Draft League Scouting Notes - June 30 - July 5

Frederick

+SS Zach Dezenzo (21) recorded two of the Keys’ four hits against West Virginia on Wednesday night, and both were absolute rockets. The 6-foot-4 right-handed hitter connected on his fourth Draft League homer in the third inning, smashing a 91-mph, 3-0 fastball 423 feet at 106 mph off the bat over the wall in right-center field. He later added a 104-mph double to the opposite field off of a 96.5-mph Madison Jeffrey fastball.

After a rainout on Thursday, Dezenzo picked up where he’d left off by smashing a pair of home runs to power the Keys past Trenton, 10-9, on Friday. His first homer, a 106.5-mph, two-run shot, traveled 447 feet to left-center field -- the Draft League’s fourth-longest home run this season -- and he laced a 110-mph solo shot in his next trip to the plate. He went on to plate runs via a sacrifice fly and a groundout to finish with five RBI. 

Dezenzo recorded yet another triple-digit exit velo on Sunday, going 1-for-4 with a 100-mph single, then delivered a 108-mph, bases-clearing double Monday in a four-RBI performance. Overall, he’s batting .339/.387/.732 with six homers, four doubles and 18 RBI through 14 games.

+LHP Ronan Kopp (18) battled control issues and had some shaky defense behind him Saturday against the Thunder, but the 6-foot-7 southpaw still completed four frames, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits and six walks while striking out two. Kopp generated seven whiffs with his big fastball, reaching 95.2 mph and averaging 93.2 in the outing, and threw his slider at 21.1% clip with little success. Kopp is leading the Draft League with 45 strikeouts and 30 walks, totals he’s posted in just 24.2 innings (16.4 K/9, 11.0 BB/9) while pitching to a 1.46 ERA and .148 BAA.  

+OF/RHP Mason Auer (20), an Oregon recruit, had his loud tools on full display on the Fourth of July as he went 1-for-2 with two walks and a game-tying single in the seventh inning before taking the mound and nailing down his second save in the ninth. He tossed a perfect frame, striking out the final batter of the game with an explosive 94.9-mph heater. Back in the starting lineup on Monday, Auer went 2-for-4 with a 100-mph double and a 102-mph single. 

+RHP Will Stevens’ (19) outings continue to parallel Kopp’s in the sense that he the big right-hander flashes big league-caliber stuff, running his fastball up to 97-98 with elite spin rates on the pitch as well as both his curveball and slider, albeit with suspect control. RHP Dylan Tebrake (21) has emerged as a rising bullpen arm in the Draft League. He impressed in multiple outings last week, touching 95.6 mph with his fastball and complementing it with a pair of high-spin, swing-and-miss pitches in his slider and curveball.   

+LHP Shane Barringer (23) spun five innings of two-run (one earned) ball Sunday in his finest Draft League performance to date. The 6-foot-5 southpaw struck out four Crosscutters on the day, scattering five hits and two walks. He posted a 25% whiff rate with his heater, reaching 93.1 and sitting 91 mph, and picked up two more whiffs apiece with his changeup and curveball, throwing the two secondary pitches evenly in the start.  

+C Zac Fascia (23) was 2-for-3 with two runs scored from the bottom of the lineup on Friday and picked up three more hits including a 104-mph, two-run double and an RBI single in the Keys’ victory over Williamsport on Monday. A left-handed hitter, Fascia ranks among the Draft League leaders in both contact and chase rate. He struck out for the first time this season on Monday, in his 35th at-bat, before finishing 3-for-5. 

+OF Paul Komistek smashed a two-run home run (100 mph exit speed, 403 feet) on Friday as part of a 2-for-4 performance. INF Kevin Jimenez (22) has been one of the Keys’ more consistent hitters of late, recording multiple hits in two of his past three games. He paced the Keys out of the leadoff spot Monday, going 3-for-5 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. 

Mahoning Valley

+LHP Jimmy Burnette (22) cruised through the first four innings in his most recent start, racking up eight strikeouts along the way, before running out of steam in the fifth. He allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, though both runs scored after Burnette had departed the game. The southpaw showed feel for all three of his pitches in the outing, picking up whiffs with his fastball (4), slider (3) and changeup (6). He has a 3.09 ERA in 23.1 innings and is tied for second in the Draft League with 44 strikeouts. 

+RHP Jacob DeLabio (23) has looked the part of a pro ball pitcher since his first very first outing in the Draft League. Now 20 appearances into his season, the right-hander has put up a 0.90 WHIP and 42/5 K/BB in 23.2 innings and continues to show the type of stuff to support those eye-popping numbers. He was at his best Sunday night against the Black Bears as he struck out two batters during a clean frame in which he was up to 96 mph and 2600+ spin -- despite pitching on back-to-back nights. 

+1B Dan Harwood (23) and OF Bobby Sparling (21) continue to be run-producing forces for the Scrappers. Harwood was 2-for-5 with a double, a 99-mph single and three RBI last Wednesday and turned another multihit performance Monday, lacing a 101-mph triple in a 2-for-5, two-RBI effort. Sparling put Mahoning Valley on the board Monday with his second homer of the season, a 402-foot, two-run moonshot with a 40-degree launch angle. He’s batting .342 through 30 games and leads the Draft League in hits (38), total bases (55) and RBI (29).  

+RHP Deylen Miley (23) bounced back from a few inconsistent starts to spin five two-hit innings against a red-hot West Virginia offense on Sunday night. He struck out three and walked two in the scoreless outing while picking up four whiffs apiece with his 92-94 mph fastball and power slider at 82-85. 

+LHP Garrett Schoenle (23) was sharp against the Black Bears on Saturday, working 4.1 one-run frames in which he scattered four hits and fanned five. The southpaw picked up 14 of his 15 whiffs using either his fastball or changeup, throwing the former (10 whiffs) up to 93.6 mph and the changeup at 79-80. West Virginia’s hitters, meanwhile, put Schoenle’s fastball in play 11 times with a 74.9-mph average exit velocity. 

State College

+RHP Andrew Moore (21) ran his fastball up to 97.3 mph last Wednesday and then touched 98.2 on Sunday, just shy of his 98.7-mph season-best mark. He struck out six over three perfect innings in the former outing and punched out five in three-one hit frames to close out the week, accruing 10 whiffs with his heater between the two outings. 

+OF Nathan Church (20) collected half of the Spikes’ hits on Sunday, when he was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. He served as the driving force again Monday, going 2-for-5 with his fourth Draft League homer -- a three-run, opposite-field rope -- and a game-tying single in the ninth. The left-handed-hitting outfielder has done nothing but mash since entering the league, producing a .344/.400/.625 line with 10 extra-base hits and 16 RBIs in his first 16 contests.  

+RHP Joe Miceli (20) turned in arguably his strongest start on July 1 against Mahoning Valley despite recording only six whiffs on 75 pitches and posting an 8.6% CSW with his 89-91 mph fastball (35 pitches). He showed better pitchability than previous outings, throwing quality strikes with his curveball (30.8% CSW), changeup (26.3%) and slider (25%) en route to his first Draft League win. He allowed two runs on six hits in five innings, striking out one and walking two. 

+3B Damiano Palmegiani (21), an Arizona signee, collected a team-high three hits including a double in Monday’s victory to improve his season slash line to .319/.421/.468 through 16 games. 3B Kevin Karstetter (19) started and ended the Spikes’ scoring Monday, hitting his first Draft League homer in the fourth inning, a 395-foot solo shot, and then delivering a walk-off single in the ninth. He’s tallied four hits in as many games. 

+RHP Blake Seigler (23) struck out four batters in a single inning on Saturday while recording a perfect 100% whiff rate with his plus slider (six swings/six whiffs). He’s posted an absurd 65.8% whiff rate and a 57.6% CSW with the pitch this season, averaging 84 mph with 12+ inches of horizontal break. RHP Austin Cheeley (21) fanned four in two hitless frames on Friday. He operated at 92-94 mph with a sub-1000-rpm changeup that netted him several whiffs.

+1B Marques Paige (23) has cleared the center-field batters’ eye with three of his four home runs after blasting a 104-mph, 426-foot shot Wednesday in State College’s loss to West Virginia. He also reached via a pair of walks and scored three runs in the contest, finishing 1-for-3 with two RBI, and followed the performance with multihit efforts on both Saturday (2-for-3, RBI) and Monday (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R).

Trenton

+Few hitters in recent weeks have barreled the ball as consistently as SS Carson Matthews (21), a .338/.436/.631 hitter with 17 RBI for the Thunder through 21 games. He’s gone 7-for-19 with a homer, a triple and 10 RBI in his last five games, showing pop to go along with natural hitting ability from the right side of the plate.  

+3B TJ Rumfield (21) hit a two-run homer, his first long ball this season, in Trenton’s tie against the Crosscutters on Wednesday. C John Cristino (21) entered the home run column in style Monday by hitting the longest (420 feet) of Trenton’s four home runs against the Spikes. INF Daryl Myers (23) also went deep in the contest, his second this season. He came off the bench in the sixth inning to deliver a pinch-hit, 404-foot solo shot that left his bat at 99 mph. 

+OF Jordan Hollins’ (24) power from line to line is legit. He’s up to five home runs in the Draft League after hitting a 40-degree moonshot over the weekend and a two-run shot down the right-field line in Monday’s loss to State College. He drove in three runs from the bottom of the lineup, going 3-for-4 to improve his season line to .282/.436/.615 through 31 games. He’s second in the circuit in homers and ranks third in total bases (48) -- a product of his 12 extra-base hits. 3B Daniel Harris IV (21), C Andrew Cossetti (21) and OF Ben Norman (23) each hit a pair of doubles and collectively drove in five runs in Sunday’s win over the spikes.

+RHP Chris Jefferson (24) followed up five hitless innings in his last start by tossing five innings of one-run ball with five punchouts Monday against the Spikes. He scattered five hits including a home run and did not issue a walk. Jefferson used his Draft League-best changeup to record four strikeouts and, overall, registered a 46.7% whiff rate with the pitch while throwing it at a 40.9% clip.   

+RHP Dylan Heid (23) was hit around for the first time this season Friday, as the Keys tagged the right-hander for nine runs on 10 hits, three of which left the park. While the results were a sharp deviation from Heid’s prior outings, he did once again operate with a slight uptick in velocity, averaging 91.4 and touching 94.4 mph with his swing-and-miss fastball, and also missed several bats with his low-80s slider. 

+RHP JP Williams allowed one run on two hits in four innings Sunday, striking out four. Pitching off of his late-moving 90-92 fastball, Williams racked up 10 of his 13 whiffs with his secondaries. He was particularly effective with his 81-84 mph changeup, picking up six whiffs despite only throwing the pitch 12 times in the outing. He’s pitched to a 1.67 ERA and 24/7 K/BB in 27 innings on the season.    

West Virginia

+LHP Mitch Bratt (18), a Florida State commit, took the mound in front of a drove of scouts on Friday and struck out six in four innings, allowing one run on four hits and three walks. He issued two walks in the first inning but showed poise beyond his years by recording a pair of swinging strikeouts with his changeup to escape a bases-loaded jam. The teenage southpaw was in total control after that, picking up whiffs with his ever-improving, 2400-plus-spin breaking ball while continuing to pitch with more velocity. Bratt reached a season-high 93.5 mph in the outing and sat 90.5, more than a full 1.0 mph above his season-average velo up to that point. It was exactly the type of Draft stock-boosting performance that scouts were looking for from Bratt, and don’t be surprised if he’s the first Draft League player to hear his name called next week.  

+OF Garrett Spain (20) continued his recent hot streak Friday with a monster performance from the leadoff spot, going 5-for-6 with four doubles, three runs scored and five RBI. After hitting a 60-mph double, an 88.-3-mph double and laying down a bunt single in his first three trips to the plate, the left-handed hitter tacked on two more doubles at 99.5 and 98.1 mph before grounding out at 102.7 mph off the bat in his sixth at-bat. He was the lone Black Bears player to tally multiple hits Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a 106-mph double off a 92-mph Deylin Miley fastball. He continued to impact the ball Monday, hitting a 99-mph double and a 97-mph single in a 2-for-4, two-RBI showing.

+OF/1B Ryan McCoy (19), a left-handed hitter, pushed his Draft League home run total up to three on Wednesday via a 428-foot, 105-mph blast that hit the facing of West Virginia’s scoreboard in left-center field. He also fanned three times in the contest as well as in two other games last week before erupting with a three-extra-base-hit, four-RBI performance on Monday. He led off the game with a 105-mph triple and went on to add a pair of two-RBI doubles, including one at 101 mph. 

+OF/C Paul McIntosh (23) has been scorching the ball after returning from a minor injury. After lacing a 107-mph single last Wednesday and a 113-mph double on Sunday, McIntosh broke out in earnest Monday with a 2-for-3, five-RBI performance in West Virginia’s 20-6 rout of Mahoning Valley. After driving in a pair via a 92-mph double in his second plate appearance, McIntosh added a 104-mph RBI single in the sixth inning before unloading on a 406-foot solo shot, his first this season, in the eighth. 

+RHP Kobe Robinson (20) ended his stay in the Draft League on the highest note possible by touching 99 mph while striking out the side on 13 pitches last Wednesday in his final appearance. RHP Madison Jeffrey (21) followed Robinson on the mound by touching 96.7 mph during a perfect ninth and posted another scoreless frame over the weekend. RHP Patrick Pridgen (22) racked up four strikeouts in three innings while working a pair of scoreless outings out of the ‘pen, striking out four in three innings overall. RHPs Trevor Tietz (20) and Zach Ottinger (21) also turned in two scoreless appearances apiece along the way.  

+OF Kyle Hess (20) has shown a knack for making hard contact to go along with above-average speed on the basepaths during his short time in the Draft League. He went 1-for-4 with a 101.8-mph triple on Wednesday and then recorded three 102-mph hits including another triple on Saturday in a 3-for-5, three-RBI performance. 

+LHP/OF Kevin Dowdell (21) went oppo for his second Draft League homer, hitting a two-run shot 373 feet at 98 mph on Friday night. He took the mound Monday to showcase his best velocity so far this season, sitting 91.7 and touching 93.9 mph over two innings out of the Black Bears’ bullpen. SS Jeron Williams (20) also had a big game Monday, going 3-for-5 with a walk and five runs scored from the bottom of the lineup. 

+RHP Lane Flamm (21) piled up eight strikeouts and permitted just three hits in six scoreless innings against the Scrappers on Sunday night as he lowered his Draft League ERA to 0.52 through 17.1 innings. The eight-strikeout performance was Flamm’s second in three starts. He picked up half of his strikeouts with his 92-93 mph fastball, posting a 28.6% CSW while throwing it at a near-50% clip on the night. Flamm logged eight of his 14 whiffs with his secondaries, notching three strikeouts with his slider and another via his curve.  

Williamsport

+RHP Chase Costello (21) has scuffled some in his past two turns, as he allowed four runs (three earned) in three innings last Wednesday before getting tagged for six runs on seven hits and three walks in 1.2 innings against the Keys on Monday. The good news is that, aside from some control issues, Costello’s stuff has remained strong, with the right-hander showing scouts everything they’d like to see ahead of the MLB Draft. He sat 93 and was up to 94 mph and posted a 53.8% CSW with his slider in Monday’s abbreviated outing.

+Not enough folks are talking about RHP Troy Taylor (19) -- the right-hander dominated a potent Scrappers lineup on Saturday, firing five innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts. Taylor holds his 94-95 mph velocity as well as any hurler in the Draft League and was still popping some 95s as late as the fifth inning in his most recent turn. He totaled 10 whiffs and had 17 foul balls against his heater versus the Scrappers in the season-best start. 

+C/OF Rob Marinec has hit safely in four of his past five contests, a stretch during which he’s tallied a home run (100 mph exit speed) and three doubles (101, 96 and 93 mph). 1B Lance Logsdon (21) is pacing the Crosscutters with a .347 average and has also hit safely in four of his past five contests. OF Dakota Kotowski (21) has recorded knocks in three of his past four contests, including a pair of multihit efforts.

+OF/RHP Sean Ross’ (23) first Draft League homer -- a 95-mph, 365-foot two-run shot to left field -- was the Crosscutters’ lone extra-base hit in Monday’s loss to Frederick. He finished with multiple hits for the second time in his past four games, going 2-for-4 from the eight-spot in the lineup.