AJ
Rice

Uncommitted. Ran the FB up to 90 on Thursday morning of the 16u National Championship games, grabbed the 90 mph heater in the fifth inning after consistently flirting with the upper-80’s throughout his outing. SL had a serious sweeping-break in the upper-70’s and low-80’s (~2894 RPM) that collected tons of whiffs, displayed the ability to throw it for command, giving a front-door look for strikes and also far-and-away from RHH. Deals quickly, out of a three-quarter arm slot. Twitchy guy at the plate, quick hands and flashed the bat speed early. High arm to follow for the summer going into his junior year.

Uncommitted. Rice is one of the top arms in the 2026 class who has continued to improve all spring. Rice showed some electric stuff in his outing Friday night working a FB up to 91 in the 1st then settling in at 87-89 and holding that throughout the game. AJ showed a strong secondary pitch with the Slider with tight spin and having good depth. The upper 70’s Slider plays well off of the Fastball creating whiffs out of the zone and soft contact. Rice flashed an effective CH to LHH with good fading action out of the zone. Rice will look to continue his strong year and make a deep playoff run at Pickens. Will be a big name to follow throughout the summer.

Uncommitted. Despite having some tough luck during his outing, Rice has really made some big strides on the mound. The lean, athletic frame has started filling out, and has really helped him maintain velocity. We have seen him get into the upper 80’s, but usually settles in at the 84-86 range. Last night he was sitting mostly 88, touching 89 a number of times. AJ already had great command, and fill for all pitches, but now with this velo jump it will make everything that much more effective. He loves working backwards on hitters, and now has an upper 80’s fastball to catch them off guard when he is ahead in counts. The slider had tons of bite in the upper 70’s, producing heavy whiffs.

Uncommitted, 5-foot-11, 150 pounds. Medium frame with strong levers and proportional strength. Smooth, effortless swing. Continuous movement in the load with good timing to create momentum and more power. Noticeably athletic, energetic player. Level, contact oriented bat path through zone and makes consistent barrels. Makes good reads defensively, strong arm that’s already MLB average at short. He’s been dominant on the pitching side. Strike thrower who generates a lot of whiffs. Freezes hitters on a FB topping 86, more speed in the tank, with average spin and making hitters look silly whiffing on the high-spin slurve. Has also flashed a cutter keeping hitters off balance. Has a good feel for all pitches and uses them at his discretion, leaving hitters confused. Effortless delivery with a L3/4 arm slot, highly projectable arm. Just a solid player on both sides of the ball and is quickly bursting onto the scene.

AJ Rice, Pickens (GA), 2026
Positional Profile: SS/RHP
Body: 5-11, 150-pounds.
Hit: RHH. Open stance, small leg-kick load. Barrels up through the zone/solid contact. 67.6 mph bat speed with 13 G’s of rotational acceleration.
Power: 86 max exit velocity, averaged 75.4 mph. 261' max distance.
Arm: RH. INF-85 mph. Whippy arm action, quick release, good arm.
Defense: Quick feet, Stays in legs.
ATH: 7.88 runner in the 60. 2.00 in the 10 yard split.
Vizual Edge: 49.5 Edge Score

Uncommitted. 5-foot-10 150-pounds. Rice has had a huge freshman year both on the mound and at the plate. He allowed 1 run in region play all year. The strides he has made since summer are impressive. He is sitting in the mid 80’s now, compared to topping out at low 80’s in the summer. The off speed has always been his key to success, and with the fastball ticking up it is just going to make it that much better. He has a cutter like pitch at 73-75 that he likes to use early in count, and also when he is behind in the count. It keeps the hitters guessing, and looks just like the FB out of the hand. He has a high spin, wipe out slider at 76-78 that he throws when he needs swing and miss. He is nearly an un-hittable pitch when he starts it on the outer half and lets it break off the plate. All of his pitches come out of the same arm slot, and it is hard to hitters to pick up anything out of his hand. Expect a big summer for AJ. 

Positional Profile: SS/RHP
Body: 5-10, 150-pounds. Medium frame, wiry strong w/ long levers for height.
Delivery: Offset windup which makes it easier for him to square up, control body. Clean footwork, smooth thru up+down+out phases. Good rhythm between hands & lift knee. Solid stride, good weight ditribution at landing.
Arm Action: RH. Big arm swing with repeatable mid depth. Pick up gradual momentum in one piece (3/4 arm action).
FB: T78.3, 76-78 mph. Late cut, natural supinator. T2250, 2140 average rpm.
SL: 66-68 mph. Sweep & depth, some fade. T2362, 2284 average rpm.
CH: 71-74 mph. Fade. T1516, 1387 average rpm.

Positional Profile: SS/RHP
Body: 5-10, 150-pounds. Medium frame, wiry strong w/ long levers for height.
Hits: RHH. Gradual move forward creates slight separation between lower & upper half. Very balanced throughout with good body control for size. Level, contact oriented path. Very consistent barrels.
Power: 86 max exit velocity, averaged 78.5 MPH. 284' max distance. Line drives to all fields.
Arm: RH. INF-82 mph.Very clean 3/4 arm action, quicker releease.
Defense: Nice anticipation, reads hops well. Hands push thru ball subtly stopping all bad hops. Momentum always going toward bag.
Run: 7.86 runner in the 60.