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Prospects covered this week: Chris Betts, Gio Brusa, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Jake Lemoine, Triston McKenzie, Ashe Russell, Nicholas Shumpert, Christin Stewart, Taylor Ward and Mikey White.
Chris Betts – C
Height/Weight: 6-1/210
Bats/Throws: L/R
Birthdate: March 10, 1997
High School: Wilson
Hometown: Long Beach, Calif.
Travel Team: CBA Marucci
Commitment: Tennessee
Projected Draft Round: 1
Betts has been well known in Southern California scout circles and eventually in the national scouting community since his freshman year. He started from the first game in the spring of 2012, a rare achievement at a program like Long Beach Wilson, and has gradually grown as a player ever since.
At the start of last summer, it looked as if Betts had grown in more than one way. Always physically mature for his age and one of the strongest players in the class, Betts looked as if he'd gained weight he couldn't afford during the spring. But during the summer that weight came off and Betts regained the quickness and athleticism he'd previously shown, especially behind the plate on defense.
Defensively, Betts two best tools are his arm strength and his leadership ability, with the reality that leadership ability is an extra tool in evaluating a catcher. He's a very aggressive thrower and will throw behind runners on any base, a sometimes risky play that is less so because Betts' throws tend to be very accurate. The leadership ability comes from Betts' extensive experience and his outgoing personality – he even won the EvoShield SWAG Award at the PG All-American Classic for those attributes.
What makes Betts clearly the best prep catcher in the 2015 class and a likely first round draft pick in June, though, is his balance of defense at a premium position and offensive potential. A lefthanded hitter, Betts has a strength-generated swing that is middle-of-the-field oriented with huge gap power and frequently even power to the opposite field. For a strong player with his power, Betts is also very contact oriented; he's only struck out 27 times in 94 career high school games through the end of March.
It won't hurt Betts chances of going in the top half of the first round that he's already having a tremendous spring. Through 11 games, Betts was hitting .500-5-13 with 11 walks and only two strikeouts. The five home runs are already a career high for Betts, and it should be noted he plays his home games at cavernous Blair Field in Long Beach.
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