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By Chris Fuller
Director of Operations

It’s no secret how the recruiting process in baseball has sped up significantly over the last few years. All one needs to do is look at the 19 commitments from the Class of 2018 in the PBR database to make that point hit home. That being said, there are still quality players from this year’s graduating class, who for what could be a number of reasons, are still available.

Luke Yates is one of those guys.

Yates, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound RHP from Ravenwood High School, played a key role in helping lead the Raptors to the State Tournament last spring. Tomorrow, he will be attempting to lead them back to Murfreesboro as he takes the mound at home against Wilson Central in a Class AAA Sub-State game.

On April 22, PBR Middle Tennessee scout Jimmy Keane saw Yates in action. Below is the report he filed on him from that game.

4/22/15 - Luke Yates-Senior-(RHP)-shorter stature but well built.  Long arm swing and is a drop and drive type pitcher.  Sharp breaking ball and showed ability to throw it to both sides of the plate.  Fastball is mostly straight and did have some issues with elevation at times.  Gets a good shoulder tilt, but does let the front side drift towards the plate a little early on occasion.  Yates’ fastball sat 86-88 mph throughout his outing and his sharp curveball was 72-76 mph.

Teammate and Vanderbilt signee Bryce Denton has faced more than his share of high-level pitchers in participating in some of the top national events in the country. Denton had this to say about Yates.

“Luke is a bulldog on the mound,” he stated. He has won some big games for us, and he really has dominated teams all year, especially with his curveball. I’ve hit against him in intra-squad games and his curveball is very good. He struck out Alex Brewer (2016 Vandy commit) earlier in the season with it, and he told me after the game it was one of the best he had seen.”

Yates, who has a 3.8 grade point average and a 31 ACT score, says he has not yet decided on what his future in the game might be.

“I really haven’t decided if I am going to play next year or not,” Yates said. I really haven’t had a whole lot of interest this spring but I am open to talking to anyone at this point. I’m leaving all of my options open right now.”

In the meantime, Yates will be in a familiar place tomorrow evening, the pitcher’s mound at Ravenwood High School.