There was just an article in the Omaha World Herald earlier this week on the three local Omaha left handed pitchers who are on the cusp of making big league rosters. Brian Zagurski of the Phillies will start the year on the 15 day DL. Zach Kroenke of the Yankees was just returned by the Marlins after being a ML Rule 5 draft. And Team USA veteran Brian Duensing looks like he has a good chance of making the Twins opening day roster.
None of these southpaws drafted out of their Omaha high school but worked their way through college and mid-round draft status to their present positions. And that’s the reality of talented young players from the Nebraska high school ranks; they almost never sign out of high school and have to prove themselves in college before getting the attention of the professional scouts.
It was with that in mind that I took a 45 minute drive south from Omaha on Highway 75 to watch Nebraska City High School and their 2010 LHP Logan Ehlers pitch on Thursday against Wahoo High School.
Nebraska City is a gem of a small town on the banks of the Missouri River. It is the home of the Arbor Day Lodge and the Lied Conference Center and of numerous apple and pumpkin orchards. They have a small café off the main square called Johnny’s serves the best breakfasts that I can ever remember having.
And if the name “Wahoo” rings a bell, it is the home town of Hall of Famer “Wahoo” Sam Crawford, Ty Cobb’s running mate on the early 1900’s Detroit Tigers and the all-time Major League leader in triples.
Adding to the pleasant drive through grade A+ Nebraska farm country and the charm of Nebraska City was the mid to upper 50’s weather and bright sunny skies.
LHP LOGAN EHLERS
Ehlers is a 6-1, 180 lb southpaw with a broad strong back and a firm handshake and is the type of young man who will look you straight in the eye and say “Yes Sir” when you ask him a question. Not much different from many small town teenagers, whether you’re in Nebraska, Indiana, North Carolina or Alabama. And just like you’d expect from the small town athlete, Ehlers is the star wide receiver on the football team (the shortstop is the quarterback) and the leading scorer on the basketball team.
The small town comparisons will have to end here, as Ehlers has big city talent. In fact, he might be the best high school prospect in Nebraska since Alex Gordon. I saw Kroenke pitch at Omaha Northwest High School and Ehlers is definitely a couple steps in front of the former Nebraska lefty at the same point.
Ehlers showed his lack of pitching savvy with a very casual 5 minute bullpen before the game. In fact, before each inning he just soft tossed and I doubt if he threw a warm up pitch over 70 mph at any point during the afternoon. It didn’t matter, though.
Once a batter stepped in, Ehlers showed outstanding pitching mechanics and an advanced ability to repeat his delivery. He throws from a ¾’s release point from a well paced back turn delivery and has a clean and smooth arm circle in back. His first fastball of the game was 88 mph, his last fastball five innings later was 89 mph and he was pretty much 88-90 the entire time. He didn’t throw a fastball that was straight, either.
Maybe the most impressive thing about Ehlers fastball was that he threw it for strikes about 80% of the time. He’d occasionally try to muscle up on one, but aside from that he was a machine. When I asked him about his command after the game, he said in a serious tone “That’s what pitchers are supposed to do, aren’t they?” If it were only so simple.
Ehlers threw two types of breaking balls. His 72-75 mph curveball had very good hard downer spin and a nice 2 plane break. It was pretty unfair for Ehlers to throw it at this level (the Wahoo pitcher wasn’t throwing his fastball that hard) and it was essentially unhittable. Just like his fastball, Ehlers commanded his curveball like an upper level pitcher.
His other breaking ball was a 78 mph slider that had hard spin but was released from a significantly lower release point. Ehlers admitted afterwards that “I really didn’t know how to throw this pitch from the right release point, it’s going to be something I have to learn at the next level.”
Ehlers struck out 12 hitters in a 5 inning run rule 10-0 victory for Nebraska City. He allowed no hits for his second no-hitter in three starts this season. His season pitching totals are 3-0, 0.00, 19 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 42 K’s.
Mention should be made of the Nebraska City catcher, Greg Denniston, also a junior. You see it all the time when you have a high level pitching prospect at a small school, but no catcher who can handle his stuff. Denniston showed very good hands and an easy comfort level in catching Ehlers and not one ball went to the back stop in five innings.
It would be my prediction that many, many scouts will be learning about the charms of Nebraska City between now and next June.