Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 16 Oak Park-River Forest

KEY PLAYERS LOST

Brendan Barrette, RHP (Parkland JC)
Brian May, SS/OF (DePauw)
Andrew Neilson, RHP/OF

NEWCOMER TO WATCH

Junior Austin Divello was invited to participate at last month’s Preseason All-State event and showed that he has taken a step forward in his development on the mound. He has a starter’s profile, complete with a feel for his offspeed, in addition to a cut fastball that lives in the 82-85 mph range, capable of touching 86 mph, too.

The uncommitted 2020 has an athletic 5-foot-10 frame with a loose, quick arm. His athleticism plays throughout his delivery and it helps him find the zone with more than just his fastball. Divello showed us last month that he’s able to manipulate two separate breaking balls – a 12/6 curveball and a tighter slider that works off a 10/4 plane – and he’s able to utilize a changeup that flashes that similar cut featured on his fastball.

Given the graduation of Brendan Barrette, one of this team’s most reliable arms last spring, Divello will be handed the opportunity to snag a significant amount of innings for the Huskies, filling out an already deep staff.

X-FACTOR

Joining Divello in the rotation will be not one, but two Holderfields – Griffin and Grant. You’re likely already familiar with the work of Griffin – the electric senior righty who will be headed to Creighton next fall. He’s the No. 5-ranked pitcher in the state’s senior class for his dynamite fastball-slider combination. Griffin has been up to 93 mph in front of our scouts before, and couples his heavy, sinking fastball with an aggressive slider that is a genuine swing-and-miss offering at the next level.

And Griffin will also be relied on for his powerful bat, in a lineup missing weapons with over-the-fence and run-producing capabilities.

His younger brother, sophomore Grant, was just at our Underclass Invitational event less than a month ago. He committed to Indiana in the week following the showcase, substantiating the early feel and upside he has on the mound. Grant is a lefty with a clean and easy delivery. Back at the showcase, he showed us arguably the day’s best breaking ball, and his fastball topped at 83 mph. He’s athletic and obviously highly skilled, so he’ll be able to carve out a role of some kind for the Huskies this spring.

Grant Holderfield (2.17.19)

OUTLOOK

Oak Park-River Forest and Lyons Township have really been forced to become rivals on the baseball diamond over the past few springs, with the two programs finishing back-to-back at the top of West Suburban Conference the last three seasons. The Huskies won the conference back in 2016, but ever since, the Lions earned the last two conference titles and have won five of their last six head-to-head meetings – including a three-game sweep last April that ultimately determined the 2018 conference champ.

This recent trend doesn’t sit well in the Oak Park dugout.

Despite graduating two of last season’s playoff heroes, Barrette and Brian May, the Huskies are still returning seven starters. The former Huskies lifted their team past Maine East’s Antoine Kelly (Wabash Valley JC), the No. 5-ranked prospect in Illinois’ 2018 class, in last spring’s regional semifinal. Barrette tossed a complete game shutout, but left the mound headed into the bottom of the seventh with a scoreless tie on the scoreboard. Kelly was dominant, but was finally bested when then-sophomore Dylan Whitney grounded a one-out infield single down the third base line. Three pitches later, May launched a walk-off two-run homer over the center field fence to break the tie and push OPRF to a regional title game.

Though the Huskies were downed 3-2 in the regional final – by Maine West this time – many of the same faces that helped OPRF go 21-8 last spring are back.

We mentioned Whitney already, a junior who started every game for this team last season, as well as Griffin Holderfield, while introducing you to his sophomore brother Grant. But there’s senior backstop and four-year starter Luke Fitzgerald, who is also committed to Creighton, as well as fellow 2019 grads Jake Adams, Ethan Reinhardt, and Adam Landsman. It’s fair to say that this offense is probably the weakest link of this year’s edition of the Huskies, but all of a sudden, with the aforementioned names shaping this lineup, things don’t look too shabby.

Mix in Griffin’s pop, the steady consistency of Whitney, and the emergence of junior Alan Brown, and all of a sudden OPRF is looking sharp – even deep – from the batter’s box. Brown didn’t see much action as a sophomore last spring, but some more holes have opened up in 2019 and he’s certainly bound to see a greater role. He’s a top-150-ranked prospect in the state’s 2020 class and was invited to our Preseason All-State event last month, where he was his same strong, compact self. He’s not going to be relied upon to jumpstart this offense – but he has the potential to be more than just bat to fill out the bottom of the order.

That brings us to OPRF’s overwhelming strength: its pitching staff. We’ve touched on the Holderfields and the value they bring to this rotation, but senior southpaw Nathan Diamond is just as instrumental. The Pepperdine commit has a feel for three pitches and knows how to work over a lineup. Like Griffin, he also brings a little something to his team in the batter's box and can man first base when the Huskies’ ace is the one pitching.

And this staff is going to get something out of senior righty Aaron Mishoulam, too, an Emory commit. The long and lanky 6-foot-5 righty has been working the kinks out of his mechanics in order to throw more strikes, but he has some real upside if he can put it together in time to contribute to OPRF in 2019. Our staff saw him touch 88 mph at August’s All-State Games and he also flashed a sharp breaking ball. Having an arm like Mishoulam’s out of the bullpen is a luxury and could make them that much tougher an assignment once the postseason rolls around.

So, a staff that includes the live-armed Griffin Holderfield, his brother and savvy southpaw Grant, as well as Diamond, Divello, and Mishoulam – well, that’s a staff set to compete over the course of the entire spring season and is additionally strapped with the kind of firepower it takes to make a deep playoff run.

BOTTOM LINE

The Huskies might have to exorcise the Lions from the top spot of the WSC in order to take that next step to become state contenders, and this year’s OPRF team is capable of making that journey.

This team checks a lot of the necessary boxes on the list of requirements it typically takes to make it to state: a surefire ace, a senior-heavy presence, depth in its rotation. The Huskies might not be an offensive juggernaut, but they don’t really need to be. They will, however, need to score more than the four runs they mustered in their 14 postseason innings in 2018. It’s a well-rounded roster with few holes, featuring one of the region’s best rotations, making their state-filled aspirations totally realistic.

Make sure to follow @PBRIllinois on Twitter for the most up-to-date coverage throughout the 2019 season.

Find more information on the 2019 Huskies below:

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PRESEASON POWER 25 COUNTDOWN