CEDAR
RAPIDS, Iowa – A year ago Logan Shore had the most impressive
pitching performance at the 2011 WWBA Kernels Foundation
Championship, tossing a complete game one-hitter (the one hit was
recorded by Perfect Game All-American MVP Ryan Boldt) while striking
out 13 batters against the eventual champion Reds Midwest Scout Team.
That
performance led to Shore to being named the Most Valuable Pitcher at the event, and prompted Reds' Head Coach and Area Scout Andy Stack to
drop a comparison to Jeremy Hellickson for his overall mastery and
three-pitch repertoire.
While
Shore took the mound yet again this year, starting the second of
Minnesota Blizzard Blue's games held at Marion High School's field,
it was the Game 1 starter that stole the show.
Left
handed pitcher Rob Mouton, who has committed to play collegiately at
Bradley, hurled a gem of his own, a no-hitter in which he walked only
one batter while striking out 11 St. Louis Pirates batters.
Like
Shore a year ago, everything was working on this day for Mouton. His
effectively mixed in his fastball, curveball and changeup, and while
he doesn't throw as hard as Shore does, peaking at 84 mph on the day,
the results were equally impressive.
As
good as Mouton's performance was, he was quick to pass the credit
along to his teammates.
“It
feels pretty good,” Mouton said after the game. “A couple guys
made a few clutch plays in the field. Centerfielder Cody Wetmore
made a couple of great catches. Dylan Dresel made tons of great
plays at shortstop. Trenten Rabel the first baseman made a nice play
on a foul ball. Our catcher, Bo Schmitz called a terrific game and
framed up nice.
“It's
nice to know that I have my team behind me.”
The
team concept is something you can grow accustomed to hearing
Minnesota Blizzard Blue Head Coach Adam Barta talk about when asked
about his squad.
“The
thing about this team is that they all play together and they all
have accepted their role,” Barta said. “On all of these club
teams you have a lot of No. 3 hitters, a lot of starting shortstops,
a lot of No. 1 pitchers, so in a situation like this you have guys
willing to play their part. The nice thing about this team is that
you have leaders, one of them being Rob Mouton. There aren't too
many followers on this team, it's a collective unit that knows what
they need to do to win the next game.”
On
a cool day in Eastern Iowa, 84 may not seem like a blistering figure
when it comes to fastball velocity, but he spotted the pitch
extremely well and used it perfectly to set up his secondary
offerings.
With
a tall and loose 6-foot-4, 190-pound frame there is plenty of reason
to believe that he will only continue to add strength and record higher
radar gun readings. He has been as high as 85 over the summer as he was at the 17u WWBA National Championship in mid-July, a big
jump from the mid- to upper-70 readings he was recording at this time
last year.
“Rob
is a guy who has put on 18 pounds of muscle in the last year and a
half and he's the type of guy who hits the weight room hard,”
Barta said of Mouton's development. “With the work that he has
done outside of the ballpark he has done a really good job preparing
for all of his starts and it showed today.
“Starting
a tournament you never know what you're going to get no matter what
kind of team you have. For him to throw that game in the first game
of a tournament is pretty big.”
Mouton
has made improving his fastball velocity a priority, hitting the
weight room while staying focused not only on the field, but off of
it.
“I
guess I've been trying to get my velocity up,” Mouton said. “I've
been working on my changeup since I've been about 11 years old and I
continue to work on it. The past year or two I've been working on my
curveball trying to get it more bite on it. But the biggest thing
I've been working on is velocity, hitting the weights and trying to
eat right, work with Adam Barta my pitching coach and listen to what
he has to give me. I do long toss during practice before the game
usually, but a lot of what I try to (to improve) is outside, off the
field, and I try to spend my time wisely.”
The
time and hard work he has invested is evident, as it came at a key
time. With Logan Shore scheduled to start the second game, one would
expect that it would be Shore, and not Mouton, who would have the
dynamite showing.
As
anyone involved with baseball will be quick to tell you, you never
know what to expect going into any given game.
It
turns out Shore lasted only one inning in Game 2, making the Blizzard
Blue coaches aware that he felt a painful twinge in his hip flexor,
and he was pulled from the game as a precautionary measure.
“I
kind of tweaked my hip flexor in the first game,” Shore said of his
condition. “I went out and didn't know if it would hurt as bad it
did. It wasn't just a soreness, it was something deeper than that.
I couldn't go after that and I didn't want to risk anything.
“Hopefully
this won't be a thing that keeps me out tomorrow, I don't know yet.
I'll ice and rest it tonight. If it's feeling good tomorrow I'll
probably throw at some point, we'll see what happens.”
While
he didn't have the opportunity to try and match his performance from
a year ago, it's a game that he remembers fondly.
“That
was one of the best games that I pitched,” Shore recalled. “My
fastball, slider and changeup were all really working. The changeup
especially, to (neutralize) lefties. It was just overall a really
good game, throwing strikes and going after hitters. It was fun, a
lot of fun.”
Barta
too is quick to share memories from that game, but also recognizes
the improvements Shore has made since.
“In
all of the starts and innings that I've seen him throw this spring
and summer, he's improved,” Barta said. “A lot of guys when
they're at that level they don't have a ton of guys to compare
themselves to in Minnesota or Iowa, and the nice thing about Logan is
that every start he has, or every time he gets out there he's
improving, and that's important. And the guys that come to these
games need to see that. They need to see him good, then they need to
see him better and better after that. He's one of those guys that
isn't afraid of the big challenge.”
Shore
currently sits at No. 101 in Perfect Game's ranking of the top high
school prospects from the class of 2013. He had a busy summer, as
all of the top prospects in the game do, traveling to numerous,
notable national events including the Area Code Games and the Team
USA trials, peaking at 92 with his fastball while also showing
legitimate two-way promise with a potent bat.
This
is Shore's fourth trip to Cedar Rapids for the Kernels Foundation
Championship, and he has long been a member of the Minnesota Blizzard
travel ball organization.
“Logan
has been in our program since he was 13 years old, and I can't say
enough about Logan as a baseball player," Barta said. "What's neat about Logan is
that he's a better person than he is a baseball player. Here's a kid
that 89 to 92 guy, tops at 93 to 94, and he's certainly one of the
top prospects, if not the top prospect in the Midwest.
“He's
got great composure, he's a great leader, and he's very humble too.
I think with a lot of guys that get a lot of exposure and have scouts
following them around sometimes they don't know how to handle it.
When the guns go up and the scouts come out it's just another game.”
“You
can always get better,” Shore added. “Every little situation,
every little incident, there's always room to improve.”
This
year the Blizzard brought three teams to Eastern Iowa, including the
program's Black and Red teams. While winning the tournament is the
reason all of the teams attend, Barta recognizes that his teams serve
a bigger function for his players.
“There's
a lot of exposure for all of our kids. Most of these guys haven't
signed yet, so our primary goal for this tournament, aside from
trying to win it, is getting them in front of scouts like there were
here today. That's the ultimate goal, bridging the gap from high
school to college, or for some of our guys, pro ball.”
After
winning the first game on Saturday and having their second game
against Bo Jackson Silver end in a tie, the Blizzard Blue team enters
Sunday with a 1-0-1 record, tied with the Bo Jackson Silver for the
lead in their pool. Since Mouton went the distance in the first
game, they still have left-hander Zach Muckenhim and right-hander Luc
Henke for Coach Barta's squad to turn to.
One
more win and they may just advance to the playoffs, one step closer
to the Kernels Championship and an automatic bid to the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., the
prize everyone in attendance is aware of.
“It's
always a great deal to come down to this tournament,” Mouton said,
participating in his second Kernels Championship. “There's always
great competition here, it's a lot of fun to compete against other
top guys from other states and other high schools. It really brings
up not only my ability to play well but all of the other teams. It's
definitely a great place where everybody exhibits their skills.
“It
would be huge to win this. A lot of us have here before and if we
can put it all together and get a win and go to Jupiter it would be a
great moment for all of us.”
The
video below if of Logan Shore during his one inning appearance at the
2012 WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship.