On Sunday, Sept. 20, the PBR Wisconsin team gathered at the brand new, state-of-the-art Milwaukee School of Engineering facility in Glendale to host its annual Senior Games event. Some of the best uncommitted prospects in the state’s 2021 class met for this event to perform at a showcase and play against one another in a simulated game.

Today, we’re rounding up our notes from Sunday’s event and compiling the day’s highlights into one place: Quick Hits. Check out our takeaways from the showcase and keep an eye out tomorrow when we take a detailed look at the day’s leaderboards.

QUICK HITS

POSITION PLAYERS

+ Darryl Jackson (Milwaukee King) has legitimate shortstop actions, equipped with the arm strength to fit at the position long term. He’s light on his feet and his hands play soft on the funnel through exchange, and he projects to be an asset at the position at the next level. Jackson’s right-handed bat has some barrel feel, too; it’s a simple swing and he flared a two-strike breaking ball to shallow right for a base hit in-game and he beat out an infield single clocked at 4.19 down the line earlier.

+ We had received some indications prior to the event that 2B Ethan Sawyer (Germantown) had put together a big summer and we saw it first-hand Sunday. Sawyer’s round of batting practice was arguably the day’s best, underscored by some especially hard pull-side contact. His approach worked in-game, too, as he notched a couple barrels, including a hard liner that split the left-center gap for a triple.

+ Adam Bretsch (Marquette University) certainly looks the part of a ballplayer – a physical 5-foot-10, 180 pounds with notable strength. He offers a well-rounded set of tools as he recorded the day’s fastest time in the 60-yard dash (6.84) and was also near the top of the leaderboards in infield velocity (84 mph) and exit velo (91). Another simple right-handed swing at the event with some easy, raw bat strength.

+ Like Bretsch, Peyton Seebacher (Muskego) has some noteworthy tools to follow. His footspeed – a 6.90 runner – works well on the bases and in the outfield, and his athleticism helps him swing a loose left-handed bat that landed a couple extra-base hits Sunday. Seebacher grounded a double down the first base line in a tough left/left matchup and barreled one of the best balls struck later into the right-center gap for a triple. He also has some usable arm strength for a corner spot, completing what should be a really enticing profile for a program at the next level.

+ Elijah Frank (Bay Port) is a powerful athlete who looks like he should be roaming around the middle of the football field as a linebacker – and he does well to translate that physicality to the diamond. He averaged 88 mph off the bat, and a high of 97, in game while effectively backspinning baseballs with natural loft to all fields. At 6-foot-3, 215 pounds of strength, Frank offers a true power profile from the right side and he applied it in-game after crushing the day’s hardest hit ball into the right-center gap for a loud double. Defensively, Frank fits a corner infield profile who might maintain the ability to stick to third base, and there’s plenty of arm to make it work. He was also up to 85 mph on the mound with some big horizontal break, as just another element of his game to keep in mind.

+ The lean, thin, athletic Wolfgang Kalz (Appleton West) offers some interesting upside, with a an interesting toolset that would benefit greatly as he adds strength and weight. He ran a 6.91 and was 83 mph from the outfield. His right-handed bat is athletic and loose with barrel feel, and he would especially profit by an increase in muscle.

+ 3B Ben Johnson (New Berlin West) and C Zachary Alburg (Menomonee Falls) offer similar offensive profiles as right-handed hitters with some bat strength. Johnson swings a fast bat that he routinely squared up for barreled contact in BP, averaging the second hardest exit velo (86.5 mph). Alburg topped 95.6 mph on his best batted ball that travelled 360 feet, and he shows some promise defensively behind the dish, recording pops in the 2.20 range with arm strength that plays fairly accurately.

+ The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Nate Backsai (Homestead) has an intriguing frame and left/left toolkit worth developing. He showed some barrel feel and athleticism worth paying attention to the remainder of this fall, and he could tick up after another offseason.

+ 3B Will Mattheis (Laconia) swings an aggressive left-handed bat off an incline. He recorded a 94.1 mph exit velocity high during his BP round, with some potential to stick to third base defensively, too.

+ 1B Ridge Guyette (Hilbert) may be a little raw as a prospect, but his right-handed bat has some unique characteristics that set him apart from his peers. His bat speed, measured by Blast Motion, was especially fast at an average of 73.6 mph – well above his peers at this showcase. And his own physicality helps him square up some really loud contact on repeat. His average exit velo only just trailed the aforementioned Frank’s.

PITCHERS

+ The top prospect coming into the event and coming out of it is RHP Carl Cano (Bay Port). At a strong and athletic 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, Cano has a loose, fast arm that produces a big fastball that lives in the 86-88 mph range with above-average spin rates (averaging 2,292 rpm) and late arm-side action. It’s tough to barrel, and it tunnels very well off his sharp, biting slider that ranged from 76-78 mph with a spin rate of 2,300 rpm. It’s a swing-and-miss two-pitch mix that has him ranked as one of the top uncommitted prospects in the state’s 2021 class.

+ While raw, LHP Reece Piontek (Denmark) has an eye-catching fastball to follow, and he showed the ability to really spin a breaking ball. His athletic 6-foot-2, 175-pound frame has long made him a follow in the state, and there’s another level of upside to watch for here. He sat 80-83 mph but the fastball plays up, with some premium vertical action highlighted by TrackMan, topping 23.5 inches. His curveball was sharper than we had seen in our previous looks, too, spinning at 2,400 rpm on average with late action.

+ Another follow lefty, Mitch Fassbender (Wauwatosa West), worked with low effort and easy pitchability, and it helped his entire four-pitch arsenal play up. He knows how to spin a couple different breaking balls and his changeup was an effective offering to right-handed batters. Sitting 79-81 mph with a funky delivery and unorthodox arm slot, his fastball still jumps on hitters and ties up same-handed bats with its heavy arm-side run. Fassbender came away as one of the day’s big winners.

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