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Chicagoland Open: Quick Hits

June 15, 2023
By: Drew Locascio, John Rosner and Gavin Smith
Illinois Staff

On Tuesday, June 13th the PBR Illinois team hosted the Chicagoland Open at Triton College in River Grove, IL. This open event was for all high school classes (2024-27), and gave our staff a chance to get a look at 30+ uncommitted prospects before the summer gets into full swing.

For a closer look at the showcase details and the technologies we'll have on-site to assist our in-person evaluation for all in attendance, click here. For a complete look at those registered to attend this event, view the most up-to-date version of the roster by clicking here.

For now, we take an early look at some of the top takeaways from the event with much more content to come in the coming weeks.

QUICK HITS

OF/RHP Josh Colaizzi (Bartlett, 2026) made a strong impression at his PBR debut. The talented, two-way 2026 is listed at 5-foot-9, 175-pounds, with clear overall strength. Colaizzi started the day by running 6.88 in the 60-yard dash, the best of the event, followed up with one of the more impressive rounds of batting practice. A right-handed hitter, he has a compact swing, fast/strong hands, lets the ball travel deep in the zone and was on the barrel working gap-to-gap, producing a max exit velocity of 93.6 mph. From the outfield he showed off a loose and quick arm with life that produced an outfield velocity of 87 mph. Colaizzi finished the event by throwing a ‘pen where he showed a three-pitch mix. His fastball sat 78-80 mph, topping out at 81 mph with carry through the zone. His curveball and slider both played similarly with 12/6 shape that he landed in the bottom of the zone for strikes. He reached a max spin rate of 2560 on his slider. Colaizzi emerged as a name to know in the 2026 class. 

3B/SS Juthaniel Lebron (Ogden International, 2025) is a 5-foot-10, 196-pound, right-handed hitting infielder with strength and physicality throughout his frame. At the plate, Lebron showed strong and athletic hands with a long path that was consistently on the barrel for occasional loud contact. He produced a max exit velocity of 96 mph (89.6 mph avg.) with a max batted distance of 316’. On the infield, he showed easy and athletic actions with a clean transfer paired with an accurate and strong arm across the infield that reached a velocity of 80 mph.

RHP Josh Efflandt (Wauconda, 2024) has made a big jump in velocity since our last look in 2022. In a little over a year’s time Efflandt has seen his max fastball climb from 81.9 mph to 88.6. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound right-hander showed an athletic delivery down the mound paired with a quick arm with acceleration out front. His fastball sat 85-88 mph, topping out at 88.6 mph (event high) with ride and carry through the zone (average of 16.1 IVB). His curveball flashed a sharp bite with 12/6 action, reaching a top spin rate of 2306. Rounding out his arsenal, Efflandt threw a change-up with fade to the armside. 

RHP Owen Novak (Lincoln-Way Central, 2026) was another one of the top arms at the event. . Standing at 6-foot-2, 185-pounds, Novak is an athletic and projectable right-handed pitcher. He works with a short, quick arm action and above-average three-pitch mix. His fastball flashed armside run amd ride through the zone, sitting 81-83 mph, T2212 rpm. His best offspeed pitch in this look was his change-up which showed downer action with heavy fade to the armside. He rounded out his arsenal with a slider with gradual break and feel for the zone.

One prospect to note, that made their way down from Wisconsin, was 1B/RHP Ethan Hibicke (Sussex Hamilton, 2025). Hibicke stands at 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, with room to add strength. At the plate he showed an easy, loose right-handed swing with extension through contact, consistently staying on the barrel and lining baseballs to the big part of the diamond. Hibicke reached a max exit velocity of 90.8 mph and a max batted distance of 301’. He hopped on the mound and showed a loose and quick arm out of a ¾ slot. His fastball showed feel for the zone, reaching a top velocity of 80.1 mph. His two best offspeed pitches were his curveball and change-up; the curveball showed 11/5 shape with occasional depth, and his change-up showed downer action at times.

SS/RHP Sean Dabe (2027) looked like one of the top freshmen in attendance. The 2027 has an intentful right-handed swing with a lifted, pull-side approach and above average bat speed for his age. In the outfield he is a fluid mover with long, easy strides, a loose arm that topped at 78 mph. He also hopped on the mound and showed feel for a four-pitch mix. His fastball sat in the upper-70s with feel for the lower-half of the zone. Slider showed potential out-pitch characteristics moving forward, and his curveball shows 11/5 shape playing down in the zone. An intriguing look at one of the top incoming freshmen at the event.

C/RHP Mason Monce (Wheaton Warrenville South, 2025) is listed at a physical 6-foot-1, 195-pounds. The right-handed hitter swings with controlled aggression, creating above-average bat speed (71.9 mph max) and strength. He produced the second highest max exit velocity of the event (97.8 mph) and the second farthest batted ball (331’). He also got on the mound and ran his fastball up to 81.9 mph, mixing in a change-up, which was his best offspeed, with downer action and heavy armside run. 

3B/SS  Cam Klein (Depaul Prep, 2024) is a 6-foot-1, 180-pound, athletically-built, right-handed hitting infielder. At the plate he is relaxed and comfortable in the box, flashing a twitchy swing and some sneaky jump off the barrel at times. He worked the entire field in his round showing a polished approach. Defensively, he showed sure hands, clean footwork, and a smooth double play turn while topping at 77 mph across the infield with a long, loose arm action.

OF/RHP Conor Fitzpatrick (Barrington, 2024) caught our attention with a 6.94 laser-timed 60, the second-best 60 time of the event. He also used an inside-out left-handed to produce consistent line-drives. He ultizes a leg-kick timing trigger and smooth load. Defensively, he attacks the baseball in a controlled fashion played with rhythm and steady hands. He gained ground through release and registered the second-best outfield velocity at the event at 85 mph.

RHP Thomas Mitchell (Loyola Academy, 2026) is a 6-foot, 165 pound right-handed arm with a quick, whippy arm on the mound. His fastball sat in the upper-70s with ride and carry through the zone. He threw two different breaking balls, a curveball and a slider. His curveball looked to be the better of the two in this look, throwing it with 11/5 shape down in the zone. 2026 to keep an eye on down the road. 

C Luke Beenders (Morton), INF Jake Greenspan (St.Charles East) and OF Ben Fawcett (Stevenson) are a trio of incoming seniors worth noting from the event. Beenders is a physical right-handed hitter that produced one of the louder rounds of BP at the event, recording a max exit velocity of 93.5 mph. Greenspan started the event by running a 7.03 60-yard dash,  showed a barrel controlled left-handed swing and quick release on the infield. Fawcett has an athletic, 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame, ran a 7.13 60 and was natural in the outfield playing with pace and his arm topped at 84 mph.

3B/OF Justin Garcia Hernandez (Saint Patrick, 2025) is a 6-foot-3, 225-pound right-handed hitter who put up noteworthy TrackMan numbers during BP with his hardest batted ball registering at 100.7 mph, which led the event. He also launched a ball 325’ while leading the event in average hand speed at 25.2 mph and was second in average bat speed at 74.9 mph. 

We will touch on many more prospects in our upcoming Data Dive and Statistical Analysis stories.

CLICK HERE for a look at the entire roster and statistics from the day.

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