively with a up-tempo drop-and-drive delivery, that, while still having some effort, is much more controllable and directional that previously. What was most impressive was the quality and consistency of Wibbels' curveball and changeup and the confidence that he showed in both those pitches. His fastball was still his main weapon, working in the 88-91 mph range, but it was better command and improved off-speed that enabled him to go up to 93 pitches and get the win.

Third baseman/righthanded pitcher Roberto Pena (2018, Pembroke Pines, Fla.) has been a Swiss Army knife for the Banditos Scout Team and a major reason why the team is in the playoffs with a 3-1 pool play record. The Banditos’ three victories have been by scores of 4-3, 5-4 and 8-6, with Pena playing a vital role in two of those wins. The Florida commit has picked up two saves, working 3 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out seven hitters and showcasing a well commanded fastball up to 91 mph. Offensively, Pena went 2-for-3 with a pair of key RBI in the Banditos 5-4 win on Friday.

The Dark Knights were one of the most talented and entertaining teams to watch in pool play but somehow managed to go only 1-1-2 and miss out on the playoffs. Their lone victory, ironically, was against the Banditos Scout Team by a 2-0 score on Saturday. The Dark Knights received a stellar pitching performance by righthanders Conner Noland (2018, Greenwood, Ark.) and Grayson Rodriguez (2018, Nacogdoches, Texas), who only allowed one hit between them.

Noland, who is an Arkansas commit, was a strike-throwing machine, needing only 47 pitches to throw five no-hit innings, including only 22 pitches the first three innings combined against the free-swinging Banditos. Noland worked in the 87-89 mph range with a sinking fastball and occasionally mixed in a curveball and changeup.




The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Rodriguez wasn't as parsimonious with his pitches, needing 38 to navigate his two innings, but was 88-92 with his fastball and threw a big sweeping curveball as well. But his best pitch proved to be his changeup, which picked him up three outs, including Pena and PG All-American Hunter Watson, in the seventh inning with runners on base.

Credit goes to the well balanced and opportunistic US Elite team, which ran up against Perfect Game All-Americans Matt Liberatore (2018, Peoria, Ariz.) and Mason Denaberg (2018, Merritt Island, Fla.) of the Central Florida Gators in a must-win game for the playoffs and emerged with a hard fought 7-4 victory.




Righthander Phillip Dull (2018, Alum Bank, Pa.) was the star for US Elite, going 6 2/3 innings before reaching his 105-pitch limit. Dull, who is listed as a primary shortstop and is a West Virginia commit, topped out at 93 mph early before settling into the upper-80s and showed a low- to mid-70s curveball with good spin and depth. Most impressive was his ability to battle a very experienced and talented Gators team in the mid-afternoon heat and not back down at all despite allowing nine hits and appearing to be on the ropes a couple of times.




Liberatore didn't have his usual pinpoint command and US Elite's willingness to lay off pitches just out of the strike zone that the 6-foot-5 lefthander usually gets hitters to commit on led to his throwing an uncharacteristic 91 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. Liberatore worked in the 88-92 mph area with his fastball with lots of running life at times to go with a big breaking slow curveball and changeup.

Denaburg caught the first five innings before going to the mound but that didn't seem to hurt his arm strength, as he immediately began pumping 92-95 mph fastballs.

Daily Nolan Gorman (2018, Glendale, Ariz.) update: Gorman has his fourth straight two-hit game, with one of those hits being a line drive triple that skipped off the fence in deepest left-center field off a 90 mph Dull fastball. US Elite also walked him intentionally with runners on second and third and two outs while leading 4-3.




Owen Sharts (2018, Simi Valley, Calif.) is listed as a primary third baseman and he actually attended a PG showcase in 2014 as a primary catcher. He is converting to a full-time pitcher and on a short look Saturday it's going to be a very successful, if not spectacular, conversion. Sharts throws from a well-balanced and athletic delivery and gets nice downhill plane to his fastball despite being 6-foot-1. His arm is very smooth and fast and he was 92-94 mph consistently with his fastball. Sharts also showed tight spin on his curveball, although he tends to cast it some, and got nice fading action on his changeup. He quickly moves to near the top of what at present is a pretty slender 2018 Southern California pitching class and will get heavy scouting attention the rest of the summer.




EvoShield Canes righthander and PG All-American Austin Becker (2018, Sudbury, Ohio) had his strongest outing of the summer for this scout, throwing three plus innings and maintaining a 89-93 mph fastball the entire time. When Becker is able to unravel his big and long 6-foot-6 frame in time and get the ball down to the glove side to a righthanded hitter the ball just disappears with big angle and cutting action and he was able to do that a couple of times. Becker also showed nice feel and confidence in his low-80s changeup and picked up a couple of outs with the pitch. The one pitch that Becker hasn't shown consistency on this summer, as opposed to viewings last summer, has been on his curveball, where he's not getting out and over it consistently. Becker has shown the potential for a plus breaking ball in the past and it will likely come back with adjustments and patience.
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