National Qualifier Day 3 Notes

Sunday saw a lot of power arms on the mound as the playoff brackets advanced and a champion was crowned. One of the pitchers who went was righthander Evan Baber (2017, Phenix City, Ala.) for the Triton Rays and he looked as sharp as he had been all month. Baber has a small frame for a pitcher at 5-foot-9, 170-pounds. He has a quick arm with a whippy, longer arm action and delivers from the three-quarter arm slot. Baber favored a hard slider with 10/4 shape and late hard break. The pitch sat from 81-83 mph and he was able to bury it down in the zone for swings and misses. Frankly, the pitch made a lot of hitters look foolish and it was a big part of his success on the mound on Sunday. He showed today that the slider can be a true weapon and gives him a solid number two option behind his strong fastball. The fastball sat from 86-88 mph on the day hitting 89 mph multiple times. The pitch had arm side run and he was able to command it on both sides of the plate while maintaining velocity late into his outing. I have seen Baber multiple times over the past month but on Sunday his slider looked as good as it ever has and is a true weapon.

Opposing Baber on the mound was lefthander Will Shirah (2018, Blue Ridge, Ga.) as he showed some promise on the mound for the East Cobb Yankees. Shirah has a medium build with a lot of room left in his body for projection at 6-foot-2, 185-pounds. He has a more compact arm action with a slight arm hook and stab in the back. Shirah pitches with a lot of intent and his delivery helps him to fire forward with maximum effort. The Georgia Tech commit’s delivery lands online and he has a very quick arm which snaps forward as his body does with his good extension. Shirah led with his fastball today and the pitch was at his best when it was in the lower third of the strike zone. The pitch sat in the mid-80s and topped out at 86 mph. It had some occasional cut to it at times and he worked the pitch on both sides of the plate. If he missed high with it, the velocity wasn’t enough to overpower hitters and it was hit hard. To complement his fastball he utilized a softer curveball in the low-to-mid 70s that had solid depth to it. As Shirah continues to mature physically he will gain velocity and he showed good tools on Sunday.

During this loaded time slot righthander Kumar Rocker (2018, Watkinsville, Ga.) started for Team Elite 17s Prime but only threw 1.1 innings in limited action. Rocker has an extra-large, physical frame and is listed at 6-foot-4 and 235-pounds. He has a compact arm action with a very quick arm and his delivery to the plate is almost effortless. Rocker has a very quick delivery from the windup and when he attacked hitters he showed confidence in all three of his pitches to throw for strikes. The fastball sat from 90-92 mph and touched 94 mph at times early in the outing. The Vanderbilt commit showed the ability to throw the pitch on both sides of the plate but his overall command of the fastball was a bit shaky on Sunday.Rocker’s offspeed pitches have developed into above-average pitches as he has become more polished as a pitcher. Rocker’s changeup comes in very hard in the low-80s and has downward fade to the arm side. The slider has sharp break to it and he was able to garner swings and misses with it.

In the opposing dugout for the National Qualifier champs, righthander Carter Raffield (2018, Cochran, Ga.) threw an impressive game. A playoff game between two low-90s, 2018 arms will garner attention and Raffield certainly delivered a strong performance of his own. Raffield stands very tall at 6-foot-5 and 215-pounds and resembles what a coach would craft in a lab to be a top pitching prospect. The Florida State commit has a longer arm action with a soft stab in the back and an online delivery. He gets good extension in his delivery and throws thee baseball from a high three-quarter arm slot. The lower half of his delivery generates some drive and Raffield fires his hips forward well. The fastball sat from 90-92 mph and topped out at 94 mph as the pitch entered the strike zone at a good angle from his release. He commanded the pitch on both sides and was confident in throwing it. The Georgia commit mixed in a solid curveball with good depth and he showed a feel to spin it. Raffield looks like one of the top arms in the 2018 class and Sunday’s performance backed that up.

Game on Stealth’s shortstop Tyler Simon (2017, Leesburg, Ga.) put together a strong performance over the entire weekend and solidified himself as a talented, defensively-strong shortstop. Simon has a smaller, yet athletic frame at 6-foot and 155-pounds. His athleticism shows in the field as he is able to range to his left and right to make a lot of plays. He has solid arm strength and is very smooth with his glove that correlates to a quick transfer and quick release. The Kennesaw State commit was a factor in multiple double plays that showcased his athleticism and defensive tools. At the dish, Simon has a high hand set with a high back elbow with a wide base. He works at bats deep into counts and has quick hands to hit line drives to all fields.

For the East Cobb Colt .45s, righthander Davis Sharpe (2018, Dacula, Ga.) pitched for little over an inning but showed impressive traits on the mound. Sharpe has an ideal, leaner pitcher’s frame of 6-foot-3 and 195-pounds. He utilizes a shorter, tight arm action on the mound from the three-quarter arm slot. Sharpe has a crossfire element to his landing of his delivery and throws with intent on the mound. Sharpe only pitched to a handful of batters toward the end of the game but was able to sit from 87-89 mph with his fastball and the pitch had late life to it. The Clemson commit showed confidence in his breaking pitch as he threw it for strikes, for swings and misses, and in obvious fastball counts as well. The pitch has 11/5 shape with sharp break downward toward the glove side.

Seemingly all of the low-90s righthanders threw on Sunday, so naturally Cody Greenhill (2017, Russelville, Ala.) was on the mound for East Cobb Baseball. Greenhill has a very large, physical frame. He shows a lot of strength on the mound and his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame exemplifies that. The Auburn commit has a very tight arm action that travels through a compact arm circle and throws from a three-quarter arm slot. There is some violence to his arm quickness and he works from a very quick tempo as his arm whips across his body. Greenhill’s landing has some heavy crossfire to it and he gets some incorporation of his lower half into his delivery. Through the first few innings it seemed as if Greenhill had thrown every pitch as a fastball in the lower third of the zone. He worked both sides of the plate and rarely left a fastball over the middle. The pitch has some heaviness to it and its velocity sat from 90-92 mph. The curveball was a standard offspeed pitch and had some 10/4 shape with soft break and sat in the low-70s. Greenhill has an explosive fastball and that pitch alone is enough for him to blow by hitters at times.

Closing out the championship game for Chain, somewhat tumultuously, was righthander Chase Wilkerson (2018, Headland, Ala.). Wilkerson has a medium frame, and is a bit smaller in regards to height as he is listed at 6-foot and 175-pounds. The Florida State commit has a long arm action with a high leg lift and a quick, violent delivery. He has a very quick arm from the higher three-quarter slot and does a good job at getting downhill. Wilkerson gets some good extension and has some drive in his lower half. The fastball sat from 87-89 mph topping out at 90 mph and Wilkerson was able to get on top of it at times to get it in the strike zone. He struggled with command of the pitch all day and was unable to sync his release point consistently. Most of the misses were up and out of the zone but he struggled to fill the strike zone on the day. The curveball flashed a lot of potential with 11/5 shape. His best curveball of the day had good depth with very sharp break and froze the hitter at the plate for a called strike three. The pitch was a little inconsistent but he showed the ability to throw it for strikes and to draw swings and misses.