Florida Diamond Club 2016: Team North (Cubs) Breakdown
October 19, 2016
By Doug Freeman and Mike Maerz
Lakeland, FL- The Florida Diamond Club takes place each year the weekend before the Jupiter tournament and consists mostly of the top draft prospects for the 2017 class in the state of Florida and Puerto Rico.
Diamond Club is a three day event that consists of four teams. Each team goes through a pro-style workout, BP and two 10 inning games over the course of the three days at Historic Henley Field.
Today we break down Team North (Cubs) led by pitchers Ricky Vanasco (Williston HS, FL) and AJ Labas (Trinity Christian Academy, FL) on the mound while Austin Martin (Trinity Christian Academy, FL) and Sam McMillan (Suwannee HS, FL) paced the team offensively.
Vanasco really elevated himself as he had an impressive performance in his time on the mound against some of the top hitters in the state. The projectable righty has a quick, clean ¾ arm action and showed the ability to locate both of his pitches on each side of the plate. The fastball sat 90-91 mph, touching 92 with late life while the slider sits at 77-79 mph with some sweeping action. As Vanasco continues to make the necessary adjustments with his slider, look for him to continue his upwards trend.
Labas has a strong, durable frame and showed a three pitch mix with his fastball that sat 90-92 mph, touching 93 while also displaying a curveball at 74-76 mph and a change up at 82-83 mph. The North Florida recruit struck out two in his two innings pitched.
Martin stood out in the field where he displayed soft hands, range, and a quick release while also showing good awareness and baseball IQ. The Jacksonville recruit has a gap-to-gap approach and doubled twice during game play.
McMillan was an offensive machine for Team North as he looked more confident and relaxed at the plate with five hits throughout the weekend which included two doubles to both sides of the field. The Florida recruit also stood out behind the plate where he showed strong hands, an above average arm, and a quick release which resulted in throwing out a couple runners during the game.
Check out below for the full breakdown of all of the players mentioned above and the remaining players on Team North (Cubs):