Prep Baseball Report

Draft League Scouting Notes - June 17


Mike Rosenbaum / Tad Slowik
Senior Prospect Analyst / Special Assistant, Scouting Operations

State College @ Mahoning Valley

Two of the more interesting Draft League pitching prospects squared off Thursday with State College RHP Joe Miceli (Bergen CC) going up against Scrappers RHP Deylen Miley (Bellarmine). Neither hurler was at his best, and together they allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings, but the pure stuff was still plenty good, with both hurlers flashing a deep arsenal in their respective outings.  

Miceli relied heavily on his fastball, throwing it at an 81.7% clip over 3.2 innings. His heater sat 90-93 mph with late tail and some sinking action that netted him five whiffs and 14 foul balls. He recorded two whiffs on three swings with his 75-77 mph curveball, spinning it as high as 2953 rpm, and he also mixed in a slider (T2849 rpm) along with a 75-77 mph changeup to give hitters a different look. And while he wasn’t as sharp Thursday as he’d been in previous starts, Miceli did effectively navigate his way through several jams, competing well against a strong Scrappers offense. 

After dominating in his first two Draft League outings -- he struck out nine in four two-hit innings in his previous start -- Miley surrendered three first-inning runs and ran up his pitch count early, ultimately working just 2.2 frames. He allowed four hits and walks apiece in the outing, striking out three. Similar to Miceli, Miley impressed with his stuff in spite of the underwhelming bottom-line results. He sat 92-94 mph with late tail and sinking action on his fastball that improved as the game went on. Miley also snapped off some nasty 83-86 mph breaking balls with hard, sharp downer bite that give it out-pitch potential at the next level. He recorded the day’s top breaking-ball spin rate, too, throwing his slider up to 3031 rpm, and recorded a pair of whiffs with his 84-85 mph changeup. 

RHP Blake Seigler (USC-Aiken) posted above-average spin rates with his slider (T2769 rpm) and his 91-93 mph fastball (T2527) while tossing 1.1 scoreless frames in relief of Miceli. LHP Beau Balado (Nicholls St.) covered the next two innings, striking out three without allowing a hit. He operated at 88-90 mph, mixing his fastball with a cutter, a split-changeup and a curveball. LSU commit RHP Jason Bollman (Wabash Valley) recorded the final two outs for the Spikes, sitting 92-93 mph with sink and a late-breaking, 79-80 mph slider. 

RHP Andrew Hoffman (Illinois) opened eyes by missing several bats with each of his three pitches as he struck out three over two scoreless innings out of the Scrappers’ pen. His 90-93 mph fastball gets on hitters quickly because he hides the ball well and effectively pitches to both sides of the plate. His 82-83 mph slider has tight spin and the type of late diving action that could make it an out-pitch for him at the next level. Hoffman induced five whiffs on eight swings with the pitch Thursday and picked up another two whiffs with his 82-83 mph fading changeup, throwing the latter mostly against left-handed hitters. RHP Jacob DeLabio (Carthage) pitched the final two frames for the Spikes to earn his first Draft League win. He featured his usual 93-94 mph fastball/swing-and-miss slider combo, posting 2400-2500+ spin rates with both pitches. He punched out two on the night, increasing his Draft League-leading strikeout total to 33 in 16.2 innings (17.8 K/9). 

1B Dan Harwood (Butler) hit a two-run single in the fourth inning and finished with a team-high three RBI, and OF Sam Crail’s (Saint Leo) go-ahead two-run double (100-mph exit velo) capped a four-run eighth inning in the Scrappers’ 10-8 win. UTL Buck Anderson (Cerritos College) scored two runs and went 2-for-4 with an RBI from the eight-spot in the lineup. OF/1B Jason Hinchman (Tennessee Tech) also scored two runs, tallying a 104.3-mph single -- he also had a 101.6-mph groundout -- and three walks to reach base four times.

Spikes OF Nathan Church (UC Irvine) unloaded on his first Draft League homer, launching a three-run shot 403.8 feet at 100 mph in the fourth inning. He also tallied a double in the contest to finish 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Walters St. CC products SS Lukas Cook and C Matthew Ellis hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the first inning and both finished 2-for-4. Ellis hit his double at 106.3 mph off the bat, one of three triple-digit exit velocities he recorded in the game. Purdue commit OF Curtis Washington Jr. was 2-for-4 with a double and scored a pair of runs.

Frederick @ Williamsport

Williamsport starter RHP Chase Costello (Stetson) furthered his reputation as quite possibly the best starting-pitching prospect in the Draft League Thursday by posting five innings of three-hit ball against the Keys. Costello struck out the side in order on 12 pitches in the first inning and punched out five batters on the night while walking three. He sat comfortably at 91-93 mph and kept hitters off-balance by effectively mixing his heater with a slider, curveball and changeup. The latter, an 83-86 mph offering with late sink and fading action, is among the best in Draft League, and Costello posted a 50% whiff rate with it on Thursday night. LHP Jacob Smith (Wallace Hanceville) recorded five of his six outs via the strikeout and ran his fastball up to 90.9 mph while completing two scoreless frames out of the pen. 

OF Lance Logsdon (Quincy) and UTL Trey Steffler (Missouri Baptist) both drove in two runs and went 1-for-3 to pace the offense. Steffler plated a run with a single and another via a bases-loaded walk, while Logsdon delivered a two-run single during the Crosscutters’ five-run sixth. Logsdon and OF Dakota Kotowski (Missouri State) scored two runs each, with the latter finishing 1-for-3 with an RBI double.

Frederick’s pitchers may have recorded more walks (nine) than strikeouts (eight) on Thursday, but there was some serious arm strength on display from start to finish. Starter RHP Kamron Fields (Texas Southern) topped out at 96.1 mph and averaged 93.5 on his heater over four innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He got several whiffs with his slider/cutter, too, throwing the 86-89 mph offering with late glove-side bite. RHP Luis Guerrero (Chipola) bested Fields by touching 96.2 mph while averaging 94.2 over 2.1 frames. He racked up 10 whiffs with his fastball (62.5% whiff rate) en route to five strikeouts on the night. 

SS Yareb Martinez (Georgetown) accounted for half of the Keys’ total hits in the game with a 3-for-4 performance. OFs Mason Auer, an Oregon commit, and Paul Komistek (Cincinnati) produced exit velocities of 99 and 94 mph on their respective doubles. 

Trenton @ West Virginia

Four different West Virginia starters collected multiple hits and all but one finished with at least one knock in the Black Bears’ 7-3 win over Trenton. 3B Kaeber Rog (Eastern Florida State) posted the day’s second-best exit velocity (105.4 mph) in his second straight multihit game, going 2-for-4 with a walk. OF/1B Grant Hussey (Parkersburg South) scored two runs and paced the offense with a 3-for-5 performance. MIF Eli Hammill (Holy Trinity HS) went 2-for-3 with two RBI from the bottom of the lineup, while C Tucker Mitchell (State College of Florida) finished 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI from the leadoff spot. 

Starter RHP JP Massey (Minnesota) showcased several power pitches -- fastball (T94.4 mph), cutter (T92.3) and slider (T91) -- while fanning three over two innings. LHP Peyton Alford (Virginia Tech) struck out five and yielded only one hit over the next three frames. He induced nine whiffs on 17 swings (52.9% whiff rate) with his 91-92 mph fastball and picked up a few more using his low-80s changeup. RHP Zach Bravo (Lamar) featured a 92-93 mph fastball as he scattered three hits over three innings, striking out three. RHP Madison Jeffrey (West Virginia) struck out a pair of batters and ran his heater up to 96.3 mph (Thursday’s top velocity) in the ninth to seal the win.

Trenton starter RHP Jack Carey (Duke) recorded a 63.6% whiff rate with his curveball, spinning the 78-80 mph offering as high as 2976 rpm in his Draft League debut. He recorded two strikeouts with the breaking ball and another three with his 91-93 mph heater while allowing two runs on five hits in four innings. RHP Josh Loeschorn (Long Island) worked two innings out of the bullpen, touching 92.8 mph with a good changeup. RHPs Logan VanWey (Missouri Southern) and Joe Sprake (Elon) were up to 93.5 and 95.9, respectively. 1B/3B TJ Rumfield (Virginia Tech) was the lone Trenton player to collect multiple hits, going 3-for-5 with an RBI single in the loss.   

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