The longest scheduled day at Perfect Game’s 2009 National Showcase is underway, with seven games scheduled in all—plus the 60-yard dash and the Rawlings Home Run Challenge thrown in for added measure.
While today’s busy schedule will help to better identify the cream of the crop in the 2010 high-school class—and ultimately the 38 players that will be picked to participate in this year’s Aflac All-American High School Classic—it became clear in Friday’s action at the Metrodome in Minneapolis which pitcher has emerged as the top pitching prospect for next year’s draft, and possibly the top position prospect.
Six-foot-6, 220-pound righthander Jameson Taillon (The Woodlands, Texas, HS) was the No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2010 class entering the four-day showcase, according to PG Crosschecker. And though there is confusion over the proper pronunciation of Taillon’s last name (TAL-on, the English version; vs. TAY-on, the Cajun version), there is no confusion over his talent. He clearly stamped himself as the best prep pitching prospect in next year’s draft.
Comparisons were made between Taillon and some of the other top arms at recent PG National events—current big leaguer Rick Porcello in 2006, and some of the top pitching prospects in this week’s draft (lefthanders Tyler Matzek and Matthew Purke, and righthanders Jacob Turner and Zach Wheeler), all of whom stood out at the 2008 National Showcase—and the general feeling among many in attendance is that Taillon is further ahead at the same stage of development.
In a two-inning outing Friday, in front of some 400-500 scouts and college recruiters gathered for the 10th annual event, Taillon showed two plus pitches in a fastball that sat at 94-95 mph, and topped at 96, and a power curve at 80-84. He gave up a run-scoring single on the only changeup he threw, but he created such movement on the pitch that it actually broke the hitter’s bat—yet still went for a squib single. Taillon creates a lot of deception with his cross-body delivery, and yet he was able to repeat it consistently with excellent command low in the strike zone.
Taillon, who comes from the same Texas high school that produced 2006 first-rounder Kyle Drabek and potential 2010 first-rounder Brett Eibner (now at the University of Arkansas), was one of nine pitchers who threw in excess of 93 mph Friday—and that number is certain to expand over the final two days since righthander Stetson Allie (St. Edward HS, Olmsted Falls, Ohio), a projected 2010 first-rounder, is scheduled to pitch again. In a scrimmage game on Thursday involving some of the nation’s leading travel teams, Allie topped out at 99.
In addition to Taillon, the other pitchers to light up the Metrodome radar gun at 95 Friday were Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla., HS), son of ex-major leaguer Ed Whitson, and A.J. Cole (Oviedo HS, ), ranked right behind Taillon among the top prep prospects in the 2010 draft class.
While Taillon appeared to separate himself among the others top arms in the rising senior class, there was debate whether shortstop Yordy Cabrera (Lakeland, Fla.) or outfielder Reggie Golden (Wetumpka, Ala., HS) is the top position prospect in attendance—and, by extension, the top prospect for the 2010 draft.
Cabrera was the more established prospect coming into the event, which has attracted about 250 of the top high-school prospects in the nation (including 44 of the top 50, according to PG Crosschecker), but Golden is the player that has generated the most buzz among scouts.
Golden is from Alabama—and it’s no coincidence that he has been compared throughout his high-school career to Alabama prep legend Bo Jackson. He has the same powerful, compact, athletic frame (though in a slightly-smaller package), similar raw athletic ability and similar power/speed tools. In fact, Golden displayed solid tools across the board Friday with his quick, compact, powerful swing, superior speed and an arm that was clocked at 94 mph from right field. Moreover, he has a surprisingly good feel for the game (for a player who has never been seen in a national event) as he demonstrated excellent breaks and proper routes on fly balls, and good base-running instincts.
Jackson himself acknowledged last fall, when the subject of Golden came up, that he had heard all the comparisons between himself and Golden. On two counts, though, the comparisons may no longer be completely relevant as Golden abandoned a promising football career to focus on baseball only—and he has verbally committed to Alabama, not Auburn.
While Golden’s reputation as an emerging baseball talent somewhat preceded his arrival at the National Showcase, two players who have made a name for themselves here are catcher Tyler Austin from Heritage High in Conyers, Ga., and outfielder Austin Wilson from Harvard-Westlake High in Los Angeles.
Austin was a relative unknown player, even in Georgia, as most of his experience to date in summer competition has come only in American Legion ball. He has not played with some of the high-powered travel programs in the state, specifically nationally-prominent East Cobb, yet he was the unquestioned standout in the preliminary competition for the Home Run Derby, held at nearby Concordia University, taking seven consecutive balls out of the park at one point. He also impressed scouts behind the plate with his loose, easy actions and consistently popped times in the 1.8-1.85 range.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Wilson also stood out with his superior size, speed, power potential and arm strength.
Austin and Wilson, along with Golden, were all scheduled to take part in this evening’s Home Run Derby, which was scheduled to match up 16 hitters, including several of the top power threats in the 2010 class. Third baseman Kris Bryant (Bonanza HS, Las Vegas, Nev.) is almost universally considered the favorite to win the event—and appropriately he is the only player to hit a home run in the first seven games played.
The 60-yard dash competition will immediately precede the Home Run Derby, and several players are expected to scamper across the lightning-fast Metrodome field turf in times in times starting in the 6.20-6.25 second range. Among some of the favorites in that competition are Golden, and outfielders Michael Arencibia (Key West, Fla., HS) and outfielder Mitchell Shifflett (Cosby HS, Midlothian, Va.).