Prep Baseball Alabama Kickoff Classic: Scout Blog

The Prep Baseball Alabama Scout Blog provides insider information and scouting notes from the Prep Baseball Scouting Staff during the season. Today, we shine the light on standouts from this weekend's Prep Baseball Alabama Kickoff Classic, a marquee event that helps kick-off the 2024 high school season. It was a loaded field of teams with talented players throughout, many of which are featured inside this article. This running blog will feature information on underclass prospects, unsigned seniors, draft prospects and anything else that is notable. We will provide a wide range of information, including player evaluations, velocities, pop times, home to first times and much more.

Also, be sure to check out the pitching leaderboards from the event to see the top fastball velocities from the two days of action in the Birmingham metro area.

+ SS Carter Johnson (Oxford, 2024), a former PBR Future Games and Prep Baseball All-American Games alumni, continues to produce at the highest-level hitting out of the two-hole for the Yellow Jackets. In front of 15+ MLB scouts on both days, the left-handed hitting shortstop consistently showed a patient approach at the plate, as he did not get a lot of pitches to hit. In the first game of the season, Johnson got into a two-strike count and showed the quick hands we have grown accustomed to seeing as he flipped a base hit the other way. He also had two deep sacrifice flyouts and finished 1-for-2 with two runs batted in. In the nightcap, the Alabama signee was 3-for-5 with a loud double over the centerfielder’s head as he drove in two runs with the big swing. Johnson possesses the purest of left-handed swings in the country, and has an advanced approach with a keen understanding of how he will be pitched this season. The left-hander is smooth in every facet of the game, and has excellent barrel control with good balance and natural loft in his swing. He was also called in for a four-out save and promptly struck out four hitters with one walk, featuring a fastball from 88-90 mph, bumping 92 mph on a pitch. Once again on Saturday, Johnson did not see a lot to hit as he finished 1-for-1 with a firm single up the middle, three walks, and four runs scored. There will be a ton of MLB scouts in attendance at the Oxford games this season to see the No. 4 player in the 2024 class nationally.