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Midwest Junior Fall Championship: Quick Hits

October 5, 2019
By Andy Sroka & Alex Del Rio

On Saturday, Oct. 5, the PBR Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin staffs congregated in Westfield, Ind., to scout and evaluate the annual PBR Midwest Junior Fall Championships – a  14U and 15U tournament featuring some of the top talent in the region. Five programs made up the 14U bracket and pool, while nine squads made up three three-team pools on the 15U side.

Today, we’re compiling and sharing some of the best things we saw during Saturday’s action inside this Quick Hits post.

2023 STAND-OUTS

+ There may have not been a more competitive performance on Saturday than from Legends Sun Devils southpaw David Edwards (New Washington, IN; 2023). Edwards is a sub-6-footer who attacks bats. He pounds the zone with a hard, live fastball that sat 79-81 mph for much of his outing against a feisty Indiana Bulls Black 15U squad, arguably the most talented lineup in Grand Park this weekend. For an incoming freshman, Edwards has mastered his two-pitch mix of fastball and biting curve, one he’s consistently able to drop for strikes and/or bury beneath the zone to earn a chase in a tight spot. He painted the corners on more than one occasion in the clutch and it’s a skill that could carry him far inside Indiana’s ‘23 class.

+ This Legends Sun Devils team has the makings to go the distance because of how deep this batting order looked on Saturday. SS Jace Burton (Silver Creek, IN; 2023), C Christian Neu (Male, KY; 2023), 1B Rylee Singleton (Evansville North, IN; 2023), and SS/2B Alex Sosa-Galan (Southern, KY; 2023) can all bash baseballs. Burton, in particular, looked excellent defensively at shortstop. He glides to grounders and moves exceptionally well on slow-rollers and balls hit up the middle. Neu is a compact, strong right-handed bat who takes aggressive hacks with premium bat speed.

+ Andrew Wiggins (Heritage Central, IN; 2023) has emerged as one of the top two-way talents in the Midwest and he sparked the Indiana Bulls Black 15U squad from the top of the order on Saturday. He swings a loud and fast left-handed bat and he uses his advanced footspeed to get around the basepaths with relative ease – he made easy work of an inside-the-park homer or triple and an error, depending how you scored it. He makes it look easy in the batter’s box and he’s tooled-up – oh, and he’s also a strong 6-foot-2, 185 pounds. Wiggins towers over his peers, figuratively and physically, and looks to be a national follow inside this freshman class.

+ And Wiggins wasn’t the only member of his dugout to shine on Saturday: LHP Connor Schmiedlin (Culver Military Academy, IN; 2023) is a 6-foot, 135-pound southpaw who was consistently flashing a sharp breaking ball and spotting it up well, which helped play off his fastball. Add this other Bulls Black name to circle: Luke McDonald (Linton, IN; 2023), a 1B/OF who looks to have a natural feel for the barrel, with a short and sweet swing that seems to redirect baseballs back up the middle.

+ From Indiana Elite’s Black 15U squad, there were a couple of arms to know and follow: RHP Drew Culbertson (Center Grove, IN; 2023) has a short, quick arm that produces easy upper-70s velocity, made even more effective by his ability to spot it up when necessary, which helped him cap an Elite victory later in the day. And then there’s LHP Noah DeArmitt (Franklin, IN; 2023), a a highly projectable 6-foot-2, 175 pounds, who’s able to cut it 75-76 mph fastball with consistency through the zone. His feel to cut makes him a tough at-bat, no matter which side of the plate the batter’s on.

+ RHP/1B Ben Murphy (Center Grove, IN; 2023) is a huge, imposing 6-foot-6, 181-pound prospect who was up to 79 mph back in July. He was more of the same on Saturday, demonstrating an ease of operation from the bump with a feel to spot up his running fastball that comes out easy from a ¾ slot.

+ For Michigan Blue Jays, they have their own big right-hander: RHP Jacob Brown (Greenhills, MI; 2023), who is actually ranked inside the state’s 2023 class top-10. He’s an easy athlete who sat in the upper-70s during his start today and touched 83 mph a couple of times when everything in his delivery was synced up. The ease in which he’s able to generate advanced velocity for his age, all while mixing in a breaking ball with a feel to spin with depth, is sincerely noteworthy.

+ Despite an 0-2 day, there were a few bats that earned mentioning from the Madison, Wis., area’s GRB Rays 15U squad. Ethan Hindle (Arrowhead, WI; 2023) has some sound infield actions for his age and his right-handed bat really plays in-game, with an innate feel for the barrel; he doubled on Saturday the opposite way, too. Grant Gill (Bay Port, 2023) caught for the Rays for most of Saturday and looked comfortable back there, playing with bounce, confidently jumping out of the crouch. He’s a compact build with a short and quick right-handed bat.

+ From Illinois, Pro Player's RHP Andrew Ressler (Huntley, IL; 2023) makes the low-80s look easy. He was able to sit at a near-effortless 80-81 mph and his loose 3/4 slot helped him generate hard arm-side run on his fastball, one in which he was able to bore in on righty bats. He's a premium athlete with a frame to follow, packed with the present stuff to make him a follow in Illinois' 2023 class.

+ One of the final acts from Saturday’s action was the exclamation point hammered by Pro Player’s Ryan Bakes (Huntley, IL; 2023) in his team’s 15U, 4-3 win over Michigan Blue Jays. Bakes is an athletic and flexible backstop but his value is tied to his bat because it has the chance to carry him to the big main stage in high school. It’s a fast, twitchy right-handed swing and it produced one of the loudest hit balls all day. He crushed a hanging breaking ball with wood that one-hopped over the left field fence and drove in a late run that helped Pro Player claim a win and a spot in bracket play on Sunday.

2024 STAND-OUTS

+ Hitters’ 14U squad in attendance is moving on to bracket play on Sunday and their hulking first baseman Aren Robinson (Brookfield Central, WI) could help them head back to Milwaukee with hardware. Robinson is a 6-foot-4 right-handed bat with a swing that looks advanced – it’s fast, fluid, and primed to make loud contact into the gaps. He’s a high-follow bat to note in the state’s 2024 class. If you’ve got your eyes on this Hitters team tomorrow, watch for the Indian Trail-bound Seth Koci (WI; 2024), a compact left-handed bat with a hitterish look, as well as a 2025 grad who plays shortstop beyond his years, Daniel Hauboldt (Muskego, WI).

+ Indiana Bulls STEP is 2-0, just behind Bulls White on tiebreaker, and they actually pushed by Hitters 8-3 to open the day in the 9 a.m. slot. A handful of follow bats emerged in this one, including Ryan Clevenger (2024), from nearby Carmel. He’s a live-bodied middle infielder who hit in the two-hole for STEP as a rhythmic righty bat. He backed up Tyler Walkey (2024), another Carmel kid, who led off for STEP. Walkey is a fleet-footed left-handed hitter who’s aggressive and smart on the basepaths and is constantly looking to spark his team offensively. They weren’t the only two, though, 2024s Isaac Waggner, Joshua Peek, and Adam Buczkowski each also showed flashes from the batter’s box, in one way or another.

+ The Indiana Bulls Black 14U squad is spending the weekend playing up an age level and they’ve not yet lost a ballgame, at 1-0-1. Pound for pound, from a talent perspective, they fit right in. RHP Jack Brown (Hamilton Southeastern, IN; 2024) is a live-bodied 5-foot-9, 150-pounder packed with athleticism. He sat 79-81 mph with a quick and loose arm, generating swings and misses with a biting breaking ball, too.

+ Backing up Brown from the batter’s box was R.J. Cromartie (South Bend, IN; 2024). He’s a highly athletic prospect with a lean, wiry build who was challenged defensively at third base all of Saturday and he constantly answered the call. Cromartie has the hands, feet, and rhythm to play on the left side of the infield, and his arm strength makes third base look like a real possibility as well. At the plate, he uses his athleticism well from the right-handed box, and juiced a hard double to left in the day’s action.

+ From Zionsville, RHP Chase Wagner (2024) looks like a follow as he uses the 2019-20 season to prepare for high school ball. He’s a lean and long 5-foot-11 and uses his levers well to direct 75-77 mph fastball to home, with a little jump out of his hand for his age. He complemented it with a real feel to spin a 66-68 mph breaking ball that he earned some chases with.

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