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College  | Story  | 5/4/2018

College Notebook: May 4

Vincent Cervino     
Photo: Nick Sandlin (Southern Miss Athletics)



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.


Nick Sandlin, RHP, Southern Miss



One of the top pitchers in college baseball this spring, both in terms of stuff and numbers, has been Southern Miss ace Nick Sandlin, and the righthander continued to deal as with a complete game shutout against UAB Sandlin extended his scoreless streak to 32 innings pitched on the season. 

Sandlin immediately stands out on the mound, in part due to his unorthodox mechanics. The delivery is athletic and quick paced, but the arm path is long and loose and culminates in a sidearm release angle. This allows Sandlin to get a ton of arm side run and sink on the fastball that was his go-to pitch from the onset of the performance. Sandlin's arm slot was also incredibly difficult on righthanded hitters as it created a really tough entry angle into the strike zone. The righthanded pitcher sat 90-94 mph throughout the duration of the start and, from this scout's view, the pitch looked impossible to lift, resulting in a lot of ground balls that hitters swung on top of when Sandlin wasn't missing bats. 

The fastball was the primary pitch in Sandlin's arsenal, however it wasn't his only one as both the slider and changeup were both effective and both flashed average or better on the evening. The slider was the better of the two pitches in the 80-83 mph range with sharp, horizontal break that could both be thrown for strikes and used to garner swings-and-misses. The pitch was incredibly deceptive as the late break left hitters fooled when Sandlin chose to frontdoor righthanded hitters with the pitch; the slider graded out consistently average on the night and flashed a couple of above-average looks as well and profiles nicely as an out pitch for Sandlin. 

The changeup was mostly used as a neutralizing factor against lefthanded hitters and although Sandlin slowed some on the pitch, but showed good sinking life in the 81-83 mph range. This gives Sandlin three capable pitches at the professional level and would profile nicely as a starter at the next level, however this is where Sandlin's profile creates some questions. 

Sandlin is not very big, listed at 5-foot-11 and 170-pounds, with a funky delivery and arm action that while aid in deception, create some repeatability concerns. Normally with size scouts worry about the consistency of the stuff and command heading deep into ball games. Sandlin might've gotten into trouble towards the end of the game with runners, but the stuff was just as good as he was pumping 92 mph in during the last frame and twirled some of his better sliders toward the end of the game. 

Sandlin's profile is certainly unique, he has been a reliever since his high school days and given the opportunity to shine in a starter's role has turned himself into one of the premier starters in college baseball. The stuff on it's one certainly warrants a top five rounds grade, and with the postseason still to come for the top ten Southern Miss team, Sandlin will have more opportunities to turn doubters into fans. 


Adam Scott, LHP, Wofford



A week after turning in one of the best starts of the season on the college baseball landscape, Adam Scott showed to be human as Wofford dropped their opening game of a big SoCon series against Samford. Scott still showed pretty solid stuff during this look, with three pitches he could throw for strikes while spotting up to both sides of the plate with intent. 

Just looking at Scott on the mound, he appears to be a prototypical lefthanded pitching prospect with a 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame, but his delivery, arm action, and release point indicate otherwise. He has a funky delivery, with an abbreviated, short leg lift and a long, loose arm stroke that is deceptively online and releases from a lower three-quarters arm angle. This creates some deception, specifically against lefthanded hitters, as he hides the ball effectively for a long time. Scott would vary his release point at times, he would release a bit higher for some plane and would drop slot for some more run too. 

The fastball has reportedly been up in the 94 mph range early on in starts, however his best velocity during this viewing was 92 mph, as Scott sat 88-92 mph early on in the game. He created some run when working to the arm side and created really tough angle when working to the glove side of the plate; the deceptiveness of the aforementioned delivery allows his stuff to play up some.

Scott featured two offspeed pitches in a changeup and a cutter/slider hybrid pitch. What jumps out about the arsenal is that Scott, yet again, creates deception by tunneling these pitches effectively. With the exception of the dropped arm slot on the changeup, the pitches look the same coming out of the hand and break late which makes them look like fastballs out of the hand. The changuep worked in the 82-84 mph range with some arm side fading action while the cutter worked in the 80-82 mph range. Both pitches featured late movement which allowed Scott to be in attack mode. 

Scott appears to have the stuff to back up being one of the better seniors in this year's draft, with good strikeout numbers on the season and good enough stuff, when combined with the funkiness and angle of his delivery, to be a good piece come June. 
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