Day 1 recap | Sarasota Day 2 feature | Concordia Lutheran Day 2 feature
The
theme of the morning action Friday morning at LakePoint was cold and
rain and wind, never a comfortable combination for baseball.
The
irony is that the Shaw Sports Turf fields are kind of a mixed
blessing in situations like this. They drain like a colander, which
means there is never an issue with the surface itself. If it rains
hard, no matter how hard, you can be playing a couple of minutes
after the rain stops. But if it is just miserable and wet, you can
keep playing in situations that you would never consider being on the
field with a different surface.
Fortunately
the rain left the area around noon, leaving just the cold and the
wind.
The
team that had to bear the brunt of the elements was the DeSoto
Central Jaguars, who were scheduled to play at both 9:00 a.m. and
12:00 p.m. against the Collierville Dragons and the Sarasota Sailors,
respectively.
DeSoto
Central clearly wasn't on its game for the 9:00 a.m. contest, even
with PG All-American Austin Riley on the mound. Riley walked five
hitters and allowed five runs in three innings of work, pitching
mostly with an 85-88 mph fastball that topped out at 91 mph briefly
after he allowed a towering and perhaps wind-blown home run to
6-foot-4, 230-pound Collierville first baseman Parker Phillips. Just
like teammate Dallas Woolfolk the day before, Riley failed to mix his
pitches effectively, throwing only five breaking balls among his 72
pitches. He'll get a pass on this outing from any scout who saw it.
To
their credit, DeSoto Central came back in their second game, a repeat
of the finals of the 2014 PG High School Showdown, and overcame an
early 2-0 deficit to beat Sarasota 5-3 in eight innings. Mississippi
State commit Keegan James was outstanding on the mound for the
Jaguars, throwing 81 pitches over seven innings while allowing four
hits, no earned runs and no walks. James pitched in the 86-89 mph
range with his fastball and did show a willingness to mix in his
curveball and changeup to keep the Sarasota hitters off his fastball.
Sarasota's
Jordan Gubelman virtually matched James' performance with six innings
of strong work himself, allowing five hits and a pair of runs while
striking out nine hitters. Gubelman, a North Carolina signee, used a
very lively upper-80s fastball that topped out at 90 mph to go with a
big breaking curveball in keeping the DeSoto Central hitters at bay.
One
thing that might have contributed to DeSoto Central's uneven play the
first two days was losing their leadoff hitter and center fielder
Brant Blaylock during the first inning of Thursday's game. Another
Mississippi State signee, Blaylock left the contest after lining a
leadoff double to left-center field and has not played again.
Woolfolk
is best known as a pitching prospect but he's been impressive with
the bat as well, going 7-for-9 at the plate over three contests.
The
3:00 p.m. time slot brought three games and more than enough of the
“wow” factor.
Ke'Bryan
Hayes' hitting approach the past two years has been consistently
based on a level swing path and an alley-to-alley line drive
approach. He'll show some occasional lift in batting practice but
even that is rare. He's so disciplined in that approach that scouts
have frequently talked to his father, long-time MLB third baseman
Charlie Hayes, about his son's interest in turning and lifting the
ball.
During
Hayes' second at-bat for Concordia Lutheran against the Savannah
Christian Raiders, I wondered what Hayes would do if he actually got
a fastball in the zone, as he had been pitched around in virtually
every at-bat to that point. As if on cue, Hayes got a fastball
middle in and drove it high and long off the scoreboard in
left-center field. In his next at-bat, Hayes turned on another ball
and pulled another long and high drive over the left field fence for
his second bomb of the day.
It
was the first time in countless viewings that I'd seen Hayes do that
to a baseball and it was fun to see.
Sophomore
second baseman Evan Jarvis had a big day for Concordia Lutheran,
going 3-for-3 with a home run of his own.
But
the best game of the time slot and what might end up being the best
game of event (and many additional events) came between the Parkview
Panthers and the No. 2 nationally ranked IMG Academy Ascenders.
Parkview ended up winning 2-1 in nine innings, with the game
seemingly hanging on every pitch over the last four frames.
The
story of the game was the two 2016 starting pitchers, especially IMG
southpaw Jason Groome. The 6-foot-6, 180-pound Groome, throwing in
short sleeves despite the chilly conditions (he said afterwards he
had simply forgot them), started out throwing 93-95 mph in the first
inning before settling in at 91-93 and retiring the first 15 Parkview
hitters, nine of them on strikes.
The
problem for IMG was Parkview's Will Ethridge, a Mississippi commit,
was equally effective with some very high quality stuff of his own.
Ethridge pitched consistently low in the zone with a mid- to
upper-80s fastball and used a plus low-80s sharp-breaking slider as
his out-pitch.
Both
teams were able to scrape together a run late. Groome ended up
throwing seven innings, totaling 86 total pitches while walking none
and striking out 11 hitters. Ethridge finished with nine strikeouts
and a lone walk in six innings and 79 pitches.
Parkview
eventually broke through with a run in the top of ninth inning when a
single by second baseman Daino Deas was mishandled by an IMG
outfielder, allowing shortstop Trevor Brown to score. It was fitting
that Deas and Brown combined to win the game offensively, as the
middle infield duo were spectacular at times on defense.
This
was the first time that this scout had seen Groome, who is currently
ranked No. 4 in the PG 2016 class rankings. It would be hard to be
more impressed. The New Jersey native is very young for a junior and
will be one of the youngest prospects in the class when June, 2016
comes around. It will be a long time before he shaves regularly and
it's scary to think about what his raw stuff might develop into as he
physically matures. But perhaps the most impressive thing about
Groome is simply how easy he throws a baseball. It isn't an
exaggeration to say that he looks like he's throwing batting practice
– only with a blindingly fast left arm – he throws with so little
apparent effort.
Groome
isn't a finished product by any means with his stuff. He throws his
curveball and changeup for strikes but he doesn't throw either as
hard as he could and likely eventually will, and the Parkview hitters
made the most of their non-bunt contact off Groome's secondary
pitches. But that is nothing that repetitions and coaching can't
improve upon and Groome has plenty of time for both of those things.
The
8:30/9:00 p.m. games brought another weather element into the day's
mix; heavy swirling fog that shrouded the LakePoint lights and seemed
like rain at times. It was hard to imagine that the Saturday
forecast was for the mid-70s.
Kennesaw
Mountain is a very impressive team and already holds a victory over
Lambert High School, the top ranked team in the PG preseason high
school poll. They faced off against the always talented Venice
Indians and won an intense battle 4-1 to move into the semifinals.
The
two things that stand out about the Mustangs is that they play a very
fast brand of baseball, almost like a high scoring basketball team,
and that they are a team that has nine players on the field that can
all contribute on both sides of the ball. Everyone on the team can
run, with the exception of stud catcher Tyler Stephenson, and they
are hyper aggressive in the use of their speed. And there might not
be a high school player in the country with more impactful speed than
leadoff hitter Reggie Pruitt.
Pruitt,
as he did on Thursday, scored another self-generated run, one that
everyone in the stands knew was coming. He walked with two outs in
the fifth inning of a tie game and then took a very aggressive lead
at first base with a lefthander on the mound, going on first movement
and stealing second base easily. Pruitt took off on the first pitch
to steal third and the batter hit a high hopper to the shortstop.
When the shortstop took his eye off the ball to see what Pruitt was
doing, he briefly kicked the ball to his right, which was all Pruitt
needed to tear around third and score with a head-first slide that
left him a good 15 feet beyond home plate as if he was being pulled
by a jet ski.
Notably,
another of Kennesaw Mountain's runs scored when a runner went second
to home on an infield grounder.
Righthander
Zach Goodman, a Clemson signee, was outstanding on the mound for the
Mustangs, throwing a 90-pitch complete game and allowing only two
hits, one a solo home run by Venice shortstop Scott Dubrule. Goodman
doesn't have a delivery that would indicate that he should be able to
pound the strike zone – it's a whirling dervish delivery that ends
up with a cross-body straight over-the-top release point – but
that's exactly what he did for seven innings. Goodman topped out at
90 mph and consistently kept the Venice hitters off balance with a
big breaking curveball.
IMG
Academy recovered from their loss to Parkview to wallop Houston in
the other late contest, knocking out 14 hits, including a pair from
hot-hitting outfielder Eric Feliz and a long home run from first
baseman Nick Patten. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Patten, a Pennsylvania
native, leads the team in home runs with five already, according to
teammates. He is signed with Delaware.
Junior
southpaw Dion Henderson, a Michigan native, had a strong outing on
the mound for the Ascenders, throwing 5 2/3 innings while topping out
at 90 mph.