Prep Baseball North Alabama Showdown: 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 North Alabama Showdown, a marquee event in northern Alabama that hosted some talented teams and prospect from various parts of the southeast. 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 three days of action in the Huntsville metro area.

+ LHP Matthew Shorey (Father Ryan, 2024) worked a dominant two inning relief stint on Friday night as he recorded all six outs via strikeout. We saw Shorey in this event a year ago and he was impressive then as well but the obvious strides he has made in a year were very evident this year. Showing an athletic and clean delivery, the Vanderbilt recruit showed a very quick arm from a lower ¾ slot with some crossfire action. The arm slot creates a very difficult matchup for LH hitters and his solid two-pitch arsenal is also a nightmare for RH hitters. The fastball was 88-90 mph (bumped 91 mph) with late action to the arm side that he could command to both sides of the plate. His best offering was a truly wipeout slider (76-78 mph) that showed late, sharp action and was a weapon against hitters from both sides of the plate. For RH hitters, the pitch started over the middle of the plate and ended up on the hands when the swing started.