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Preseason All-State West - Names you Need to Know
18 Plays1 month ago
Brandon and Patrick break down the PAS West. A roster that impressed will certainly yield follows for Team Carolina events. See who impressed inside.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:11
Speaker
Hey there, baseball fans. Another episode of Prep Baseball of North Carolina Podcast. I'm Brandon Hall, joined today with by Patrick Johnson. Patrick, heading up our Western
State West Event Experiences
00:00:20
Speaker
recruiting. and We just finished up our pre-seasonal State West on Sunday. Patrick, how are we doing, my man? Good, man. Good. Just you know rolling along. But yeah yeah like like you said, we we yeah had the West event on Sunday. It was a good event.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yeah, we're both were a little bit lacking sleep right now. Both of us had the John from Greenville back home. I rolled into the house about 1 30. I think you were a little bit behind me and then roll into Mooresville on Sunday. Great event. But after we see that type of town, I kind of want to get to work on it. I don't get to sleep that night. I think I passed out on Monday and yeah We're recording this on Tuesday because you know we're back at it trying to figure out how to how to see more players maybe even start our high school
Upcoming Season and Weather
00:00:58
Speaker
stuff. I know combine Eastern Carolina Academy are playing Wednesday. So yeah we may by the time this airs, we may have been at that game. um But said time of year, whether it's been good knock on wood, we're done with winter. I don't think we are because I just said that, but yeah, gorgeous this week. Someone took someone told me today that winter was coming back in like a week, so I hope they're wrong. um I'm ready for it to be over.
Arena Lake Norman Facility Overview
00:01:21
Speaker
We're going to dive into the preseason Allstate West hosted it a brand new facility, Arena Lake Norman, um arena Arena National Baseball, John Mangum. It was kind of our host there and and kind of oversees the facility and some of their team stuff and really just a great space. We we were able to do everything we want to do, full length pop times.
00:01:43
Speaker
And we'll have infielders stretch their arms out a little bit, outfielders making about a 200 foot throw, plenty of room as we opened up the cages and let balls fly and see the ball get off the bat and kind of see angle and trajectory and things like that. you know Your first time in that facility, were overall impressions? I mean, it was nice. Like you said, I mean, everything state of the art, clean, nice, new, plenty of room. you know just and That's how you want the facility to be anytime you do an event or anything like that, or just if you're going to be part of an organization, it was great. I mean, everything was super nice. I think I said that 10 times for the first 20 minutes I was in there. I mean, it's a it's a world-class place. They do a great job running it. And, you know, I look forward to doing events there in the future.
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah, and we we got a chance to see everything. I mean, there's
Technology in Player Development
00:02:28
Speaker
plenty of room in there. We could set up all of our stuff and really kind of dive into the players and the roster itself, um you know, close to I think we're close to 5055 players by the end of it. um I know the flu is running through.
00:02:40
Speaker
Most of the country at this point, we had some guys at the Super 60 that were banged up a little bit. We've had some guys in and out a little bit. But just the overall talent we saw, again, those two days close to 150 players from across the state and just amazed by the talent level. you know We saw guys are gonna be with us future games. We saw guys are gonna be with us.
00:03:02
Speaker
Super sophomore games. We saw some future pro case guys. it's It's amazing how much these kids adapt this now to the early starting season, their ability to ramp up, their ability to be good for events like this and their ability to sustain.
00:03:17
Speaker
you know kind of what's happening as they get ready for the spring. i Do you remember it being that way as you were going through? These kids do it completely different than I did. I mean, I know it's been quite a few years, but they they just do such a good job of their training routines, their regiments, timing things out for like, I can be ready for this event. And it's you know part of my ramp up to get ready for the season. they just They do a really good job. I mean, you know that's also the way the game's changed. and you know They have different programs out there, different trainers and and stuff like that. But these these kids are they're starting to figure it out. they They do a really good job of getting themselves ready. It's different than how I was. It was kind of just yeah play different sports, get ready to go hit in the backyard and you know hope you're ready. But they they they do a better job.
00:04:01
Speaker
One of the, one of the things that that happens, you know, with the evolution of this, I think the the guys are getting more feedback. They're getting a chance to understand where their numbers at and how their arms are.
00:04:12
Speaker
or reacting, how their run speed's reacting, how the ball's reacting off their bats. so They're able to kind of make quicker adjustments just because you know they're throwing a pitch and and they're getting instant feedback from some of the numbers. And we saw some guys during the event really taking advantage of, hey, how was that? How did that get out? How did that move? Whereas we used to just get guys snapping their head around looking for velocity, trying to see an LAD boy that had a velocity up. you i was I was impressed. We had several guys get on the bump. How did that move?
00:04:39
Speaker
you know, was that one in the zone and not just asking about velocity, but asking how did the pitch present itself? And that's that was new for us, even as we've been doing this for a couple of years. I don't know. I've had an event where we've had you know, upper level guys with a little bit of an understanding at least of what's going on with Trackman and the numbers and how they present and and how to make adjustments pitch to pitch to get what they want out of those numbers. Right. I think that it goes along with what you said. Times are changing. You know, they're all training with Trackmans. They're training with, you know, different different devices that are going to let them work on pitch design and and the numbers that they want to get the shape that they want and
00:05:12
Speaker
you know, they train with that all the time. So when they're up there, like you said, they're not just looking for a V low, they're looking for, you know, hey, how was my tilt on that? How was the, you know, the release, everything like that so that they can, they understand better what the pitch is going to do. And then, you know, it's just that things are changing. These kids are, they got everything at their hands and you know, we all do, and they're starting to take advantage of it.
Pitching Skills Analysis
00:05:34
Speaker
Let's dive into the roster. Let's dive into some of the things we saw. And we're going to start. And I'm going to try to kind of present some things as we're going through. We're going to start on the bump. And ah you know one of the guys that that really just you know above and beyond really showed up and showed out, um you know Beckett Howie. Let's see if I can pull the right one. That's not the right one. so There he goes. Here it comes. Here it comes. now Now we're cooking.
00:06:03
Speaker
um You know, he's the the move action, the looseness in the hips, the he's got a little quarter turn right. there There's a little close through balance. as what this what's What's happening that arms working and and two pitches we got here on video really kind of showed what we saw throughout the entire alley. back ti van five six it's It's an excellent arm speed, it's excellent direction, and then he's throwing, you know, right out of that same window, a slider that has, you know, I think it's got enough tilt, it's got enough movement, but it's going to be something that kind of continues to evolve. This was a wow move, you know, watching the arm speed, the direction of all get out is really impressive where Howie is at right now. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I know we're only showing things.
00:06:48
Speaker
He pitches in that video, but all of his pitches were like he the whole how I mean he was up there He was filling up his own, you know, if he did miss a little bit like he said That's me coming back in his own, you know We got to see him a couple of weeks ago and he made a he made a big jump with you know Velocity and he went up to almost three miles an hour from that event over a few weeks and I mean he was just he was impressive the whole time He was up there Yeah, what we we talk about guys getting used to we being around us. I thought you know his his level of relax relaxation, his ability just to kind of go through his routine, his understanding of kind of what people wanted to see was really impressive. I think he he was up to 92 something. The fastball had you know enough movement, the metrics on it played.
00:07:34
Speaker
I think he's still kind of figuring out exactly how to get the ball to do what he wants to. And then you know slider spin rate doesn't give you a whole lot of information. It's more about the the how it broke the turn is and the length of the turn. But just eyeballing that pitch, it's an out pitch at the high school level. It's a it's a weapon at the college level. you know You start getting a little bit deeper to pro ball. The fast ball should continue to grow. It should allow the slider to grow. We should see more length in it.
00:07:59
Speaker
But I think it's one of those things too, when you start talking about young pitchers and you were a guy that could really spin the ball, guys that develop breaking ball, I think it's one of those things where facing hitters, the numbers in track may give you some, give you some details, but facing hitters, can I manipulate it? Can I make it go longer? Can I make it more abrupt? Can I make it have more depth? Do I want length? Do I want tilt?
00:08:21
Speaker
Depends on what the hitters doing, you know, and then can I locate it? Well, I've seen guys that can really locate a slider to their arm slide and it's short, tight, late, and it's got kind of a deception to it. But when they go to their glove side, now it's not so much deception is can they run the but but that ball off the bat? And so you know that your development, your break of ball. Did you see that kind of through your evolution of high school and into college and in the Pro Bowl? Yeah, yeah, I mean you're getting into a whole different thing. I mean, that's going along with reading hitters and you know, seeing what they're doing and stuff like that. but I could tell sometimes what type of breaking ball I wanted to throw, depending on the hitter. Do I want the big loopy one? Do I want the harder one, shorter break? Is he sitting on it? And that, honestly, it took me a lot longer to learn how to read a hitter and to see what they're looking for and how they're reacting to certain pitches. I didn't figure that out until I was like 25, 26 years old in pro ball. Wish I'd have figured it out. I had to figure it out faster because I didn't have your stuff. Well, I had to figure that stuff out.
00:09:19
Speaker
I wish I would have figured it out faster. i you know I probably could have played for a lot longer if I would have you know figured it out when I was younger. but you know And I think these kids are starting to do that. They're starting to do that at a younger younger age, but they also have different equipment available for them. you know They can go back and watch video and learn on it. you know um He was jumping at this pitch, or this is how he reacted to that pitch. you know We didn't really have all that. I think I was still using a flip phone back in high school when I was ah coming through, so I couldn't really get a ton of video.
00:09:47
Speaker
I heard a, I heard a podcast today with, uh, Andrew Luck on it. He was using it up until just a couple of years ago. so he go a flip phone yeah That makes sense with him. Makes sense. well Let's move on to another right hander. We saw, um, somebody that really kind of impressed. Uh, and we, I think we had heard this one was going to come. Um, you know, it's a picture that we've we've heard had making the jump. we've We've seen the body. We know the arm action's fairly clean. Uh, Trevor Yancy.
00:10:14
Speaker
Uh, Trevor's a six foot 185 pound right hander, 20, 27 Providence day school, wow factor national. Um, you know, and it's, it's.
00:10:25
Speaker
It's kind of a ah ah bullish um strength over arm speed, but really good direction. You know, again, great leverage through the leverage through the baseball and you know the stuff played up, played out, you know, ah bump 90.2 sat 8889. You know, it's a little bit lower, lower spin rate fastball. It's got some arm side action to it and he showed the ability to spin a break of up to 2205 and again the slider. Yeah, the actually through slider at this event. twenty two thirty nine again The slider action had late till your thoughts kind of quickly on Trevor. No, just I think the biggest thing that you said, the physical body strong, ah you know, and.
00:11:06
Speaker
coming out bumping 90 early in the year, being able to show the other pitches, being able to show that he can spin it, control the change up. you know he just he He did well with that. But the biggest thing I think you said, strong guy, strong body. I think there's there's room for him to grow, keep keep progressing up. And you know I want to see him later on in the high school season when we get to go out and watch him.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, the home game for me, you know, so he's right down the road. And, you know, I think he's one of those guys too. We may have seen a glimpse of kind of what the floor has a chance to be. I think, I think he has a chance to grow as he continues to go. And, um you know, intrigued as we, as we kind of look back through some of the older videos we have from the summer, um you know, and even back into when he was really young.
00:11:48
Speaker
Um, but the ball, the ball's firm out of the hand and it plays, it plays up in the zone a little bit. So, you know, I'm, I'm interested to see how that continues to progress. And he's going to be playing a good league. They're going to see good arms. Um, and so we'll get a chance go to get a further evaluation on that, you know, another arm. And i got again, we're talking about 27, 27, another 22 off all four of these guys, we're going to talk ah about how the shooter 20, 27.
00:12:14
Speaker
and And it kind of gets to us starting to dream about what our our future games team has a chance to be. We're still only two big time events, you know now six events into the year in terms of evaluating guys that have a chance to be future games guys, super software games guys, top prospect games, border battle. um But the next one is Colt Bricks. Colt was with us for our super sophomore games. Was a guy that took a jump late. Somebody's in your backyard and you're very familiar with.
00:12:42
Speaker
um you know overall reaction of Colts day and how he how he performed? I threw well, you know, Saint Stevens, my alma mater, you know, so I've been following him. You know, we saw him last year. I was impressed with him there um and he's he's growing over that time from Super sophomores to now. um Really improved on the breaking ball. um he He's gotten better feel for it, but fastball keeps growing. ah You know he's he's got that.
00:13:10
Speaker
ah Shorter arm action gets out quick and it it it causes a problem for hitters when he when he's in there You know you can tell they're a little uncomfortable with the way throws And he just he keeps them off balance But uh, you know, hes he's another guy high ceiling got a chance to fill out and over the next year or so to really see where he can get to um You know ah when he keeps progressing over that time He's he's an interesting follow because we saw him a year ago Yeah, and and the body the got body you just jumped at you go. Yeah, I mean I'm in. I haven't seen throw pitch yet. I'm in and then his arm action last early last year. Was choppy, which when is your as long as he is that that's hard for a younger guy to kind of time up and figure out.
00:13:54
Speaker
Right. And then as we saw him in the summer, he had made an adjustment with his arm action. The guy that he works with and the work that he put in was fantastic. His direction now has gotten better. You know, we saw him at super sophomore games. He was a little bit rotational. He's a little bit across his body at times, you know, try and again, continue to get synced up. He's added strength. He's added muscle mass. And in doing so, he's cleaned up some of the effort that he's had to provide.
00:14:20
Speaker
to be a guy that's going to be 889. I think that's where he topped that out, but it's easy to see. It's going to get better. The breaking ball he flashed. It wasn't quite as consistent as it will be in a month, but the breaking ball he flashed during this event was pretty freaking good. And so now we start going, okay, here's where he was. Here's where he he
Player Growth and Coaching Impact
00:14:37
Speaker
has been. And now here's where he's getting to.
00:14:39
Speaker
Where is he going to be in six months? And that's the fun part of where he's got a chance to be because the body's still young. It's still a high waist. It's still, you know, it's still kind of growing and maturing, but we're seeing every time the body takes a jump, we're seeing the stuff take a jump. wrong You know, the other thing I like about him too is I think he has a little bit of that. And I don't know what his complete upbringing in terms of where he was when he was nine to 11, 12.
00:15:02
Speaker
If I had to bet, my bet was he was a good player at those levels, but he may have been overshadowed in this area by some guys here and there because he carries a little chip on him. And I mean that in the best possible way. There's a drive to what he's doing. And, you know, obviously we want that to stay, but he he feels like, you know, um I'm going to show you.
00:15:24
Speaker
You keep doubting me, keep keep keep telling keep telling me that I'm not this guy or that guy or this guy's better. I'm going to show you. And then every time we see him, he's better. So I don't know if that's perception on our end because I don't know him obviously as well as you do, but I have a pretty good feel for him. But I love that in a guy because I think that stays with them you know for three, four, five, 10 years.
00:15:45
Speaker
No, absolutely. and He's a great kid, you know, hard worker, great kid, but he definitely he doesn't. He's not going to be outworked and he he wants to show that he's the best. That's for sure. And he's he's going to keep working at. Another 2027 again, another guy that was with us at Super sophomore games, Alex Wall, um Alex.
00:16:06
Speaker
Right here in a picture, Freedom High School 2027. Very similar build to what we see in Colt and with that body and you know you were you were banning the mound that he was throwing on. What do we see out of Alex and where where he was at Super software games in August and where we're seeing him kind of trend to as we get to the spring.
00:16:25
Speaker
I mean, he's clean. He's always been clean, ah you know, with the way it throws and he he threw well for us at Super sophomores. He he threw well at the preseason all State West and it just that seems to be kind of the thing with him. He's always. Sometimes kind of looks nonchalant when he does it, but he's getting full effort out of it and he just he repeats well. And you know, just really controls his body for his age. You know he he does a good job when he's out there.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see some of his numbers where he was just the other day. That's 20. I put on hitting. its he He's going to be an arm. That 83 jumped. I was like, no, he was better than that. Up 86 and he carried the fastball throughout. Not a huge difference between his max and his and I thought his effort level was really good. He was relaxed. The lines were good. And again, you're talking about a taller guy.
00:17:21
Speaker
Higher waisted guy, it's still young. How are they controlling their lines? How are they controlling their movements? I think there needs to be a little bit more explosiveness in the hips and the arm. But when you're that big, I don't know that that has to come right now. I think it'll come as we go. There'll be ah there'll be a point where the ball needs to take off. We're seeing 18-22 on the spin as we look down a little bit further into just some of his numbers. 18.6, he's maximizing that then spin rated 18 22 and he's still getting 18 inches of induced vertical at 86 you know typically as as the velocity climbs the ball doesn't have as much time to climb through the zones that 18 make it down to about a 16 but if that 1800 spin rate jumps to 2200 he may hang out you know hang in there at 18 now you're starting to talk about can we do something so that
00:18:08
Speaker
He has ride through the zone. I think he's going to be very naturally the ability to kill the spin to if he wants to and create sync. I think he's more comfortable down in the zone right now. He was very impressed with the angle he was creating. The slider for me is not quite as abrupt as we want it, but again, he's a 2027. I don't think it has to be yet. You you could start to see his direction. Good as hand placements. Good. He's got finger strength. The ball wants to spin and again he's probably getting a ton of outs with these two pitches.
00:18:36
Speaker
And so hitter feedback is telling him you know we're not ready that we have to make that jump yet. um There will come a point where hitters will say I can see that it's not getting me out as consistently and at that point I think Alex very naturally makes a jump and we see stuff continue to tick up again the ceiling is really high.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and it's it's early in the year. I mean, some, you know, that time you may have it today, you may not. um But, you know, he's from around my area. And i I've heard about his numbers so far this offseason and where he's gotten to. And he's he he's going to keep climbing throughout the season.
00:19:13
Speaker
That sounds down coming on my screen screwed me up there.
Focus on Hitters: Evaluations
00:19:17
Speaker
We're going to transition to hitters. I'm remaining it without Sean. Sean's running all over the place and doing a lot of different things, so I'm trying to produce and go at the same time. You know, and this one is not going to be as clean as some of our other podcast. We're still learning that we're just baseball guys doing a podcast. um Real life, real life. We're going to transition away from the pictures where you get in some of our hitters. We're going to start with a guy um that we have seen a guy that we've seen recently.
00:19:42
Speaker
with Luke Ponska, big physical first baseman, West Rowan High School, 2026. Luke's a right-handed hitter. um You know, and we saw him at our Charlotte ID. He earned his invite to this event. And we we tell guys, hey, come, don't come. You don't necessarily need to be there. But I think he felt like there was more in the tank, and goodness gracious, up to a 104 max exit velocity. It was a pretty good day for Mr. Ponska.
00:20:11
Speaker
No, absolutely. And when he when he got in the box, everyone started watching. i think I think Zach tried to get me to go and feed the machine while he was hitting. Luke didn't disappoint either. He he hit a couple of missiles back up the middle. I think the 104 whiz right past Zach's head up the middle. I thought it was perfect. But no, it just strong kid. like I mean, we saw him at Charlotte. He was great finding barrels, you know and everything had power through it.
00:20:35
Speaker
um Same thing that we saw. We saw the same thing at the at the West event. I mean, he's just a strong kid and when he gets the ball it goes and he's he's getting better about being more consistent with that and finding the barrel. Yeah, and we and we're seeing a little bit in these swings right here. um you know This is early early in one of his rounds where he's still trying to get the timing up off the machine. You know he hits the third swing as a freaking missile and also it was missile missile missile behind it. But what I love is there's some stability in the head. He's sitting in his legs.
00:21:04
Speaker
and And for a bigger guy, the turn the turns got some some quickness to it in the lower half. He's generating some torque and some power. And the last thing I always watch for is, you know, what are the hands do with the barrel, especially as he gets through the baseball and he's completely in control of that barrel. You know, he knows where it is. He's allowing it to get long. He's got hand strength.
00:21:25
Speaker
you know So it's not just a bigger guy, it's a bigger guy that has strength, than and that strength is translating to the swing. um you know Defensively, there's decent bend. He's able to kind of get into his legs a little bit. He's got some softness to his hands. And um you know I think as he continues to grow and mature, the body the body continues to mature a little bit. There may be enough quickness that you know you can see him as being an average defender, and then really allowing the bat to play.
00:21:49
Speaker
so um guys Guys that come, and again, we talked about it with Beckett, now we're talking about with Luke. Again, there was a relaxation, he knew us. you know He'd been around us already, the relaxation on this day. So even early on, he missed hit a ball here, he missed hit a ball there. I think he I remember him stepping out and taking a breath and then <unk> bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. We're on the barrel and we're just driving baseballs everywhere. So it it was good to have him back and and he I thought he performed at a really high level. No, he did, absolutely, absolutely did.
00:22:20
Speaker
The next position player that we're going to talk about Zeke Adwaters. Zeke's an infielder, T.C. Roberson. We're going to talk about a couple T.C. Roberson guys here today. 2026 infielder. and And it's a unique situation for Zeke because there is a ton of competition at T.C. Roberson. And, you know, state champions last year, you know, division one guy at third, division one guy at short.
00:22:46
Speaker
And then he battled um you know to get in the lineup at second in a couple of different ways defensively when they made some pitching changes with some guys. And we saw him last year and it was a good defender with a bat that was light. And yeah he showed some quickness.
00:23:01
Speaker
she He's got people around him that are doing a good job of saying, hey, these are the things you gotta get better at. He walked into the building and he looked like a changed young man. Not that it was a bad body last year, it was an athletic looking bike, but he's put on 10, 15 pounds of muscle. And I mean, you're starting to look and go, I mean, he's developed. He looks good in a baseball uniform. And then it's it's gone to the field. he's He's shown improvement. He's shown an ability to move. I thought his defensive actions were outstanding. he's got it He's got trust in his glove. And then offensively, it was night and day compared to what we saw last year. Really big improvements in the box. And a guy that's going to push to be counted on at T.C. Rober to see if they can't make that next run to that next title.
00:23:47
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. And you know like you said, great program, TC Robison, they're going to help you push yourself to be you know the best that you can. But like you said, the biggest thing, I saw him last year as well, and just huge changes. In his body, he's stronger everywhere. um you know His swing, I think he was up to 97 something with his exit below. And just you you could see the difference, more confidence, and everything was the one fielding, throwing, hitting, all of it.
00:24:14
Speaker
He's starting to figure out he knows that you know he can he can get to that level and he's starting to to really play on it. Yeah, some of these some of these numbers that we saw in the summer, that seven to eight is gonna be a little bit better. He ran better yeah in that in the 30, 97.6, you mentioned that. But again, the the number for me on him was the average exit velocity. Of course, the two rounds, he carried nine miles an hour. you know And just very impressive with the way to get the barrel there. You're seeing an increase in distance. He's carrying a max of 330.
00:24:44
Speaker
And it's again, shortened rounds of BP. Yeah, and and he's a defensive player first for me still right now. But the the ability for him to kind of make those adjustments, the ability to you know take some instruction, whether it was numbers he saw from us or you know where he's at in the summer. I know TC Roberson has a very good player development system and and he's taken on that challenge. you know it's it's you You look at it, you're looking at depth rosters right now, and you're looking across the state, you have more and more freshmen playing, you have more and more sophomores playing. And so you know we're seeing guys even at the high school level, if it's not going perfectly their way as a freshman, bang, they're out, they're going somewhere where they're gonna play. um He took the challenge, and I don't know how it's gonna play out. Roberson's got a lot of lot of depth and a lot of players, but he's on the map right now. He's a guy that people are gonna have to follow regardless what the situation is, because he's made himself a better player.
00:25:38
Speaker
Right, absolutely. And you make a good point. I mean, you see that now up at the college level, too. I mean, you don't play first year, you're gone. And you know I think you know he made a good choice to stay and battle it out. I think it's going to make him a better player in the long run for it because he's going to go through the battles, the ups and downs. And then when he gets there and he's you know the guy, I think it's you know he's going to be prepared for it and be able to take advantage of it.
00:26:01
Speaker
Let's stay at TC Roberson will talk about another 2027 that you know we've known for a while. He was with us at Junior Future Games a couple years ago. He was invited to super sophomore games last year. um Parker Philip at catcher infielder, you know.
00:26:15
Speaker
I think it's probably a stretch to call him a utility guy, because I like him behind the plate, but he can be a utility guy. I know they have some depth at Roberson. He's going to give some some coaches some options because his infield actions were okay. yeah Again, T.C. Roberson, I think he's in one of the tougher situations. I actually um had a chance to coach a young man who played for his father at at Charlotte, and it's a unique dynamic.
00:26:37
Speaker
and and knowing what what the guys at T.C. Roberson, their player development system, he's been around it forever, but it's a unique dynamic anytime you're playing for your dad and and really impressed with the strides he's made. He's become more athletic. There's better bend in his hips. There's more fluidity in what's going on. Left-handed hitter, you know, I thought the direction was good. I thought the lower half turn was fantastic. I thought the bat speed is improved and get a chance to see a couple swings right here.
00:27:06
Speaker
You know, there's natural leverage. You know there was natural backspin. He wasn't trying to lift the ball. You know his natural piece is to drive baseball's a little bit of loft to it. You know your initial thoughts of watching Parker. I mean, I thought it was a, you know.
00:27:20
Speaker
all around good player, like you said, I mean, I don't want to call him utility, but um the biggest thing I remember, you know, you get to these events and everything that we do, everyone's trying to go full bore all out. You know, we get this number that, you know, he he had the best pop time at the event for catchers, but then also, I mean, out of all the throws he made down, I think you know, 95% of them right on the back, you know, so it's like he's he's doing he's going max effort with everything, you know, but it's controlled, you know, it's it's like game game speed game motion, he's he's getting those results that he's he wants by and then also showing off the numbers that he wants to get, you know, it's showing control of what he's doing.
00:28:04
Speaker
it was It was a good workout. You always are interested to see how guys are transitioning from slot freshman year, sophomore year, sophomore year to junior year. By the time they're juniors, you kind of got to feel for what that linear progression is going to be. Be like a senior. There's times we get surprised, but you know typically we have a pretty good feel that you start to get an idea of what their work ethic is year in and year out. This was a good off season for Parker. but I'm really excited to see how it translates. And again, you're talking about a young man behind the plate as a freshman probably is in the mix to start at most high schools.
00:28:34
Speaker
but you know But at TC Roberson, he's fighting just to get the lineup and you know I can play the outfit, I can play the infield, I'm willing to DH, I'll be the the next catcher. you know He had a lot of different ways to give them some options in terms of getting him in lineup, but then he's also willing to take on that challenge. i'm um you know I wasn't the main guy, and now what do I have to do to kind of become that main guy? And so I think it's you know the work that he did is is ah gonna pay off this spring, it's gonna pay off down the line, but I'm excited for him.
00:29:00
Speaker
Um, you know, and again, T. C. Roberson is gonna put themselves in a position where they're gonna be, um, a team that, you know, is gonna have to be dealt with at the 40 level. I know they're playing a really tough schedule. I don't expect them to run the table by by any means because of what they're doing to challenge themselves. but I think as they get towards the end of the year, it's really gonna pay off to know. Yeah, they're gonna be fun to watch. I'm looking forward to going out and catching those games this year.
00:29:21
Speaker
We're going to stay on the western side of the state. We're going to stay with the coaches son and we're going to stay behind the dish. Our next player that showed out and and really. Was a an intriguing player for me because I saw him this summer and now I have a little bit more of a backstory of what I saw, but Hayes Hillier.
00:29:41
Speaker
Catcher Asheville High School is a senior. He's uncommitted. um We saw Hayes at State Games. We saw Hayes in the spring last year and you know, I had heard good things, but I had not seen him. I've known his dad for a while. um You know, it's really since we were both in high school and you know that situation. I didn't want to bring up my evaluation because I didn't have a great one on Hayes. Well, lo and behold, dudes playing hurt.
00:30:07
Speaker
You know, there was, I don't know exactly the injury if it was a hand issue or a leg issue, but he basically played when he shouldn't have been playing because he was able to tolerate the pain. It wasn't going to get any worse. it maybe i think I want to say it was a bone issue, but hold me to that. I'm not positive on any of that.
00:30:23
Speaker
But it wasn't anything that's gonna linger or be long term. So, you know I'm hearing now, okay, he's healthy. you know Let's see what he does. He sits in there, he throws pretty good. There's a little bit of effort, but the ball gets out. There's athletic bend, there's athletic direction and what he's doing. um We then go to catching bullpens and he sat in there with with some ease. And then our next step was we started doing the athletic testing. And I didn't watch him run, I was trying to get some other things done, but I watched him jump.
00:30:50
Speaker
and It was, I mean, and we're we're going to discuss here in the coming weeks, the vertical jump test and what we're doing with the vertical jump test and what involves doing with the vertical jump test. Because the numbers are a little bit different than I think than what people get they just do a straight up tap test where they're just jumping up and trying to tap those. Those rings I don't think it's quite that because I think the jump test we're doing is taking outreach and height. and Basically, how high are you getting off the map versus a reach test where you're jumping and tapping you're getting something a little bit for your your length of your arms or the height that you are.
00:31:22
Speaker
And so it can skew the number a little bit. So our numbers are going to be slightly different than that test. But you watch him jump and he jumped. And when I'm expecting to hear feet hit the ground, he was still in the air. And that explosiveness plays. He's a right handed hitter. We'll share a little bit of video right here. um you know And in the swing the swing was productive. It was flat. It was on the barrel.
00:31:45
Speaker
um you know
00:31:49
Speaker
51, hey, so. I'm gonna try to turn that sound off real quick. There we go. i' I'm gonna bring it back up. What initial thoughts on Hayes is we were kind of breaking down the day for him. Well, I mean, first thing I can i can say it.
00:32:04
Speaker
when you meet these kids for the first time and you're talking to him, 90% of the time, ah you know, you ask them their name, you can't hear what they say. But like, I remember him exactly. I'll never forget his face. And you know, he's very clear, like talking straight to you. I really liked that about him. Easy going. But you know, just athletic kid, um you know, like you said, ah with being athletic with the jump, I remember that I was standing there with you when he jumped and we both were like, wow,
00:32:33
Speaker
um You know, he just he had a great workout showed all around skill with what he did. And, ah you know, another one that's going to have a chance to do something this year in the high school season and hope to get out and see him play as well. Yeah, one of the things that stands out to is for me was it's a baseball player. Right. And I think what you're saying is is right where you know the way he presents himself, the way he handles himself, the way he handled pitchers, his confidence level moving from station to station and doing things.
Player Health and Dual Potential
00:33:03
Speaker
you know he He knows i'm I'm a good baseball player.
00:33:06
Speaker
And I think that has a chance to translate quickly when you get to the college level, because, you know, tools are tools and we got to learn to adapt to what our tool level is. And, you know, are we going to be able to get that next level? Is our tools going to stand out at at a really high level compared to some other guys? But if I'm a baseball player, just put me in baseball situations and I'll be fine. He's grown up around the game. You know, his dad's a coach, his granddad was a coach.
00:33:28
Speaker
His brother played at a high level, you know, that he's been around it for a while. You know, there's not a whole lot of situations are going to shock him. And and again, a ton of respect for, you know, getting through last year and whatever it was he was dealing with and and playing through that, playing first teammates.
00:33:44
Speaker
being a team guy, because he the guy we saw today was nowhere close to the guy I saw in the playoffs, but he was their best option behind the plate. And so he sucked it up and did it. And now we're seeing, you know, hopefully the fruit of the labor and is going to pay off for 2025. There's still time for those guys, still coaches out there doing a lot of recruiting in terms of um you know, trying to find, you know, where they're going to land. But I think he has a chance to step on roster somewhere and help somebody pretty quickly because he's going to adapt to baseball situations. Right. Absolutely. Like you said, baseball player, he's going to figure it out. He's going to get into his comfort zone and and he's going to help a team win. So I may think he's got a bright future ahead of it.
00:34:21
Speaker
The last player we have scheduled to talk about, it was a dual guy. And you know we love dual guys, especially with what the new roster rules are going to be. Left-handed pitcher, left-handed hitter, bats got a chance to create a little juice, the left-handed pitching part. um you know I think he was up to 83.5, showed breaking ball in the zone. But we're going to talk about Jackson Tap, a left-handed pitcher, first baseman, ambassador to Christian, a 2027. And it's a physical frame. um The bodies, I'm getting ready to share a little bit of video here.
00:34:50
Speaker
you know, the body is still kind of developing in terms of that that movement and that action down the line or creating some rotation in the box. But he's physical and their strength. 87 Jackson Taplin 87.
00:35:07
Speaker
It works pretty easy. Yeah, and you can tell you he's he's still young. He's going to he's going to get seven times in town. There's already strength there that you can call. that It's going to keep improving on the mound in the box and yeah know he's going to have a chance to two way. But yeah, he was. He was a good one to watch. I remember seeing him in the box. The ball was jumping off his bat, um you know, finding barrels and barrel and ah he he adjusted quick to the machine. Some guys it takes a around to get used to it. You know, it was one swing boom art. I'm there.
00:35:36
Speaker
Um, you know, he he did a great job. He had a great workout. Yeah, he'll be, he'll be interested in falling. Ambassador Christian has a couple of guys coming through. we I don't know that high school very well, but you know, they've got a couple of athletes. So I think we're going to see if we can't get them on the schedule for one of their better games and see if we can't roll out there and see them. Um, you know, as we roll through the roster, I'm going to try and print print my roster real quick, uh, from that, that event.
00:36:00
Speaker
the the depth of talent and we're taught there there's there's a couple guys that come to mind that you know 2027 we didn't talk about they're going to be on our follow list as we go to um try to figure out who's going to be a super sophomore games who's going to be a future games guy is going to be a senior future games guy your initial you know thoughts and running through that roster and Quickly, you know are there names that we've missed that we're not talking about today that guys should be paying attention to as we start to roll out stories in here in the next two to three weeks? ah I like Leighton Ghul. We saw him at Charlotte as well, got his invite to here. um There were two guys that carried exit below is over 90. He was one of them.
00:36:39
Speaker
And I think he did the same in Charlotte. He was pretty close to it. i you know he just He seems to always get the barrel to the ball um yeah every time I've seen him hit athletic kid. And I like the way he he presents himself. um you know He was one that jumped out at me in Charlotte and at the event. Strong hands. yeah right And he does a pretty good job. A lot of times you see guys that don't have a stride but going off those machines like we do at the events.
00:37:07
Speaker
They struggle to get their timing. He picked his timing up pretty quickly off the machine, which I was impressed with. But the hands are really strong. Right. He manipulates the barrel. The barrel goes where he wants the barrel to go. um you know Behind the plate, the arm has carry. I like to see a little bit better bend in the hips. um He sits in there a little bit better receiving um live arms versus some of the pop time stuff, which, you know again, guys are trying to put up numbers and see, rather than that, a little bit. um But I think, again, I think your head on the nail,
00:37:36
Speaker
You know, the future is bright for him. You know, for me, Jacob Caesar, you know, is an elite runner. You know, he's a future games guy for us. He's made some adjustments with a swing. There was more barrel contact. He was flatter through the zone. Defensively, he's got a chance to stick in the middle of the
Reflections and Future Excitement
00:37:51
Speaker
infield. If not, he's going to be able to play center our field because of the run tools, you know, that good. He's going to be a plus runner at the college level.
00:37:58
Speaker
Gabriel Diaz first time we've seen him third baseman from Palisades 2027 physical strong legs, you know, tapered waste left. I think it was a left handed swing. It is a left hand swing, you know, and there was quickness with the bat. No, yeah, he liked to swing athletic kid. Like you said, you know, he's got a chance to be really good um if he keeps mature and the way the way that he should. um You know, he just he he stuck out with everything he did. You could tell um had confidence in the box.
00:38:28
Speaker
Of course, the other guys you had. I liked Jalen Boyd. He was there all day. He did it all. um You know he pitched off the bump. I think he was yeah up to 83, 84, something like that. But you know, just had a feel for it ah in the box. Great swing, really strong arm. I think he was 93 miles an hour with his outfield throw. I believe if I got that right. um But yeah, just all around athlete. You know it had had a great workout and he was one that stuck out to me. um While we were there.
00:39:00
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, it tons of talent at the whole event. You know, there were- We didn't talk about Caeser's future games guy. We didn't talk about Ethan Whistler, you know, super software games guy. Both those guys performed at a really high level. You know, we're trying to nitpick and figure out, okay, which nine or 10 guys are going to talk about, you know, Whistler, um pull up some of his pitching stuff now. I love the body and what the arm action does up 85, you know, 2271 on the spin.
00:39:27
Speaker
Uh, induced vertical break, you know, average 16, eight, um, the breaking ball had some abrupt action, you know, smaller little tilt, but 11, five action to it. Um, uh, going through the roster real quick, just making sure, try to get names out. Connor park. I thought Connor left-handed pitcher should, should feel for the zone.
00:39:47
Speaker
Uh, good direction. Uh, he is a 2026 out of Mooresville. Um, we saw Thomas Jolly as a 27 catcher at a Carson. It's an intriguing frame, you know, as he continues to add strength Colby Epperly. Uh, first baseman from Algernkell also pitched. He's an athletic looking dude and kind of an interesting follow.
00:40:08
Speaker
Yeah, no, I like koby we saw him last year at. I think we had an open ID in Charlotte at the end of the summer and I was impressed with what he did outside and you know he just did the same thing coming here. You know, impressive player athletic guy. um a Good one to follow. A couple other names for me, you know, Grayson Anderson moved OK Austin Baxter's shortstop out of Hope Wells of 2028. He's gonna be a. He's gonna be a guy that would probably need to follow through and see if the super software games is a fit for him. ben bordeaux There's a 26 that we've liked. The metrics are there. You're starting to see him add some strength to the frame. He's just going to be a little bit of a late developer in terms of how that maturation comes. And again, that's not a, that's not a reflection on work ethic or, or anything like that. It's just reflection on genetics. You know, their brother was a guy that didn't fully mature until he was 23, 24 in terms of his body.
00:40:57
Speaker
mentally, he may not be physically mature yet or completely mature yet. And he doesn't watch this song. I can say that. Um, but you know, Ben's a guy that, you know, the the ball does some different things out of his hand compared to what most pitchers see. So I think he has a chance to be in a little bit of that unicorn space as he continues to mature. And you know, he may be a name we look up and as a junior in college and go, you know, we were, we were right.
00:41:21
Speaker
Did we really put our full stamp on it? We'll see what happens this year and we continue to follow him. But he's a guy that we're kind of waiting for that jump to happen. I think we may have seen the inklings of it starting to come. um you know it's This event was fun. you know it was a first time It was a first time event, a first time space for the event. um I thought that the talent was good. I thought the space allowed the talent to kind of do what they wanted.
00:41:45
Speaker
um You know, for us, yeah I talked about with Zach earlier in the week, the event in Greenville, we looked like the ducks on the water. We were just gliding and crawling while underneath. Our feet were paddling, kicking everywhere, trying to keep us afloat because, you know, we had some issues here. We had some issues there and, you know, nobody around us knew what was going on because we have fixes to all those things as they happen.
00:42:05
Speaker
but we were having to use those fixes in this event, you know, you and I are both sitting there watching BP. Yeah. That never happens. BP. So having all three of us actually be able to do that. It's an anomaly at times because we're trying to make sure track needs being efficient. The cameras are being efficient. The batteries are being efficient. Blast is being efficient. We have all these moving parts. And when one thing goes down, it's the three of us that kind of fix them. And so this event was nice because I, I got to the end of the day and it didn't feel like I'd worked as hard because I hadn't.
00:42:34
Speaker
I actually got to sit and I told somebody earlier today, I had most of my evaluations done before we left the building. that's That was a novelty for me. No, that's it. I hope that we don't jinx that and I hope that that's how the rest of them go the rest of the year. And from here forward, I mean, it was, it was nice. But you know, like you said, we handle it when it happens and nobody knows that anything's wrong, but that's part of the job, right?
00:42:54
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, we're looking forward to another good weekend, preseason, all state central. um By the time this this show post will be sold out, pro case follows that on Sunday. And as we kind of continue to roll through this, we'll break down the central, we'll break down the pro case. We're going to be working to talk to some of our super 60 guys that were in Chicago this past weekend, big weekends for, ah you know, root for um merr for Murr for, say it again. He's a Meridian. Yeah, Matt was there. Matt was there. Roop was there and then Rhett was there. So, you know, those four guys from North Carolina, we're going to break them down and get a chance to talk to them and kind of roll through it. We're we're both a little punch drunk it's yeah as we're as we're doing this because
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's exciting. We're getting a chance to go back and watch these videos and look at the numbers these guys are putting
Closing Remarks and Farewell
00:43:47
Speaker
up. And I'm just, I'm blown away by some of the jumps these guys are making and some of the progress they're making and really excited for war what their next six to 12 months hold. is there Some of these guys are really just now starting to dip their toe in the recruiting waters.
00:44:01
Speaker
No, absolutely. Yeah. you You hit it on the head right there. I mean, I'm looking forward to getting out in the high school season and even some of the guys, you know, that I saw last year to this year, they've made big jumps and being able to go see them play that in the high school season and over the summer and see how, you know, the things they do with the workout. Okay. Well, how does it translate to the field and see if they've made those changes also? Cause they're, you know, there is a difference and I'm excited to see what some of these guys do in ah in a game situation.
00:44:29
Speaker
Well, that's going to wrap us up for the day. He's Patrick Johnson. I'm Braden Hall. I'm your North Carolina Director of Scouting for Prep Baseball. This has been the Prep Baseball North Carolina Podcast, and we'll see you at the field.