By Mike Penn
Michigan Scouting Director

The Pre-Season All-State Showcase was packed with some of the best talent in the state.  Most of the players were in the Class of 2014 with a few 2013's and 2015's mixed in.

Here is a quick glance of some impressive numbers from Saturday's Showcase:

Pitching Velocities

To say the pitchers were impressive on Saturday, would be an understatement.  26 of the 29 pitchers who threw were at least 80 mph or better.  Additionally 14 of the 29 touched at least 85 mph.

Brett	Adcock	Bay City Western	2013	88-89
Austin	Batka	Grand Rapids Christian	2014	87-89
Joshua	Bays	Lake Orion	2014	86-88
Alex	Sova	H.H. Dow	2014	86-87
Jonathan	Hentschel	Midland	2014	84-88
Austin	Lukaschewski	Bishop Foley	2014	84-87
Tone	Jacobs	Bay City John Glenn	2014	83-88
Kevin	Suwarsky	Paw Paw	2014	83-86
Josh	Smith	Brother Rice	2015	83-86
Conor	Bowers	Orchard Lake St. Mary's	2014	83-86
Kyle	Rago	Berrien Springs	2014	83-85
Michael	Reid	Bishop Foley	2014	83-85
Tommy	Lentz	Brother Rice	2014	83-85
Jake	Lincoln	Jackson Lumen Christi	2014	83-85

60 Times

The 60 times were solid but no one blew away the competition.  Nate Bethel (Jackson HS, 2014) ran the fastest time at 6.8.  Overall 10 players were 7.1 or better. 

Nate	Bethel	Jackson	2014	6.8
Daniel	Jipping	Plymouth	2014	6.87
A.J.	Montoya	St. Joseph	2014	6.93
Jackson	Overlund	Forrest Hills Central	2014	6.94
Garrett	Harris	Thornapple Kellogg	2014	7
Devin	Rose	Orchard Lake St. Mary's	2014	7.03
Ty	Kiafoulis	Brother Rice	2014	7.03
Riley	Davis	Battle Creek Lakeview	2014	7.07
Joey	Rydzewski Jr	De La Salle	2014	7.07
Ryan	Stewart	Parkway Christian	2014	7.07
Robert	Ellerbracht	H.H. Dow	2014	7.08
Michael	Sielinski	Swan Valley	2013	7.08
Kyle	Houts	Spring Lake	2014	7.09
Zach	McGuire	Sterling Heights Stevenson	2014	7.1
Maris	Marazita	Edwardsburg	2014	7.1

Hitters

The arms were undoubtedly good at the Pre-Season All-State showcase but the hitters were the best.  24 players were 85mph or better with their exit velocity while 8 of those were 90+.

Daniel Jipping (Plymouth Christian HS, 2014) was nothing short of impressive.  For a big player (6-foot-3, 210-pound) he ran well with a 6.87.  At the plate his swing was explosive and powerful. Simply put he was electric and registered a 96mph exit velocity.

Daniel	Jipping	Plymouth Christian	2014	96
Zach	McGuire	Sterling Heights Stevenson	2014	93
Alex	Fultz	De La Salle	2014	93
Michael	Reid	Bishop Foley	2014	92
Kyle	Randick	Flushing	2014	92
Austin	Krause	Lansing Catholic	2014	91
Kyle	Rago	Berrien Springs	2014	91
Andrew	Manduzzi	Macomb Dakota	2014	90

Outfielders

Michael Reid (Bishop Foley HS, 2014) continues to make huge leaps in progress.  He attended the Midwest Futures Games in August 2012 as a pitcher only. Since that time he has not only improved on the mound, but has become a legitimate two-way threat at the next level. He showed incredible arm strength from the outfield at 91mph from the outfield. Overall 16 of the 21 outfielders were 80+ mph from the outfield.

Michael	Reid	Bishop Foley	2014	91
A.J.	Montoya	St. Joseph	2014	88
Kevin	Suwarsky	Paw Paw	2014	87
Devin	Rose	Orchard Lake St. Mary's	2014	87
Zach	McGuire	Sterling Heights Stevenson	2014	86

Infielders

In the infield, the best arm by far was Jonathan Hentschel (Midland HS, 2014).  The ball exploded from his hand and had great carry across the diamond from third base. His velocity was 87mph. 10 of the 30 infielders were 80+ mph across the diamond.

Jonathan	Hentschel	Midland	2014	87
Riley	Davis	Battle Creek Lakeview	2014	85
Michael	Reid	Bishop Foley	2014	84
Zach	McGuire	Sterling Heights Stevenson	2014	82
Nick	Hazergian	Canton	2014	82
Joe	Cox	Stoney Creek	2014	82

Catchers

AJ Montoya (St. Joesph HS, 2014) only continues to get better.  He once again showed that he can play behind the plate with a showcase best 1.93 pop time.  Additionally he was 88mph from the outfield and ran a sub 7.0 60. 

 

A.J.	Montoya	St. Joseph	2014	1.93-2.03
Michael	Sielinski	Swan Valley	2013	1.97-2.04
Eric	Eldred	Tecumseh	2013	2-2.06
Brent	Showers	Rockford	2014	2.0-2.06
Andrew	Manduzzi	Macomb Dakota	2014	2.01-2.11
Sammy	Stevens	Brother Rice	2014	2.02-2.16

 

 

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