Prep Baseball Report

Knoxville Central 2016 RHP Alex Haynes Drawing Big Interest



By Chris Fuller
Director of Operationshaynes

By now, it’s no secret the performance Knoxville Central right-hander Alex Haynes turned in at Saturday’s East Tennessee College Prospect Showcase in Knoxville.  The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Haynes lit up the gun at 90 mph on his first pitch of the day, and it only got better from there.

Every fastball Haynes threw in his bullpen session sat 90-91 mph, and he impressed with an 86-87 mph cutter that was downright nasty.  He complemented the fastball and cutter with a hard sinker at 84-85 mph and a 73-74 mph changeup.  While he tends to slow the arm down slightly on the changeup, it has the makings of being a quality pitch at the next level.

By Saturday night, Haynes’ phone was lighting up as much as the radar gun had a few hours earlier.

“Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Cincinnati all contacted me Saturday night,” Haynes stated.  “They all saw the tweet about my performance at the event on Saturday and wanted to express their interest in having me come for a visit.  I’ve got a visit scheduled to Cincinnati and am in the process of setting up visits to Ole Miss and Tennessee as well.”

Since the initial contact from those schools on Saturday night, there have been more.

“Vanderbilt and Lipscomb contacted Coach Byrd, and Kentucky said they would be calling tonight to see what date might work for me to make a visit,” Haynes said.  “I’m pretty excited about the opportunities that may lie ahead for me.”

One thing is for certain.  If Haynes gets to the high school season uncommitted, expect there to be a lot of eyes on him as he takes the mound for the Bobcats this spring.