Crack of the Bat
by Blaine Clemmens
WWBA 17U – One scout’s perspective
As was stated in the previous article, I was the cross-checker for three fields during the WWBA 17U National Championship, won by All-American Prospects out of Florida. Except for the Sunday, the final day of the tournament, I was overseeing three fields in north Cobb County… Kennesaw Mountain HS, North Cobb HS, and Dominion Christian HS. Fortunately, I got a look at the eventual champions on Saturday (July 8), which was the first day of the playoffs seeding. In all I had six days of coverage at those three fields.
Many of you reading this may have read my series of articles last December and January regarding my coverage of the WWBA Championships in Jupiter, Florida. I do not plan to write 10-12 articles like I did back then, so don’t worry. As per my style, I have a plan going in to these articles, but I am certain that I will deviate from that plan. The plan is to simply ID some of the top ’07 and ’08 grads I saw at my fields… not all will be covered in this one article…
By far the most exciting, electric player (’08 grad) I saw at my fields was LHP Robbie Ross (Lexington Christian HS, Nicholasville, KY) of the Kentucky Baseball Club Legends. If you are a college coach reading this or a scout that has Kentucky in your territory; put his name down as one of the very best LHPs in the ’08 class.
Ross was on the roster listed as OF P and he pitched on the third day of the tournament, which I found astounding… to consider that his team had two arms ahead of him was pretty hard to imagine. I asked a coach who the two pitchers were that went ahead of Ross and he told me two other ’08 grads did… RHP Sean Bouthilette (Elizabethtown HS, Elizabethtown, KY) and LHP Nick Maronde (Lexington Catholic HS, Lexington, KY). I did not see those two, though the reports I got from our other scouts were very favorable.
In any case, Ross (6’0” 170) was electric. Loose, quick, easy, long… all words to describe his arm. Great mound presence and moxie, quick worker, no messing around, just right after hitters. Fastball in the 88-90 range (saw a jugs with a 92), a put-away 77-80 mph slider and a good change-up. His stuff was filthy and his arm action was nearly as good as can be.
Other players that impressed me on the Kentucky Legends were ’07 OF Ben Revere (Lexington Catholic HS, Richmond, KY) and ’07 INF/P Jayson Langfels (Lafayette HS, Lexington, KY). Revere has big time bat speed and though not big, he is a pretty impressive LH bat. Langfels is a quality two way player that can swing the bat and is a playmaker at SS. They did not make the playoffs at WWBA 17U, and for the life of me I have no idea how they didn’t.
Again, there is no rhyme or reason as to which players or teams I am going to mention and I will not touch on every single team I saw play. For the most part I want to identify the ’07 players that in my estimation are national caliber players (and for the most part, players that were not at our National Showcase) and the ’08 players that look to be national caliber players.
The 5-Tool Nationals Red was another team that has some players that stood out to me, including a standout ’09 grad. This team ended up going very deep in the tourney and looking back at my notes, it is clear why… they were very talented. Their most well known player (at least to me) was ’07 Demetrius Washington (Silver Bluff HS, New Ellenton, SC). Washington can run, has a strong arm, hits the ball hard and has a quick bat. No doubt he is a top D1 caliber player and likely at least a mid-round draft pick next June.
’09 3B Jack Posey really caught my eye, even before he went deep over the centerfield wall at North Cobb HS. Oh, and the pitcher he went deep off of was another standout ’09 player, RHP Carr Churchill of the East Cobb Titans. I will get to Churchill later. Posey is a physical young player, with the bat and the arm. He was listed at SS/P but he is a corner player. He has a plus arm and showed power that looks like it will develop into at least well above average power at a position that calls for it.
As for ’09 RHP Carr Churchill (Lovett HS, Atlanta, GA) of the East Cobb Titans, he too is a very good looking young prospect. He was listed at 6’3” 190 and looks to be a power pitcher in the making. I saw him up to 87 mph with good tilt in the zone and an arm stroke with leverage, suggesting plenty more velocity in the coming years. He also showed both a curveball and slider, both have the makings of plus pitches.
Churchill was not the only young player I liked on that Titans team. They had some ’08 players that look to be quality prospects. One of them reminded me of a certain East Cobb baseball legend… see if you can guess who I am referring to when I tell you about catcher Brad Moss (North Cobb HS, Acworth, GA).
Moss (listed at 5’7” 145) is an accurate thrower, has a quick arm, is very good at the backpack, is a near average thrower right now, has a quick arm, a quick bat with a little pop… remind you of anyone from the East Cobb program? For me, the answer is yes, however, I am well aware that the player I am referring to was a 3rd round pick and an Aflac All-American. Moss simply reminded me of that player because of his stature and the nature of his game. If you do not know who I am referring to, sorry, but you should.
The other ’08 grad from the East Cobb Titans that jumped out at me was RHP Elliott Byers (6’3” 210, Scranton Prep, Moscow, PA). I only saw Byers for a couple of pitches but saw a 85-86 FB and in his warm-up pitches I saw a tight 12/6 type yakker CB. Good build on Byers. I should also note that I also really liked ’08 OF/2B Evan Martin (Sequoyah HS, Woodstock, GA)… he swung the bat very well.
The Midland Braves had some good young players too. Peter Verdin (’08, 6’1” 185, Paul IV HS, Alexandria, VA) caught my eye in one game. He is a very athletic OF that can run and the ball really jumped off his bat. MIF Alfred Rodriguez (6’0” 150, Oakton HS, Oak Hill, VA) showed smooth actions, a good arm, and feel for the defensive half of the game. For me, LHP John Lamb (6’3” 175, Laguna Hills HS, Laguna Hills, CA) was one of the more projectable ’08 pitchers. Easy and loose arm, lanky body, fastball up to 85, big CB, showed change-up… pretty good follow ’08 prospect.
Of course I have to mention the top ‘08s I saw from the NorCal Blast… as they are from Northern California. These players were not strangers to me as I have had a chance to see them on a number of occasions. More than one of them will be in the ’08 National Showcase, coming up August 1-3 in Irvine, CA.
In particular, the players that continue to stand out to me from that team are RHP/SS Kevin Eichhorn (6’0” 175, Aptos HS, Aptos, CA – son of former MLB pitcher Mark Eichhorn), 3B/1B Abe Ruiz (L/R, 6’3” 205, Pacific Grove HS, Pacific Grove, CA), INF Andrew Biancardi (6’0” 175, Aptos HS).
Eichhorn is one of the top two way players in the ’08 class, showing plus feel for pitching and a repertoire that includes a fastball up to 90, an outstanding curveball, and a change-up that he keeps down in the zone. He is a slashing line-drive hitter with power to the pull side. I have told some that to me he is a version of Kyle Drabek, complete with the Big League pedigree, but not yet that explosive raw ability… but remember, he is only an ’08 grad.
Ruiz is a physical corner player with as much raw power as any ’08 player I have seen. He drives the ball to all parts of the park and in addition to his ability with the bat, is a pretty solid 3rd baseman with more athleticism than you might think for a big, strong young player. As for Biancardi, he continues to impress me with his ability to make consistently hard barrel contact. He will move to 3B, probably sooner rather than later and his bat will play there.
There are other ‘08s from that team to be aware of… namely OF/1B Nico Vargas (L/L, 6’3” 175, Watsonville HS, Watsonville, CA), hard-hitting catcher Beau Fraser (6’1” 200, Aptos HS), and two-way talent LHP/OF Lucas Herbst (5’10” 165, Monterey HS, Monterey, CA). I believe all the mentioned Blast players except for Eichhorn will be at the ’08 National Showcase.
Ok, this article has gotten to be nearly three Word pages long… need to wrap it up. There were other very talented ’08s at the 17U WWBA National Championship, but those mentioned stood out the most to me… of the players I got to see. I have notes on others that were given to me by the field scouts and our other cross-checkers. What a good event for college coaches to scout… there are dozens and dozens of top end rising seniors but also a plethora of elite rising juniors… a veritable one-stop shop for D-I coaches.
If any college coaches want to pick my brain about any other players I or our staff saw at the 17U WWBA National Championship, feel free to email me at bclemmens@perfectgame.org...
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.