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Tournaments | Story | 3/17/2018

Showdown-Academies Scout Notes

Greg Gerard

Photo: Perfect Game

2018 PG High School Showdown-Academies: Event Preview | Player Stats | Daily Leaders

On his way to earning the Most Valuable Pitcher of the tournament, Daniel Espino (2019, Statesboro, Ga.) turned in an outstanding six inning start and showcased some of the best velocity in the entire 2019 class. Sitting 94-96 early on with his fastball and not releasing a fastball below 89 mph throughout his six innings, Espino’s start was impressive in every way. The command of his fastball was outstanding and the velocity was completely overpowering. Swings and misses were a common trend as Espino piled on 12 strikeouts on the day.

His arm action is quite long and wrapped through the back, but the arm continually gets through the circle on time and out in front. The recent verbal commitment to LSU gets outstanding extension out in front as well. His 6-foot-3 200-pound frame and excellent extension help generate a 98 mph best effective velocity per TrackMan. Espino gets up to eight feet of extension reaching way out in front at release getting some occasional run to his explosive fastball. The LSU commit dominated the entirety of his start and showed why he is a top of the line pitcher in the class of 2019.

Zachary Ottinger (2018, Marietta, Ga.) put together an outstanding start to open up the tournament for East Cobb Baseball and showed why he committed to West Virginia in doing so. The righthander from Marietta, Georgia’s fastball topped out at 90 mph early on in the game and consistently lived in the upper-80s throughout the contest. In his four inning start, Ottinger struck out six batters with his fastball and slider combination. The slider was short breaking and the fastball showed short life occasionally to armside. His delivery is simple and shows good tempo as he repeats it well getting good command of both of his pitches. The arm action is clean and full as he releases with little effort. Ottinger repeatedly live low in the strike zone and missed lots of barrels.

Jose Cabrera Jr. (2018, Santiago, Dominican Republic) displayed his overpowering fastball in a relief appearance for CBC Elite and earned the win in doing so. Cabrera’s fastball was the top fastball of the day on Thursday as he peaked at 92 mph. The big righthander from the Dominican Republic showed heavy life to his fastball and good command of two pitches. His fastball completely overpowered hitters on this day as it was his primary pitch in route to tallying all six outs via the strikeout. When Cabrera was head in counts, which was quite often, he liked to go to his tight 11-to-5 breaking curveball. The pitch was well located like his fastball and was a solid secondary pitch to accompany his fastball. Cabrera’s arm action is pretty long and wraps some around the backside before coming through continually on time. He gets solid lower half usage down the mound, but it appeared he could get even more of his lower half incorporated for added velocity to the already impressive fastball.

RHP Carlos Francisco (2018 D.R.) working out of trouble in the 1st inning running his FB up to 90 mph for CBC. Explosive delivery, full AA, +proj. build. #Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/gv5ZQGoC14
— Gregory Gerard (@GGerardPG) March 17, 2018

Carlos Francisco (2018, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) may be the most projectable pitcher in the entire tournament standing at 6-foot-5 215-pounds with some present strength especially in the lower half. He brought with him to the mound a fastball up to 90 mph and a hard biting curveball in the upper-70s. To go along with his projectable frame, Francisco has an explosive delivery and a full arm action that really works. The velocity was maintained in the upper-80s but projects for more moving forward. The uncommitted Francisco, unfortunately took the loss even though he only allowed one earned run.

Kyle Riesselmann (2019, Tyrone, Ga.) had one of the more impressive offensive performances of the tournament and showed big-time physical tools in doing so. Standing at a highly projectable 6-foot-2 181-pounds Reisselmann has good bat speed and showed the ability to run as well. Sprinting multiple sub-4.30 home to first times from the righthanded batter’s box with his best time coming in at 4.20-seconds. The swing is simple and the timing is good. He gets the barrel head out in front squaring up the ball continuously. On a triple in his final game of the weekend, Riesselmann showed the potential pop in his bat driving the ball deep to center field. The uncommitted outfielder turned the bag at first with a run time of 4.69-seconds scampering to third without a throw. Riesselmann showcased his raw tools all weekend long.

Tyler Driver (2019, Wake Forest, N.C.) helped Pro5 Academy earn a Game 1 win as they began their tournament. The junior righthander ran his fastball up to 88 mph in doing so as well. Driver throws three different pitches and has the ability to command all three well. Driver’s fastball sat mostly in the mid-80s with a top velocity of the aforementioned 88 mph pitch. The first secondary pitch he went to was his short-breaking slider. The pitch was effective in getting hitters to swing and miss especially when buried. Driver seemed to have more feel of his changeup, however. Especially when fastball arm speed was maintained, Driver’s changeup was the better of the two secondary pitches. The UNC-Charlotte commit’s three pitch mix continuously kept hitters off balance and helped him tally five strikeouts in three innings of work.

Having been up to 94 mph in past PG events, Makenzie Stills (2018, Fayetteville, Ga.) was back on the mound this time for Citadels Baseball Academy and showed similar arm strength Friday night. Stills filled up the strike zone for the duration of his six inning start with a fastball that ranged 88-91 with lots of heavy sinking action. Quite frequently the fastball showed 80-grade sink on a 20-80 scale and hitters had trouble doing any sort of damage to the pitch. Only allowing one run on the day, Stills received an unfortunate loss but still went home with a quality start.

Stills is a Vanderbilt commit and has a long arm action as he comes to the plate. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Stills has obvious arm strength and incorporates his lower half well in his windup. To go along with his fastball, Stills has a pair of secondary pitches that make him a full arsenal pitcher. His slider is very tight and short as it breaks late on hitters. Stills’ changeup may be better than his slider as it shows similar sink to the fastball and dives late. The senior from Georgia is an impressive pitcher and he showed that talent in Friday night’s game.

Trent Harris (2018, Raleigh, N.C.) came into Pro5 Academy’s quarterfinal matchup to close out the game and ran his fastball up to 90 mph. The High Point commit showed off an arm that really works well. Coming from a full arm action and a high three-quarters, his fastball is mostly straight, but he spots it up well. The projectable 6-foot-1 190-pound righthander mixed in a mid-70s curveball with good depth to accompany the fastball. Harris earned the save in Pro5 Academy’s 1-0 win striking out two along the way. Harris helped Pro5 in a big way to earn them a trip to the semifinals of the PG High School Showdown-Academies.

Daniel Cerda (2018, Statesboro, Ga.) was the most impressive hitter of the tournament and he showed big-time actions in the infield as well. The starting shortstop for the Georgia Premier Academy Sox showed all weekend long his soft, sure hands and good arm strength across the diamond. At the plate, Cerda finished the PG High School Showdown-Academies 7-14 (.500) and consistently put the barrel to the baseball showing off his outstanding barrel to ball skills. Cerda’s arm strength was noticeable in the infield as well as on the mound. Cerda came into close out a pair of games for the Sox and topped out at 89 with his fastball. The senior Chipola JUCO commit is an exciting player to watch that plays with outstanding energy game in and game out.

Shep Hancock (2020, Sharpsburg, Ga.) pitched on two different occasions during the weekend. First, in a closing role Friday night the sophomore faced three batters striking out one of them. The velocity was more impressive on the first night as he sat 85-87 consistently without the appearance of an offspeed pitch. Secondly, on Saturday afternoon, this time in a starting role, Hancock’s fastball was down some from the night before but the command was even more impressive. The 6-foot-3 225-pound righthander throws with little effort and creates some good plane on his fastball especially when down in the zone. Hancock’s arm action is very clean and easy as he comes through and releases out in front. He appears to be able to get even more drive from his lower half as well for more velocity as he continues to mature.

Lucas Torres (2021, Cayey, Puerto Rico) was one of the younger pitchers in the event, but still showed that he can pitch with the older guys. Torres showed really good command for his young age and it resulted in three strikeouts and no walks in his 2 2/3 innings of relief. Torres has a deliberate delivery getting his lower half going down the mound as the arm comes through from a mostly clean arm action. The fastball topped out at 86 mph, but sat 83-85 mph mostly. He never did show an offspeed pitch during the outing, but being that he is a primary shortstop the added repetitions and maturity should include the addition of a secondary pitch to his arsenal. As a primary shortstop, Torres is interesting on the mound and definitely worth noting early on because of his present arm strength.

The PG High School Showdown-Academies MVP was Auburn commit Troy Bearden (2018, Trussvile, Ala.) as he showed all weekend that he can swing the bat and make loud contact. Bearden is as physical of a presence in the box as any. Listed at a believable 6-foot-2, 225-pounds with present strength throughout, Bearden’s strength is present in his swing as he generates good bat speed. When squared, the ball comes off of the barrel with authority and the exit velocities were on display continually over the course of the tournament. Bearden collected eight hits in the event and on numerous occasions produced 90-plus mph exit velocities off of the barrel with the best coming on a line drive single up the middle that left his barrel at 94 mph.

Jacob Gilliland (2018, Ocean Springs, Miss.) pitched Next Level Baseball Academy to a championship on Saturday evening. After a lightning delay pushed back the start of the semifinals and championship game, Gilliland finally received the ball and showed his ability on the mound. The righthander sat 90-92 mph in the first before settling in the 88-90 mph range for the remainder of his start. The commitment to junior college powerhouse Chattahoochee Valley has a good curveball that was mixed in and effective to get hitters to swing and miss especially when ahead in counts. Gilliland was ahead in counts often in this contest as he finished with five strikeouts 5 1/3 innings.

His mechanics are more fluid than in previous viewings as his arm works fully through the arm circle. He gets good drive from his lower half and releases with minimal effort. In this outing the fastball was mostly straight and he commanded it well. Overall, the 6-foot-2 180-pounder is an interesting arm in this year’s loaded draft class.

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