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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/6/2017

17u WWBA Day 6 Scout Notes

Photo: Perfect Game

Daily Leaders | Player Stats | Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes | Day 3 Notes | Day 4 Notes | Day 5 Notes

Starting on the final day of pool play before the playoffs kick off, some of the highest velocity of the day came from the right arm of CBA Marucci starting pitcher Cole Winn (2018, Longmont, Colo.). The Mississippi State commit threw on Wednesday in his first PG event since last year’s WWBA World Championship in Jupiter and immediately showed why he is so highly touted.




The frame is what is first noticed when looking at Winn, listed at 6-foot-2 and 195-pounds –which may be a bit understated in terms of size and length – which screams physical projection. With a high waist, long limbs and arms, and a lanky athletic build Winn’s potential ceiling is extremely high. The arm is also very loose and whippy with not a lot of effort upon delivery and excellent arm speed, all factors that are indicative of future velocity upticks.

In terms of pure stuff, Winn showed four pitches, at least in warmups, but worked mostly from a three-pitch mix of fastball, curveball, and slider. The fastball worked 91-93 mph in the first inning and the pitch had occasional downhill plane when located low in the zone. Winn gets excellent extension from the mound and his extended three-quarters arm slot allowed for the release point to be closer to the batter which helped his stuff, and velocity, all play up.

The curveball and slider were both effective secondary offerings and both had different purposes on Wednesday afternoon. While the curveball had big depth to it with sharpness, up to 2600 rpm, it was primarily a strike-throwing pitch, although it did rack up swings and misses too. The slider was short and sharp with the pitch coming in hard at around 80-82 mph, with spin rates around 2400 rpm, and falling off to the glove side as the batter begins to swing. The ceiling is very high for Winn, and he will likely be the top player on preliminary draft sheets from the state of Colorado heading into the rest of the summer.

CBA Marucci ended up taking the victory in their first game and with a loud overall offense, outfielder Kingston Liniak (2018, San Marcos, Calif.) was one of the bats that stood out. The San Diego commit showed plenty of hittability at the plate with the ability to not only barrel the baseball but to work the count and wait for pitches to drive. The build on Liniak’s frame is very long and lanky with plenty of room and space to add future strength and physicality. In Liniak’s first at-bat, he lined a double over the head of the left fielder that left the bat at 99 mph. The swing itself is very easy and he gets the hands through cleanly despite the bar in the back. Liniak has a good, present feel to hit and the power should only get better as he continues to develop and add strength.

Turning in a very interesting performance towards the tail end of the morning slots was lefthander Evan Taylor (2018, Florence, Ala.). The 6-foot-4, 220-pound lefthander was very intriguing as the velocity made a jump from his performance at PG National a few weeks prior to sitting in the 87-89 mph range with the fastball consistently. The arm is pretty clean through the back and Taylor’s fastball was its best when he got on top of the pitch and pounded the lower third of the zone with downhill plane.

Taylor struggled a bit with command, but the most impressive facet of his performance was his big breaking ball. The pitch might have only come in around 74 mph, but the pitch was an absolute hammer. It had tremendous depth and plus spin rates, hovering around the 2900 rpm mark to give the curve outstanding, tight 1-to-7 shape. Taylor has always had strong pitchability and a feel to mix pitches, and now with the fastball being able to touch 90 mph to go along with an advanced feel to spin, he should find himself with a college commitment very soon.

Rigthanders Franco Aleman (2018, Tampa, Fla.) and Brayden Lloyd (2018, Owasso, Okla.) both pitched well this afternoon for FTB and showed excellent tools despite vastly different approaches on the mound.

Aleman is a physically imposing specimen, standing at 6-foot-6, 215-pounds and yet still has room to add strength to the frame. The Florida International commit pitches exclusively from the stretch, something that allows him to repeat his mechanics well and consistently stay on time. The arm action is extremely long but very loose and whip-like through the back as his arm snaps forward upon release. Aleman featured a fastball that sat 88-92 mph and came out of the hand very cleanly. The fastball velocity, coupled by his very good extension which seems to be him just stepping forward, allowed for a higher effective velocity and generated a lot of swings and miss with the fastball in the strike zone. He also worked in his curveball which had sharp break to it and made a very deadly one-two punch.

Lloyd is different from Aleman in that the size is smaller, although to be fair most people would pale in comparison to Aleman, but Lloyd showed advanced pitchability throughout the game.  The righthander showed three pitches which included a hig fastball, slider, and changeup. The fastball was mostly 88-91 mph throughout his performance and he held the velocity well throughout the afternoon, rarely dipping below the upper-80s. Lloyd showed pretty good feel for locating the pitch as well as he would stay on the corners and keep balls out of the middle of the plate. The slider was another quality pitch for the Oklahoma native as he was able to throw it for both strikes and for chases out of the zone. The changeup was also an impressive pitch as he did not show the pitch during the PG National but it showed good tumble down and out of the zone. Lloyd is another quality pitcher who performed well during the event and should be snatched up soon by a collegiate program.




A very interesting and highly projectable arm took the mound during some of the later time slots as southpaw Trae Robertson (2018, Columbia, Mo.) showed a lot of quality pitching tools on the mound. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound lefthander has an extremely lean and wiry build with some present strength but a ton of room on the frame to add additional physicality and strength. The Missouri commit has a very short and deceptive arm action that travels very quickly through an abbreviated arm circle. The arm action was online with the lower half down the mound and his leg lift high above the belt also made the ball very difficult to pick up until the last possible second.

Robertson’s stuff was pretty impressive too with a fastball that worked in the 88-90 mph and showed varying types of life. The ball came out with movement consistently with cut to the glove side of the plate and short run when he was locating to the arm side. This caused some control issues but it also made it effective as none of his fastballs were going straight into the hitting zone. The curveball showed good fundamental elements with slurvy shape and the ability to be thrown for strikes. Robertson is another arm who we’ve seen over the past weeks who projects extremely well and will be worth keeping an eye on as he finishes out his senior year of baseball.

One of the most toolsed out players in the class is outfielder Isaiah Thomas (2018, North Palm Beach, Fla.). The Vanderbilt is an extremely twitchy athlete, recorded a 6.38 60-yard dash at the PG National, with plenty of strength on the frame which aids in his raw power. The tools, both in the field and at the plate, are indicative of high draft selections, so he certainly has a good starting point as a prospect.

What jumps out about his performance at the plate is his incredible bat speed. With plus bat speed, Thomas does an extraordinary job at getting fully extended out in front of the plate to create very good power. The swing takes a combination of his bat speed and his upper half strength to crush baseballs as he recorded three hit balls of over 90 mph on Wednesday: 94 mph fly out, 97 mph single, and a 100 mph double to dead center field. Thomas bars back into a lower hand set but has very quick and twitchy hands which explode to the ball and his ceiling is almost limitless.

Righthander Ryan Bergert (2018, Canton, Ohio) closed out the evening at LakePoint with an absolutely dominating performance in a consolation game. Bergert cruised through five innings of only allowing one hit, all while striking out an absurd 13 batters, which is even more amazing when you consider he only faced 17 batters on the whole. Bergert commanded his two-pitch mix very well as he did not allow a walk and only needed 60 pitches to get through the outing. The fastball got a lot of swings and misses as it was consistently 86-88 mph through the entire outing and even touched 89 mph. The curveball was an effective secondary as the pitch had good shape and outstanding spin rates of around 2800 rpm consistently.

– Vincent Cervino





Kristofer Armstrong (2018, Jupiter, Fla.) really impressed with his two-way (and two arm) ability at PG National a few weeks ago, and that talent was on display again on Wednesday night, both on the mound and with the bat. He took the mound for a brief relief appearance for the FTB Rockets Tucci and was very good in a limited time, throwing two shutout innings allowing only one hit and striking out a pair as well.

Armstrong is a lean, athletic prospect with excellent athleticism throughout his physicality in addition to significant projection remaining. He worked up to 92 mph on the mound from the right side (he’s capable of pitching with either arm), sitting in the 88-91 mph range with good extension to the plate from a loose, fluid arm stroke, pounding the fastball down in the zone to great effect. He does an excellent job repeating his delivery, getting rotated and online with his hips and consistently getting over his front side.

He worked in a quality curveball as well, thrown in the mid-70s with 11-to-5 shape and good depth, consistently landing it for a strike down in the zone and getting a few empty swings vs. the pitch as well. Armstrong is a legitimate two-way prospect in that he’s also an accomplished hitter who projects to both hit and pitch at the college level. He collected a pair of knocks on Wednesday, one from either side of the plate. He smoked a single 93 mph off the bat from the left side, then drove a double up the gap from the right side. With how well his body projects, it’s well within reason that, when combined with his bat speed and barrel feel, increased strength will allow him to hit for some legitimate power at the next level.

CBA Marucci ran their record to 4-1 on Wednesday night with a victory, and did so with a good combination of timely hitting and good pitching. Ethan Clough (2018, Temecula, Calif.) got the start for CBA, and the win, pitching four scoreless innings, allowing only two hits to go along with six strikeouts. A still-uncommitted 2018 arm, Clough works with a crossfire delivery that still does a good job getting over his front side to go along with a long, loose arm action that can get mistimed coming through once in awhile. He worked up to 90 mph with his fastball, settling into the 87-89 mph range for the most part, showing good feel to command the ball to both sides of the plate while generating some arm side life as well. The fastball worked to miss both barrels and bats overall. He showed a slider in the low-80s with good tilting action, thrown consistently for a strike and working as a nice change-of-pace pitch.




Brandon Dieter (2018, Covina, Calif.) is the next in line of extremely talented CBA Marucci shortstops, following in the footsteps of Nick Madrigal and Nick Allen, among others. Dieter hits leadoff for CBA, and following his performance at PG National recently, is amongst the top positional players in the country in a loaded 2018 class.

He stands out in all phases of the game but especially so with the bat, where he combines very loose wrists with fast hands to create excellent bat speed, along with an ideally-lofted swing plane that all combine to form tremendous hitting tools. He didn’t get a hit in the Wednesday evening game, but did drive a ball on a line deep to LF that was caught for a sacrifice fly, as well as take a walk later in the game. His entire collection of tools creates a very good profile, and he’s one we’re excited to follow throughout the summer.

The Louisiana Knights Black won a hard-fought victory late Wednesday night over the Baseball U Prospects, a 2-0 game that was very fun to watch. Five Knights pitchers combined on the shutout, allowing only three hits while striking out 10 total.




Will Ripoll (2018, New Orleans, La.) threw 1 2/3 of those innings, allowing only a single walk to go along with two strikeouts. He’s got solid build throughout, with broad shoulders on a large frame that is capable of holding good amounts of strength. Ripoll pitched primarily with his fastball, working up to 90 mph and sitting steadily in the 86-89 mph range, generating good plane to the bottom of the zone from a high three-quarters arm slot. The fastball is heavy and tough to lift for hitters, and he looks like he’ll be able to consistently get groundballs and eat innings at the next level.

Gavin Dougas (2018, Houma, La.) is committed to LSU like Ripoll is, and the well-built second baseman and righthanded hitter certainly looks like he could be the next in a long line of LSU Tiger infielders who can really the swing the bat. He’s got excellent barrel control, with the ability to waste borderline pitches all over the zone, and covers the plate well as a result. He’s strong too, driving a loud double to the opposite field gap up the alley for an RBI double. He looks like he’s going to be an impact piece for LSU as soon as the 2018 season.

– Brian Sakowski


Tevin Tucker (2018, North Prince George, Va.) had a great game and lead his team to victory going 2-for-3 with a double, a solo home run and two RBIs. Tucker, has a medium athletic frame and has a powerful, uppercut swing. He likes to pull the ball and hits with a closed and slightly crouched stance and slight lift of the leg trigger. Tucker also played well at short, making all the routine plays and showcased good arm strength and good carry on his throws, he is headed to West Virginia in 2018.

Jake Mclean (2018, Henderson, Nev.) and Dominic Keegan (2018, Methuen, Mass.) led Show Baseball to an 11-3 victory and were very impressive with their bats. Mclean set the tone of the game with a scorching line drive single that had an exit velocity of 95 mph. He has a long frame and long arms and uses them to produce an easy and fluid stroke that gets through the zone at a fast pace. Mclean went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and Keegan went 3-for-3 with 5 RBI. He racked up two RBI with a two-run bomb in the first that traveled 367 feet with an exit velocity of 96 mph. He hits with an slightly open stance and does a great job of getting hands inside the baseball and has a well balanced swing, with good lift and solid contact. Mclean and Keegan are headed to two top D-I programs as Mclean is committed to UNLV and Keegan to Vanderbilt.

Brennan Malone (2019, Matthews, N.C.) is a talented righthanded pitcher and University of North Carolina commit with a dynamic arm and large, mature frame. He throws with an effortless and easy over-the-top arm action that produces a fastball with good life that sat from 87-91 mph the first three innings of his outing and then ran from 86-89 in his last inning and a third. Malone throws a quality fastball with great riding life. He worked the upper half of the strike zone with his fastball and worked the lower half with his curve, which had 11-to-5 break and good depth. It has slow break, with a tendency to break early and become easy to pick up by hitters, but he did a good job locating it low as well showing an ability to command it and backdoor it on the outter half of the plate. He flashed a decent change up that sat at 81, but needs development. Overall, Malone has a good arm and has a high ceiling, with room to improve and grow stronger and increase velocity.

Isaiah Bennett (2019, Fayetteville, N.C.) has a lanky, projectable frame and long lower half, with plenty room to grow and get stronger. Bennett has an electric arm and does a great job of attacking the lower half of the strike zone. He has very quick arm action that produces a quality fastball with great life from 88-91. He pairs his fastball with an above average curve that has good depth and sharp 11-to-5 break that breaks late as it reaches the plate and runs from 74-76. He does an excellent job of using his lower half and keeping his arm in sync with the rest of the body. Bennett will be attending the University of North Carolina in 2019.

– Brandon Lowe



Justin Wrobleski (2018, Canton, Ga.) got the nod on the mound for Team Elite Prime in their 12-0 win Wednesday. Wrobleski is a lean 6-foot-2 180-pound lefthander with broad shoulders and upside. His three innings of work were very impressive striking out five and allowing one hit. He works from a three-quarters arm slot without much effort in the delivery. His delivery is deceptive as he lands towards the lefthanded batter’s box and throws slightly across his body. The lefthander sat 88-90 with his fastball and touched 91. He also showed a pretty good breaking ball with his 2400 rpm spin rate slider. Wrobleski is committed to Clemson University and seems to have more velocity in the tank with added strength.

Ryan Wimbush (2018, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) threw for FTB Rockets Tucci Wednesday. The Miami commit is an interesting righthanded arm that throws from a straight over the top slot. Wimbush has a big build and throws without too much effort. He sits 88-90 touching 91. He does get great extension of 8 feet consistently and it shows with his heavy fastball. The effective velocity is even more impressive of three mph greater than his fastball. Wimbush did not show a breaking ball in his outing, but did strike out two batters without the need of one.

Being on Team Elite Prime, a Georgia-based team, I have had the opportunity to see Ryder Green (2018, Knoxville, Tenn.) a whole lot this summer and he has been nothing short of outstanding each time I have seen him and Wednesday was no different. Green stands at 6-foot-2 205-pounds with broad shoulders and strong lower half. His physicality is noticeable and so is his bat. As he has done all summer, Green roped balls in both of his at-bats that included a single and an absolute bomb to left field. The home run distance was not tracked on Trackman, unfortunately, but had to be around 400 feet. However, the exit velocity was tracked and it left his bat at 100 mph. Green is a Vanderbilt commit that projects well at the next.

Jake Sweeney (2018, Hobart, Ind.) is an incredibly projectable pitcher in both size and pitchability. Sweeney pounded the zone to both sides of the plate in his 50-pitch outing Wednesday. Sweeney stands at 6-foot-7 220-pounds with effortless arm action. The University of Arkansas commit has a fastball that sits in the 87-89 mph range and maintained that range for 3 2/3 innings. Sweeney threw mostly fastballs flashing a curveball that had good bite in the low- to mid-70s. The spin rate on his curveball was right around 2300 rpm the few times he did throw the breaking ball. What stood out to me was his excellent extension that came with his size. His extension was between 7.5-8 feet that led to an effective velocity two or three mph greater than the velocity of the actual pitch with his best being 92 mph. That effective velocity made it much harder on hitters to catch up to the lefthander, especially lefthanders who had to try and handle Sweeney’s low three-quarters arm slot. There is a lot to like about Sweeney and the effortless actions makes me believe there is more velocity in his arm and if so, Sweeney’s ceiling will be remarkably high.

Kyle Rich (2018, Keller, Texas) is an interesting arm with an upper-80s fastball. Rich throws with a slightly deceptive delivery and high three-quarters arm slot that is over the top occasionally.  Rich sat 88-90 mph with his fastball that would straighten out when located at the knees and showed life when higher in the zone. Rich has a short stride with good plane and short arm action. The Dallas Baptist commit also flashed a sharp curveball with 11-to-5 shape.

The Royals Scout Team started primary third baseman Jake Lufft (2018, Independence, Mo.) on the mound in their consolation game Wednesday and the righthander was very impressive. After a lightning delay, Lufft sat 87-90 on his fastball early on with occasional sink. The fastball velocity did drop after his first two innings sitting 85-88 with the aforementioned sink. Lufft has a loose easy delivery that makes me believe there is more in the tank with his 6-foot 205-pound frame. He also mixed in a curveball and a changeup that showed potential. The changeup seemed to be better, but the pitch was not thrown as often as the curveball. The curveball was in the mid-70s with decent bite. The changeup was deceptive in the low-80s with similar sink to the fastball. Lufft is uncommitted and has shown ability in this tournament to swing the bat as well.

– Gregory Gerard
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