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Here Comes the Preseason All-States
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A look back at the final two Preseason IDs plus a look ahead at the first two Preseason All-State events and the Super60. Packed out rosters with talent galore.
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Transcript
Introduction & Scouting Week in NC
00:00:11
Speaker
Hey there, baseball fans. Welcome back to another edition of the Prep Baseball of North Carolina podcast. I'm Brandon Hall, the Minute Lane Director of Scouting overseeing North Carolina with me. I got Patrick Johnson, Zach Barosky, gentleman, another big week of seeing athletes across the state, two great events, one in the triangle, one in the mountains. How are you guys doing today?
Triangle Area Event Highlights
00:00:31
Speaker
Doing good, you know, good. You got a, you know, good group of guys. It was fun to see. It was, you know, good to be in the triangle because that's home to me. So it was nice to be able to stay home for once in one of our events. Patrick, we have laid back Zach today. Yeah, we do. It's it's different. I like it. I like it. Tired from South Carolina's day still. I'm still tired from the, ah that working in South Carolina got me.
Carolina Scouting Collaboration
00:00:53
Speaker
Yeah, so there is some crossover. And one of the things I think people don't always realize is how interconnected we are with other regions. And so Sammy Esposito is our director in South Carolina and does a great job. And um he does such a good job. I've been able to be somewhat hands off down there in terms of, you know, oversight and being right there with every event they run. But you really look down there and see some talent there. And I know we had some South Carolina guys up at some of our North Carolina events. So, you know, that crossover is always good. It's always good to kind of cross check one another.
00:01:23
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's fun. I mean, it's a different, you know, same company, but different ways. And it's always like fun to see different names. Like for me, like, you know, I always try and trade a hat for the coolest hat that somebody has, you know, South Carolina style. um You know, it's just fun, um you know, getting to see different players. So you're putting your eyes on somebody somebody might've seen 10 times, and I've only seen you for 30 seconds. And so it kind of gives you a perspective of, you know, for your own guys, just kind of where everybody else is around the area. And then,
00:01:50
Speaker
you know for them it gives your chance to give Sammy a good chance to see ah ah a better view from a different perspective.
Triangle Preseason ID Event Recap
00:01:58
Speaker
Well let's head back to to what we were taking care of this week and we had two great events. One venue we've been in a lot and and yeah I think it's our third or fourth or fifth year in a row we've been there. One venue that's brand new just opened first time in it and you know I think people are still kind of getting to learn about the venue So we'll start with the triangle. We'll start with Zach. You were there. The triangle preseason ID hosted the USA baseball's national training ah national team indoor training complex. um The word indoor is in their name, so we use that, ah but it's it was cold.
00:02:33
Speaker
I think we showed up and it was 23 degrees as we were unloading. And then when you walk in the facility, there's walls around it, but the second and third levels of what would be a three-story type building are open air. So initial impressions walking, was that your first time seeing it, Zach? Yeah, you know, I saw it get built because I was doing PBR tournaments as it was finishing up being built. And then, you know, it's a phenomenal place. Like, you can't, like, beat the surface and how it can be set up and how the cages can move.
00:03:02
Speaker
It's just chilly. I think you know when we got there, it was like 36, 37. It got up to ah about 47 or 48 when we got done. um So like by the end of the day, it had warmed up pretty nicely. um But like overall, like I thought it was a great place. um And you can do a lot in there. like They had a full infield. You were able to do all your throwdowns the second fully. It was just a pretty good place overall.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, the the it did warm up as we went and you know I was excited about the talent level. You know a lot of younger players. We had some players traveling from some different areas in the state, but let's start going through. It's still early. We're still just now getting all the stats up starting to break down some of the video. You know, initial impressions. Give me a name that kind of clicked during the event for use at.
Player Spotlight: Tate Nelson
00:03:49
Speaker
I'll go first, ah Tate Nelson, right-handed pitcher from New Hanover. Lanky, projectable arm, you know, was in the the low to mid-80s. You know, ah it was in the... um So overall, I thought, you know, his stuff is good. We saw him last year, and he's kind of taking a jump up. um Frame's getting better, and he's got a chance to really pitch and really, you know, really get a lot of guys out in the high school season.
00:04:20
Speaker
It's a name that that we've been following. He was a guy that was kind of on our follow list for the future games. I liked him after the preseason State East last year, you know, in that role as a shortstop, just watching him move around and trying to evaluate and you know, ended up.
00:04:34
Speaker
taking a couple other guys, but the athleticism was what always impressed me and you watching him as he moves here, it's a pretty seamless mover. The hips have looseness, the arm has looseness, and the body's the body's thin. There is some strength there, but he has not even begun to put on what we call man strength and man weight. So you know, you start projecting out where's that body going to be three years, four years, five years down the road. We have a chance to see a guy that's going to be, he's very easily 84 in the preseason. That velocity is not peaked in terms of where he's going to be for the high school season yet, but the arm works so cleanly. it's He's going to be a fun follow. New Hanover has a history of developing guys. You know, that area, there's good enough talent. He's going to be pressed. He's going to have to make pitches. He's going to have to get better. And those guys have done a good job with talents like that. And then as he gets stronger, we could see a jump coming.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's, you know, he's the guy you're going to dream about for the next two years, wondering if it's going to be 86 to 90 or 90 to 94. Right. What about from a two-way talent standpoint, hads several players there that did some things in terms of
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to go.
Player Spotlight: Hayden Green
00:05:43
Speaker
We'll go hit her first. Since we got to pull it up a Hayden green, you know, as we're talking, uh, this is a physical kid had the highest exit bill of the event. Um, up to like 95 bad speed was in the, you know, low seventies. Um, he's got some Twitch, got some strength to him. Um, you know, I think as he gets his angles a little bit better, um, continues to work on, uh, you know, staying behind the ball. I think the power is really going to jump.
00:06:07
Speaker
You know, the ball, like he swings and it kind of is loose and effortless. we For him, as long as his angles improve and he can kind of stay behind the ball, I think the power potential is is real for him.
00:06:21
Speaker
It's a bigger body, you know, and and trying to figure out where that body is going to be. But he he has some nimbleness in the body. You watch it swing. You watch some of the quickness he had in there. And that tends to translate those, you know, body types coming all sizes of this age and trying to figure out how they're going to develop. It's always ah kind of an interesting point in the, in the scouting, the evolution of what we're trying to do. and terms of player development for those guys as well. So you know it's two new unique body types we're talking about right out of the chute, but both guys you could see you know using their athleticism within what they do to create, you know for for him right there, for Hayden, the the bat path is flat, gets through the ball, there's there's some juice off the bat. so
00:06:59
Speaker
It's a short look for us, but it was an intriguing look. It's a guy we're kind of excited to get back to and see this spring. So if you've got one more for us. Yeah, we'll do the two-way guy. I got a young guy, a 2028 Tyler Sharp. um Yeah. You know, was, you know, upper 70s might have bumped close to 80 on the mound. ah Hitting was in the low 90s.
00:07:17
Speaker
you know he was kind of the body type that's in the middle like he's already kind of physical um you know he hit the ball really well bat speed's already there um hand speed's pretty good you know x wheel and low and he's a he's a 28 you know so he's a physical 28 and you're kind of excited about him um because you know like he's already got a frame that's going to work and now you're just kind of excited to see where the framing tools go Yeah, of the 28th and we had some 29s and 30s there with the rising stars. Very impressed with the group that was there and how they handled themselves, because the environment is a little different. I mean, it was cold when we walked in. It warmed up throughout the day. Thought the day ended up being actually pretty pleasant as we're going through it, but we're trying to press through it because with USA Baseball they have some time constraints in that building. We had somebody in right behind us. We had to be on time. We had to move.
00:08:00
Speaker
And so between me and you, we're pressing the gas a little bit trying to get these guys to move. And I thought the younger players, the event especially handled that very well. A lot of them first time at the event, you know a lot of stuff being thrown at them, a lot of things they're being asked to do. And you they just got into the positions and performed. Tyler was one of those guys that was when was his turn to go.
00:08:20
Speaker
you know, he there was relaxation and there was ah an execution to his game. That was good to see.
Triangle ID Event Wrap-up & Social Media
00:08:26
Speaker
and You know, ideally that translates into what he's doing at the high school level. So all that information on the triangle ID will continue to pump out over the next two to three weeks. We're going to have a bunch of social media stuff coming out. A lot of information. Their videos will post here in the next, you know, seven to 10 days.
00:08:42
Speaker
Our video guys are doing a great job turning around the ri the Charlotte ID, the Wilmington ID. Those videos are already up, starting to get a ton of hits on those. So, oh you know, we're rocking and rolling already into the preseason, haven't even gotten to our pre-seasonal states yet. But as we turn from Saturday to Sunday, I'm on the road. I get out of the triangle, get back to Charlotte, get a night's sleep. And then we head up to Mayden, North Carolina, a home of Patrick Johnson, right down the road.
00:09:07
Speaker
Home game, Patrick, how was it? It was nice. It was nice. Yeah. Uh, athletes lab and they got a great facility. Uh, everything around there is great. Fun, fun fact. They're putting into golf simulators. Um, try those out maybe next year when we go by. Um, but no, great place. The event went well. A lot of talent there. Um, it was, it was a good event. Ran well. Yeah. So the guys at athletes lab, you know,
00:09:30
Speaker
Former college coaches, you know, known them forever being on the road and and trying to track players and actually recruit against one another. And, you know, trying to figure out if they were good guys or bad guys, and because we're all always seemed going after the same player. When they opened that facility, and I want to say they're from May, and if I'm wrong, correct me, but they kind
Athletes Lab Facility Overview
00:09:48
Speaker
of went back home, and they opened a facility. And the idea behind the facility was, we're going to put something here that's going to allow baseball players to develop.
00:09:56
Speaker
And systematically, over the last three, four, five years, you're seeing that group, the athletes lab, A-Lab, those teams have gotten better and better and better. Their athletes have gotten better and better and better. One of the guys that we tracked last year, Patrick saw him in the high school season. He was at our pro case, and he's now foregone his senior year. He's at Ford. He's now going to possibly be the Friday Night Guide, East Carolina. We'll see.
00:10:22
Speaker
um The name, it's been a long week. The name's- Sean Jenkins. So Sean was really good at our pro case. I mean, really good. And so he was a guy we're going to go back in and track, but we have a whole other year. We had the big summer coming up and kind of tracking through that. Patrick pops in on him. I remember getting the text. He's throwing he's throwing it. I can't say what you said. He's throwing it hard.
00:10:48
Speaker
I'm checking my gun and so I'm like I don't know what that means. Also, I think I called you. I was like, what do you mean you're checking your gun and go well, I'm getting fours and fives and like that's it was OK. It was first first game of the year. It was freezing like 35. It was freezing and he didn't have 194 the first 10 pitches. Yeah, it was.
00:11:09
Speaker
It was impressive. That's why it falls away. Is this where this is supposed to be at? I mean, this this early year, this cold, he hasn't went under 94, his first 10 pitches. It was good. Well, he's one of those guys, too, that the the plan they had at A-Lab. And and ah there are a lot of the organizations we work with, a lot of the organizations we you know have really good relationship with are the similar way, where they're not going to be out front saying, look what we did. Look how good we are. Look at all these things that we've done.
00:11:38
Speaker
You know, but Sean took the fall off the prior prior year and he put on a bunch of seem here is a lot more physical.
Success Stories: Sean Jenkins
00:11:45
Speaker
He was that previous summer. You know, now all of a sudden he's moving down the mound more efficiently. The arms on time. The directions good. There was always talent. He wasn't he wasn't a hideout guy, but he went from fringy prospect to elite level talent and he's Carolina basically stepped into where they're going to get him. Right now he's going to skip a senior year. We're probably not going to get him.
00:12:08
Speaker
And so now he shows up on campus and, you know, I haven't talked to Cliff and those guys, but I've heard rumblings that that he's in the mix and good for him. You know, really, really good program. Obviously, programs knocked on the door to, you know, knock down that door to get to Omaha. And, you know, you may have a guy like this be that leader and it's because of the work that they were put into the place like athletes lab. And so that's why we're fortunate we can get into facilities like this. oh You know, Patrick, you know, big open area.
00:12:37
Speaker
Beautiful area for our bullpens. Then we had a big open area. We could do everything indoors. We could see the ball fly off the bat. We could take ground balls, simulate a full full-length infield. We ran a 30 with plenty of room for those guys to kind of move around and they've opened up their weight room. So we were able to do a lot of our jumping and other testing in the weight room. Just an all around great day players that stood out. Anybody kind jump off the page at you? Yeah, so start with Cameron Keenan. Two way pitcher goes to North Buncombe High School. Big dude 65 200 pounds.
00:13:07
Speaker
um just power when you talk about him. He's a 2027 on the mound. He was up to 86, but he had three pitches, curve and change up. He commanded them all. That's what impressed me this early in the year. You know, he was able to stay in the zone with all three of them. um Just knew what he was doing. and And was really able to just showcase his talent this early in the year. And you know, not only just on the pitching side of it, but when it's hitting two, he had the top exit below of the event, I think it was up to upper nine, something like that, 98-1 maybe. And just so you could tell, every every swing, you know, at a lot of pop, a lot of power, the ball sounded different coming off his bat, you know, it was really impressive.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, he he was an interesting watch on the on the mound is my first look. I think you have a little bit of a history with him. um But on the mound for me, that's a big guy and and he's moving fairly efficiently. The arm works fairly well, but he throws a ton of strikes and it's it's a weird thing to say. We're watching a 15 pitch bullpen, but.
00:14:11
Speaker
when you watch these things over and over, you get a pretty good feel for when guys have good feel for what they're doing. Right. You know, he's just pumping, bang, bang. And then he rips a slider in his own. He throws his change up in his own. The other thing I loved was when we said, hey, you're going to throw your best three pitches, you're going to go three, three, and three. A second pitch was a change up.
00:14:28
Speaker
And I'm like, okay, you know, typically we guys want to rip that spin. He throws change up and Paul's got some life. It's got some dead action at the end and it's in the zone. I was like, whoo, pretty good. And you know, you start dreaming, you start seeing that body and he's a pretty good mover. And then, and I think he's still young, but I think his future's on the ball, but then he gets in the box and there's hand-eye coordination for a big guy with longer arms. It was barrel, barrel, barrel, barrel, barrel. You know, we'd like to see it quicker. Sure. We'd like to see a little bit better leverage. Sure.
00:14:58
Speaker
But there's barrels, and and I think you start translating that back to what he does with the strikes. And I think those two things go hand in hand. Guys that throw strikes, guys that can pitch, then develop velocity are dangerous, dangerous prospects. Correct, correct.
00:15:15
Speaker
Roll back through that roster. any Anybody else that kind of stood out? I know, again, where it's really early for us as we're diving into this stuff, but so who's losing that style? I got two more guys, but another pitcher Carter Bowman. He's actually from my area around here goes Alexander Central seeing him pitch a few times. I have seen his Vilo higher than what what it was at the event, which is normal games preseason.
00:15:39
Speaker
But, but the big thing from the event that I really liked, he, three pitches strikes with all three pitches and that's always been his thing. And, you know, his below is going to be there, but, ah you know, his his changeups a great pitch. He commanded the fastball. Well, breaking ball was there.
00:15:55
Speaker
And I think if he can keep carrying the the command through the season with his below jumps, he's gonna be able to do something this year. He's not a huge guy, but you know twitchy moves really well, fast twitch. I think he's gonna have a chance to do something this year in high school season.
00:16:13
Speaker
yeah Yeah, again, and it's it's one of those things and and from a national standpoint, we can talk about guys in this area of the country do this and this is how they develop. And guys in this area of the country do this and this is how they develop. So you think of kids in Texas and Florida and California maybe differently than you think of kids in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, just in their developmental tracks. I think our state has a little bit of that.
00:16:35
Speaker
you know, with guys on the coast, guys and in the Raleigh, Charlotte area versus guys out a little bit further out in the mountains. You know, it's not maybe maybe as drastic a swing, but there is a little bit of that. When you start seeing those athletic movers from the western part of the state, those guys tend to make big jumps at some point in that second or third year in high school. And so, again, for me, he got on the mound, and it was an efficient mover down the mound. There's there's looseness in the hips. There's some timing, the good timing in the what he's doing with his all arm.
00:17:04
Speaker
And so he's going to be an interesting follow just from that standpoint. Like you said, you know, guys, you know, occasionally we're going to see guys, we saw our work, you know, peeking out some velocity early, you know, guys are in different parts of the throwing program. So we do see some velocity fluctuations here. That's why we're, we're typically watching Patrick, you and I both, I don't think.
00:17:25
Speaker
<unk>re We're not really even watching velocity. We're gonna get those numbers later. We're watching, what does the arm path do?
Evaluating Pitchers & Hitters: Key Metrics
00:17:30
Speaker
What's the body do? What's the feel like? What's the arm speed look like? And right his arm speed was moving faster than velocity. So I expect to see the velocity tick up as he goes. Right, yeah. One other guy that really jumped out, two way freshman, Wilkes Central High School, um Taylor Bumgarner.
00:17:49
Speaker
The big body for a freshman, right? Just shy 62, 210 pounds on the mound. I think he was just shy 83. Commanded to change up well, but then I know we got the video and hitting up here. I mean, he hops in the box and you know his exit below average. I think was up in the 90s for a freshman. You know, barreling balls up, you know, hitting to all parts of the field in there um and then you know you you put it back over on the mound and.
00:18:17
Speaker
You know, he's already almost up to 83 throwing strikes. um Change up was commanded. He was a little stiff on the breaking ball, but, you know, he's got plenty of time to improve on that, you know, because he's he's got the size and the body's there. Yeah, it it was he was an interesting, interesting watch. We're seeing him on the mound here because he got on the bump and i'm I'm doing the evaluation. I'm sitting, I'm talking to him a little bit.
00:18:40
Speaker
And I think Michael, who was doing our camera work, kind of leaned over to me and goes, what did you have given to have that body as a freshman? I had a double take. I hadn't looked at it. I just assumed he was an upperclassman. I mean, that is a physical, physical young man. You can see the defined leg strength and kind of a tapered waist there. You know, there's, you know, strength in the calf all the way up into the back end. You know, learning to use it will come, you know, being a little bit more efficient with his usage and being a little bit quicker being a little bit more explosive will come but you can't that strength plays guys that are strong and it can move play and and he's He's a guy that showed that in this event, you know, you take notices because of some of the numbers you put up Pretty good right there. yeah No, it was impressive
00:19:34
Speaker
Well, coming up now, um one of the things that we've got to look forward to this week, it's a huge weekend. For us, we're in Greenville, North Carolina, sold out, already sold out, three season all state east, great facility, next level training center in Greenville, excited to be back there. Trent Britt um runs that facility, really does a great job taking care of the players in that area. and you know we you know, work our schedule around trying to get into that facility because we love being there. But also he's working his schedule around their members because he wants to make sure that the guys that they work with on a daily basis have a chance to get their work in. And we're appreciative of that. and So we love going in there. We'll be there Saturday.
00:20:14
Speaker
put together a great roster for that event, there will be a ton of eyes based on just the roster that we have. And then Sunday we turn around, we go to a new facility, Lake, Lake, I'm sorry, Arena Lake Norman, Arena ah rena Lake Norman, up in the Lake Norman, just north of Charlotte, beautiful facility. I think people are gonna be blown away when they see some of the sites that we're gonna have. and in that facility and some of the advantages the players are using that facility have. But on top of that, we have the Super 60. So let's start with the Super 60. Let's start with the national event, and then we can kind of dip into some of some of the rosters there. Zach, outside looking in, you you have not been to the Super 60, but it's but probably been an event as ah as a pro scout in trying to track and the flow of those pro prospects you've been following for for some time.
00:21:01
Speaker
you know, a little bit about, you know, what that super 60 can do for guys as they're getting ready for their high school season, you know, working out in front of cross checkers and area scouts from all over the country. And we've had some scouting directors in there. We've had some upper level decision makers in there, depending on on kind of who's there and what's going on each year.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, it's it's big. um You know, for these guys, it's a tremendous opportunity that gives you a chance to kind of really show out in an environment where you're probably going to put up good numbers because you're juiced out of your mind. Like you're going to have.
00:21:31
Speaker
a hundred, 120 people watching you for the first time, you know, I mean, you might get it when you go to Jupiter, but like, this is a different level. Um, it really helps for a lot of, you know, for checkers and guys like that, do we need to go see him? How many times do we need to go see him? How much resources do we need to put in? Um, you know, how much do we need to invest in the in-home like, and his personal life and making sure like he's a guy that, you know, can be a pro. Um,
00:21:57
Speaker
And so I think it's huge. um I think that you know I've had a guy, I had Jackson Humphries who absolutely blew up at the Super 60 a couple of years ago um yeah from Fuquay. And I mean, i'm like he was a pretty high prospect and he went from pretty high to like everybody in the country is coming to watch him throw. um So you know it's one of those things where it doesn't really hurt you.
00:22:20
Speaker
it just gives you a chance to either, you know, I look at it like a combine, like, you know, you go to the NBA combine, you kind of either get to look at what you need to improve on in order to go to where you want to go or, you know, you're you're in a spot where people are going to start making decisions on you and it's not going to be, you know. You know, kind of like where it's going to be kind of win and who's going to take you. Several players from North Carolina we talked about several last week with Rhett Johnson.
00:22:48
Speaker
um You know, we've talked about, um, Hammond, I think him and had to pull out. Um, but two guys we we haven't talked about, um, Roop and McKnight, you know, Roop is a player that's basically moved back into North Carolina, uh, right handed pitcher, big arm. Um, it's going to be, uh, Grace Christian Academy.
00:23:10
Speaker
in North Carolina has been there, but obviously he'll filter back into our rankings. And then Matt McKnight, a former future games player. Tar Hill. Yeah, Tar Hill.
Prospect Highlights: Matt McKnight & Roop
00:23:23
Speaker
And a player that's got a lot of projection left in. you know Talk a little bit about those two guys and and kind of what you're hoping to see from them as they start posting their numbers. I mean, like like we said, McKnight, you know, big body moves well.
00:23:39
Speaker
um got power potential, I think he's going to have a chance to go in and be an impact player for North Carolina as soon as he gets there, or the draft, whichever one he decides. I haven't seen him play a lot. I did get to see him in the pro case last year, and it was one of those guys that jumped out at you with everything you did. And then with Roop, am I saying that right, Roop? Yeah.
00:24:07
Speaker
I haven't I haven't seen him. I know he's been in South Carolina, but like you said, I mean 90s fastball. I looking at the video here, his arm looks clean. You know, it gets everything out front. This is a couple years ago. This is old. Yeah, it's cool. Your old stomping around that is been in that. It's pretty easy and a few times. Yeah, it is. That's what I say. Effortless, easy. You know, just every everything works well. You know, I'm excited to get to see him play this year and see you know where he's at.
00:24:37
Speaker
And you'll be able, everybody will be able to follow everything that's going super 60 shooter at shooter hunt at prep baseball. We're going to have a ton of information flowing through our national channels. And remember day of, day after, that's just the tip. I mean, there's going to be a two, three week, four week build out as we're revamping rankings a little bit, revamping draft boards to going through draft HQ. A lot of information can be on the website. So make sure you're following all those different channels so you can kind of continue to track those guys as they go through the national.
00:25:03
Speaker
Post Super 60, we're going to be working to try and get some of those guys onto some podcasts or some whatever to kind of talk about their experience, talk about their upcoming spring, and get to know those guys a little bit more. So we're excited about that as well. Let's fast forward now. We're going to lose Patrick here in just a minute, I think, because he's got ah a hard out with a with a previous engagement through his agent. um But we're we're gonna we're heading to Greenville. We're we're heading to Charlotte.
00:25:31
Speaker
Patrick, real quick, two names to drop on us. Who are you excited to see this weekend? All right, two guys from my side of the state. i want I'm excited to see Colt Briggs. Super sophomore games alone? Super sophomore games.
00:25:46
Speaker
you know I'm excited to see where he's grown to over this time period. I want to see where he's at, um how his velo looks, you know, command of his pitches, and just see what his body looks like, you know, with having that time off, see if he's grown. I know they have high expectations for him at St. Stephens this year in the high school season. So I'm excited to see where he's got to. And then second guy,
00:26:07
Speaker
Grayson Anderson, he was a de-commit from Campbell. um He is a senior this year, out there with something to prove, upper 80s, low 90s, right in the pitcher. A lot of movement on the ball and just excited to see what he's going to be able to do in front of all the highs at these events.
00:26:25
Speaker
unique opportunity for two different guys on the spectrum. One's getting ready to really jumpstart into his recruiting process. One's on the back of his recruiting process, dealing with some of the things that are happening nationally. So ah two good names. And again, the ro the roster for Charlotte, the Rob's, the West event is up. um Really, really loaded roster and excited about that venue.
00:26:44
Speaker
um Patrick, if you've got to jump off any point, just do so and we'll see you down the road. um Zach, let's talk a little bit about Greenville. As you're going through that roster, we've sold it out. um It's going to be you know an event that's got several future game alums, several super sophomore game alums, guys that have been invited to those events, you know some potential pro prospects down the line. you know Give me some names of some of the guys real quick that you're looking forward to seeing as we jump into that avenue.
00:27:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna go, I haven't seen this guy and I've heard about him. We used to play South Central, so I always kind of kept up with him. Brody Brandon, two-way guys, got some serious arm strength, serious twitch with the bat. He could be a 90-100 guy, which is, I mean, I deem them pretty rare. I think he's got a chance to be 90 on the bump and 100 with the barrel. So I'm really interested to see him.
00:27:36
Speaker
I'm gonna take another local kid too. I'm gonna take Tice Thompson. ah Last year he stood out and it was so impressive. And then I realized he was a freshman and I was like, oh my gosh. And so I really look forward to see the jump that he makes again from this year. And then the last guy, and it's because you got the best pork chop biscuits around Midway Tanner Williams. I'm super stoked to see you. And I promise I'll be there during the season. As long as you guys still sell pork chop biscuits, I will go to Midway every year.
Tracking Talent: Tanner Williams
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah, so I got a little history with Tanner. I played with his dad in college. Dad was greatest teammate of all time. Possibly he's you know he was one of those guys when you're your young freshman. He did. He took his role as an upperclassmen seriously in terms of trying to get you acclimated and affiliated to what was going on instead of trying to be the guy that was going to beat you down and show you the way through hard times and it translates and you know see you have fond memories and you get to bump into him again and we had Tanner with us at our.
00:28:36
Speaker
What was that? That was the junior future games. And now he's, you know, he was invited to the super software games. Very, very talented player. um He'll be in the mix. There's a follow for the future games roster and kind of see where he lands and how that prospect has continued to develop. So, you know, one of the things I do like about the both rosters is we're seeing some guys that we saw in the fall. We're seeing some guys we saw in the spring. And I think these events, not just from a numbers standpoint, but we get a chance to watch how they've developed, watch how their bodies have evolved. I don't know that ah everybody's going to peak numbers.
00:29:06
Speaker
You know, and and we so I saw Brandon at the SBA Coastal workout and it was it was a very impressive workout. They had a couple of two way guys there that are going to garner some attention. Tice Thompson was there as well. um But do they peak those numbers? Maybe, maybe not, but that's not the that's not the the end all be all to these types of evaluations, because we're really looking to see are they moving better? Are they stronger? Do they this body as the body started to change? How are they presenting themselves as people? You know they they've now been around this. A lot of guys have come to this event.
00:29:36
Speaker
because they've gotten an invite we've seen and they've been around us before. So now there's a little bit more of a comfort level when they walk in, you know, they know Zach, they know Patrick, they know me, they can shake our hands, they can say hi, you know, they may know my kids from previous events and how are your kids doing things like that. And so there's a little bit more of a comfort level in terms of allowing them to be a little bit more free as athletes and then perform. And The other part about being in Greenville is that facility allows for it. I mean, it's just a huge open space. We've got to be kind of dynamic with our time and moving guys around. And so we're we're seeing things, but we're not completely dialed into everything that's happening. We have to go back and watch a lot of video on on what's happening. But that area is a great space for the players to move around.
00:30:21
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, when you get there, you, you, you want the guy that makes you stop. Like we're running around. Chaotically you want that guy. to Oh, hold on. Let me go watch that fastball. Hold on. Let me go watch this guy. Take BP. He's like, you know, you know, I'll say like last year, Cudi was there and it just sounded like a gunshot was going off and you were like, okay. And then like John Nelson on the mound guys at Mount Olive now, like,
00:30:43
Speaker
He was thrown and you just stopped. You're like, wow. Okay. This is a dude that we need to watch. And so, you know, I agree. Like I hope a lot of guys aren't peaking on February 1st. When I see you, I hope you guys are trending upwards and it gives me an incentive to come see you. And then I can see the progress. And you know, when we come to high school games, it's like, Oh, okay. This is what this guy was.
00:31:02
Speaker
um You know, I, you know, when I come out in April and May and it's 75, like, yeah, like you might've been 85, 87 when I saw you then, and now you're 88 to 90. But this is the same guy. You're not overthrowing. You're showing three pitches. You're commanding the zone. You're competing. That's a lot of fun to watch. Like, you know, like we all love workout warriors and workout wonders. Those guys are cool.
00:31:23
Speaker
But like it's a lot of things we always talk about. You got to be able to produce. And workouts show you have ability. And then so when we come, you got to be able to produce. like You can't be the guy that's 87 to 90 on the mound. And in game, you're 82, 85. You can't be the guy that hits the ball 100, 105. And then your batting average is 105 to 10. And that's kind of that like next grab where we love to watch you work out. And then we love to follow you to see how the workouts translate. Let's let's take that same thought and and into the workouts.
00:31:52
Speaker
you know Evaluation wise, you know what shows up well, you know a lot of these guys are trying to figure out what do we want to see? What do we want to see when we're going through these types of evaluation? What do we want to see in BP? What do we want to see in ground balls? It's short shots. We're only getting a glimpse. There's there's very few evaluators in the world are going to show up, watch one BP session, go, here's his hitter great. This is who he is. so But we are looking for something. So let's start with BP. when When you're either throwing or feeding or evaluating off to the side, what is it that's kind of capturing your attention? What do you like to see hitters do? And then I can drop drop it behind it.
00:32:28
Speaker
Yeah. Like for me, it's low effort, you know, guys, like, I like guys that don't, you know, you're not jumping out of the box, you know, you're able to rotate your motions are fluid, you know, where you're, you're taking a swing that I know is going to work against 90 to 95 because at the end goal, that's where you want to play. And that's what they throw. You know, if you could have a repeatable swing, that's 90% of the battle, you know, you see all these guys that got all these waggles and their bats in 20 different positions.
00:32:54
Speaker
And you're like, this guy's not going to hit because he's never in the same position twice. So guys that understand their swing and understand their movement patterns are ahead of the game, regardless if you can hit it 100 or 90. If you can control your movement patterns, you're already ahead of the game.
00:33:08
Speaker
one of One of the things I've talked about here recently in trying to talk to the hitters and do that hitters intro is what is track man looking for? You know, we're posting these numbers, these numbers live in space. So you go to an event and you go home and go, man, I had a great, the greatest day ever. I hit six home runs in BP. My numbers are going to jump off the chart. Well, then you get home and you see my back's distance off the bat was two 80 because it's two 70 down the line. And you're, you're jerking balls down the line. You had a bunch of foul, but you did get those six out.
00:33:38
Speaker
And then your trackt your exit velocity is kind of eh. Track man and loves the ball in the middle of the field. There's a reason the field's deeper in center field. The ball tends to travel better in the middle. ball You know, backspin balls, gap to gap, at better exit velocity is better distance off the bat. So when we're trying to put up numbers, who cares if you hit it 280 feet and it went out, if you hit it 390 feet and it short hopped the wall. The 390 lives much better in space. you know And so working to stay in the middle of the field, because that's typically Typically, where hitters are stronger and seeing that ball jump and the exit velocity is tend to lend itself to that as well. So, you know, track man's looking for that. For me, I'm looking for barrels. You know, I want to find out who can get on the barrel and who can be on the barrel with quickness time and time and time and time again.
00:34:24
Speaker
You know, is there rhythm? is it You talked about ease of movement, you know, not jumping. You know, if that ease of movement's there and they're on the barrel and there's quickness, for me, that tends to play.
Hitters Evaluation Techniques
00:34:35
Speaker
The next step then is in-game. Do they under understand the strike zone? do they Are they able to pick up spin? If those things start checking boxes, now you start talking about guys that have a chance to hit. You know, the the other thing, the final thing I'm always looking for is hamstring. Guys that can manipulate the barrel, guys that can get the barrel where they want it to go.
00:34:52
Speaker
Um, it's hard enough hitting and trying to get that thing, you know, a rotational movement, hitting something that's coming at you on a line. You know, if you can manipulate the barrel, if you have hand strength and you can get the barrel and manipulate the barrel to where you want to go. And I know on Twitter, you know, we have all these different hitting philosophies. Good hitters figure out ways to get the barrel to it.
00:35:13
Speaker
You know, and there's a lot of ugly ways to do it. Pretty plays better. Pretty is going to be noticed sooner. But if you're getting the barrel to it, barrel after barrel, after barrel, after barrel in game and MVP, that stuff matters and it plays at a high level. So um from a pitching standpoint, real quick, Zach, is there, is there, I know velocity plays. I get it. And everyone wants to see velocity, but yeah um what what else do we want to see?
00:35:36
Speaker
Usable stuff like, and so I can always say Humphries cause like, you know, he's one of mine. Like we had a guy who had 3000 spin and it started as a ball and ended as a ball. So this is great curve ball, but it never was a strike. So for me is having usable stuff in the zone. You know, if, if you got to lose a little spin, if we got to be able you know to manipulate the shape of it a little bit, like the ability to be in the zone is the most important thing. Like.
00:36:00
Speaker
Once you're in the zone, hitters are going to get out. There's a reason that the average strike percentage is like 65 in the big leagues and the average hitter hits like 260. It's easier to throw strikes than hitters are going to get out. You've got to have something that makes you unique, whether it's your delivery, whether it's your frame, whether it's your release point, whether it's your spin rate. You've got to have something that makes you not a generic person. Hack attacks, all those hitting machines are generic.
00:36:27
Speaker
And so once you become not generic, you have a chance to get hitters out for a long time. And one of the things I saw that was unique, ah three, four, five years ago, when the Tampa Bay Rays were making a run in the playoffs, they showed, hey, here's the pitchers they've used in the playoffs. And they put them on a clock. And they had every arm slot marked throughout the entire clock. These are the guys they've thrown. And so every time they went to the bullpen, they brought out a different slot. Every time they went to the bullpen, they brought out different spin. Every time they went to the bullpen, they brought out a different type of fastball.
00:36:59
Speaker
And so when we're coaches and we're trying to develop a pitching staff, you know, right-handed 88-92 with a slider. Okay, but if you figure if they figured that out on Friday, and both of you you and I went to games last year where Friday, the the other posing team figured that out, and then on Saturday they saw right-hander 88-92, and then on Sunday they saw right-hander 88-92, and every bullpen guy was right-hander 88-92. And touchdowns are being scored every half inning. You know, can you change looks? And so, yes, we want that pure, unadulterated stuff. Yes, we want an out pitch.
00:37:32
Speaker
But how can you differentiate yourself? Are you a little guy? Can you make the ball rise? Are you a big guy? Can you create tilt? Are you in between? Or you have a little bit different arm slot? I'm not saying change who you are. It doesn't necessarily mean arm slots are different or or you know you're doing something different to manipulate the baseball. But if everybody else is a fastball slider,
00:37:54
Speaker
develop change up. If everybody else is throwing balls that sink, throwing ball that cuts, you know finding different ways to differentiate yourself so when you come into the game, if the the opposing ah offense is dialed in a little bit, you have a chance to get them off rhythm. If they're not dialed in, your stuff still plays and you can keep them off rhythm. And so that's that's kind of what we're looking for. That can that can get me excited about you know how guys can fit in. But again, just evaluating the bullpen, I'm looking for movement. um I wanna see, are the hips oily? Do they have some some looseness in them? um Are we working in,
00:38:30
Speaker
you know, lines that are efficient or are we all coiled up and uncoiling and that window of release points really thin in terms of being able to control the zone? Do we create action out front or is our body creating action on the baseball and then the arm action? Arm actions nowadays, and when I first started coaching, arm actions took two years to clean.
00:38:49
Speaker
You know, you go through all these different things you're trying to clean. on We can clean arm actions down about six months, but I'm still looking for guys with decent arm action because those guys are going to be closer to the finished product in terms of being able to dominate the strike zone because they've had more reps in that in that pattern.
Pitchers Evaluation Techniques
00:39:05
Speaker
you When I clean an arm action, now I've got to start from zero with that arm action. So I've got one that's clean now, but I'm throwing pitches zero, and then pitch one, and then pitch two, trying to get to 8,000 pitches over the course of time so I can really locate fastball, really locate slider off that same window as fastball. And you know that those are things that stand out. Doesn't mean we're not going to pay attention to other guys. Doesn't mean as a coaching staff, we're not going to take other guys. But those are guys that kind of jump off the page for me.
00:39:35
Speaker
Miss anything on that one, Zach? No, I mean, as I said, like, they're just pretty spot on. Like, as you as you get older, you know, your margin for error is going to decrease. And so, therefore, you have to have stuff in case your margin for error is small. And, you know, stuff can also be location. If you could throw it in a teacup, you know, hitter going to get out. Like, i I mean, I spent a whole career trying not to hit balls in a teacup. So, it's just the way that the game works now.
Conclusion & Teaser for Future Episodes
00:40:04
Speaker
Well, we had planned for the final, we were going to do a punishment wheel today. um And my plan was to kind of put something on the wheel and and no matter what happened, the the next podcast we would do, the whoever lost would have to come on and fulfill that punishment. um I'm guessing, do we I guess we still do it. We've got on clip, so. With Patrick, yeah, since he's not here. So, okay, we'll spin the wheel, see who loses.
00:40:36
Speaker
hi Oh, Patrick. gradually Patrick loss will come up with the punishment. Patrick will have to define that punishment for the next time that we're on the podcast for Zach Barosky. I'm Brandon Hall. This is the prep baseball in North Carolina podcast. We appreciate you being here and we'll see you next week.