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Slammers Scout Day: Takeaways

July 5, 2023
By: Illinois Scouting Staff

On Monday, June 5th, the PBR Illinois staff traveled to Mundelein High School to host the Slammers Scout Day, where 45+ players from the Slammers program participated in a pro-style workout in front of our staff. 

To see a full list of players that attended, click HERE. For all the statistics collected at this event, click HERE.

Today we’ll dive deeper into a few of the players who popped to our scouts on the day of this event. Below you’ll learn more about a handful of names to know from this year’s Slammers Scout Day. 

TAKEAWAYS

+ MIF Cole Lockwood (Libertyville, 2025) continues to look the part of a top of the order, left-handed hitting middle infielder who can stick on the dirt moving forward. Standing at a wiry 5-foot-9, 145-pounds, Lockwood ran a 6.91 to start the workout, which was the second fastest of the day. Lockwood has a quiet and simple approach with loose hands and sneaky pop that produced a max exit velocity of 91.5 mph and an average exit velocity of 82.5 mph. He also had the second farthest batted ball of the event at 334’. On the infield he is a smooth defender that plays with body control and an accurate arm that can play from multiple slots.


+ One of the top bullpens of the day came from 6-foot-4, 168-pound, RHP/3B Stevan Gavric (Libertyville, 2025). The long-levered right-handed pitcher showed a low-effort, repeatable delivery that worked down the mound with a loose, clean arm with acceleration out front. His fastball sat 83-86 mph and topped out at 87 mph, with heavy armside run, 2359 top spin rate. His curveball, which played more like a slider, sat in the low-70s with an average spin rate of 2217. Rounding out his three-pitch mix, Gavric showed a change-up with developing feel. Gavric also showed intrigue as a position player, running a 7.16 60, impressive for his size. He also showed an upside swing and topped at 81 mph across the infield.  


+ RHP/3B Joey Kafka (Mundelein, 2025) is a physical 6-foot-1, 190-pound, right-handed hitter, that was on the barrel and showed a strong and fluid swing. He produced a max exit velocity of 89.6 mph and an average exit velocity of 84 mph. Defensively he showed steady actions with clean footwork and smooth hands paired with plenty of arm to stay on the left side of the diamond.

+ SS/RHP Nick Szalony (Mundelein, 2025) is a two-way prospect, listed at a lean, athletic 5-foot-10, 148-pounds. Szalony may have impressed the most on defense, where he showed clean footwork with soft hands and a quick release. During batting practice Szalony, a right-handed hitter showed an athletic swing with twitchy bat speed (70.3 mph average), also producing mid-80s exit velocities. Szalony also ran a 7.26 60-yard dash. Szalony then hopped on the mound and showed a four-pitch mix. His fastball consistently sat in the upper 70’s topping at 78.5 mph with some carry to it. Szalony showed two breaking balls with his slider playing like a slurve and living at the bottom of the zone, and a developing curveball with gradual break. Rounding out his mix was a changeup with downer action.


+ Standing at a long, 6-foot-2, 180-pounds, RHP/3B Bode Rohrbach (Libertyville, 2026), impressed at the plate. During batting practice he showed a relaxed and compact swing with the ability to control the barrel for the length of his levers. He showed a gap-to-gap approach and was on the barrel throughout his round. Rohrbach produced a max exit velocity of 87.4 mph. On the mound, he showed a quick arm out of a ¾ slot. His fastball sat 76-77 mph with feel for the zone and the ability to locate throughout. He mixed in a curveball that showed gradual break and the ability to land it in the zone, and a change-up with fading action and late depth.

+ LHP/1B Baris Brua (Mundelein, 2025) stands at 6-foot-5, 195-pounds. The left-handed hitter showed a clean and easy on-plane swing that produced a max exit velocity of 91 mph and a max distance of 328’. On the mound, he showed some quickness to his arm with a fastball that sat 76-79 mph, topping out at 80 mph working downhill with slight arm-side run. His curveball sat 69-71 mph with slight,11/5 break. Rounding out his three-pitch mix he showed a change-up that sat 69-71 mph with downer action and out-pitch characteristics. 

+ LHP/OF Owen Klosinski (Lakes Community, 2025) is a 5-foot-11, 165-pound, athletic and projectable left/left pitcher and outfielder. Kosinski showed well on the mound with a loose and quick arm. His fastball sat 78-82 mph with some sink and ride through the zone. His curveball showed a sharp 11/5 shape with feel for the zone, and his slider showed slurve actions. Rounding out his four-pitch mix he showed a change-up that plays similar to the fastball. During batting practice, Klosinski showed some twitch in his swing with an uphill path through the zone. He also ran the fastest 60 of the day with a 6.75.

+ LHP/OF Sean Sanderson (Mundelein, 2025) stands at an athletic and strong 6-foot, 185-pounds. He stood out on the mound with a fluid arm action out of a ¾ slot. His fastball sat 79-82 mph, topping out at 83 mph with carry through the zone. His slider sat 70-73 mph with slurve action that displayed some sharpness. Rounding out his arsenal, Sanderson threw a change-up with sinking action with feel for the zone. A left-handed hitter, he showed a fluid and easy swing with an uphill path that produced a max exit velocity of 90.2 mph and a max distance of 333’. He ran 6.96 in the 60-yard dash, the third best of the event.

+ RHP/INF Chase Lockwood (Libertyville, 2026) gave an upside look on the mound in front of our staff. Lockwood has a 6-foot-1, 155-pound frame with room to fill out. His delivery is low effort that pairs well with a loose and fluid arm action from a ¾ slot. Lockwood’s fastball had some feel for the top of the zone and a max spin rate of 2316 rpm, which was good for third-highest at the event. Lockwood displayed two different breaking balls with the curveball having 11/5 shape (T 2250 rpm) and a slider that had slight sweeping action and better feel for the zone (T 2292 rpm). He rounded out his pitch-mix with a changeup that flashed downer action. 

+ RHP Kenny Nanos (Mundelein, 2024) an uncommitted, 6-foot, 160-pound athletic frame impressed on the bump in this look. Nanos moved well on the mound with a whippy ¾ arm slot. His fastball had arm-side run and sat 81-83 mph, topping out at 84.4 mph. Nanos’ curveball showed big break and sharpness with 10/4 shape. His changeup was thrown with intent and showed depth. Nanos completed his repertoire with a cutter that plays true and showed out-pitch potential. 

+ Standing at a physically built 6-foot-1, 205-pounds, 1B Evan Larson (Warren Township, 2024) is an uncommitted soon-to-be senior that showed advanced bat strength at peak in BP. Larson paced all position players in peak exit velocity (96.6 mph) at this event and he consistently elevated the baseball (87.5%) throughout his round. 

+ Evan Niernberg (Mundelein, 2024) and Dylan Cran (Lake Forest, 2026) were two of the more polished defensive catchers of the day. Niernberg has a 6-foot-1, 185-pound, strong, well-proportioned frame, ran a 7.25 60 and recorded a low pop time of 2.05. Cran was highly-repeatable out of the crouch with natural catcher actions and was consistently on the bag at 74 mph out of the crouch and a low pop time of 2.08.

CLICK HERE for a look at the Slammers Scout Day event page.

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