By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting

Highly-rated Osbourn Park righthander Kyle Whitten has committed to attend the University of Virginia in the fall of 2017. Whitten was a big part of a Yellow Jackets squad this spring that won the Cedar Run Conference championship with a relatively young team that was led by Whitten and seniors Riley Lane and Nick Atkinson (VCU). Whitten will be the latest in a recent stream of players from Prince William County to become Wahoos, following Alec Bettinger (Hylton, 2013) and Nate Eikhoff (Patriot, 2015). Whitten is also the fourth pitcher that will pitch in the Cedar Run Conference next spring to commit to a Division I school, setting up some potentially outstanding pitching matchups next spring with Battlefield’s Jake Agnos (2016, East Carolina) and Keagan McGinnis (2016, Virginia Tech) as well as Osbourn’s Michael Taylor (2016, George Mason).

Whitten has a lanky frame and throws from a high three-quarters slot. He has a short, loose arm action and a very quick armstroke. He has drop and drive mechanics with a smooth rhythm. His shoulders are uphill and on line, and he creates good angle on his pitches before falling off a bit at finish. At the Underclass Invitational in February, Whitten’s four seam fastball sat at 84 mph with little movement and his two seamer sat 82 mph with good action to it. He threw an outstanding, sharp slider with full armspeed that ran 70-74 mph. He also threw a fading change-up with full armspeed that ran 75-77 mph. Whitten threw all of his pitches with outstanding command. Last week during a tournament at Davenport Field, Whitten was up to 89 on the stadium gun and sat 85-87.

When Whitten arrives at Virginia, he will have the stuff to immediately compete for innings. As his career progresses, Whitten could either develop into a weekend guy for the Wahoos or he could easily become a late-inning reliever. His fastball-slider combination has the potential to be devastating and he could fill a role similar to the one that Northern Virginian and 2015 College World Series Most Outstanding Player Josh Sborz (McLean, 2012) filled this year for the National Champions, as a closer who can go multiple innings. Whitten’s frame and arm action also suggest that he should be able to add the velocity necessary to be a draft pick at some point in his career.

Congratulations Kyle!