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Tournaments  | Story  | 3/10/2020

HS Showdown: Academies Notes

Jered Goodwin      Vincent Cervino      Greg Gerard     
Photo: Alex Santos (Perfect Game)
2020 Perfect Game High School Showdown: Victory Charter Tops Academies | HS Showdown: Day 3 Scout Notes | Showdown crowns 3 champs

Pedro Rosario (2020, Kissimmee, Fla.) is a well put-together athlete for Victory Charter that quickly passes the eye test. He has a fast bat that comes from a very simple process. He showed good feel for the barrel and has good ability to hit to all fields. He put together a consistent performance during the weekend with one huge game to help Victory charter get to the semifinal game. Rosario notched five RBI in a marque playoff matchup. He matches his offensive prowess on the defensive side with smooth actions at third base and a strong throwing arm that helps him profile well at the hot corner long term.

The MVP of the Academy side of the event was Jesus M. Santana (2020, St. Cloud, Fla.). He is a physical corner infielder, that played first base in Hoover. Listed as a primary third baseman, he played mostly first base in Hoover to give way to Rosario. He has soft hands and a solid arm which could translate well at the hot corner. The lefthanded bat is the calling card. It is a super functional swing, with a slightly up hill path that he used to lift balls all over the park. He hit a double into the right field corner to score the lone run of the semifinal matchup, then added two more doubles in the championship game. The swing and power profile should make him a hot commodity this spring and the uncommitted prospect should find a home soon.

Yehoshua Garcia (2020, Orlando, Fla.) was dominant at the Perfect Game Showdown on the bump. The lefthanded pitcher had two outings during the event without yielding an earned run. He has a compact delivery that he repeats very well, with a short arm stroke on the back side and a matching release of his three-pitch arsenal. He exudes confidence, which he should with how polished he is. He peaked at 90 mph in a short outing before sitting in the mid-80s in a longer start in the semifinals. His command allowed him to attack with fastballs, pitch backwards, and set hitters up with well-sequenced pitch calling. There will be nothing holding him back from contributing early at the College of Central Florida when he steps on campus.

The highly-touted middle infield prospect announced his presence quickly at the Showdown. Aidan Stewart (2021, Montgomery, Ala.) turned on a 92-mph fastball, lacing a liner single into right field. The Missouri commit did not stop as he finished the event hitting .333. He is a tall infielder, with long limbs, that will fill out nicely. He has good lateral range at shortstop and plenty of arm to stay at the position. He has obvious upside and with the strides that he has made over the calendar year, there is no reason to question that his development will keep trending up. Stewart also had a quick relief outing in which he showed the arm strength, topping out at 91 mph with his fastball.

The international Baseball Academy High School boasts one of the best athletes in the high school class in Perfect Game All American Classic alum, Mario Zabala (2020, San Juan, P.R.). The explosive outfielder hit .444 on the weekend with an inside-the-park home run. He is tightly-wound, with well above-average bat speed, and looks like the bat is ready to heat up. The FIU commit has good range in center field and a big throwing arm. He projects to stay in center long term and could fit at the top or middle of the order based on development and what the team needs. He is a pleasure to watch play, as he plays so hard sometimes it is reckless. He will continue to be evaluated closely all spring, and if he gets hot, he could hear his name called early in June with the type of physical tools he possesses.

Steven Ondina (2020, Gurabo, P.R.) had a well-rounded weekend in Hoover. The rangy shortstop has a good first step and glides around the infield with fluidity and ease. He has a hand cannon across the diamond and showed this on multiple movement plays on the dirt. He has a top of the order profile, with good bat-to-ball skills and very good ability to create with his legs. He hit .300 on the weekend with a few stolen bases as he is always looking to take an extra base any chance he gets. The biggest revelation was two balls that he lifted deep to left field. He has clearly gotten stronger and the ability to get the barrel out with some drive to it only adds to his already high prospect status.

Another International Baseball Academy High School prospect that had a stellar weekend was Edward Gonzalez (2020, Yabucoa, P.R.). The lefthanded hitting infielder swung a hot bat for the majority of the weekend. He hit .400 with three doubles, all were driven hard past the opposing team’s outfielders. He was a big time run producer for IBAHS, hitting in the middle of the order. Normally manning third base exclusively, he moved over to shortstop one game and looked right at home. His swing works and will only play up as he develops physically. His defensive versatility, in particular his ability to play the middle of the diamond, could vault him up on draft boards come June.

The MVP pitcher in Hoover was Alejandro Carrasquillo (2020, Deltona, Fla.), who casually threw five no-hit innings in the championship game before surrendering a single. He is another polished arm for Victory Charter with a great 6-foot-4 frame to build on. He gets good extension and plane to his fastball that sits in the low-80s and topped at 85. He moves his fastball around well and pounds the zone with a three-pitch mix. But do not mistake it, it’s the fastball command that made for some very quick innings. In all, he threw nine innings in Alabama as he gave up only four hits and struck out six. He has projection left in his frame and will continue to add velocity as he fills out his long frame. This is a very good follow for colleges still looking for arms.

-Jered Goodwin

The PG HS Showdown Academies was another excellent event, with talent-laden teams taking the field during each time slot. The talent has been the best it has ever been with high level draft and Division I college talent all over the place.



Team Citius righthander and PG All-American Alex Santos (2020, Bronx, N.Y.) got the start in the opening matchup against Next Level Academy. The game itself was a very tight contest and it was the first start of the year for the New York native, who made the trip down to Hoover to impress a very crowded scouting contingent.

The Maryland signee is one of the top prep righthanders available for this spring’s draft and it immediately becomes evident why that is when you look at the totality of the profile along with the context of the situation. Santos has a great frame with a large lower half and tons of physical projection remaining in terms of the body.

The arm action is free and easy through the back with an unorthodox, but repeatable delivery through the back. The extension, release, and effort levels are all clean and the stuff was very good despite the fact that it looked like he was playing catch. Santos worked 91-93 mph for the first three innings, sinking the ball low to the zone and dotting the pitch up to the glove side with intent. The command of the fastball is more than good enough to start while he went to his curveball for out pitches. Santos got some ugly swings on the pitch that graded out mostly as solid average on the afternoon but we have seen plus in the past from the All-American. Santos turned over one changeup that was very good at 84 mph and got a swing over the top of it.

Santos has all the makings of a starting pitching prospect with good command, fastball quality, above average-to-plus breaking stuff, along with a present third pitch. This all combines to be a fairly impressive prospect and even more so when you tack on the context of this being his first start, he had to travel on a plane to get here, and that he was in front of around 50-60 scouts. Look for Santos to have some major heat in to see him during his coming starts and there’s a good chance that he could be a first-round pick come June.

Santos’ teammate and fellow New York native Tyler Roche (2020, Bronx, N.Y.) came on in relief for Team Citius. The long, projectable prospect fired three shutout, and hitless, innings and showed some very impressive raw stuff. The size and projection are both obvious pluses for Roche with a 6-foot-4, 173-pound frame and lots of room to fill out. The fastball sat in the 87-91 mph range on the afternoon with a clean release from a long, loose arm stroke and some late jump on the pitch as it entered the hitting zone. The curveball shows good shape and projection while sitting in the mid-70s and has the components of a solid pitch as he matures as three of his strikeouts came on the pitch. He’ll really come on with added strength as holding velocity out of the stretch was an issue during this look, dipping into the mid-80s at times when working with runners on. Regardless, Roche is a solid prospect coming out of the northeast with a velocity spike still to come.



After showing some loud and flashy tools at the PG World Showcase in January, Harold Coll (2020, Statesboro, Ga.) and the Georgia Premier Sox came down to Hoover to compete over the weekend. Coll has some very solid tools, highlighted by his cannon right arm that was recorded up to 97 mph across the diamond at the World Showcase, and Coll posits a very intriguing draft profile. The shortstop had a great weekend from an offensive perspective, with a .500 batting average across four games that included a double. The swing is clean and easy through the hitting zone with plus bat speed and remains compact through the finish. There’s natural loft to the stroke from the right side and he does a nice job at staying connected and through the ball through the finish. There’s twitch to his actions in the middle infield with good actions and stays low while working through the ball. The North Carolina signee’s arm is the carrying tool with an easy plus arm that allows him to make plays from anywhere on the diamond. He’ll be an interesting draft prospect as there’s clear upside early on with top five rounds potential in June.



Athletic righthander Marquis Grissom Jr. (2020, Atlanta, Ga.) toed the rubber during the quarterfinals round for the Citadels as Grissom had been making a bit of draft-related noise with a start about a week prior to the tournament. The Georgia Tech signee is a projectable righthander with a pretty good changeup, and showed a clear velocity jump from last summer when we saw him.

He stands at a very athletic 6-foot-2, 195 pounds and has already started to make some positive strength gains in terms of adding weight to the frame. You look at the broad-shouldered body and see clear physicality but he’s also young in the face and there’s still ceiling to be unlocked. Grissom touched 95 mph a handful of times in the first inning and sat 92-94 mph for the first two frames, flashing some very good arm side life on the fastball. The directly over-the-top arm slot adds for even more deception and he showed mostly fastballs during this look. Grissom has a longer delivery that is very timing-sensitive and that can lead to some inconsistencies both at the balance point and foot strike. He showed a handful of sliders at 81 mph that still need some development and the changeup is the superior pitch, with the best ones coming around 84 mph with late, tumbling life. Grissom is a notable draft prospect and this step forward is a good sign in terms of his overall draft stock.

Team Citius shortstop Tommy Tavarez (2020, Brooklyn, N.Y.) really checks a lot of boxes when looking at underclass shortstops as there are a lot of tools to like and the physicality to give him a leg up at present. The Pitt commit has an athletic, strong frame and has been known in the past for his standout defensive tools. The arm plays well form the left side of the infield and he gets the ball out of his hand nicely and the offensive tools posit intriguing upside. He employs a big leg kick to get his hips and lower half moving while staying connected well through the ball. There’s big time bat speed and raw juice to the stroke, he absolutely launched a foul ball during their quarterfinal game that still might not have landed yet. He collected a couple of hits on the weekend including a double and the overall tools show that Tavarez could be in store for a big summer.

Uncommitted lefthander Spencer Borgel (2020, Powder Springs, Ga.) was brilliant during East Cobb’s quarterfinal playoff victory over Team Citius as the southpaw struck out six hitters while allowing no hits during the outing. Borgel is a compactly-built, durable lefthander who used a strong two-pitch mix to keep hitters off balance. He worked up to 88 mph with the fastball showing lots of angle and would use a power curveball in the mid-70s to put hitters away. Borgel consistently worked ahead in the count and use that advantage to get chases on breaking balls. He hides the ball nicely which allows his stuff to play up with a clean and efficient arm stroke through the back.



East Cobb shortstop Rob Gordon (2021, Smyrna, Ga.) had a very impressive weekend as it looks like his hot streak from 2019 is carrying over to the 2020 season. The Vanderbilt commit hit .600 for the weekend and showed some nice adjustments from an offensive perspective that lead to believe Gordon’s rapid improvements offensively are for real and are only on the upswing. He’s got a solid frame with a listed height and weight of 6-foot-1, 174 pounds, and there’s substantial projection remaining on the frame. He’s a stout defender over at shortstop with good footwork and soft hands, the arm strength comes from a lower arm slot which can lead to some issues but Gordon had relatively few over the weekend. He looks stronger in the box and that allows his impact to improve as one of his hits on the weekend came on a scorcher that drilled the umpire between the pitcher and the infielders. The bat speed is impressive too and he drives his hips forward through the ball to really put a charge into it. He’s made good adjustments offensively including improved breaking ball recognition. One such example comes to mind when he was sitting dead red with the bases loaded, saw breaking ball, kept his back leg locked and his hands back before firing and being able to hook the ground ball down the third base line to clear the bases. The tools are impressive for Gordon who looks like he’s in store for a big summer.

Victory Charter shortstop Edrick Felix (2020, Orlando, Fla.) has a solid package of tools to work with and the offensive performance this weekend to be intrigued even further. He’s a very well-built prospect, with a listed height and weight of 6-foot and 185 pounds which includes lots of strength in his lower half. The swing is flatter through the zone but there’s good present bat speed and a ton of balance as he starts his base vey wide and keeps it very simple with regards to his shift and hand movements. This, coupled with the flick in his wrists, allows him to work on a line to all fields and makes him a dangerous spray hitter with some extra base pop. It was a strong look this weekend at the College of Central Florida signee who ended the tournament with a batting average of .385.

The Brunswick School made it all the way to the final four of the tournament and first baseman Jake Hyde (2020, Darien, Conn.) and shortstop Aidan Redahan (2021, Greenwich, Conn.) were two offensive standouts.

Hyde, a Georgetown signee, is a long and lean prospect with a 6-foot-4, 195-pound frame and some raw juice from the left side. The swing gets a bit tied up and inside but shows some good barrel whip when he can turn on the ball and drive it down the pull side. He had a huge hit in the tie against Georgia Premier when he ripped a triple down the first base line and when he allows himself to get the front foot down and allow his hands to do the work he can drive it to the pull side with intent.

Redahan, a Central Connecticut State commit, is a lefthanded hitting shortstop with good hands in the dirt and some juice that he showed off in the quarterfinals. He’s a prototypical leadoff type but that doesn’t diminish the raw power he possesses when he wants to let the swing rip in plus offensive counts. The home run he hit was long and majestic to the pull side as he jumped all over a fastball mistake and punished it. The hands are solid in the infield with smoothness to his transfers and relative surehandedness, even on tough hops off the turf.

Bessemer Academy had a great story heading into the championship round and one of their big contributors was physical three-hole Garrett Mangione (2020, McCalla, Ala.). At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, the Shelton State CC commit is a physical beast with excellent size and strength with clear impact when he gets his hands out in front. The swing path is longer but there’s some lift and leverage when he turns on the ball. He’s surprisingly hitterish for a prospect you would assume to be power-first, as he can work the ball to both sides, sometimes not even particularly well-struck, when the count is in the pitcher’s favor. He looks the part of a solid corner outfielder with some arm strength and power and the hittability came on for him in a big way this weekend.

-Vinnie Cervino

Camron Hill (2021, Fayetteville, Ga.) is a lefthanded pitcher with limitless projection remaining. His arm can already produce fastballs in the mid-80s and up to 87 mph from a tough angle and for a lot of strikes. Hill stands at a listed 6-foot-5, 205 pounds with more room to fill out. His delivery has good tempo, projectable arm speed and a slightly closed landing that he works over repeatedly well. In just his second outing this spring, Hill impressed multiple scouts in attendance with the way he varies his speeds and feel for the strike zone. His three-pitch mix projects for much more in due time with his lively fastball, deceptive changeup and big breaking ball. The Georgia Tech commit has an immense ceiling and such a confident demeanor on the mound.

Antonio Gleaton (2020, Atlanta, Ga.) is a plus runner and could grade out as an 80 runner on an MLB grading scale. Gleaton had a loud day Friday with his feet on a pair of bunts as well as a double to the opposite field. The switch hitter did his damage on the right side of the plate with a jail break bunt for a 3.83 second run time to first base and later topped that by beating out a second infield bunt single with a home to first time of 3.76 seconds. His swing is short and simple with plenty of twitch to it. Gleaton is certainly a name to follow this spring for Georgia scouts given his very loud run tool. The leadoff bat for the Citadels is committed to the Citadel.

Nick Cosentino (2020, Pittsburgh, Pa.) battled it out with Santos in a game that featured dozens of scouts in attendance. Cosentino, a native of Pennsylvania, plays his spring ball with Next Level Academy. The Penn State commit is a strongly-built 6-foot-2, 210 pounds with a physical lower half and low-90s fastball. The fastball found some bats in this look against a talented Citius Prep team, but the look at Cosentino is still certainly one of note. Pitching on a downhill plane from an extended arm action through the back, Cosentino is able to combine his fastball and changeup well with a developing curveball as his third pitch. The fastball works on a downhill plane to the plate and showed the most effectiveness when landed at the bottom of the strike zone. His changeup has sinking and fading action while he does a nice job of maintaining his arm speed with it. Cosentino throws lots of strikes and is certainly a name for scouts to continue to follow this spring.

Breon Horne (2020, College Park, Ga.) is an extremely quick outfielder with a physically-gifted frame. He showed out in a game between a pair of elite level arms as Horne turned around a 92-mph fastball batting from the left side for a loud double into right-center gap. Horne runs a 6.56 second 60-yard dash and has a short swing looking to make contact and impact the game with his speed. Horne stays inside the baseball while also having strength to his wrists to hit for potential power at times. Horne is also uncommitted at the moment with plenty of tools to play at the next level.

-Greg Gerard
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