By Chris Fuller
Kentucky Scouting Director

Some very talented players in the Class of 2013, 2014 and 2015 from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had an opportunity to showcase their abilities at the Northern KY/Cincinnati Prospect ID Showcase on December 30. Today we breakdown the top infield prospects from the showcase.

Jason Suchanek, SS/OF, Class of 2014, Beechwood HS
Suchanek is a 5-foot-9, 165-pound SS/OF with an athletic frame and strong legs.  He shows good hands and lateral movement in the infield.  He shows a strong arm with short arm action that registered at 84 mph across the infield.  He shows good arm strength from the outfield as well at 85 mph with a clean exchange.  At the plate, Suchanek hits from a balanced, athletic setup and uses a leg kick to trigger his swing.  He has a short, quick swing with a line drive swing path and the potential for gap to gap power with more consistent lower half torque in his swing.  He had an exit velocity off the tee at 85 mph and had the second fastest home to first time of the event at 4.26.

Seth Murphy, SS, Class of 2015, Garrard County HS
Murphy, who was also featured as one of the top pitchers at the event, had the best velocity across the infield.  His throws registered at 86 mph with long arm action.  He has good lateral movement and needs to continue to work on footwork and hands to maximize his potential at the SS position.  At the plate, Murphy shows a balanced setup with a short stride.  He gets good lower half involvement in his swing that helps generate bat speed through the zone but needs to be careful of barring in his load which creates a long swing path.  Murphy registered an 81 mph exit velocity off the tee and had the fastest home to first time of the event at 4.20.

Connor O’Neil, 3B, Class of 2015, Lexington Catholic HS
O’Neil is a 5-foot-11, 175-pound 3B with an athletic build.  He shows fluid footwork and lateral movement in the infield with soft hands.  He has a quick exchange and short to medium arm action that registered throws of 73 mph across the infield.  At the plate, O’Neil hits from a balanced setup with a shoulder level hand trigger.  He shows good balance and uses his lower half well to generate good bat speed through the zone.  O’Neil took one of the most impressive rounds of batting practice of the day, barreling up everything and spraying line drives all over the cage.  He registered an exit velocity of 78 mph and a home to first time of 4.35.

Jeremy Downs, SS/OF, Class of 2014, Ryle HS
Downs is a 5-foot-9, 150-pound SS/OF with an athletic frame.  He displays fluid footwork in the infield with a quick, clean exchange and registered throws of 77 mph across the infield.  He showed well in the outfield as well, playing through the ball with a clean exchange and throws registering at 82 mph.  At the plate, Downs hits from a balanced setup with a long stride.  He showed the ability to hit the ball to the opposite field well.  He registered an exit velocity of 77 mph and a home to first time of 4.33.