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2017
third baseman Jason
Pineda
is listed in the program at 6-foot, 215-pounds, and there’s
absolutely no way. Standing at least 6-foot-2 and looking more like
230, Pineda looks like Yoenis Cedpedes in terms of build throughout
his body, with excellent strength and athleticism filling out his
frame from top to bottom. He’s immediately impressive as a hitter,
with a loose, fluid swing highlighted by explosive hands and
outstanding bat speed. He barrels up the ball with authority
consistently showing power to all fields with easy plus power
projection as well as good overall feel for the barrel and a quiet,
simple approach to hitting. He plays third base well as well, showing
smooth hands with a good first step, an above average arm and the
overall athleticism to hold down the third base position with no
problem at the next level.
Read Chris Garcia's feature on Pineda and the Bronx Bombers here.
2018
Parker
Aquino
(Las Vegas, Nev.) started for Game On Stealth on Tuesday afternoon,
and the 6-foot-1, 160-pound righthander didn't disappoint. Touching
as high as 88 with his fastball, Aquino worked comfortably in the
84-87 range, pounding it down to the glove side consistently with
advanced fastball command. His delivery is deceptive, with a hip coil
into a slight spine tilt, he drops and drives a bit towards home but
retains some downhill plane and explodes through his delivery. He
hides the ball very well up until release, making the 84-87 seem much
faster to opposing hitters. He has good feel for his slider, thrown
in the 75-78 range, with good spin and inconsistent two-plane break,
as the pitch will occasionally get flat. The change is a very
deceptive pitch, thrown with about 15 mph of velocity differential
and thrown with serious tumbling action, the pitch just dies at the
plate and sends hitters swinging over the top of it.
2017
second baseman Rashard Lucas (Panama City, Fla.) made the most
consistent hard contact of anyone in the Game On game, squaring up
the ball with a simple swing and an up-the-middle approach. Lucas was
able to drive the ball back through the box in his first two at-bats,
showing very quick hands with a balanced swing, consistently catching
the ball out in front of the plate with more authority than his
5-foot-10, 160-pound frame would indicate.
2017
righthander Chase Patrick (Ellaville, Ga.) threw a short,
one-inning stint in relief for Game On, and was very impressive in
that one inning. With very good arm speed and a deceptive delivery
highlighted by Huston Street-esque mechanics, Patrick’s fastball
jumped out of his hand at 86-88 from a near over-the-top slot,
pounding downhill with plane despite his size and showing excellent
command of the pitch especially to the arm side.
Elite
Squad Prime is no stranger to having seriously high-end talent
regardless of their age classification, and their 15u team is no
exception. He’s been mentioned before a few times in these
writeups, but 2018 third baseman Cory Acton deserves
mentioning yet again, as he continues to make a case for himself as
the best pure hitter in the class of 2018. He’s very balanced and
very simple at the plate, has an advanced approach with patience and
an excellent idea of the zone, and combines all of that with innate
bat-to-ball skills. His hands are excellent, quick and strong, and he
generates excellent bat speed while nearly never taking a bad swing.
As he continues to physically develop there is going to be serious
power there as well, giving him one of the highest offensive upsides
in the class.
2018
righthander Roberto Pena started for Elite Squad, and despite
not having the results he wanted, showed very well as a prospect
overall. With a loose, easy arm action and a fastball that touched as
high as 87 in the first inning, Pena projects exceedingly well moving
forward both physically and in terms of velocity.
He
was relieved by 2018 righthander Patrick Crawley, a
great-sized prospect with a good feel for pitching highlighted by a
very heavy fastball. The fastball is very easy out of the hand and
sat 81-83 with that late, heavy life, and he complemented it with a
quality 12-to-6 curveball that showed good depth and spin. He has
some trunk stiffness that causes him to struggle getting over his
front side, making the ball stay up on him at times, but on the whole
he showed quality stuff and projection late Tuesday night/early
Wednesday morning.
Opposing
Elite Squad was Marucci Forbes, who ended up winning the game by a
score of 7-2. Starting on the mound for Marucci was James Parker,
a 5-foot-11, 145-pound 2018 prospect from Alabaster, Ala. Parker did
an outstanding job of keeping the Elite Squad hitters off balance
throughout his outing, working consistently in the 80-82 mph range
with his fastball and pounding to both sides of the plate. Working
from a very tough low three-quarters arm slot, Parker’s fastball
has very heavy arm-side life and sink, and he had no issue spotting
his fastball nearly at will to wherever he wanted to throw it. He’s
especially tough on righthanded hitters, getting in on their hands
with the fastball and showing good feel for a slider that, given his
slot, starts from nearly behind the righthanded hitters and breaks
over the plate with mostly horizontal action at the plate.
2018
outfielder Anthony Stallcup (Shreveport, La.) took some of the
best at-bats of the tournament on Tuesday night, showing the kind of
advanced approach and overall feel for hitting that are not often
seen in prospects just heading into their sophomore years. In his
first at-bat, he jumped all over a first-pitch curveball and drove it
into left field for a base hit. Then in his second at-bat he fouled
off several two-strike pitches before eventually working a walk. He
has hand quickness, an advanced approach and the type of overall
on-base skills that are highly coveted in offensive prospects.
– Brian
Sakowski
Joseph
Charles
(2019, Celebration, Fla.) hasn’t even attended a day of high school
yet but there’s already some noise around his name due to his
abilities on the mound. The overall physical projection is obvious as
he already stands 6-foot-2, 170-pounds with long and loose limbs and
is able to produce stuff on the mound that’s advanced beyond his
grade.
Charles
shows a low effort delivery on the mound, remaining loose and easy
with his arm action after he breaks his hands before creating solid
extension out front at release. Sitting comfortably in the 82-85 mph
range through his five innings on the mound, Charles showed solid
command of his fastball to either side of the plate, a pitch that
leaves his hand with natural two-seam spin. Along with the extension
Charles consistently work on top of the ball which in turn helps
generate downhill plane on his fastball which cleanly leaves his
right hand. Projecting on his fastball isn't hard to do given the
ease of which he throws and with the subtle life to his arm side he’s
able to induce consistent weak ground ball contact.
Pitching
exclusively off his fastball the first time through the order,
Charles was able to snap off a couple of quality breaking balls
before the weather ultimately shut the book on his outing. After
getting under or around on the first couple of curveballs Charles
found his feel for the pitch and quickly began mixing while pounding
to either side of the plate. Charles is able to create tight rotation
on the 70-72 mph offering and as a result he’s able to create late
bite and quality depth. His overall feel and ability to pound the
strike zone is advanced for a player his age and it’s scary to
think his stuff is only going to continue improving.
The
last 48 hours have been solid for Sterling
Hayes
(2018, La Jolla, Calif.), a twitchy 6-foot-1, 175-pound shortstop who
is also the most recent commit for Vanderbilt University. Hitting in
the middle of the CBA Bulldogs order and starting up the middle,
Hayes may not have filled up the box score but he put his abundance
of tools on display. With a very balanced and easy set up at the
plate, Hayes begins with an upright stance and shows a simple shift
into contact while generating a fluid swing that projects moving
forward. Hayes moves well defensively at shortstop showing quick and
athletic actions with a short arm action on his throws across.
Hayes
isn’t the only player on the CBA Bulldogs who has already decided
on his college commitment as Clay
Owens
(2018, Corona, Calif.) has already verbaled to the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas. A strongly built 6-foot-1, 185-pound third
baseman, Owens showed plenty of fluidity and natural lift in his
swing as he ripped a single into the right-center field gap to give
the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.
Cade
Hungate
(2018, Abingdon, Va.) first caught my attention with his overall
athleticism two days ago while playing third base and it didn’t
shock me in the slightest to see him finding success on the mound.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 170-pounds, Hungate looks the part on the mound
with a high waist and broad shoulders that he’ll continue to grow
into. Staying tall and balanced on his backside, Hungate ran his
fastball up to 87 mph and sat in the 83-85 mph range rather
comfortably throughout the duration of his start. With an
over-the-top release and a quick arm, Hungate is able to generate
downhill plane on his fastball while repeating his delivery and
filling up the zone. Currently uncommitted, Hungate showed a feel for
his slider as he tripled up on the 76 mph offering showing depth and
late break to his glove side.
Landon
Jordan
(2018, Poplarville, Miss.) sets the tone for the Coast Titans offense
from the leadoff spot and that’s exactly what he did yesterday as
his team found itself down 4-0 heading into the bottom of the first.
Jordan, a middle infielder, stands at 6-foot, 170-pounds with a
physically impressive frame and present strength and swings the bat
from the left side. He uses his strength well as he shifts into
contact and generated solid bat speed through the zone as he
connected for a loud triple to the opposite field gap to lead off the
game.
One
could say that Nick O’Day
(2018, Coatesville, Pa.) is seeing the ball well and it would be
nearly impossible to argue. Just two days after running his fastball
into the low-90s and providing offense for himself with a three-run
home run, the uncommitted O’Day hit not one but two home runs in
his first two trips to the plate. A strongly built, broad-shouldered
5-foot-11, 180-pound athlete, O’Day shows really loose hands in the
box which allow him to whip the barrel through the zone with natural
lift and leverage at contact. His first home run of the afternoon
landed just to the right of the scoreboard and as his second found
its way into the protective netting in front of the scoreboard. O’Day
has continued to take the next step to his overall game and has the
chance to be an impact two-way player at the next level.
The
overall raw velocity may not be the type that usually is read about
in the recaps but if you sat and watched what Aaron
Feld (2018,
Christiana, Pa.) did on the mound you would have seen one of he
better overall performances of the tournament. Appearing in just his
second Perfect Game event, Feld has grown an inch and added about 20
pounds since last fall when he worked in the 75-77 mph range at the
WWBA Freshman World Championship.
Jump
to last night and the 6-foot-2, 155-pound Feld sat in the 80-83 mph
range over the course of his complete game shutout, making his pitch
time and time again. Staying short and loose with his arm action,
Feld was able to continuously pound the strike zone with above
average command to either side of the plate. Feld’s mechanics are
rather simple and he does a nice job of repeating them along with his
extended three-quarter arm slot that helps generate late running life
with some sink to his arm side. He also hides the ball well, and
though he pitched mostly off his fastball he was able to induced
weak, off balance swings and plenty of swings and misses throughout
his seven innings.
In
total Feld struck out 11, including the side in the seventh, without
issuing a free pass, a true testament to the type of command he
possesses on the mound. The overall stuff projects very well as Feld
continues to grow and physically develop and he also shows an
advanced feel for pitching. He would drop in a curveball a few times
each inning in the 67-69 mph range showing some 11-to-5 life and
wasn’t afraid to double up on the pitch, giving the hitters a
different look and throw off their timing.
Luke
Bartnicki (2018,
Marietta, Ga.) has the ability to draw your attention before even
throwing a pitch as he stands 6-foot-2, 185-pounds (and he may be
taller than listed) and more than looks the part. A lefthanded
pitcher, Bartnicki ran his fastball up to 88 mph early in the game
while showing a very loose and low effort arm action, making it easy
to envision more velocity on the way especially as he continues to
incorporate his lower half. His arm action is very quick and he uses
his long arms well to get on top of the ball and pound it downhill
while holding the 84-87 mph velocity on his fastball. He was able to
miss an abundance of bats on just the strength of his fastball but
Bartnicki also showed a slider in the mid-70s and a changeup in the
low-70s.
The
US Elite 2018’s have a solid core of position players who are able
to impact a game on either side of the ball including Nic
Kent
(2018, Gordonsville, Va.), Troy
LaNeve
(2019, Gibsonia, Pa.) and Adam
Hackenburg
(2018, Palymra, Va.).
The
team's starting shortstop, Kent shows smooth, athletic actions on his
feet, getting behind the ball before funneling well and delivering a
strike across the body.
LaNeve,
who’s just entering his freshman year of high school, looks more
like a rising junior or senior with a strong 5-foot-11, 175-pound
build and he knows how to use his strength in his left-anded swing.
With a short and quick path to the ball, LaNeve is able to generate
solid bat speed with lift at contact and helped lift US Elite to a
1-0 victory with an RBI single late in the game.
Hackenburg
is another strongly built 6-foot-1, 205-pound hitter situated in the
middle of the order, and like LaNeve he’s able to impact a game
with a single swing of the bat. Though he didn’t put a ball over
the fence he did drive a ball to the fence showing a short yet
powerful swing as he stayed compact to the ball with loud jump and
carry to dead center field.
– Jheremy
Brown