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Tournaments  | Story  | 9/22/2018

Fall Championship Notes: Day 1

Vincent Cervino     
Photo: Carson Hamro (Perfect Game)

PG Fall National Underclass Championship: Daily Leaders




The So Cal Birds won their opening game on Friday afternoon over the Regis Jesuit Red club by a score of 7-1, and righthander Jake Covey (2020, Costa Mesa, Calif.) was in complete control over the course of his four-inning start. Covey struck out eight, allowing no runs on only two hits, walking no one and just pounding the zone, coming right after the Regis hitters and not being afraid to challenge them on either side of the plate. 

Covey is a long, lean prospect with a highly-projectable frame, extremely lean through the torso at present, with very good arm speed that, in conjunction with the physical projection, gives him pretty significant velocity upside on the mound. He worked in the 80-84 mph range in this one, with some serious deception to the delivery as well as significant arm side life on the fastball, making it very tough for hitters to square up even when they did get bat on ball. The back elbow does get pretty high through the arm stroke but Covey is mostly on time coming through to release, and as a result was consistently in the strike zone. He does have a bit of a tendency to drop slot ever-so-slightly to throw his slider, really trying to get to the side of it, but aside from that minor inconsistency the pitch showed very good spin and firm, late bite, thrown in the mid-70s for the most part, giving him two highly-projectable pitches moving forward. He's definitely a name to follow in the class of 2020. 

Max Rajcic (2020, Fullerton, Calif.), a UCLA commit, is ranked as the No. 38 player overall in the class of 2020, mostly due to his abilities on the mound, but he's also a pretty solid hitting prospect who hits in the 3-hole for the So Cal Birds while playing the infield. He's extremely physical for his grade, having turned 17 already as well, with lots of strength and overall build throughout at present, and he puts that strength on display when hitting. He's very wide-spread in the box, with a bit of a late trigger, comfortable working back through the middle on a flatter plane, but when he finds barrel the strength takes over and he can really sting the ball, as evidenced by his missile of a liner up the middle in his first at-bat. We're looking forward to seeing him pitch as well, probably later on in this event. 

From the leadoff spot, Isaiah Greene (2020, Eastvale, Calif.), an Oregon commit, absolutely looks the part of an impact, highly-athletic top-of-the-order hitter and center fielder. A lefthanded hitter with a lean, projectable build; Greene didn't get the chance in my look to really show off the speed, but still clocked a 4.33 turn time to first base on a single that he stretched into two bases due to an errant throw, and then easily scored from second on a base hit. The athleticism, speed, and bat speed from the left side are all extremely evident upon first glance at Greene as a prospect, and we as a scouting staff are looking forward to seeing how those tools manifest themselves into game situations over the course of the weekend, as well as over the course of the next couple years. 

GBG Marucci 2020 Navy got off to a hot start in this tournament, winning their first game of the weekend 9-0 in a run rule-shortened 4.5 innings. Owen Hackman (2020, Los Angeles, Calif.) got the start and was dominant over his 2 1/3 innings before being pulled after 45 pitches, presumably to retain his ability to pitch again later in the tournament. Hackman is a slender, athletic-looking prospect with lots to like from a projection standpoint, most notably the ease and speed with which his arm works. He worked in the 84-87 mph range for the most part with an overall pretty easy mechanical profile, and while he doesn't create much plane to the plate and does show the ball for awhile before release, the ball jumps out of the hand well and he generates a good amount of arm side life through the zone, complementing the fastball with a solid curveball and a good amount of strikes. This is Hackman's first Perfect Game event, and he certainly impressed both us and the several college recruiters watching him during his outing. 

Someone who is no stranger to PG events is GBG leadoff hitter and center fielder Devan Ornelas (2020, Chatsworth, Calif.), the No. 227-ranked player in the class of 2020 at this juncture. He fits the archetype of the leadoff hitter to a tee, with very good barrel control, plenty of bat speed on a line drive plane, a whole-field approach, and above-average speed, all of which he put on display in this game. He's played both center field and shortstop and is a high-level talent at both, giving him especially-interesting versatility at the next level with the experience, chops, and athleticism necessary to play either premium position at the next level, where he's committed to Texas Christian. 

– Brian Sakowski





The PG Fall National Championship got off to a loud start over on the Royals end of Surprise Stadium as GBG NW Marucci started off 1-0 in therr pool. PG’s Jeff Dahn has a very nice feature on the team that you can read here, but starting pitcher Ronan Kopp (2020, Phoenix, Ariz.) also impressed from a scouting perspective.

The 6-foot-5, uncommitted lefthander has a large, gangly build with very long arms and limbs flying at the hitter to create some deception. The arm stroke itself is loose and low effort through the back and though it can fluctuate in path, he gets an extended release from a lower arm slot that makes the fastball very tough to pick up. The fastball lived in the 85-87 mph range with lots of life to the arm side, an especially rough pitch as Kopp was adept at commanding that offering to the arm side corner of the plate. Kopp also featured a very good secondary pitch in a hard slider, living in the upper-70s with biting life that left hitters of both handedness in circles in the batter’s box. Kopp also flashed a changeup, but the fastball-slider combination was deadly and resulted in five strikeouts in only two innings. It was an abbreviated look, but because Kopp’s pitch count was so low, he should be fresh to contribute later on in the tournament for GBG as the perennial power looks for another deep tournament run.




6-foot-5 uncommitted juniors are rare anywhere, especially so when there’s two of them in the same time slot as Dykstra Baseball’s Carson Hamro (2020, Vista, Calif.) got the nod just one field away from Kopp. Hamro, like Kopp, was kept on a relatively low pitch count and should be expected to fire additional impact innings for Dykstra later on in the event.

The righthander has a long, slender frame with broad shoulders and lots of room to fill out and add strength. That being said, Hamro already has advanced velocity for his age as he worked exclusively in the 86-88 mph range and bumped 89 mph on one of his final pitches of the performance. The delivery is fairly low effort, and the ball comes out of the hand cleanly with short sink near the end of the ball path. He uncoils nicely and creates some hip-shoulder separation while repeating the delivery very well, speaking well to his body control. Hamro showed both a breaking ball that he could land for strikes in the low-70s and flashed a firm changeup at 80 mph as well. Hamro is another solid uncommitted prospect who showed out on day one as both him and Kopp both earned big victories for teams who are expecting deep bracket play runs.

Dykstra Baseball had a well-rounded offensive attack and leadoff man Andruw Householder (2021, Temecula, Calif.) showed some intriguing tools and fits nicely into a leadoff profile. Householder is a lean, wiry 5-foot-11, 155-pounds with some present fast-twitch athletic muscle to the frame. He gets out of the box very quickly and uses that speed to beat out infield hits; he posted a best run time of 4.22 seconds to first as he got out of the box very quickly on that batted ball. The lefthanded swing is a bit crude and inside, though he has quickness to his hands and has no trouble using the opposite field at present. The athleticism and speed are certainly alluring tools at present and his ability to put bat-to-ball, feel for going to the opposite field, and ability to make well-struck contact all make him very intriguing.

Ryan Ellis (2020, Peoria, Ariz.) had himself a day at the top of the lineup for the AZ Athletics as the lefthanded hitting shortstop collected four hits on the day and showed off some speed and a smooth barrel plane in the process. Ellis is a 5-foot-7, 140-pound high-motor, high-energy middle infielder who has pretty solid arm strength that he got to show off a few times, and solid present speed with a best home to first time of 4.32 seconds from the left side. The offensive tools were what stood out during this look, however, as he has a short, quick stroke from the left side with a clean overall swing. The bat-to-ball skills stand out as he can use the whole field on a line to create well-struck contact and consistently barreled opposing pitching. Ellis has the look of a prospect who’s going to be an athletic, up-the-middle type to go along with his ability to barrel the ball from the left side, all positive indicators for him moving forward.

Arizona commit Tyler Davis (2020, Peoria, Ariz.) is a listed primary righthanded pitcher, but he definitely has some two-way ability at the next level as he took some of the best-looking swings of the day in the middle of the lineup for AZ Athletics. Davis is a very good athlete, good enough to slot in at centerfield for the Athletics on the afternoon, and the athleticism shows both on his lean, projectable 6-foot-1, 175-pound frame and his endline speed both in the outfield and on the base paths. The swing has plenty of raw bat speed, with loose and fast hands through the zone. Davis whips the barrel hard and just missed an absolutely laced double down the pull line in his first at-bat and recouped for an opposite field single in his second at-bat. Davis certainly has upside with his present offensive tools and looks the part of a solid, two-way prospect moving forward.

AZ T-Rex got started on the right foot of the event with a run-rule, 12-4 victory on their opening game as there were numerous prospects who stood out. Drew Bond (2020, Phoenix, Ariz.) and Travis Warinner (2020, Glendale, Ariz.) stood out both offensively and as double play partners operating at second base and shortstop, respectively.

Bond has very smooth hands and transfers over at second base and he turned nicely to feed Warinner for a smooth 4-6-3 double play. He has a very quiet start with his hands and utilizes a smooth, direct path to work to all fields. Bond had a couple of knocks and gets the barrel on a nice swing plane to work for line drive contact. Warinner showed off some arm strength on the turn and good overall footwork around the bag. Warinner has a very high hand set but his hands are fast enough to get the swing on plane nicely with present bat speed too. There’s some impact strength as he knocked a double early in the game and also topspun a smoked single to the pull side later on in the game.

Efrain Manzo (2020, Chandler, Ariz.) showed off some physicality and power in the middle of the lineup for AZ T-Rex. Manzo certainly looks the part with a very physical, and strong frame at a listed 6-foot-1, 181-pounds. Manzo generates a good amount of bat sped with a tipped start in order to keep the barrel in the hitting zone for a long time. Manzo showed off some of that impact strength as he drove a pitch off the end of his bat to the left centerfield gap. He has a good amount of loft to the swing plane and the ability to generate that kind of carry for a batted ball that would normally be a flare single is pretty impressive for an underclass prospect, and it’s not too hard to imagine how far that ball would’ve traveled should he have squared it up with the middle of the barrel. The raw tools offensively certainly stand out and his physicality played well at the hot corner while combining for a very strong, offensive prospect as Manzo is off to a hot start.

Following Manzo in the lineup was physical, lefthanded-hitting Tyler Stone (2020, Scottsdale, Ariz. ) who looks the part of a future power-hitting prospect at 6-foot-2, 215-pounds. Stone has a bit of an uphill swing path but that allows him to tap into that strength and power from his lower half as he drives the ball well into the air. Stone swings the stick hard, and looks to impact the ball hard with malicious intent. He did so often on Friday afternoon with plenty of extra-base contact as he connected on two doubles. Stone’s naturally leveraged stroke allows for plenty of power and juice to the pull side of the field, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see him knock in a good amount of runs out of the cleanup spot for AZ T-Rex.

– Vincent Cervino
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