4/16/2016 8:17:13 AM
A matchup of a pair of likely first round picks garnered the attention of several dozen scouts over to the Westminster School outside of Atlanta. Westminster, with talented seniors Will Benson and Rankin Woley, took on Pope with star third basemen and right handed pitcher, Josh Lowe.
Lowe made the start for Pope on the mound, firing two innings before moving back over to third base to play the remainder of the game. He worked from a high three-quarter arm slot with plus arm speed and generated good extension downhill. Lowe throws super easily and maintains and upper velocity band with minimal effort at release. The ball explodes out of his and with tons of angle and jumps on hitters with subtle arm-side life. He worked his fastball between 91-93 mph throughout both of his innings and hit 94 mph in the first with really heavy action.
His velocity on the mound was not a concern as he’d shown the plus arm strength in the past and at third base. What hurt him in his two innings Friday night was his command. Lowe saw several pitches get way past the catcher and reach the backstop. He had trouble throwing strikes to both sides of the plate and when he found the middle he was barreled, hard.
Lowe had good lower-half involvement with strong drive and a long, mostly fluid arm action to the plate. He showed a curveball offering at 82 mph with good 11-5 shape that flashed sharpness. He also showed an interesting changeup at 85 mph with good arm-side fade and replicated his arm speed well. He used both his breaking and off-speed offerings sparingly.
The highly athletic Lowe stands at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds with plus athleticism on both the mound and at the plate. He’s got long limbs with broad shoulders and tons of room to continue to fill out in his frame.
At the plate, he showed the same plus bat speed with a line drive plane at times. He was not super consistent at the plate and at times looked to be pressing. When Lowe looked his best was during his second at-bat where he dropped the bat head and effortlessly flicked a double to left-center. He has very strong, loose wrists and gets extended to the outer third well.
He stays balanced through his swing with a simple weight transfer from his leg lift timing mechanism and hand load. There is some lift in his swing that will allow his strength and bat speed to translate to home run power at the next level. He's already shown the ability this spring to drive the ball with authority over the fence and around the field. Lowe does very well to use the whole field in his approach with good feel for barrel timing.
As noted, Lowe has supreme levels of athleticism. On the aforementioned double, Lowe turned in a turn around first base at times clocked between 4.06-4.12 across various scout stopwatches. He also turned in a straight away time of 4.05 early on in the game on a groundout. That's easy plus speed from a player who can also hit for power.
For as athletic and projectable as Lowe is, 6-foot-6, 220 pound Westminster centerfielder, Will Benson dwarfs him comparatively. Benson physically reminds me of Jason Heyward with super long arms, broad shoulders and is riddled with athleticism. Benson also has tons of strength already in his frame and will continue to develop once he signs a professional contract.
Benson in warmups casually was playing catch from the right-center field fence to the left field foul pole before the game, getting about a dozen or so throws in on-line and in the air. He's got a very strong arm that he did show off in the field, holding a runner to third after a ground ball single up the middle. There was not an opportunity to see his range tested, as the only ball not grounded his way were a pair of balls smoked to the gaps fielded by the corner outfielders. His first step quickness was noticed though with good routes to the ball.
The Duke commit starts at the plate with a wide base and a high hand set. He uses a leg kick timing mechanism with a deeper hand load into his swing. He showed easy plus bat speed and altered his swing so he's not limited to pitches on the inside part of the plate. In the much awaited matchup against Lowe in the first inning, Benson earned an anticlimactic walk after a good battle between the two. He fouled off several of Lowe's fastballs, but did hold his own against plus velocity.
Benson did get beat a little inside with fastballs from other pitchers later on in the game. He was jammed on a fly ball that his strength took all the way to the warning track in right field and weakly reached on an infield hit later in the game. He did swing with intent to drive the ball, he was just beaten inside.
His most impressive at-bat came in the bottom of the seventh with the game tied at 11-11. Benson took the first two pitches then blasted a deep shot that landed not a foot short of the top of the wall. He got really well extended and showed explosive hands through the zone with an optimal launch angle. Unfortunately, however, Benson thought he had delivered a walk-off home run and only ended up at first when it landed. To make up for it, he promptly stole second and took third on a wild pitch before coming around to score the winning run.
The steal was his second of the game as he showed an aggressive approach on the bases and good ability to read balls in the dirt. On his infield hit earlier on in the game he was clocked at 4.21 down the line from the left side, but it plays above average with his base running.