Prep Baseball Report

PBR Future Games: Illinois Workout Day


By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Day one of the PBR Future Games took place today with a position player workout at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana. Team Illinois position players ran 60’s, participated in defensive evaluations, and took batting practice on the field in front of 150 plus college coaches.

Team Illinois position players showed well in multiple areas today and below we take a look at some of the quick hits from the workout.

QUICK HITS

+ Eight of the 12 position players posted 60 times under 7.0, with Connor Milton (Champaign Central, 2020) leading the way with a 6.63. Both OF Isaiah Jackson, another Champaign Central product, and OF/INF Tre Hondras (Homewood-Flossmoor, 2020), were a close second with 6.65’s, laser-timed. To go along with the top 60 time of the event, Milton put together an impressive round of BP. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound, high-waisted, right-handed hitter, has quick twitch in his swing and made hard contact to both gaps. Hondras has the ability to play both the infield and outfield and will be one to watch with the bat this week. The 6-foot, 180-pound, right-handed hitter, swings the bat with confidence and can handle velocity. Below is a look at Hondras finishing up his infield workout.

+ Jackson, mentioned above, put up arguably one of the top stat lines of the entire day. To go along with his 6.65 60, Jackson tied the PBR Future Games outfield velocity record, topping at 95 mph and also had a 92 mph exit velocity from a tee. Jackson, listed at 6-foot-5, 185-pounds, is just scratching the surface of his potential and will be one to watch the rest of the week.

+ All three Team Illinois catchers, Jack Payton (Brother Rice), Trevor Davis (Danville, 2020) and Mike Schicker (Riverside-Brookfield) had stat lines to take note of. Payton, ran a 6.91 60, was 91 mph off a tee, 79 mph from the crouch and his pop times ranged 2.00-2.04 consistently putting his throws on the bag. Payton also had one of the top BP rounds of the day for Team Illinois. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound, strong, athletically-built, right-handed hitter, keeps his barrel through the zone for a long time and wore out the left-center field gap. Davis, the lone left-handed bat of the group had the top Illinois exit velocity at 96 mph, was 80 from the crouch and registered a low pop time of 2.04. Schicker had one of the top arms from behind the plate (81 mph) and had a low pop time for Team Illinois at 1.91.

+ Two other outfielders who put up strong numbers across the board today were OF/RHP Austin Greco (Mundelein, 2020) and Ryan Thiesse (St. Charles North, 2020). Greco, who will also see some time on the mound this week, ran a 6.97, was 91 mph from the outfield (sixth firmest on the day) and registered a 94 mph exit velocity. Thiesse ran a 6.67 (fourth best on Team Illinois), was 85 mph from the outfield and was 89 mph off the tee.

+ The final four infielders Jacob Mote (Normal U-High, 2020), Connor Hincks (Benet, 2020), Joshua Houston (Mount Carmel, 2020) and Tony Livermore (Mount Carmel, 2020) brought plenty to the table to like today. Mote, who is physically advanced at 6-foot-3, 195-pounds, ran a 6.88 60, was 86 mph across the diamond and was 89 mph off a tee. Mote flashed power potential to the pull side during his round of BP. Houston, who will see time on the corner infield this week, took one of the more polished rounds of BP on the day. The strong 5-foot-10, 215-pound, right-handed hitter, peppered hard line drives right back up the middle. Both Hincks and Livermore are left-handed hitting middle infielders who should be able to stick up the middle at the next level. Livermore ran a 6.89 and sprayed line drives to all fields in his round of BP. Hincks showed a smooth swing with loose hands in his round of BP.

ILLINOIS STATS

Last First Class POS 60 INF Velo OF Velo C Velo Exit Velo Pop Times
Davis Trevor 2020 C/3B 7.54     80 96 2.04-2.15
Greco Austin 2020 RHP/OF 6.97   91   94  
Hincks Connor 2020 SS/2B 7.06 79     85  
Hondras Tre 2020 OF/SS 6.65 78 81   89  
Houston Joshua 2020 3B/1B 7.82 85     84  
Jackson Isaiah 2020 OF/RHP 6.65   95   92  
Livermore Anthony 2020 SS/2B 6.89 77     82  
Milton Connor 2020 OF 6.63   83   83  
Mote Jacob 2020 SS/3B 6.88 86     89  
Payton Jack 2020 C/OF 6.91     79 91 2.00-2.04
Schicker Mike 2020 C/1B 7.57     81 88 1.91-2.01
Thiesse Ryan 2020 OF/RHP 6.67   85   89  

 

Stay tuned for an overall stat story from the Showcase day.

Full Schedule can be found HERE.

Pitching Rotations for all teams can be found HERE.

For a full Illinois Future Games Roster CLICK HERE.

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