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Tournaments  | Story  | 10/8/2018

World Underclass Day 5 Notes

Photo: CJ Kayfus (Perfect Game)

2018 WWBA Underclass World Championship: Daily Leaders | Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes | Day 3 Notes | Day 4 Notes

The leadoff hitter, table-setter and very gifted shortstop for the Louisiana club is Connor Simon (2021,  Mandeville, La.). The 6-foot-1, 160-pound twitchy and skilled athlete is mature beyond his years. He has a great understanding of his role at the top of the order and found his way on base multiple times per game throughout the tourney. He uses a noticeably quiet approach at the plate and a very short and compact swing path. His natural plane is to right-center field where he drove the ball with authority quite often. He seemingly always got his barrel to the ball. He is an advanced, aggressive and instinctive baserunner who forces the action. In the field, very few in Fort Myers could match his ability with the leather. He has sure and soft hands, very quick and coordinated movements, and a plus, accurate arm.

Hitting out of the three-hole and patrolling center field for Team Louisiana was Brody Drost (2020, Sulphur, La.). The lefthanded hitting, lefthanded throwing Drost is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound chiseled athlete who can power a ball out of the ball park and/or bunt for a base hit. He is an aggressive power runner who chews up ground when he runs. He, almost single-handedly, kept his club in the ball game by making numerous running catches of Scorpion drives to both gaps. He is very instinctive and understands positioning. He reads hits off the bat well and always gets to a position to make the tough play. He also has advanced arm strength and his throws are true, firm and show advanced carry.

If it had not been for the Scorpions four and five-hole hitters, CJ Kayfus (2020, Wellington, Fla.) and Zac Veen (2020, Port Orange, Fla.), there is very good chance that victory may not have been realized by the purple clad bunch from greater Orlando. All this pair of lefthanded swingers did was go 7-for-8, score two runs each and drive in four of the Scorpions six runs in the semifinal game.

Kayfus went 4-for-4 and used his grooved left-center field swing path to drive three singles and a double to the big part of the ballpark. Like he had done all weekend, he kept the line moving for the deep and relentless Scorpions lineup. The Palm Beach Central HS junior has a classic, easy and smooth, balanced swing and consistently gets his barrel on plane and through contact.  He hunts fastballs and never expands the zone unnecessarily. The University of Miami-bound Kayfus is strong and agile and has a great understanding of his ability, especially with a bat in his hands. On top of his offensive prowess, he is a gifted first baseman who saved more than one error for his ball club. He approaches defense with the same cool calmness that he displays offensively.

Lefthanded hitting Zac Veen has the same type of approach at the dish as his teammate (Kayfus) who hit in front of him in the order. Veen, however, has a tendency to hit the ball to all parts of the field and has a little more lift in his path at contact. His three-hit day was punctuated by, quite possibly, the biggest and deepest drive of the tournament. Approaching the plate and looking to add to his two-hit day, Veen, a UCF commit, ambushed a middle-in fastball and drove it deep over the right field wall, setting off pandemonium in the first base dugout. His big, walk-off home run gave the Scorps the hard-fought win and punched their ticket to the finals.

– Jerry Miller



The field was down to just four teams as the final day of the WWBA Underclass World Championship got underway. The East Cobb Astros 17u continued to dominate on both sides of the ball as they made easy work with a 7-0 victory in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. On the mound for the Astros was 6-foot-6, 185-pound righthander Will Sanders (2020 Atlanta, Ga.). Sanders was able to give his team six innings of shutout baseball and his performance was one for the books. He was able to strike out nine hitters and only allowed three hits in his outing. His fastball shows hard run in to the hands of righties and will run it away from the lefties at 87 mph. The uncommitted pitcher has a pair of quality secondary pitches in a changeup that he will throw to both sides of the plate as well as an 11-to-5 curveball that generated a high amount of swing-and-miss throughout the game.

Ethan Stamps (2020 Madison, Ga.) was a solid bat in the Astros’ lineup from the three spot in the order. He’s a strong and athletic hitter standing at 5-foot-11, 190-pounds and hitting from the right side. He’s a mixture of a quality bat who can also hit for power. Going 2-for-3 in the game, the second baseman drove in a couple runs on a double and a single and would also score twice himself.

The final game in the tournament would end in a tie due to weather, crowning both the East Cobb Astros and the Scorpions 2020 Founders Club as champions. It was a tough fought game full of pitchers getting out of big jams. However, the lone spark for the Astros came from the bat of Georgia Tech commit Brad Grenkoski (2020 Kennesaw, Ga.). The 6-foot-4, 195-pound righty is a power bat that hits from the two-hole. He’s presently strong and swings the bat with intent, though under control. He looks to drive the ball and was able to do just that when he pulled a pitch down the line for an RBI double to give the Astros the run they needed in the early innings of the game.

– Taylor Weber



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