Senior Superlatives: Best Breaking Ball

December 6, 2019
PBR Georgia Staff

It has been a busy few weeks for Prep Baseball Report and PBR Georgia regarding the Class of 2020 and the approaching 2020 MLB Draft. First, we had the update of the 2020 National Rankings, with Georgia being well-represented, followed by the combined High School, Junior College and College 2020 Draft Board. Extending over the next few weeks, we are going to dive into the 2020 Georgia rankings and give our take on the prospects who possess the top tools in the state. Over the past two weeks we have looked at the top position player superlatives (scroll to bottom to view links to nine different categories). Today, we move on to the pitchers of the 2020 class.

Best Breaking Ball

Andrew Armstrong LHP / Flowery Branch, GA / 2020

Rankings StateRank: 16 / POS: 2

Armstrong is a talented 2020 left-hander from Flowery Branch who offers little projection in terms of future role, but what he has right now plays just fine. Armstrong can work underneath the baseball at times, but when it’s all in sync, he is hard to handle. The deception in his delivery help to play up two very effective secondary pitches. What Armstrong lacks in ceiling he more than makes up for in terms of his floor.

Wyatt Crowell LHP / West Forsyth, GA / 2020

Rankings StateRank: 18 / POS: 3 OverallRank: 235 / POS: 18

Athletic medium framed LHP comes from a L3/4 to 3/4 with excellent feel for spinning the baseball. The FSU commit runs his fastball into the upper 80's and pitches aggressive to the zone. Has some deception and moxie to what he does.

Max DeJong RHP / OF / Hillgrove, GA / 2020

Rankings StateRank: 27 / POS: 7 OverallRank: 369 / POS: 122

This medium-framed righty committed to Georgia has been on fire out of the gate. He commands the ball to both side of the plate out of his high overhand slot. His fastball sits in the 86-90 range and gets good angle down in the zone. His curveball is a true 12-6 pitch because of his arm slot and DeJong shows the ability to land it for quality strikes, and finish off hitters by burying in front of the zone for swings and misses. This kid has competed well in both outings at LakePoint and is going to make Dawgs fans happy, as he has all the makings of a weekend starter early in his career.

Hank Bearden RHP / Northwest Whitfield, GA / 2020

Rankings StateRank: 28 / POS: 8 OverallRank: 378 / POS: 127

His stuff is firm, with his fastball sitting 86-88 out of the gate, and 85-86 in his last inning. While he showed good command with the heater, it’s his breaking ball that made him so effective. Bearden throws it whenever he wants, on either side of the plate, it’s got tight action early, causing a lot of hitters to buckle. He’s not afraid to throw it right at the right-handed hitter, and it breaks onto the plate, just enough where the hitters can’t do much.

Brycen Jewell C / RHP / Jefferson , GA / 2020

Rankings StateRank: 61 / POS: 8

Jewell is an interesting medium framed arm with good athletic ability. His fastball gets up into the upper 80's with life down in the zone, but his breaking ball has really come into its own and was a strong swing and miss pitch at the Deep South flashing a spin rate above 2800 which is elite in that regard. Jewell has good feel to pitch and is not done, as he is a young 2020 and is very athletic.

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