The Rode Show: Jupiter Day 1
October 19, 2017
Prep Baseball Report’s national scouting staff is in Jupiter, FL, for the 2017 World Wood Bat Championship. Executive Director Sean Duncan, National Crosschecker Shooter Hunt and National Supervisor Nathan Rode are posting separate notebooks with information on what they saw each day. To see all content from Jupiter, click here.
JUPITER, FL—The first day of the World Wood Bat Championship was capped off with some strong pitching in the final time slot, which included FTB/Giants Scout Team sending RHPs Jack Anderson (Jesuit HS, FL) and Franco Aleman (Alonso HS, FL) to the hill. Anderson pitched three innings, allowing just one run on just two hits and a walk while striking out four. The lone blemish came on a home run off the bat of 2021 1B Blaze Jordan (DeSoto Central HS, MS), who went down and got a curveball. OF Isaiah Thomas (The Benjamin School, FL) nearly robbed Jordan with a spectacular catch over the wall, but it went off his glove. Aleman logged two innings of relief and allowed two hits while striking out four.
Anderson sat 89-92 mph early, settling in at 89-90, with finish to his fastball. It comes out of his hand well and gets on hitters quickly, causing a lot of swings and misses. He also has a wipeout slider at 77-80 and flashed a breaking ball with more depth at 76. He is committed to Florida State. Aleman, a Florida International recruit, has a tall, long frame at 6-foot-6, 200 pounds and comes through a high-3/4 slot with a long arm action. His fastball has above-average arm-side life and ranges from 87-92, sitting mostly 89-90. He also showed the ability to spin a curveball that was sharp at times at 75-77. It flashed 11/5 shape and depth.
Here are some more highlights from Thursday’s action…