6/25/2015 7:59:17 AM
Beginning the year as a shutdown reliever for the University of Houston, freshman left-hander Seth Romero slowly transitioned into a starting role towards the end of the season and that appears to be his role with Team USA as well. Working a pre-determined four innings, Romero was pretty much on cruise control from the onset. The Texas native showed a very balanced and repeatable set of mechanics on the mound that helped him continuously fill up the strike zone.
With a broad and strongly built 6-foot-1, 242-pound frame Romero pounded the lower quadrants with his fastball, a pitch that consistently sat in the 91-94 mph range from the first pitch to the last. He does a nice job of staying on top of the ball and with his arm slot is able to create big angle on his fastball, especially down to his glove side. Though he showed a solid slider and a changeup, Romero picked up plenty of ugly and uncomfortable swings on the strength and location of his fastball.
Of the six strikeouts he picked up, four came via his slider (all swinging) while he picked up one with both his fastball and changeup. After getting around the first couple of sliders Romero’s feel continued to develop and it quickly became a true swing and miss offering. Romero maintained his slot on the 77-80 mph offering and showed late sweeping life away from left-handed hitters and to the back foot of right-handed hitters.
Tommy DeJuneas recently completed his freshman season for NC State and worked a quick inning for USA. Making twenty-four appearances out of the Wolfpack’s bullpen this spring, DeJuneas was a primary position player throughout his prep days and has continued to develop very nicely on the mound over the past year. With a fast right arm coming through the back DeJuneas needed just nine pitches to get retire the side; seven of them were fastballs in the 92-94 mph and two were changeups at 79 and 82 mph. With a majority of his fastball coming in the higher end of the range, DeJuneas ended his one inning by spotting a 94 mph down to his glove side with late life to his arm side.
If you are either a college baseball fan or an avid draft fan than you’ve come across the name of AJ Puk. A 6-foot-7, 225-pound left-hander from the University of Florida, Puk is in early contention for the top pick of next June’s MLB draft and though he only threw a quick tune up inning, the Iowa native reaffirmed that belief. He worked his fastball consistently in the 94-96 mph range, once touching 98 for a swinging third strike, but what’s more impressive is the ease of which the ball leaves his hand.
Creating solid angle and downhill plane on his fastball, Puk struck out two hitters each on the strength of his fastball, an easy-plus pitch that jumps out of his hand. Puk worked primarily off of his fastball for his quick inning though he did flash a breaking ball at 83 mph with short life down in the zone.
Big fastball velocity appears to run in the Burdi household. With older brother Nick frequently touching triple digits for Louisville last spring, younger brother and rising junior Zack Burdi looks to continued carrying the lock down, hard throwing closer role left vacant by his brother. Another power arm who worked a single inning, Burdi threw a total of 12 fastballs; eight at 97 mph and another four at 98 mph. With a fast arm the Louisville Cardinal power arm doesn’t exert much effort to generate his premium velocity and showed the ability to work down in the zone with his heater. His mechanics are slow tempo’d and very deliberate allowing him to repeat well on his three-pitch mix.
Able to beat hitters on the strength of his fastball, Burdi showed a feel for a full three-pitch mix, something not often associated with a power-armed reliever. His changeup in the 86-87 mph range showed late fading life down in the zone and got one hitter out front enough on that pitch that his bat quickly became splinters in the infield grass. Like Puk, Burdi struck out two hitters, one of which game on an 84 mph slider to get the hitter looking.
Opening up his inning of work with a 95 mph fastball Stephen Nogosek worked the rest of his inning in the 92-94 mph range. Nogosek is no stranger to working out of the bullpen as he made a team high 39 appearances this spring at Oregon amassing 58 innings and a 2.02 ERA. Working from an up-tempo delivery exclusively out of the stretch Nogosek worked around a couple of weak base hits and like Burdi showed a full three-pitch mix.
Nogosek worked throughout the zone with his fastball and showed nice life when down, collecting empty swings throughout his inning of work. His changeup is an effective pitch as he mimics both his arm action and arm speed on the 84-85 mph pitch. He showed his changeup just three times and flashed his upper-70s curveball a handful of times. Occasionally getting around the pitch at times, Nogosek did show nice depth on the pitch and will be an arm to follow the rest of the summer and throughout next spring.
Texas A&M fans are more than familiar with what right-hander Ryan Hendrix is capable of out of the bullpen as he was a long-inning, shutdown reliever for the Aggies this spring. Like the four arms prior, Hendrix worked just an inning for Team USA and looked to get stronger with each fastball he threw.
After the first fastball came across at 91 mph, Hendrix sat at 92-93 mph with his next ten fastballs and did a nice job of continuously working on top of the ball. Already showing the ability to be an effective starter Hendrix is able to generate heavy life on his fastball while commanding the strike zone. With 2 outs in the top of the ninth, Hendrix found himself down 3-0 before working his way back to get the swinging strikeout on a 93 mph fastball spotted up perfectly to his glove side.
Plenty of teams in the SEC know about the curveball Hendrix throws and now Coast Plain League All-Stars do too. Thrown up to 84 mph, Hendrix shows an advanced feel for the pitch with the ability to throw it for a strike in any count. Striking out the side, two of his three punch-outs came via his curveball -one looking and one swing- proving to be a true put away pitch with plenty of late depth out of the same arm slot.
You can’t do too much more than what Florida outfielder Buddy Reed did in his first game with the Stars and Stripes. Reed collected a game high three hit performance, all of which were singles from the left side, while showing a quick and balanced stroke to and through the ball. The hit tool for Reed has continued to make strides as the Maryland native upped his average from .244 in 2014 to .305 in 2015. His overall athleticism is enough to warrant first round buzz next June but Reed is much more than a strongly built 6-foot-3, 200-pound outfielder full of fast-twitch muscle. With plus-plus speed, Reed projects to be an impact center fielder at the next level showing plenty of range with closing speed that’ll rival any in amateur baseball. The speed of course is also impacting asset on bases as he’s a threat to go on any pitch. Second on the Gators this spring with 18 stolen bases, Reed took three bags in yesterday afternoon’s game and was consistently in the pitcher’s head from the moment he reached base.
Through five games this summer Team USA has two home runs as a team and both belong to University of Arizona third baseman Bobby Dalbec. Known for his big right-handed power after hitting 15 home runs this spring, Dalbec jumped all over an elevated fastball on the inner half and put the 2-1 pitch over the left-field fence, a no doubt shot from the moment it left the bat.
We spoke about Oregon State’s K.J. Harrison and Texas A&M’s Nick Banks in yesterday’s recap but they both have continued to show their skills in the batter’s box. Harrison’s approach is advanced for somebody in their junior year, let alone in somebody who just finished their freshman season. Yesterday Harrison again showed off his approach and did it with two-strikes. Staying back well on an off speed pitch, Harrison stayed balanced and kept his weight back before lining the pitch into left field. Banks continues to pick up the base hits for Team USA and is doing so to all fields. Putting his team up early, Banks lined an outer half fastball through the 5-6 hole for a two run single.