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Knights Scout Day Class of 2021

June 8, 2020
Walt Jones
PBR Louisiana

After a long layoff, baseball is back underway in the state of Louisiana. Players and coaches have been looking forward to this for a while and it was good to get back to baseball this past weekend. The Louisiana Knights held their opening weekend workouts and invited our staff over to take it all in. The Knights have multiple teams across the 14U through 18U age groups and we were able to get a solid look at them all over the course of the 4 day event. The organization is Louisiana based but represents several states throughout the southeast. 

We will continue our recap of the weekend by giving a quick report on several of their players. Today we will move forward with the 17U age group. The 2021 class within the Knights program is impressive. It's made up of 20+ commits from multiple states. The class is also full of quality uncommitted talent including many who are already on college recruiting radars.  Here are a few of their top 2021 prospects in the program. 

LOUISIANA KNIGHTS CLASS OF 2021

Zac Cassebonne - Jesuit HS

Currently ranked No. 40 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Solid catcher’s frame with a strong, physical build with visible strength throughout. Right-handed hitter with balanced, slightly open setup using a small leg lift to get to even. Compact, direct path with strength at contact. Maintains balance throughout the swing with quality bat speed and pull side power potential. Looked good in opening weekend workouts but had the opportunity to watch him workout with one of the hitting instructors where I was able to get a good look at who he really is. Impressive kid with big time work ethic. Flashed in game power on a homerun this past weekend. 

Josh Pearson - West Monroe HS - Louisiana State

Currently ranked No. 2 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Physical frame with a strong build. Left-handed hitter with balanced, slightly closed setup. Uses a smooth load, short stride and explosive lower half. Line-drive, gap to gap type hitter with fluid rhythm, up-hill path and explosive bat speed. Flashed big power potential during batting practice.

Gavin Schulz - Holy Cross HS - Louisiana-Lafayette

Currently ranked No. 16 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Athletic infield prospect that has shown high end defensive tools throughout his career. Right-handed hitter that hits from, a taller, balanced setup with a simple load into a balanced stroke. Line-drive type hitter with a simple, direct swing path and quality bat speed. Schulz continues to get stronger and it was evident in his round of BP where he consistently hit baseballs hard throughout his rounds. 

Brennan Holt - Parkview Baptist - Louisiana State 

Currently ranked No. 6 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Smaller frame infielder with an athletic build. Left-handed hitter hits from a taller, upright stance, simple load with a minimal movement. Has a short compact swing with solid strength. Line-drive approach with advanced hand-eye coordination. Put together a nice round of batting practice last weekend. 

Brennan McNair - Magee HS (MS) - South Alabama

Currently ranked No. 22 in Mississippi’s 2021 class. Physical right-handed hitting infielder that has really improved over the last year. We saw McNair last summer where he was impressive but his performance in last weekend’s workout shows that his best days are still in front of him. His round of BP turned every head in the building that night. Balanced setup with easy bat speed and power potential. 

Mason Zambo - Catholic HS - Louisiana-Lafayette

Currently ranked No. 16 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Left-handed hitter that hits from balanced, athletic setup, small load, and short stride. Level, on-plane path, creating leverage in swing with uphill finish and strength at contact. Frame continues to fill out and continues to tap into more of that big power potential. 

Brant Smith - Live Oak HS - Louisiana State

Currently ranked No. 7 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Left-handed hitter starting from relaxed and balanced setup. Smooth, simple swing with balance throughout the swing. Direct path and loose stroke, present pull side power that’s growing even more consistent. 

Josh Stevenson - St. Thomas More HS - Louisiana State

Currently ranked No. 5 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Left-handed hitter that hits from an athletic setup, smooth load, and short stride. Line-drive approach, consistently found the barrel in batting practice. Simple, direct path with feel for the barrel and the ability to hit to all fields. Also, had a chance to see him in live at bats vs. a couple of draft prospects a few weeks back. Really held his own showing feel for the strike zone and advanced hand-eye coordination. 

Baylor Cobb - Franklin Parish HS - Tulane

Currently ranked No. 12 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. The top catching prospect in the state. Left-handed hitter working from a wide, balanced setup, smooth load with a moderate leg kick. Starts and stays in a balanced, athletic positions throughout the swing. Gap-to-gap approach and goes after the baseball with intent. Slightly uphill path with strength at contact and  power potential. Continues to get better. Showed up early to get extra defensive work in. Receiving tool continues to progress as he’s really filled out his big, physical frame. 

Chan Welch - Holy Cross HS

Currently ranked No. 28 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Lean build with an athletic frame Right-handed pitcher using an athletic, repeatable delivery with bounce and lower effort. Fluid rhythm with medium arm action into a ¾ slot with deception. Has advanced feel to pitch, varies delivery with the ability to pause at the top and quick pitch with command. Advanced fastball command at 85-87 mph with feel for both the changeup and breaking ball with fastball arm speed while tunneling it well. In the mix of top uncommitted talent in the class. 

Gavin Leblanc - Iota HS

Currently ranked No. 26 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Projectable right-hander with an athletic, lean build. Athletic, in-line delivery with low effort. Medium arm action into high ¾ arm slot, hides the baseball well as he worked at 82-84 mph with fastball with above average command. Has shown advanced feel for breaking ball at 70-74 mph. Change up is coming along at 73-74 mph.

 

Solomon Riley - Dunham HS

Long, strong framed right-handed pitcher. Athletic, on-line delivery. Hide the baseball well as he works into a high-3/4 slot with deception. Worked 84-86 mph with late life on the fastball. Command was a little scattered at times. Showed solid feel for a changeup at 74-76 mph and a 68-69 mph curveball with downward bite.

 

Codi Williams - St. Michaels HS

Currently ranked No. 37 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Rangy, athletic frame with projection. Athletic left-handed hitter also looked good in live at-bats hitting from a taller, balanced stance, using a toe tap load into a twitchy swing with advanced bat speed.

Ethan Alston - St. Thomas Aquinas HS - Tulane 

Currently ranked No. 33 in Louisiana’s 2021 class.  Athletic frame with a physical build. Right-handed hitter hits from tall, athletic setup using quiet movements to get into a strong hitting position. Line-drive type approach with short, slightly uphill path. Flashes quality bat speed and sneaky pull side pop.

Kameron Edwards - Barbe HS

Currently ranked No. 29 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Athletic frame with a projectable build. Left-handed hitter that hits from an upright, balanced setup. Smooth leg lift load, short strider with a compact swing with looseness. Line drive type hitter with feel for the barrel and sprays it around from line to line while flashing sneaky strength to the pull side. 

Kyle Debarge - Barbe HS - Louisiana-Lafayette

Currently ranked No. 18 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Smaller framed with athletic build and bouncy actions. Right-handed hitter hits from balanced, athletic setup with a smooth load, short stride, and balance throughout the swing. Simple, low-effort swing with flat, on-plane path that plays in-game. Line-drive, gap-to-gap approach with the ability to run one out of the yard to the pull side on occasion. Swings with intent and feel to make adjustments in plus or minus counts. Shows advanced baseball instincts as we’ve come to expect from Barbe products. 

Josh Orr - Holy Cross HS

Currently ranked No. 91 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Wiry framed strike thrower with a smooth, on-line delivery with an athletic finish. Shorter, compact arm action into a high-¾ slot. Pitched at 82-84 mph working down in the zone with arm side sink and above average command of the fastball. The breaking ball shows solid spin and depth with downward bite at 71-72 mph. Also has advanced feel for his changeup at 77-78 mph with deception.

Addison Ainsworth - Catholic HS (BR)

Currently ranked No. 62 in Louisiana’s 2021 class. Physical framed outfielder with an athletic build. Left-handed hitter that has shown a strong hit tool over the years. Our last look at him was last fall where he showed everything you would want to see. Flashed a pull side homer early on then sprayed the baseball around the field and flashed a solid run tool on a couple of extra base hits. Looks to have made progressions heading into this summer as he stood in there and put together quality at-bats during live action. Was really good both in batting practice and in live at-bats last weekend. 

Grant Landry - Iota HS

Solid frame with athletic build. Athletic delivery, on-line with short, compact arm action, clean, high ¾ arm slot with good arm speed. More intent than effort, working downhill and creating good angle. Solid life and finish on fastball with some arm-side run, working 81-85 mph. Changeup is best present secondary pitch. Creates deception and shows solid feel for the pitch with good late fade at 65-69 mph. Curveball is a developing pitch, showed ability to spin the baseball with ok depth, used it to backfoot a right-handed hitter at 65-68 mph.

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