17u WWBA Day 6 notes

Editor's note: Perfect Game recognizes that there are dozens of standout performers at this year's 17u WWBA National Championship. The thoughts provided below are first-hand observations from Scouting Coordinator Jheremy Brown during the event's sixth day.

Drake Fellows (2016, Plainfield, Ill.) is right near the top of the list of what is shaping up to be an impressive crop of 2016 pitchers. Standing at 6-foot-5, 190-pound, the Vanderbilt commit projects extremely well as he continues to add strength and given the ease of which he throws.

After starting a game earlier in the tournament, Fellows was schedule to throw two innings and did just that, cruising through his outing while pounding the strike zone. Despite showing a long arm action in the back, Fellows is able to hide the ball well behind his tall frame and given his hip turn at the top of his delivery. Throwing from an extended arm slot, Fellows didn’t throw a fastball under 90 mph, sitting 90-92, topping out at 93 mph on a couple of pitches. He showed the ability to work his fastball to both sides of the plate with intent and life to his arm side, coming out of his hand cleanly and with ease.

Fellows also showed a sharp curveball with late break in the 81-82 mph range and showed the ability to have it break low to his glove side. Although it was a short look, it’s easy to envision Fellows showing more velocity in a short amount of time.




Riley Pint (2016, Lenexa, Kan.) took the mound for his encore performance to his first Perfect Game event and again did not disappoint. He showed similar velocity to his first start, working 93-96 mph in the first inning with life down in the zone. His ability to generate that kind of velocity with such little effort is special, but not what truly sets him apart.

The separating factor for Pint is his knuckle curveball that he was throwing as hard as 86 mph with plus late and vicious life and filled up the strike zone with the pitch. Mixing in his breaking ball and fastball doesn’t give many hitters a fair fight, and when the ball was put in play it was usually weak ground ball contact.

Whenever a runner did get on though it was due to minor command issues which can be quickly fixed by Pint staying over the rubber just a little longer and not rushing through his delivery. This would allow him to stay in sync with both halves and keep his front side closed just a little bit longer.

Pint’s repertoire was as sharp in the seventh inning as it was in the first, still working in the low- to mid-90s and rarely dropping below 90 mph with his fastball. In fact, on his 112th and 113th pitches of the game – the last two of the game – Pint clocked in at 94 and 93 mph. His two-seam fastball worked in the upper-80s to low-90s with life to his arm side, and he also flashed a changeup throughout the outing that was up to 85 mph.