2017 WWBA South Qualifier: Daily Leaders
The first day of the WWBA South Qualifier was one that was jam-packed with top level talent, as various organizations from around the state came together to compete for a bid to Jupiter next month. There was a lot of talent and the theme of the day was velocity as at least ten players unofficially reached the 90 mph mark.
Starting out the first time slot was a highly contested match between HP Baseball and Mizuno USA. One of the standouts of the game was Hilton Brown (2018, San Antonio, Texas) who launched a deep home run to the pull side during the affair. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound shortstop has a very physical frame with good strength and size throughout the frame. He turned on an inside fastball to torque his hips well and launch the ball over the left field fence. Brown’s physicality allows him to impact the ball with tremendous strength and he has quality bat speed through the zone as well. The Northwestern State commit also showed good lateral range at shortstop, although his size may ultimately force him off the position, but his athleticism shines in the field.
One of the standout performers, statistically, during the first time slot for the Houston Heat was righthander Lane McMaster (2018, Shepherd, Texas). The physical high school senior tossed four hitless innings while bumping his fastball up to 88 mph during the process. The uncommitted arm utilized a drop and drive mechanic in the rear of his delivery in order to drive down the mound and get solid push off. The arm action itself is clean and easy through a short arm circle and he works through it consistently as he is able to repeat the compact delivery and work quickly while generating solid velocity. The slider was his go-to secondary pitch on the afternoon and showed short life whether it be horizontal break or two-plane action. McMaster had one of the stronger performances on Friday and there is significant arm talent on the profile.
Hunter Pence Baseball Crew had a big win on Friday and two of the offensive leaders were leadoff man Cole Rasbury (2018, Bellville, Texas) and cleanup hitter Wallace (Tre') Jones III (2018, Houston, Texas). Both hitters combined for two RBIs and took quality at-bats all game long. Rasbury has a simple, compact swing from the left side with present bat speed and bat-to-ball skills. The swing path is conducive to a high contact rate and he is looking to put the ball in play and allow his speed and athleticism to take hold. Jones has a similar swing from the left side with a bit more length but fluid and fast nonetheless. There is good power projection in the body and swing as he adds strength he will be able to turn the barrel over for a lot of pop to the pull side.
Banditos Black won their opening game by a score of 6-3 and showed some of the hardest pitching of the event thus far. Brandon Deskins (2018, Friendswood, Texas) got the start on the mound and showed exactly why San Jacinto will be very happy to have him this time next fall. The southpaw showed a very long and loose arm action that had some serious whip through release. He worked with the fastball in the 88-90 mph range to start out and worked well to either side. The delivery itself is a bit timing-heavy as it incorporates a bit arm raise and hip coil near the top similar to that of Madison Bumgarner’s. Deskins uncoils heavily upon foot strike which helps to add deception but can make the overall delivery difficult to repeat at times. He throws from a higher three-quarter arm slot and creates good angle on his fastball to make it difficult to square up, that combined with the late run the pitch has. Deskins mixed in a big breaking 1/7 curveball as well with defined and consistent shape.
Sanson Faltine III (2019, Richmond, Texas) closed the game out for the Banditos on Friday night and delivered a performance we have been accustomed to seeing from him. The No. 40 overall prospect in the 2019 class, and a Texas commit, Faltine touched 90 mph early in the inning and sat in the upper-80s with relative ease. The pitch has tremendous life to it and was a real weapon. What stands out on the profile is the outstanding arm speed and room for projection. The frame, arm speed, and ease of the arm action are all indicative of big velocity gains in the future. The slider was really working for him as he was able to freeze a couple of righthanded hitters with the pitch’s late break and tight rotation.
An uncommitted bat for the Banditos had a strong game as Cody Wagner (2018, Magnolia, Texas) turned in stellar play on both sides of the ball. The 6-foot, 170-pound outfielder is lean and athletic with present quick twitch muscle throughout. He delivered the big hit of the night with a three-run double early in the second inning of the game. Wagner has a very easy trigger into a short, simple swing path and stays on a line drive swing plane nicely. The athleticism stood out later in the game as he posted a run time of 4.36 seconds to first from the right side and he also made a very impressive diving catch in centerfield as he immediately broke in on a sinking line drive and laid out for the nice grab.
The stellar pitching continued on as righthander Nicolas Yglesia-Rivero (2018, Austin, Texas) stifled the opposing South Texas Sliders for five innings while allowing only three hits. The 5-foot-8, 170-pound arm has good present physicality and despite some effort at release he held his velocity extremely well into the outing as he touched 88 mph multiple times early on and was still in the 86-87 mph range for his final inning. The arm path is multi-pieced with a short stab in the back of the arm action but gets it through quickly for solid arm speed. He breaks his hands back into the arm swing later which allows some deception, coupled with his extension, which allows both his fastball and tight spinning slider to play up. The slider was a hard secondary offering as the pitch showed short, tight break while flashing two-plane action in the upper-70s.
In an abbreviated start, righthander Tyler Ingram (2018, Kempner, Texas) showed off some impressive arm strength and a lively fastball. He struck out five batters in two innings of work and absolutely peppered the opposing hitters with fastball. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound righthander is close to physical maturity with tons of well-proportioned strength on the build. The Cisco CC commit throws with some intent and raises a high leg lift above the belt while staying tall on his backside to generate good push and drive off the lower half. The delivery itself employs a quick rocker step and has good rhythm throughout helping him to stay on time and repeat it well. Ingram worked in the 86-90 mph range on Friday night and threw exclusively fastballs. The pitch worked to either side and flashed short, riding life as he wasn’t afraid to work up in the strike zone. Ingram will be one of many talented players we look forward to watching later in the tournament as well as he is almost assured to throw again.
Almost molded in the model of projection is righthander Zach Stephenson (2018, Houston, Texas) as the 6-foot-7 uncommitted arm showed off some promise and projection during his start on Friday. Stephenson weighs only 180 pounds so he has tons of room to fill out with incredibly long limbs as well. The delivery is pretty low effort throughout with compact actions and multiple pieces that serve to function as checkpoints in order to keep the delivery in sync. The arm action is long from a full arm circle with slight wrap around the back. He worked his fastball up to 87 mph in the first few innings and sat comfortably in the 84-87 mph range early in the contest. Stephenson creates easy downhill plane from an extended release which helps his effective velocity climb. He gets over his front side very well and mixed in a mid-70s breaking ball while displaying a feel for the pitch. There is undoubtedly more velocity in the tank on this frame and he is an arm to keep an eye out for big gains in the future.
The highest recorded velocity of the day belonged to that of righthander Josh Wolf (2019, Bellaire, Texas) whose first inning was very impressive as he touched 93 mph early on. The 6-foot-2, 165-pound righthander is very lean and athletic on the mound with a simple delivery that incorporates a low level of effort. There is ton of room on the frame for added strength so it’s also entirely possible that he’s just scratching the surface of his potential. Wolf worked 89-93 mph in the first inning and threw from a compact arm circle that was mostly clean with a slight lift in the back elbow in the back of the delivery. He lands online toward the plate and showed very good arm speed throughout the path to release. Wolf’s higher arm slot allowed him to create some angle on the fastball and work it to either side of the plate. Wolf showed an advanced arsenal with feel for all of his pitches. The secondaries were mostly sliders in the mid-70s but he flashed a more curveball-type pitch in the 70-71 mph range with more 11/5 shape to it. Wolf didn’t throw the straight changeup much but he flashed one or two in the low-80s to show he could. Wolf has a very interesting pitching arsenal and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.
Wolf’s teammate Owen Meaney (2018, Houston, Texas) had one of the harder hits on the day with a screaming single directly up the middle. The very physical righthanded bat, who is also a primary righthanded pitcher, is listed at 6-foot-5, 225-pounds with immense strength on the frame. He generated good bat speed through the zone and potentially could hit for power thanks to the strength and bat speed. He warrants additional looks at the dish with a potential two-way future at the next level.
PNT Scout Team finished off their impressive win during the last time slot of the day and two of their arms were extremely impressive, and tall, with the 6-foot-4 Braydon Fisher (2018, League City, Texas) and the 6-foot-5 Brandon Pettinati (2018, Houston, Texas).
Fisher tossed the first two innings and attacked hitters with his heavy fastball. The large, broad shouldered righthander worked 89-92 mph in the first inning and created very steep downhill plane to either side of the plate. Fisher worked well to either side of the plate which when coupled with his very good extension made the pitch very hard to square up. Fisher’s leg lift above the belt and overall full arm path made the ball difficult to pickup until he snapped the arm forward to release. The uncommitted high school senior is able to retain balance on his way down the mound and flashed intriguing potential with the breaking ball. The pitch was in the mid- to upper-70s and showed biting 12/6 action and was extremely effective low in the strike zone.
Pettinati came in to be the final pitcher of record and showed off a very loose and projectable arm stroke on the rubber. The lean and projectable righthander has good fluidity to his delivery and threw from a higher three-quarter arm slot. He worked his fastball in the 84-87 mph range but showed the ability to bump up his fastball to 88 mph or 89 mph later in the ball game when he needed it. The ball comes out clean out of the hand and showed power sink to it that made for a lot of balls either completely swung through or pounded into the ground. There is undoubtedly more in the tank for Pettinati and he showed a lot of promise in this abbreviated outing.
Two of the bats that stood out for the PNT Scout team were shortstop Tyresse Turner (2019, La Palma, Calif.) and outfielder Porter Brown (2018, San Antonio, Texas).
Turner is a prototypical quick-twitch shortstop with a leadoff hitter profile at the plate. The 5-foot-10, 165-pound shortstop moves very well defensively with sure hands and speed that plays both out of the box and in the field. He laced a run-scoring triple later in the game and worked very quickly around the bases. The Cal State Northridge commit has lightning quick hands in the box with enough strength at contact to turn on a pitch almost anywhere in the strike zone. Turner showed the ability to drive the ball well to the opposite field as well with another hit later in the ball game down the right field line. Turner is an exciting and explosive player, and definitely one to monitor throughout the event.
Brown shows you everything you want out of a prep bat from the left side: quality bat speed, loose and strong wrists, and fluidity and directness to the path. The lefthanded hitter is listed at 5-foot-10, 165-pounds but that looks to be a conservative estimate as he looked both taller and stronger at the dish. Even with the added strength, Brown shows excellent physical projection throughout the frame with broad shoulders and room for additional strength, even hinting at a vey high power ceiling as he fills out his frame. The TCU commit added two hits during the game on Friday night including a hard hit single to the pull side and an infield single that saw him reach first base in 4.35 seconds despite slowing down at the end. Brown’s smooth lefthanded swing is definitely one to keep an eye on and projects very nicely at the next level.