High School Crosscheck: April 19-24

High school baseball is nearly 100 percent back with New Jersey’s regular season kicking off last week and North Carolina and Virginia starting up this week--which is funny and weird considering Florida and Georgia start playoffs this week. Alas, that’s life as we know it currently.

We also know that the Garden State is home to a stable of big arms that could be popped in the early rounds of the 2021 MLB Draft. T.J. Hunt, our scouting director in New Jersey, got to see a few of them in action and filed these reports…

+ LHP Anthony Solometo (Bishop Eustace Prep, NJ), a North Carolina recruit, tossed a shutout in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Friday, striking out 11 and allowing just one hit over seven innings. He carried a no-hitter until two outs in the seventh. One batter reached on an error and two were hit by a pitch. Solometo has a wiry-strong frame at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds. He was consistently 92-93 throughout the appearance with heavy arm-side run from a 3/4 slot. He mixed in a hard, late-breaking slider at 81-82 and a fading changeup as well. He is uniquely funky in his delivery, which elicits comparisons to Madison Bumgarner’s arm swing and MacKenzie Gore’s high leg kick. It was a walk in the park for Solometo, who pitched with low effort and produced mostly soft contact when he was striking guys out.