Prep Baseball Report

October News & Notes



By Greg Williams
WV Director of Scouting

In (Part One) of the October Notebook we focused on high profile commitments from the past month. In (Part Two) of the notebook, we take a look at some impressive performers from October.

+ SS John Aiello (Germantown Academy, PA) showed exactly why he is widely regarded as one of the top middle infield prospects in the country in the Class of 2015. He has an athletic frame at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. He has a plus arm from shortstop and swings the bat equally well from both sides of the plate. Aiello went 4-for-11 in four games with a double and just one strikeout during his time in Jupiter, Florida last week.

+ RHP Justin Vardian (Bishop McCort, PA) became a hot commodity following his bullpen session at the annual pro showcase in Morgantown, WV. The 6-foot, 175-pound righty showcased the top fastball of the day sitting 87-88 during his bullpen session and capped it off by touching 89 mph on his last delivery. Ranked No. 59 in the PA Class of 2014, Vardian has an extremely loose arm and hides the baseball well by showing his numerals to the hitter out of the windup. He had late life to the fastball and showed a feel for his 75 mph curveball and 79 mph changeup. The uncommitted senior will be one of the top arms to participate tomorrow at the Elite Prospect Showcase in Manheim, PA.

+ SS/RHP Logan Goodnight (The Linsly School, WV). The 6-foot-1, 165-pound prospect followed up an All-Tournament selection at the WWBA 16U National Championships in July by being name to the WWBA Underclass All-Tourney team in Fort Myers, Florida in October. The No. 1 ranked prospect in the WV Class of 2016 committed to Penn State shortly after returning from Florida.

+ RHP Nick Distasio (Oley Valley HS, PA), the highest ranked uncommitted prospect in the PA Class of 2014 at No. 13, showed well again in Jupiter. Distasio has a strong 5-foot-10, 195-pound frame and has sat in the upper 80's throughout the summer and fall.

+ The Elite Prospect Showcase takes place tomorrow with 68 talented prospects from PA, WV, NY and MD taking part. Look for highlights and results in the week ahead.

additional WV news: