By Doug Freeman
Florida Scouting Director

Due to some bad weather, the South Florida open was unable to do the batting practice portion of the event. We were able to evaluate the pitchers during the bull pen session as well as a modified defensive session, exit velocities and 60 times.

Below are all of the participants that attended the event in alphabetical order:

Jackson Alvord, C/3B. Brooks DeBartolo HS, FL. (2018)
The strong bodied 5-foot-11, 185 pound catcher both blocked and received well. He has a flexible, low set-up with strong wrists and soft hands. He showed an average arm with a good transfer and good footwork with his best pop time being a 2.07. He also showed average actions with good hands in the infield with his throws topping out at 61 mph. Offensively he showed an exit velocity of 72 mph.

Brandon Andal, C/3B, Pembroke Pines Charter, FL. (2018)
The 5-foot-9, 180 pound C/3B showed good hands in the infield with strong accurate arm topping out at 76 mph. Behind the plate he has quick feet and a good transfer with accurate throws and pop times ranging from 2.03-2.07. Offensively he showed and exit velocity of 78 mph. He is athletic defender with some quick twitch and potential to be an above average defensive catcher.

Brandon Arnold, SS/2B, Columbus HS, FL. (2020)
The 5-foot-8, 150 pound middle infielder shows some athleticism with a quick first step. The footwork can be a little choppy, but as he continues to grow and play the footwork should become cleaner. He had an infield velocity of 66 mph. Offensively he had an exit velocity of 60 mph. There is some athleticism and still has plenty of room to grow and improve.

Zachary Brown, 2B/OF, Cooper City HS, FL. (2019)
The 5-foot-8, 158 pound 2B/OF showed average actions during the defensive portion. There is some stiffness in the actions and as he learns to create more rhythm through the ball, the footwork and actions should improve. Running an 8.81 60 yard dash with and infield velocity of 62 mph he will need to continue to work on first step quickness and arm strength to play at the next level. Offensively he showed an exit velocity of 54 mph off of the tee.

Tyler Colgan, LHP, West Broward HS, FL. (2017)
The 6-foot-1, 160 pound left handed pitcher has a long and lean frame. He shows some deception with a herky jerky motion, but still lands in line down the mound. He showed a fastball that ranged from 75-77 mph, with a curveball ranging from 60-62 mph and a changeup at 65 mph. He has a projectable frame and shows some feel for pitching, but gaining a tick or two of velocity and working on a tighter breaking ball will help him continue at the next level.

Michael Giordano, 1B/OF, American Senior HS, FL. (2017)
The 6-foot-3, 205 pound 1B/OF who is a big strong kid. Showed an average arm from the outfield with a top velocity of 76 mph. He showed good actions at first base and worked well around the bag. With an exit velocity of 81 mph he showed bat speed and will be interesting to see how he can swing it going forward.

Preston Goodbar, OF/3B, Olympia HS, FL. (2017)
The 6-foot, 190 pound came through the ball well in the outfield. He has a short arm action with some carry on the ball with accurate throws topping out at 83 mph. He has a strong athletic body with some present tools and potential to fill out some more. Offensively he had an exit velocity of 72 mph.

Roberto Lopez, OF/SS, West Broward HS, FL. (2020)
The 5-foot-11, 170 pound showed athleticism and potential with a lot of room to grow. From the outfield he comes through the ball well with athleticism and shows a strong, above average arm for his class topping out at 82 mph. In the infield he continues to show athleticism, with a good first step. The footwork is a little choppy, but as he grows into his body that should clean up. The hands work well and showed the ability to be a solid defender. Offensively, he showed an exit velocity of 74 mph. He has some present tools and will be an interesting prospect going forward as he continues to grow into his body.

Jason Marcus, RHP, Olympia HS, FL. (2017)
The 6-foot, 155 pound right handed pitcher has a long lean frame. He shows a loose and easy arm action that produces a fastball that ranges from 76-77 mph. He also showed a slider and a curveball with the slider at 70 mph and the curveball ranging from 66-67 mph with the slider showing a bit tighter spin and better shape. The changeup is a strait change and sat at 70 mph. He lands in line, but does not get much use out of the lower half. The arm action works, but will need to use his lower half more to gain a tick or two on the fastball.

Kevin Mendiguren, LHP, Boca Raton HS, FL. (2019)
The 6-foot, 160 pound left handed pitcher showed some potential with a short quick arm action. He has plenty of room to fill out and the arm works well. He showed a fastball than ranged from 76-78 mph, a curveball that ranged from 65-67 mph and a changeup with ranged from 70-72 mph. He showed some feel for all three pitches and as he continues to grow and get stronger expect him to jump a mph or two on the fastball as well.

Carson Montgomery, OF/RHP, West Orange HS, FL. (2020)
The 6-foot-1, 175 pound OF/RHP who participated in the Underclass Games, but was not able to throw due to a sickness, was able to throw at the South Florida Open. There is still a lot of arms and legs going different directions, but when he is balanced and gets extension the ball jumps out of his hand. His fastball currently works in the 81-83 mph range, but when he can get balanced consistently, use his lower half and get extended that will jump very quickly. He also showed a slider that ranged from 72-73 mph that has good shape when he gets extended and a changeup at 75 mph.  There is a lot of upside and he has the frame and athleticism to grow into all of the potential with the sky being the limit.

Christopher Satcher, C/1B, Palm Beach Gardens HS, FL. (2019)
The 6-foot-2, 205 pound C/1B is a big, strong young player. He shows some potential behind the plate receiving the ball well. He needs to improve his flexibility to improve his setup and blocking skills but there are some tools present. He showed some average footwork with pop times ranging from 2.17-2.25 that can improve by improving the flexibility and working on his transfer. Offensively, he showed some strength and bat speed with an exit velocity of 84mph.

Dylan Symonds, C, American Heritage Delray HS, FL. (2019)
The 5-foot-6, 165 pound catcher ran a 9.2 60 yard dash. He also showed a 2.43-2.52 pop time behind the plate with the top velocity being 62 mph. Offensively he had an exit velocity of 73 mph. Needs to improve footwork and transfer to improve the pop time. Also will improve as he becomes bigger and stronger.

Tyler Townsend, LHP, Park Vista Community HS, FL. (2018)
The 5-foot-10, 185 pound left handed pitcher was balanced throughout his wind up with a long over the top arm swing. The fastball worked down in the zone ranging from 75-78 mph topping out at 79 mph. He also showed a 65 mph curveball and a 68 mph changeup. He could gain some velocity with better use of the lower half. He stays in line and throws strikes, but better use of the lower half and gaining a few miles per hour will help with the ability to pitch at the next level.

Sebastian Zayas, SS/3B, Isidro A. Sánchez, PR. (2020)
The 5-foot-11, 165 pound SS/3B, showed some athleticism and quick twitch in his actions. His footwork and lower half works well through the ball at short. The footwork has good rhythm and stays behind the ball, moving well to both sides. He showed an average arm for his class topping out at 73 mph across the infield. Offensively, he showed an exit velocity of 63 mph from the right side and 65 mph from the left side. He shows some present tools defensively and will be an interesting to see how he continues to develop.