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High School  | General  | 4/6/2018

Boras Classic Day 3 Notes

Photo: Steve Fiorindo

The Boras Classic: Day 1 Notes | Day 2 Notes

Starting off game one over at Mater Dei was a matchup between No. 7 ranked Notre Dame and West Ranch. Notre Dame stormed back in the top of the seventh inning and two opposing offensive forces were at it all game as Will Chambers (2018, Val Verde, Calif.) of West Ranch and Noah Taylor (2018, Sherman Oaks, Calif.) of Notre Dame each had home runs to factor into the final decision.

Chambers is one of the top hitters in the region this season as he had six home runs coming into the Boras Classic, and Chambers tied the lead in the state for home runs with his seventh knock. The homer gave West Ranch the lead in the bottom of the sixth as it looked like Chambers got jammed on the pitch and still had enough strength to hit it out to the opposite field. The UC Santa Barbara commit is a good-looking ballplayer with a 6-foot-2, 195-pound very physical and athletic frame. The athleticism shines over at first base as he made a couple of diving stops and moves well around the bag. The future Gaucho is the heartbeat of the team in the middle of the lineup and has a lot of strength through a naturally leveraged swing plane. The swing is geared towards driving the ball to the pull side of the field, which made the home run all the more impressive.

Taylor had himself two home runs during the game as the quarterback for the football team showed off tremendous bat speed and raw power with two no-doubt bombs to the pull side. The latter of the two home runs came in the big top of the seventh for Notre Dame as Taylor put the game away at that point. He is an incredible athlete and has tremendous raw hitting tools that culminated with a very loud box score during Thursday’s victory for Notre Dame. Taylor looks to be a dynamic playmaker with a very high ceiling as he continues to progress and develop.

Sophomore righthander Tyler Stromsborg (2020, Newport Beach, Calif.) showed off a lot of intriguing tools and projectability on the mound during the start for Notre Dame. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound frame has incredibly long limbs and a very strong present lower half with lots of room to add strength and size to the build. The delivery is a bit raw, with present arm strength but a longer, offline arm stroke toward the plate. He generates lots of heavy, sinking life on the fastball in the 82-85 mph that generated lots of swings over the top of the baseball for whiffs. The fastball was his primary form of attack on Thursday while he flashed a slider and utilized a fading changeup, both in the upper-70s. The changeup was the primary secondary pitch Stromsborg went to, and the Southern California showed a lot of potential on the bump.

Southpaw Nate Madole (2018, Huntington Beach, Calif.) showed off some of the best pitchability and feel for the mound out of any starter that this week has shown. The Loyola Marymount commit stands only at 5-foot-8, 165-pounds but has a very compact and quick delivery with tons of feel for pounding the strike zone. The arm action is compact and quick through the arm circle and gets downhill easily while attacking with significant angle and cut on the fastball. The heater worked up to 86 mph but lived in the 80-83 mph range for most of the afternoon, the pitch was best when located to the glove side with significant cutting action in on righthanded hitters. The curveball worked in the low-70s and the changeup was a very effective pitch with lots of tumble and sink. Madole only tossed a couple of innings, but showed off a lot of command and will be a hell of a college pitcher once he gets to Loyola Marymount.

The third fgame over at Mater Dei featured a strong pitching matchup between future rivals in UCLA commit and Mater Dei arm Alonzo Tredwell (2021, Coto De Caza, Calif.) up against Southern California commit and Etiwanda starter Matt Bardowell (2020, Fontana, Calif.). Both pitchers showed off a bevy of impressive tools on the mound and showed why they were highly coveted college prospects.




Tredwell is a highly touted freshman, No. 22 on Perfect Game’s 2021 class rankings, and showed exactly why as he was highlighted earlier this week for his offensive contributions. For being so young and having a 6-foot-5, 210-pound frame with long limbs and plus projection, he has such a clean and projectable delivery. Tredwell gets downhill very easily and leverages well to create plane on his fastball that worked 80-84 mph and topped out at 85 mph on the afternoon. The breaking ball got better as the outing went on, up to 70 mph with consistent 11-to-5 shape while flashing swing-and-miss sharp plane. Tredwell mixed in a changeup as well and put forth a very dominant performance as he struck out 10 batters over 6 2/3 innings of strong baseball.




In addition to impressing on the mound, Bardowell also hit in the three-hole for Etiwanda and collected a couple of hits. The righthander has a physical frame with some strength throughout and impressed with his three-pitch mix. The fastball was mostly flat in terms of life, though it flashed some sink when located in the lower third of the zone, and worked in the 86-88 mph range while topping out at 89 mph early on in the affair. The arm action was full through the back with pretty consistent path and speed to the stroke, while getting downhill to sink the ball every so often. The big pitch here is the changeup that showed the makings of an above-average pitch as he continues to utilize and refine it. The pitch was thrown hard in the 78-80 mph range with significant downward tumble. Bardowell did a good job at keeping the ball on the ground for the majority of the look and he looks to be a nice team to a talented Etiwanda squad that had a very solid week all around.




Far and away one of the best players on the field this week was Etiwanda shortstop Cody Freeman (2019, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) who continued to show incredible feel on the diamond with a polished approach all-around. The Baylor commit plays the game at 110% and is consistently in the mix with some of the most important plays on the field. Freeman is uber-athletic with the ability to play a strong shortstop and make a bevy of difficult plays look easy due to the fluidity of his hands and impressive instincts. The arm strength is probably somewhere near the average mark and will only continue to climb as he gets stronger. The swing features a positive launch angle and he generates good barrel whip through the zone. He had a number of impressive hits over the weekend which included a double during Thursday’s action. Freeman made a lasting impression this weekend and he is certainly one of the top underclassmen to watch in the area.

Loren Franck (2018, Sherman Oaks, Calif.) is a player who might not have had a lot of success in the box score on Thursday night, but showed out well over the week. The righthanded hitter is an extremely strong and physical prospect, listed at 6-foot-3, 225-pounds and takes some big cuts in the righthanded batter’s box. There is a good amount of pre-pitch hand movement in the Loyola Marymount signee’s swing, but he gets on plane well and has tremendous impact strength. By this scout’s count he had a number of 90+ exit velocity line outs this weekend and unfortunately couldn’t find the ground on any hits on Thursday, that being said he looks and plays the part in the box and could be an impact bat come college.

– Vinnie Cervino





One of the more intriguing underclass arms that took the mound on Thursday was Newbury Park righthander Max Flame (2020, Newbury Park, Calif.) and the uncommitted arm showed off some impressive tools. Flame has a presently athletic, lean, and projectable frame, especially considering he has a lot of time to add strength upon physical maturity. The arm path is clean and works well as he is consistently on time at delivering all his pitches. The fastball worked in the mid-80s for most of the start and he gets up to 87 mph while flashing short life to the pitch. There is good balance and repeats well throughout his delivery and he delivery from a higher three-quarters arm slot. The fastball is heavy, with a lower spin rate around 1600 rpm, and creates late sinking life to it. The slider is a solid pitch for Flame as he can throw it for strikes or to induce swings and misses. He also factored in a changeup with late, tumbling action to it. He creates some deception from his delivery and if Thursday's start is any indication he won't be uncommitted for long. 




In a tournament full of impressive sophomores, one of the big standouts has been Newbury Park shortstop Carson Falsken (2020, Newbury Park, Calif.). The NC State commit has very advanced and athletic actions at shortstop and put on a defensive clinic out there on Thursday. He moves laterally very well with agility and made a number of plays including a diving stop up the middle that turned into a Jeter-esque jump throw that only just missed being an incredible out. His drills during in-and-out gave a good feel as to his defensive chops as he moves confidently and plays hard at shortstop. The approach was very polished and mature with present plate discipline and has an idea as to what he wants to do for any given at-bat. He created lots of pull side, hard contact and the frame suggests that power isn't that hard to project upon given the wiry, lean frame. Falsken has a very high ceiling and it's easy to see why NC State wanted him so badly way out on the West Coast. 




Another top draft prospect from Southern California to toe the rubber was Cathedral Catholic righthander Noah Owen (2018, Oceanside, Calif.) and the righthander had a fantastic start on the mound. With a large athletic frame at 6-foot-4, 175-pounds, tons of room to project, and only being about 17 and a half on draft day, Owen has a lot of enticing peripheral evidence that will attract professional looks. The fastball worked in the 88-91 mph range for most of the performance with a high spin rate that created a lot of riding life, especially when working to the arm side. The San Diego commit commanded both sides of the plate well and with authority. The delivery was mostly clean as he got downhill well and stayed online and balanced throughout. The arm path is a bit longer but is quick and thus projects for added velocity while not sacrificing any timing issues. The curveball was a very impressive pitch with tight break and late snap to the pitch. With 11-to-5 shape the pitch broke down and out of the zone against righthanded hitters to rack up tons of whiffs. Owen also flashed a changeup and showed a complete package of tools as he went the distance for a Cathedral Catholic win.




Chapman University commit and El Toro starting pitcher Ben Ziv (2018, Trabuco Canyon, Calif.) put together a strong start on the bump and showed tools that will make him a strong college pitcher at the next level. Ziv has a longer arm stroke and throws from a higher three-quarters arm slot while working 83-86 mph with the fastball and topping out at 88 mph early in the game. The frame, delivery, and command all bode well in the future as he will continue to refine and add polish to his game. The slider worked in the upper-70s and flashed sharp potential while he also mixed in a changeup at 78 mph with similar arm speed. Ziv had a strong start and has the makings of a solid command-profile arm at the next level over at Chapman. 

During the Cathedral Catholic win, three-hole hitter and San Diego commit Cade Brown (2018, showed off the offensive skills during the win. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound prospect turned in a quality performance on Tuesday as he was in the upper-80s but is also an extremely physical, strong hitter. Brown has tons of strength through extension at the point of impact and can really send a ball far. The righthanded stick launched a double deep to left field during Thursday's action and has quick hands with some twitch and underrated athleticism for his size. The swing path is naturally lofted and the power plays well to the pull side.




After performing well at NHSI last week, righthander Christian Rodriguez (2020, Corona, Calif.) had a very strong start for Orange Lutheran. The 6-foot-6, 186-pounds frame is large, wiry with long-limbs, and indicates plus projection in the future for the young Miami commit. The fastball worked in the 87-90 mph range with downhill plane due to the arm slot and release angle of his longer arm stroke. The curveball was a very good pitch in the mid-70s with command, depth, and 11/5 sharp break. Rodriguez' delivery is very balanced and online, which would be impressive for anyone let alone someone his size, but Rodriguez is a very good athlete which helps. The arm speed jumps out with excellent athleticism and there is a lot of electricity to the profile for Rodriguez. He is no doubt one of the top prospects in the event, listed at No. 50 on the list of 2020 prospects, and will continue to climb as he improves and refines his game. 

– Marcus Wojtkowicz
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