By Drew Locascio and Rob Allison
Illinois and Iowa Scouting Directors

The inaugural Quad Cities Open took place on Sunday, September 25^th at Black Hawk Junior College in Moline, IL.  The event was open to all high school classes in the state of Illinois and Iowa. Following the event the PBR scouting staff compiled all of the notes from the workout and over the next week we will break down the event position by position.

Today we begin the analysis of the event taking a look at the catchers in attendance.

Catcher’s (Listed Alphabetically)

Carson Behrens, C, Davenport North, 2017
6-foot, 170-pound right-handed hitting catcher. 7.4 runner. Upright stance with easy load, long stride into contact, tends to fall over plate at contact, consistently barreled baseball, works middle of field with line drive contact, 79 mph exit velocity. 70 mph arm strength from outfield. Taller setup, stabs at baseball receiving, avg. mobility behind dish. Solid exchange with direction to target, inconsistent arm action and arm slot effects accuracy to bag, 70 mph arm strength from behind plate with 2.1-2.28 pop times.

Richie Rice, C, United Township (IL), 2017
5-foot-10, 180-pound well-proportioned right-handed hitting catcher. Started the day off running a 7.03 60, above average for a catcher. Offensively, quiet setup and load; starts open and stride gets back to even. Gap-to-gap approach and registered a 76 mph exit velocity. Defensively, athletic setup and presents target well. Pop times ranged between 2.15-2.38 and clocked at 67 mph from the crouch.

Chase VanDerGinst, C/OF, Rock Island Alleman (IL), 2019
6-foot-1, 170-pound, athletically built, projectable, multi-positional prospect. Frame can carry added strength. Ran a 7.07 60. Offensively, left-handed hitter, balanced, stationary setup, easy load and leg-kick timing trigger. Middle/away approach and short path to the ball; 88 mph exit velocity from a tee. Defensively, worked out behind the plate and in the outfield. In the outfield, athletic actions, aggressive routes to the ball, fields out front; short arm action, and accurate throws clocked at 74 mph. Behind the plate, arm carries with some accuracy; clocked at 72 mph from the crouch and pop times ranged between 2.20-2.34.

Seth Wetteland, C/INF, Rockridge (IL), 2017
5-foot-7, 150-pound, multi-positional prospect. Ran a 7.18 60. Offensively, balanced, narrow setup, smooth deep pre-pitch load with a middle/pull approach, occasionally gets out on his front foot. Ball jumped off bat when squared up; registered an 83 mph exit velocity. Defensively, worked out in the infield and behind the plate. On the infield, funnels underneath, in the center of body, accurate throws across the diamond clocked at 70 mph. Behind the plate, good flexibility, deep crouch with low target; good target presentation and receives with thumb underneath. Pop times ranged between 2.13-2.26 and clocked 67 mph from the crouch.

Jayson Willers, C/RHP, Davenport Assumption, 2019
6-foot, 175-pound right-handed hitting 2-way player. 7.76 runner. Slight open stance, strides across body, loads early onto back leg, quick hands to contact, mid/pull approach, consistently finds barrel and squares baseball, 81 mph exit velocity. Good setup behind the plate, wide stance, mobile, shows soft glove, flexible lower half, works underneath and up through pitches well. Tends to work around the plate, occasional length to exchange, clean transfer to hand, 71 mph arm strength with 2.09-2.27 pop times. On mound, controlled delivery, short arm action, OT slot, short stride down mound and tends to land open with front foot. Drives fastball downhill at 75-79 mph with heavy running action. Good feel for curveball with tight 12/6 spin and solid depth. Flashes late fade on changeup with feel for bottom of zone.

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