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College  | Story  | 4/8/2018

College Notebook: April 7

Greg Gerard     
Photo: Cal Raleigh (Ross Obley)



Big arms take the stage | Weekend Preview | College Player Database

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.


Drew Parrish, LHP, Florida State



Going six innings and giving up just one earned run usually gives a good indication that your team is going to win. Unfortunately for Parrish and his Florida State Seminoles that was not the case as he went up against Connor Thomas of Georgia Tech on Saturday who tossed a masterful nine innings. Parrish still put together a quality start giving the Noles a chance.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound lefthander showed a fastball that ranged from 88-90 mph. Although mostly straight, the pitch was repeatedly well located leading to induce soft contact. Parrish may be undersized but the three-pitch mix he features is solid, especially the changeup. The changeup shows above average with some fade but is mostly straight, ranging from 76-78 mph. Parrish also mixed in a sharp curveball as well with downward tilt.

The southpaw from Rockledge, Florida has an arm that works really well and gets the most out of his delivery. The arm is quick and his lower half is used very nicely getting down the hill. Parrish has put up dominant numbers all year long in his seven starts. His 2.61 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 41 1/3 innings has him among the top starters statistically in all of the gauntlet that is the Atlantic Coast Conference.


Cal Raleigh, C, Florida State

Raleigh is well known as a high prospect catcher and he showed why with his defensive actions in the second game of Florida State's series against Georgia Tech. Although he didn't show off his pure catch-and-throw talents in between innings, Raleigh did get one chance to show off the arm strength in the game. On a curveball that short-hopped him in the second inning, Raleigh showed the outstanding blocking skills he possesses by keeping the ball right in front of him. The junior backstop then grabbed the ball and gunned down the runner trying to steal. Making the play easily with pure quickness and agility is what makes the North Carolina native so special. It is obvious at first glance to see Raleigh standing at 6-foot-3, 225-pounds and realize he is a physical player. The bat was not a factor in this game, but the switch-hitter is still batting above .300 with four home runs on the season. The 2016 Freshman All-American has shown through his three years at Florida State that he can really swing the bat from both sides of the plate and he likely will be an early pick in this year's draft thanks to his prowess on both sides of the ball.


Connor Thomas, LHP, Georgia Tech

The star of the day in game two of the series between Georgia Tech and Florida State was Georgia Tech’s lefthander Connor Thomas. Thomas pitched a masterful complete game allowing just one run on six hits. The lefty is not going to overpower hitters with his velocity, but the three pitches he features and the low arm angle from where the ball is released from make for tough at-bats.

On this day, Thomas was in total command of the strike zone with his mid-80s fastball that featured plenty of life to his arm side and occasional sink at times. He not only had pinpoint command of his fastball but the changeup and slider each were repeatedly well located. Coming from a low three-quarters arm slot, Thomas is an especially tough at-bat for lefthanded hitters and is the definition of a crafty lefty. His changeup was his most effective pitch getting FSU hitters out in front and keeping them off balance pitching off of the lively fastball. His slider has plenty of depth to it and was a good pitch to accompany the fastball and changeup.

Thomas’ arm works well coming up to his low arm angle and on this day, he was in a rhythm all game long. For Thomas, he and his Yellow Jackets would earn the win in a hard fought 2-1 victory.


Oscar Serratos, 3B, Georgia Tech

A 2017 draft pick of the Cleveland Indians coming out of high school, Serratos showed why he was selected in the draft in Georgia Tech's second game of their series against Florida State as he hit a pair of doubles, one to each gap, and also added a single on the day. Finishing 3-for-3 and squaring up every ball that he put into play, Serratos has real bat speed that when barreled results in loud contact and high exit velocities. The third baseman for Georgia Tech plays a solid infield as well and has a plus frame. The 6-foot-3, 183-pound Serratos is an interesting player, and while still very early to be looking at names for the 2020 draft, he is an obvious choice for the early rounds if he continues to swing the bat the way he did in this contest.


Joey Murray, RHP, Kent State



Kent State's undisputed ace, Joey Murray came into his junior season after an absolutely tremendous sophomore campaign, and was the PG preseason pick for MAC Pitcher of the Year with no signs of slowing down. He's 4-1 with a 1.32 ERA thus far in 2018 through 47 2/3 innings, piling up 66 strikeouts in that span. He was dominant against Central Michigan in the first game of their series on Saturday, scattering four hits and one walk over six shutout innings while striking out 10 along the way. He likely would have gone deeper into the game, but Kent State's top of the seventh inning lasted nearly 40 minutes in freezing cold, so it was a wise move on the coaching staff's part to take him out at that point having sat for that long in the cold. 

He's an athletically built, solid sized righthander with good athleticism through his body, though he's certainly not an overwhelming physical presence on the mound. He's got a bit of a quirky, corkscrew-like delivery with a big rocker step back into his windup, beginning to unload his back hip downhill before he really even gets his front leg up fully, which results in a bit of a drop-and-drive delivery. There is deception there, as the moving parts work in Murray's favor, and he has no problems throwing consistent strikes. The arm stroke is a bit elongated and offline through the back, and while there is some back elbow creep there as he initiates his spiral, the elbow doesn't get overly high and there isn't anything violent to the mechanical profile. 

He worked in the 86-89 mph range to start, bumping 90 mph a few times, and showing above average life through the zone. The velocity dipped into the mid-80s towards the fifth and sixth innings, but he still did a good job locating and working to both sides of the plate. He's adept at creating angle to the glove side, and did a very good job working in on the hands of the Chippewa hitters and eliciting weak contact. He throws a pair of breaking balls, with the slider being the swing-and-miss offering. It's thrown in the 75-79 mph range, a little fatter in the lower end of that velocity range but with sharp, late bite in 78-79 band. It's got the potential to be an above average pitch for him. He also mixes in a slow, loopy curveball around 70 mph with 11-to-5 shape that he uses more sparingly to steal a strike. He can land it in the zone and it's effective at changing the eye levels of hitters and keeping them off balance, but it's not a swing-and-miss pitch at this juncture. 

Murray's numbers and overall performance history likely have him higher on the draft boards of model-heavy teams, and while the stuff doesn't necessarily match those numbers, it's still a pretty solid, very draftable overall profile. He's a day three talent right now, but as the weather warms up and he potentially gains some velocity, he could sneak into a back end of day two type of valuation.


Pat Leatherman, RHP, Central Michigan



After trying a few different rotation combinations to start the season, Central Michigan has settled into conference play with redshirt junior Pat Leatherman leading the way on the mound on Fridays. The burly, physical righthander has performed extremely well for the Chippewas throughout his career for the most part, and has continued that into 2018. He cruised through six innings against Kent State in near-arctic conditions (it was in the 20's in Mount Pleasant) before running into a bit of trouble in the seventh inning, and as such his line score looks less impressive than in reality. 

Leatherman's delivery is very simplistic and efficient, starting with his feet at a 45 degree angle on the rubber, needing only a small step back to load before taking a normal-height leg lift, loading into his back hip well and driving downhill. He lands consistently online and does a good job repeating his delivery, which has clearly been streamlined over the years of his development and now results in excellent strike-throwing ability, as evidenced by his sub-two walks per nine innings. 

The arm action is likewise compact and efficient, hidden well behind his body as he works through his delivery, getting up to a very high three-quarters slot and creating excellent plane to the plate. He works in some deception in his delivery as well, with varying times to the plate, most notably an elongated hold at the top of his load, and he did a good job working both fastball and curveball out of that secondary delivery. 

The fastball worked 87-90 mph for the most part, bumping a few 91's along the way, and he held that velocity throughout his time on the mound despite pitching with no sleeves in frigid temperatures, though, in fairness, native Michiganders are known for their outstanding resiliency in cold weather. The plane he creates to the plate aids in the pitch's overall effectiveness, and he got a significant number of swings and misses with that fastball at the top of the zone.  It took him a few innings to really find his curveball, but when he did it was a consistently solid pitch for him that falls into the average range from a scouting perspective. Thrown in the upper-70s and peaking at 80 mph, it's thrown with 12-to-6 shape and good depth, deceptive out of the hand and fitting that high release/arm slot perfectly and pairing especially well with that high four seam fastball that Leatherman likes to throw. 

On the whole, Leatherman is one of the better pitchers in the MAC, and a real Friday horse for the Chippewas. He's piled up the strikeouts this year at a very high clip (over 13 strikeouts per nine innings), and should continue to do so moving forward in conference play. As far as the MLB Draft is concerned, Leatherman could certainly continue the Central Michigan trend of having pitchers drafted, though he could also potentially return to Mount Pleasant for another season.
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