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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/3/2021

17u Elite Scout Notes: Day 3

Brian Sakowski      Colton Olinger      Perfect Game Staff     
Photo: Brandon Barriera (Perfect Game)
17u Elite Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2





CBU 2022 Scout Team got an opening-round playoff win on Friday afternoon over US Elite 2022 National by a score of 5-3, getting a quality start from Brandon Barriera (2022, Hollywood, Fla.), a Vanderbilt commit and one of the top players in the entire class. Barriera ended up with a no-decision in this one, allowing a pair each of hits and runs over 4 2/3 innings, striking out 6 along the way. He reached 95 mph a few times early on and held 92-94 mph for a couple innings before tapering off slightly, and showed the makings of a potential top-10 overall pick in the MLB Draft. The body projects, the delivery is athletic and works, and he has feel for four distinct pitches—all of which have average-or-better ceilings. The arm stroke does get offline through the back with some rigidity on the back side, but it’s 70 arm speed out of it and he’s consistently on time at foot strike. The fastball explodes out of his hand and he demonstrated the ability to work to both sides of the plate with it, very comfortable going cross-body glove side to lefties for strikes. His changeup has a plus future, thrown in the mid-80s with arm speed replication and fade on the pitch, dynamic against righties on the outer third in this look. He also spins both a slider and curveball, and has feel to spin for sure. He will drop the slot when throwing the slider at times, but it’s a sharp, firm pitch in the low-mid-80s with bite to the tilt and sharpness overall, and he can throw a bigger, more vertical curveball in a lower velocity range as well. On the whole these are the ingredients of a monster, and Barriera, as I said in the tweet above, is in the upper tier of ’22 draft boards looking a year into the future.



US Elite sent Jacob Morrison (2022, Flushing, Mich.) to the hill, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound uncommitted right-hander who dominated in a no-decision effort, scattering 5 hits and a few walks over 5 frames, striking out 6 and only allowing a single run. Morrison is massive, obviously, and he’s taken big strides in terms of not only his stuff but his body coordination, and the results are impressive. He grabbed a 93 mph with his fastball early and sat 87-91 mph, with good carry to the pitch through the top of the zone, and he’s got some feel for moving the pitch around laterally and vertically. His curveball is a softer-spinner right now in the low-mid-70s, but there’s shape and spin to it with feel for landing it for strikes as well as burying it, so it has the makings of a true bat-missing pitch in time, it just needs some more power to it. He also shows off a shorter-breaking, firmer slider in the low-80s that has some promise and could act more like a hard cutter for him with refinement. Morrison shouldn’t be uncommitted for much longer, the upside is vast and he’s shown very steady improvements throughout his development as a prep player.


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