2/12/2016 8:23:01 PM
It comes as no surprise that the state of California has yielded several of the early commits in the 2019 class (nine to be exact) and there’s zero reason to believe more verbals aren’t on the horizon. A third of those commitments have come within the last couple of days, two who heading east to Vanderbilt in Nashville while the third and most recent, Cole Dale of Notre Dame High School, will be staying local to play for Coach John Savage and the UCLA Bruins.
The two players heading to Coach Tim Corbin mark commitment No. 5 and No. 6 for the Commodores and came within hours of each other as both righthander Wesley Scott (Woodcrest Christian) and big 6-foot-6 outfielder Spencer Jones (La Costa Canyon) announced their intentions on Wednesday evening. Scott, the No. 14 ranked prospect in the country, is listed at 6-foot-1, 185-pounds and is capable of producing a fastball that I’ve been told already works into the low-90s with an extremely fast and loose arm action. And for a player who’s already standing 6-foot-6, the lefthanded hitting Jones is very advanced in terms of athleticism and coordination, both of which play in his smooth and quick stroke. Ranked No. 39 in the class, Jones was tabbed the MVP of the 14u World Series after hitting .600 on the tournament and with additional physicality it’s easy to envision over the fence type power developing.
While he’s not from California, Vanderbilt picked up another 2019 commit the night before they added Scott and Jones with righthander Chris McElvain out of Tennessee. Checking in just behind Scott in the national rankings at No. 15 nationally, McElvain is capable of showing similar velocity as Scott which he complements with a hard, late breaking slider. McElvain has already racked up quite the baseball resume even if he is just beginning his freshman season: play in the Little World Series-Check; win a gold medal with Team USA 15u-Check; commit to one of the top programs in the country-Check.
Cole Dale is the first commit the Bruins have locked up in 2019 and since we’re still very early in the process he’s obviously not the last. With a clean and projectable arm action Dale already shows a fastball that works in the mid-to-upper-80s and like the pitchers currently on the Bruin’s staff, the young righthander is more than capable of spinning a breaking ball. Notre Dame High School isn’t uncharted territory for Coach Savage and staff by any means either as current Bruin freshmen Jordan Myrow and Jake Hirabayashi are both alum, and top 2017 recruit and two-way talent Hunter Greene has just begun his junior season.