CBA Summit Scout Day: Quick Hits

A Future Games and West Coast Games alum, Swensen has come on in a big way from an offensive standpoint over this past spring and into this summer. But it was his spring ‘23 season that’s getting the attention. A recent 4A 1st ™ All-State honoree, Swensen took off at the plate, as he shows a spread out even prop stance and rocks back with a slight heel lift from a setup with the hands over his back shoulder in a flattened manner. At foot strike, he fires his back hip forward and creates leverage to drive the baseball hard to the other way and to straightaway CF from a tight, short to the ball and shows good ext out front, whipped into a deep two hand full finish to his swing. The athletic two way Swensen, also runs anywhere from a 7.04-7.09 60 yard dash on grass and shows a solid avg to slightly abv avg arm from RF, with online one hop carry. With a return trip to the West Coast Games coming this March, Swensen looks to grab attention from recruiters and needs to market himself better. But the team that grabs this kid is gonna be very happy. Gut feel type w/solid to + athleticism. 

A PBR Utah staple, with numerous invite only event appearances, Secrist is a West Coast Games alum, and is also an invite to this year's August 4-6th event at UNLV once again. After a banner and breakout 2023 spring, where Secrist earned 1st ™  All-Region 10 and 1st ™ 4A All-State honors, Secrist once again took a solid BP and sprayed balls on a line to the big part and back side of the field with backspin line drives and carry through the gaps. A projectable frame and the build to add another 20-25 Lbs with age and natural physical maturity. Secrist put up a max EV of 95.7 at the CBA Summit Scout Day, and showed the ability to manipulate the bat head to different parts of the hitting zone, to find the sweet spot. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was Secrist not only took his customary ground balls at SS, but also took a turn in RF, to showcase his defensive versatility. Showing quality movement patterns in getting his lower ½ and feet in position, to get off strong throws with a clean and pure OH arm stroke with one hop carry and online accuracy. Already receiving an offer from a top JUCO program, many others should follow in the coming months. 

The younger brother of a former Dodgers draft and Utah Valley RHP-Kayler Yates, who is coming into his own as a college prospect as well. Yates jumped on the scene this past spring at Dixie HS as a solid offensive player w/2B and 3B type extra base power and a lean athletic frame to build upon. A solid mover with long lanky movement patterns as a hustling instinctive defensive OF w/solid jumps and covers ground. A slasher type hitter that impacts the ball hard to the gaps and can carry the OF’ers for xtra bases. A quick hitting stroke that could find himself as a potential two way type at the JUCO level, but his LH arm is making a move to where he could be a very valuable piece in a quality JUCO program or D2 school. The delivery is an old school get into your legs and drive down the slope low to the ground ala an old school drop/drive type. The arm is quick and clean and gets good ext out front with a full finish and solid inline direction to the plate. The FB 83-87 jumps on hitters as he shows a late shoulder turn out front in hiding the baseball and creating deception in his delivery and release point. The CB has solid promise as he can sweep the breaking ball to LHH’s and creates a tough angle to get off good swings. It’s a S/M pitch. Can back door the breaking ball and also bury to RHH’s and gets a ton of swing over and miss action. The CH fades with deception and has heavy arm side run and gets late sink. Solid avg pitch that creates a 3 pitch mix that will be enticing for colleges to grab. Wouldn’t surprise me if he puts on another 10-15 Lbs by next spring if we don’t see some upper 80’s readings approaching 90 mph in the next 6-9 months. Keep a close eye on this kid as he comes from a baseball family with some intriguing bloodlines. 

The first time laying eyes on this kid and was intrigued to see him, as he just was named the Utah 2A MVP at Kanab HS, in putting the Cowboys on his back and carrying them to an upset finish over #1 ranked South Sevier in winning the 2A State Championship! An athletically even props, long lean and taller frame at 6-1 180 and looks to be able to add another solid 10-15 Lbs of quality muscle and size to his frame. The pitching side of things grab your attention as he worked the FB 83-85 with a conventional med to high flexible knee kick to his delivery and gets the ball out of the glove clean and into a med compact HTQ arm stroke. Can get better ext. out front and does things in a controlled manner to quiet the body and feather the ball into the glove with command of the FB and CB for K’s. A strike thrower that pitched 59.2 innings with 12 BB and 97 K outs, that placed him in the top 3 in the state for punch outs. Has the added advantage of playing for a new coach that was a top JUCO and D1 player in his own right in Craig Brinkerhoff, that can guide and direct on how to prepare as an athlete for the college game. Scouted his coach as a player. Bone is now playing higher class summer ball for the first time and it will be interesting to see where this summer takes this kid from a developmental standpoint. Look for even bigger things to come from this kid over the next calendar year!

A West Coast Games alum and an All-Region honoree as a sophomore, had a solid year as a junior with a .312 BA after posting a .406 avg as a sophomore in 86 PA’s. Leavitt’s calling card is solid avg to plus defensive ability at the hot corner, and can see a move to the keystone at 2B in profiling much better at the position with less power than needed for the position. A high contact bat, Leavitt’s hands on defense are quick and sure with the ability to move well side to side and plays from the ground up and out front, in getting the ball out of the glove quick, and syncs up the feet and gets his front shoulder closed off and makes online, strong accurate throws to all bases. A solid baseball player with instincts for the game and comes from an athletic family, where his mother Stacy is a HS Volleyball Coach and played collegiate volleyball at Dixie College and Colorado Mesa U, while older brother Jagun was most recently an OF at Dixie State, now Utah Tech over a 5 year period. Coaches this kid can play and recruiters need to take notice. 

A solidly built 6-0 190 with a compact  muscled look. Strength throughout with present strength and looks to continue to build upon that base, as he reaches maturity and gains his man strength. An open semi-crouched stance with a low hand set to hit, and coils back to square on approach to launch into a 45 degree angle load of the hands, in readying to hit. Rocks back and lands on a soft front side and spins through a centered base to hit. Hands drive inside and through contact with a tight base, to square balls up to the center of the park. Bat speed is okay with an EV of 93.2. Arm is BA to fringe with 79 mph arm strength, with a slight hump to an online one hop finish, that is best suited for LF. The bat holds the key to his game, and must continue to hit, to continue moving up. The track to hit is being established and had a really good junior year in hitting .397 with 10 xtra base hits and was the best player on a really poor team w/o any protection surrounding him in the order. 

A tooled out lean athletic looks the part type w/a showcase type intrigue to want to see more production from what the tools suggest. This kid has really grown into a strong quick twitch quality mover in the field, with a quality running gate and arm strength. The event leader with a 6.70/60 yard dash and one off the leader for best arm strength at any position at 87 from RF and a 94.9 EV max. A conventional RH stance to hit, that shows hand and bat speed, with a clean semi short to long out front stroke to hit, and can drive the baseball hard on a line with backspin. Would like to see this kid come out next spring and blow away the competition by turning his tools into skills and performance. 

Another surprise, that I was not able to watch in length throughout the ‘23 spring, Reed put up a .400 batting avg during the spring and showed projs raw power, in putting up an event best 101.5 exit velocity and 84 mph arm strength from RF. A semi spread out and square stance at the plate, Reed loads the bat in a solid 45 degree angled launch, and fires his hands through the baseball with a quick bat and efficient swing plane with natural strength to impact the baseball. Is a bit upright and spins through the ball, Reed can and needs to get into his lower ½ better, to utilize his full impact potential and to drive pitches in the bottom part of the zone. A bit raw in his movement patterns in the OF on approach to the ball, the footwork can be synced up better, yet does show fringe to avg online arm strength with flashes of one hop accuracy. A 7.12/60 and fringe overall runner, with added lower ½ leg strength and further physical projections, Reed can and should projs to be an avg raw runner with an overall solid gate to run. 

The 2026 had a big year on the Snow Canyon JV squad, and had big numbers with power and HR production, that lends itself to potentially moving into the varsity lineup equation as a sophomore in 2024. Physical at 6-1 185 and uses the strength that comes from that frame to drive and impact the baseball. The swing is flat with some uphill at times, and clips the bottom part of the ball, to get the ball airborne and provide carry and distance. The arms can be a bit too involved and become a bit of an arm driven type hitter that can get around the ball and become pull oriented. Needs to drive his hands inside and through the baseball and let the ball travel to utilize the back side of the field, which will prevent swing and misses on off speed out front. A fair defender at present with fair arm strength and below foot speed, the bat is gonna be the carrying tool and stays on a corner at 1B/LF moving forward. The power will play at those spots, so developing his overall hit tool will become important in being able to switch his profile from power over hit, to hit over power, so he can make high contact vs better pitching and getting to that power on a consistent basis. One to definitely follow and place on the radar!