Draft League Scouting Notes - June 29

Williamsport @ Trenton

+OFs Adan Fernandez (Nova Southeastern) and Ben Norman (Iowa) both went 3-for-4 with a home run and double to power Trenton past Williamsport, 6-3, on Tuesday. Fernandez’s homer, a 406-foot, 102-mph shot to left field, was his second in the past week and third this season, moving him into a first-place tie atop the Draft League leaderboard. All three of his hits had triple-digit exit velocities, as Fernandez also roped a 104.7-mph double and a 100.7-mph single in the contest.

Norman drove in three of Trenton’s runs, tallying an RBI double in the fifth inning and then connecting on his second Draft League homer (99 mph, 404 feet), a two-run shot to straightaway right field, in the seventh.   

+Trenton starter RHP Garrett Hawkins (University of British Columbia) struck out four in four innings, allowing just a pair of hits. He worked with a 92-94 mph fastball Tuesday and picked up three whiffs with his nasty, 83-85 mph splitter. After a lost 2021 season in Canada, Hawkins has pitched to a 2.62 ERA and 0.70 WHIP with a 32/2 K/BB over 24 innings (six starts) in the Draft League. 

+RHP Alex Mack (St. Thomas Aquinas, NY) fanned four over three innings while bumping 94.2 mph in relief of Hawkins. RHP Hayden Seig (St. Joseph’s) also ran his heater up to 94.2 during an 11-pitch eighth inning. RHP Logan VanWey (Missouri Southern) needed just 10 pitches as he shut the door in the ninth to earn the save. 

+INF Isaac Nunez (South Florida) was the Crosscutters’ offensive standout Tuesday, scoring two runs and hitting a 439-foot bomb to left-center field in a 1-for-3 performance. 

+Starter LHP Tyler Bosma, a Kentucky commit, paced Williamsport on the mound by striking out six over five solid frames. He allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits in the outing, walking one batter. The big southpaw produced mixed results with his 89-91 mph fastball, picking up four whiffs with the pitch but also allowing an 88.5-mph average exit velocity on 11 batted balls. Bosma fared far better with his curveball and changeup, netting six whiffs with each pitch. He recorded a 54.6% whiff rate as well as Tuesday’s top breaking-ball spin rate (3039 rpm) with the latter while throwing the pitch at a 32.6% clip. 

+RHP Dominic Hambley, an Oregon St. recruit, was up to 93.7 mph in the seventh inning, while RHP Ryan Velasquez (Alabama State) registered the day’s top pitch velocity (96.1 mph) in the eighth. 

Frederick @ West Virginia

+Five different Black Bears collected multiple hits Tuesday, four of whom went yard in the team’s 14-4 rout of Frederick. Leadoff hitter OF Garrett Spain (Austin Peay) ambushed the first pitch he saw from Keys starter Kamron Field for his second home run in as many games. The 404-foot shot was the second in as many games for the left-handed-hitting center fielder, who added a two-run single to finish 2-for-5 with three RBI. 

+1B/OF Ryan McCoy (Wabash Valley) unloaded on his second Draft League homer -- 105-mph, 417-foot two-run blast to dead center on an 87-mph changeup -- as West Virginia erupted for a nine-run third inning, scoring eight times with two outs. He did not make an out in the game, going 2-for-2 with a 100-mph triple and three walks from the cleanup spot. 

+OF/1B Grant Hussey, an 18-year-old West Virginia commit, hit the third of the Black Bears’ three consecutive doubles in the third inning and added a solo shot in the following frame for his third Draft League homer and second in the past three games. The 6-foot-3 left-handed hitter homered down the right-field line, hitting a 49-degree moonshot at 104 mph off the bat. He’s batting .303/.378/.591 with 11 extra-base hits though 16 games.

+Making his Draft League debut, OF Kyle Hess (Pittsburgh) laced a 99-mph double in his second at-bat and followed with a 95-mph, 375-foot two-run homer in his next trip to the plate to finish 2-for-5.

+INF Freylin Minyety, an Eastern Kentucky commit, plated three runs from the second spot in the lineup via a 98-mph double and a two-run single. He’s batting .329 through 22 games and ranks among the Draft League leaders with 28 hits (third) and nine doubles (tied-first). Toledo recruit SS Jeron Williams scored a team-high three runs from the bottom of the lineup, going 1-for-3 with two walks.

+West Virginia starter LHP Peyton Alford (Virginia Tech) struggled to control his fastball Tuesday, issuing five walks in three innings, but was still effective with the pitch, posting a 38.9% whiff rate while touching a season-best 93.4 mph and averaging 91.5 -- a full 1 mph better than his season average. He gave up three runs on two hits in the outing, fanning four. 

+LHP/OF Kevin Dowdell, also a WVU commit, also showed an uptick in velocity Tuesday. He also established a new season-high mark, hitting 92.8 mph, and averaged 1.4 mph more (90.5) on his heater than his 89.1-mph season average. He featured that velo while working multiple frames, too, striking out three in two innings. 

+Speaking of guys showing more velocity … RHP Michael Hobbs (Saint Mary’s) seems to be doing exactly that in every outing lately. He was up to a season-high 95.7 mph and registered nine whiffs on 22 pitches while striking out the side Tuesday. He notched one strikeout with a 93.5-mph fastball and the other two with his 84-85 mph, 2300+-spin slider.

+Keys starter RHP Kamron Fields (Texas Southern) sat 93.5 and was as high as 95.5 mph over 2.2 innings, striking out two. LHP Evan Taylor (Arkansas) notched a pair of strikeouts in the fifth while touching 94.4 mph. RHP Anthony DeFrancesco (Arizona Christian) worked a clean eighth inning and once again posted elite spin rates with both his fastball (2812 rpm) and slider (3028). 

+OF/RHP Mason Auer, an Oregon commit, was 1-for-2 with a 98-mph double and three walks from the top of the lineup. OF Paul Komistek (Cincinnati) hit a two-run single in the first inning and finished the game 2-for-5.

Mahoning Valley @ State College

+OF Nathan Church (UC Irvine) is slashing .364/.417/.682 in the Draft League after a 3-for-4 showing Tuesday that included his fifth double in 11 games since joining the Spikes. Church’s double left his bat at 100.1 mph, and he recorded exit velos of 96.7 and 102 mph on his other two hits, both singles. He’s reached base safely in nine straight games. Purdue commit OF Curtis Washington Jr. also collected multiple hits for State College, going 2-for-3 with an RBI single and his 10th stolen base. He put his tremendous speed on full display in the first inning when he scored from second base on a passed ball.

+Spikes starter RHP Louis Davenport (Eastern Kentucky) tossed five innings of two-run ball en route to his second Draft League win. Pitching off a 90-92 mph fastball, the right-hander posted whiff rates of 42.9% and 40% with his slider and curveball, respectively, spinning the former north of 2900 rpm.  

+Mahoning Valley starter RHP Deylen Miley (Bellarmine) got two quick outs in the first inning but scuffled the rest of the way, in part due to multiple defensive miscues by the Scrappers’ defense. He worked 3.2 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits and three walks while striking out four. Results aside, Miley once again featured an impressive fastball, picking up 10 whiffs with the pitch while bumping 94.4 mph and allowing an average exit velocity of 82.8 mph. 

+RHP Liam Eddy (Wichita St.) notched his only strikeout via an 83.3-mph, 2530-rpm slider while working a clean sixth inning. RHP Davis Feldman (Eastern Michigan) racked up three whiffs on as many swings with his 82-84 mph slider in the subsequent frame, striking out two while working around a single and a walk. 

+OF/1B Jason Hinchman (Tennessee Tech) and 3B Jarrod Belbin (Western Arizona) paced the Scrappers’ offense with two hits apiece. Hinchman scored two runs and was 2-for-3 with a pair of extra-base hits including a 98.7-mph double. Belbin finished 2-for-3 with an RBI single.