Sean McGrath
Scouting Director, New Jersey

Name: William Karp 
High School: Hopewell Valley High School
Position: C/MIF

The Buzz

William Karp had a very interest day full of baseball. The 5-foot-9 athlete proved his versatility in his personal day-night doubleheader. Karp played a 10:00 AM ball game with his travel organization, Diamond Jacks Super 17, in the Super 17 Invitational, and played a 5:45 PM game with Hopewell Legion. Karp combined to reach base in 7 of his 8 at-bats, going 5 for 6 with two walks.

Scouting Report

Karp is in very high academic standing which broadens his possibilities of playing at the next level. Offensively, he has a very simple, yet advanced approach in which he consistently drives pitches where they are pitched. He is not afraid to allow the ball to get deep and go the other way. This is not a trait seen in many high school hitters. He has a short, compact swing and makes consistent hard contact. He is a good runner with good instincts on the base paths.

Defensively, Karp is very versatile and projects to be a very quality “super utility” type. His best defensive skill, whether it be behind the plate in a Super 17 game or at shortstop in a Hopewell legion game, is his ability to transfer and release. His transfer and release speed is above average allowing his average arm strength to play up. Behind the dish, he showed a 2.03 pop time on a caught stealing and was consistently around 1.97-2.03 between innings. He is very accurate with his throws down to second. He is very instinctual at shortstop and gets a good jump to groundballs. He made some very tough plays to the 5/6 hole, transferring the ball quickly from his backhand. Karp is the type of player who you like more as you see him more. Playing doubleheaders for two quality clubs will certainly allow coaches to see him often, at two premium positions.