Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Underclass Invitational Catching Analysis

February 9, 2016



The Prep Baseball Report’s Underclass Invitational took place January 31st at Slammers South. 63 prospects showed up and strutted their stuff in a pro-style workout. Over the next several days the PBR Scouting staff will roll out position-by-position rankings of the event.  

Click Here to view complete statistics from the event in PDF format.

We also broke down the Top Tools of the event. Click Here to view the Top Tools based on various commonly used scouting criteria for analyzing prospects.

We begin our break down of the Underclass Invitational by looking at the catching position.

Catching Analysis: Best of the Best

Noah Kuzma, C/3B, Valor Christian High School (2018)
5-foot-11, 185-pound right hand hitting catcher/third base who ran a 4.33 home to first.  At the plate he starts balanced with a short stride.  Swing is long through the zone and he hits off a firm front side. Has gap to gap power.  He had an 86 MHP exit velocity at this event.  Behind the plate he had a showcase bets 1.90 pop-time with a 79 MPH arm.  He does a nice job of staying straight through the plate and delivers an accurate ball to the base.  He moves well to block pitches and shows quiet hands when receiving. 

Jordan Medina, C/RHP, Highlands Ranch High School (2018)
6-foot-0, 186-pound right hand hitting catcher/right hand pitcher who ran a 4.23 home to first.  At the plate he hits from a narrow open stance.  He loads on his back foot and then weight and hands come through the zone together.  Good barrel whip creates an exit velocity of 92 MPH. Has a lot of potential with his bat speed, but swing can get long at times..a lot of pre-pitch movement. Improved from 90 mph from last event.  He shows and accurate arm from behind the plate at 79 MPH and a 1.99 pop-time.  On the mound he stands tall and hides the ball well.  He has good extension on release and featured an 85 MPH fastball.  He also showcased a 64-68 MPH curve with good 11/5 spin and a 72-75 MPH change. 

Jett Hoggatt, C/RHP, Rocky Mountain High School (2019)
6-foot-0, 190-pound right hand hitting catcher/right hand pitcher who ran a showcase best 4.03 home to first.   At the plate he hits from an open stance with a slight leg kick to square up.  Hands are at the top for the zone and slightly wrap.  He hits off a firm front side and has quick hands that produce an 87 MPH exit velocity.  Behind the plate he is quiet and receives the ball well.  He stays low through the throw and delvers an accurate ball at 77 MPH and a 2.14 pop-time.  On the mound, he stays balanced and has a slight sink and drive to his motion.  He throws from a high ¾ arm slot and does a nice job of keeping the same arm speed on pitches.  He featured an 81 MPH fastball along with a 63 MPH curve and 64 MPH change. Nice 2019 player to follow.

Best of the Rest: Listed Alphabetically 

Collin Cushenbery, C/OF, Regis Jesuit High School (2019)
5-foot-10, 155-pound right hand hitting catcher/outfielder who ran a 4.53 home to first.  At the plate he hits from an athletic stance stance with a small step and load for timing.   Good leg drive through the zone and the bat travels a slight upward plane and produced an 80 MPH exit velocity. Contact hitter.  Behind the plate he has a quiet body and soft hands, stays low through the throw with a 75 MPH arm and recorded pop-times of between 2.19 and 2.20.  

Braden Dedrick, C/OF, Pine Creek High School (2019)
5-foot-10, 149-pound right hand hitting catcher/outfielder who ran a 4.73 home to first.  At the plate he hits from a balanced stance with a short stride for timing.  Bat and hips sweep through the zone and produce a 77 MPH exit velocity.  Behind the plate he sets up high in the zone, has quiet/soft hands for receiving and had pop-times of 2.16 and 2.18. 

Michael Felton, C/OF, Mountain View High School (2018)
5-foot-11, 180-pound right hand hitting catcher/outfielder who ran a 4.23 home to first.  At the plate he hits from a slightly open stance.  He shows quick hands and hips to the ball and produces an 89 MPH exit velocity. Shows good power potential. Behind the plate he has quick feet and a quick release.  His pop-times were 2.09-2.11 with a 77 MPH arm.  He blocks well and has quiet hands when receiving. Athletic catcher.

Ryan Hutchinson, C/OF, Heritage High School (2018)
5-foot-11, 155-pound right hand hitting catcher/outfielder who ran a 4.43 home to first.  At the plate he has a simple balanced stance with a short stride for timing.  Hands are high in the zone and move quick to contact.  He had a 74 MPH exit velocity and showed pull tendencies during batting practice.  Behind the plate he moves well side to side to block and stays straight through the throw to second base.  He had a 2.0 pop-time with a 76 MPH arm with accuracy. Good solid catcher with good actions, and should get good playing time for a talented Heritage team this spring.

Jaden Murray, C/OF, Valor Christian High School (2019)
6-foot-2, 180-pound right hand hitting catcher/outfielder who ran a 4.5 home to first. At the plate he hits from a balanced stance and has a slight toe tap for timing.  Hands drop slightly on the swing and create a slight upward swing path.  He had an 84 MPH exit velocity.  Behind the plate he has good movement when blocking balls.  He moves around the plate on throw downs and had a 2.09 pop-time.  He showcased a 78 MPH arm velocity.    

Jaren Piepho, C/3B, Rocky Mountain High School (2019)
6-foot-0, 165-pound right hand hitting catcher/third base who ran a 4.53 home to first.  At the plate he hits from an open stance and loads onto his backside.  He has quick hands and stays on his backside through contact.  He had a 79 MPH exit velocity.  Behind the plate he is quiet and compact.  He moves will to block balls and stays low through his throws to the bag.  He had a 2.23 pop-time and a 75 MPH arm was accurate to the bag. 

Derek Schroeder, C/3B, Grandview High School (2018)
6-foot-0, 170-pound right hand hitting catcher/third base who ran a 4.41 home to first.  At the plate he starts with an open stance and high leg kick brings him square.  Good lower leg drive through the swing produced an 82 MPH exit velocity.  Behind the plate he sets up low in the zone and has good hands while receiving.  He comes through the plate on throw downs and had a pop-time of 2.17.  His arm was 74 MPH with some accuracy.  

Kirkland Townsend, C/RHP, Legend High School (2019)
5-foot-9, 120-pound right hand hitting catcher/right hand pitcher who ran a 5.6 home to first.  At the plate he hits from a tall balanced stance.  Slight load with his hands on the pitch and hips and hands come through the zone together.  He had a 70 MPH exit velocity and finishes high through the zone.  Behind the plate he sets up high in the zone and moves forward on blocks.  Feet and arm speed will improve as he grows.  He had a pop-time of 2.47 and showed some accuracy on his balls to second.  On the mound he stands tall and delivers the ball from a high ¾ arm slot.  He showed good command of the zone and featured a 67 MPH fastball, along with a 59 MPH curve and 60 MPH change.

RELATED MATERIAL