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College  | Story  | 3/17/2018

Mize dominant to open SEC

Patrick Ebert      Vincent Cervino     
Photo: Anthony Hall/Auburn Athletics



Weekend Preview | Perfect Game College Player Database
Quick Takes: Louisiana | Mississippi State | Kentucky | Texas Tech

During the season Perfect Game scouts will be traveling to some of the top series to watch the very best players in college baseball. Those observations, captured with both written notes and video, will be shared in the College Player Database as linked above, notes that can also be accessed on the players' individual PG profile pages. Throughout the season select reports will be shared in feature format to promote the players, the teams and college baseball as a whole.


Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn



It’s difficult to follow no-hit performance with one just as dominant, but Casey Mize came pretty close with his outstanding outing against Texas A&M to open up SEC play that led to a victory for the Tigers. Mize struck out 13 batters while allowing only four hits during 7 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. 

The game started as well as a game could for Mize as he struck out six of the first seven batters he faced while only allowing one hit. The righthander for Auburn, who has found himself squarely in the mix as a top 1:1 candidate, powered his four-seam fastball in the 92-96 mph range while topping out at 97 mph in the second inning. The pitch set the tone throughout the whole evening as he tunneled his pitches off the fastball to create lots of deception as he maintained the same slot for his entire arsenal. 

The go-to secondary pitch is his well-known splitter, which was a terror against hitters of both handedness for the Aggies. The pitch worked in the 84-87 mph range with significant downer action that was late and hard. It looked like a fastball coming out of the hand before just dropping out of the strike zone to induce a number of swings-and-misses. Mize’s splitter is easily a plus pitch and projects to become a plus-plus pitch down the line. 

The other secondary pitch that Mize mixed in regularly was his very hard cutter. The pitch worked mostly 87-89 mph with short, biting life to the arm side and actually flashed some two-plane action as well. It blends between a true, lateral cutter and a slider at times, however he showed significant feel for it and was a weapon against righthanders. The cutter showed to be a third plus pitch in Mize’s arsenal, but he also showed a two-seam fastball in the 88-90 mph range and a slider in the low-80s. The slider flashed biting tilt and shape, but it functioned best when throwing it for strikes. 

Strike throwing is a strength of Mize’s as he shows the ability to repeat and attack the strike zone. He commands his pitches well throughout and hits his spots properly while executing proper life and location of his entire arsenal. His current strikeout-to-walk ratio of 51-to-3 demonstrates how Mize is able to achieve the rare feat of pounding the strike zone while racking up swings and misses and also not giving up free passes. Mize fell behind in the count rarely and walked none during the outing while also not even reaching a single three-ball count. 

There are some concerns with the overall profile, however, as Mize does exhibit significant violence to the delivery at times and has a very restricted lower half through the point of release. He is able to repeat the delivery, as evidenced by his command, but with a short stride down the mound he allows the upper half to do most of the lifting with regards to the velocity. 

Mize grades out with three plus or better pitches currently, and even four depending on who you talk to about the breaking ball, and has a strong track record with potential for plus command. There are some concerns with the delivery but Mize is easily a top-of-the-draft talent and has established himself as one of the top prospects, high school or college, for this June’s draft.


Adam Hill, RHP, South Carolina



Hill entered his game against the Florida Gators second in the nation in strikeouts with 43, recording those in just 23 innings of work while also allowing only seven walks and nine base hits. He did however have a 3.91 ERA, which suggests some big innings, not to mention big hits, and considering he had given up three home runs of those nine hits that would seem to be the case.

He certainly looks the part of a staff ace, with a listed 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame, and it’s well-proportioned strength throughout. His delivery is clean and repeatable and he does a nice job maintaining his arm speed on his secondary pitches. By the fifth inning, when his velocity dropped a couple of ticks, it looked as though his arm may have dropped a little as well, spending most of the game throwing from a traditional three-quarters delivery.

In the first inning he came out pumping fastballs, registering a couple of 94’s and 95’s but sitting for the most part right at 93 mph. The pitch has some late life at times, but he does elevate the pitch frequently, of which it can straighten out. He extends well out front, with his TrackMan readings being fairly true to his 6-foot-5 stature, but it did seem to cause his fastball to play up a little. The pitch sat in the 91-93 mph range for his first four innings of work but was down to 89-91 in the fifth inning, working 4 2/3 innings in this game against the No. 1 team in the nation, not to mention the defending national champions.

His breaking ball was inconsistent, thrown like a curveball but acting like a slider at times. It was at its best when thrown in the low-80s, right in the 81-83 mph range, and had a shorter but sharp break to it. When thrown in the upper-70s it acted more as a get-me-over pitch he could drop in for strikes to keep hitters’ timing off-set from his fastball velocity. His change was thrown at 84-85 mph and didn’t really change much, more of a true slow ball than a pull-the-string variety without much fading movement, although his arm speed was replicated well.

Despite giving up five walks in 4 2/3 innings he was always around the zone and didn’t battle with control issues, staying composed and focused on the mound. Two of the three runs he allowed came across to score after he had left the ballgame in a 7-3 loss to Florida, and he allowed only three base hits. Hill did strike out six, as he continued to miss bats thanks to his fastball and extension, and none of the contact he allowed was particularly hard. However, he frequently was out of sync, and his drop in velocity in the fifth is of concern considering that he had sat in the 91-94 mph range, and maintained that velocity, in every start he made this year so far leading up to this one.


Brady Singer, RHP, Florida



Starting opposite the South Carolina Gamecocks’ ace, Adam Hill, was Florida’s Brady Singer, who has been profiled several times already in the PG College Player Database the past several years. Singer was as-advertised in this game, although he did have some bouts of wildness, and showed a little competitive fire early in the game, plunking the second batter he faced and nearly got tossed after he had an animated reaction to the umpire warning the benches for his hits batsman.

Otherwise Singer did what he usually does, spotting his 91-94 mph fastball well that peaked at 95 while mixing in a loopy breaking ball that acts more like a curve for strikes. He was mostly 92-94 mph in the first few frames, but he struggled to find his release point and also spun off a few times at release. By the third and fourth innings he had found his groove, as his fourth inning of work was particularly quick, inducing early, weak contact.

He throws from a lower three-quarters arm angle with almost a slinging delivery. That angle creates natural run, and sink at times, which makes his fastball that much harder to square up when he’s commanding it well to the lower half of the strike zone. When he elevates, like many to most pitchers, he can be hit.

The arm angle makes it look as though he casts his breaking ball, as it’s difficult to get over on a curveball when your arm angle is so low. As a result he doesn’t power it downhill, but he does drop it in for strikes well and at times showed the ability to back-foot the offering to lefthanded hitters. In general he showed that he liked working to his glove side, at least in this game, pitching inside to lefthanders and staying away from righthanded batters.

Singer is able to vary the shape on his breaking ball, and it’s most effective when thrown in the low-80s as opposed to the mid- to upper-70s version, which is the one he likes to drop in for strikes.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Singer developed more of a true slider to take advantage of his arm action and angle. He generates very good extension out of his hand according to TrackMan – which registered around seven feet, a nice boost given his 6-foot-5 frame – and also throws his fastball with a very high spin rate, as that pitch alone should allow him to be successful at the next level.

With a 7-3 Florida win Singer picked up the victory to remain perfect (5-0) on the young season, In six innings (101 pitches) he allowed just one earned run on two base hits and two walks while striking out seven.


Michael Byrne, RHP, Florida



Byrne came in the eighth inning with runners on and nobody out to preserve the win for the Florida Gators against South Carolina. He made quick work of the Gamecocks hitters, allowing just one base hit and a walk in his two innings of work, striking out one batter to record his fourth save of the year.

At 6-foot-3, 210-pounds, Byrne has a strong physical presence. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, sitting right at 89-90 mph with his fastball and really liked going to his big fading 82-83 mph changeup that opposing hitters swung over the top of or weakly pounded into the ground. He also threw a 77-79 mph curveball that he dropped in nicely for strikes, giving him a very solid and well-rounded three-pitch arsenal.

With that arsenal, and the fact that he doesn’t throw particularly hard, it does lead one to believe that he likely will be tried as a starter at the next level, similar to the path of another Gators closer, Shaun Anderson. Byrne is frequently asked to record multiple-inning saves, so stretching his arm out shouldn’t be a problem, and given the cool night in Columbia, S.C., it also wasn’t surprising that his fastball was down a couple of ticks from its customary low-90s velocity.


 
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