Dan Cevette
Director, New York

Over the next few weeks, in addition to highlighting the Top 15 Player Profiles of 2015, we will also highlight the Top 15 Stories in New York during the 2015 calendar year.

Today, we’ll take a look at No. 5: It comes as no surprise that an article we did on last years first-round draft pick Garrett Whitley would receive thousands of views. Let's take a look at the No. 5 most viewed article of the year.

Get to know Garrett Whitley (2015)

 

Name: Garrett Whitley
High School: Niskayuna High School
Position: CF
Best Tool: Speed and Power
State Rank: 1
Commitment: Wake Forest

Scouting Report
Garrett Whitley, OF, Niskayuna HS, NY (2015)
Whitley stands an athletic 6-foot-2 195-pounds with a great baseball body. The Wake Forest commit has a plus arm roaming the outfield with exceptional speed running 6.5-6.7 60 yard dash times all day long. At the plate he shows a smooth balanced approach generating plus power to all fields. He is arguably the No.1 prospect in the Northeast moving forward to next years draft. He is ahead of Zach Sullivan (OF, Corning HS) who was a 14th round draft pick this year out of New York.

PBR sat down with the No. 1 prospect in New York's class of 2015 rankings Garrett Whitley for a dive inside his high-level game. Here's what we learned.

PBR: Tell us where you grew up, when did you start playing baseball, and who were your baseball influences and why.

Whitley: I was born in Melrose, MA, but I moved to Niskayuna, NY when I was 3 and I've been here since. I started playing baseball in the backyard with my dad when I was 2, and then I got into organized baseball as soon as I could, with t-ball when I was 5. My personal baseball influence has always been my dad; he is the one who instilled the work ethic that I credit for any success that I have or will have in the future. Not personally, I always looked up to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz when I was little (I'm a Red Sox fan), and now I really like Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen.

PBR: You have been receiving a lot of positive press lately. How does it feel?

Whitley: It's a little surreal. Coming from the Northeast and playing American Legion in the summer, I've been somewhat hidden up here, but after East Coast Pro and Area Codes things changed. It was quick, too. I just keep doing my thing and working hard because regardless of what people say now, I know that there is still a lot of work to do.

PBR: You picked Wake Forest as your school of choice. Tell us your top three, best offers, and why WF?

Whitley: When I was choosing a school, I had pretty much narrowed it down to Wake Forest and Fordham. I wasn't particularly heavily recruited at the time. After this summer, I heard from a few more big schools, but Wake is the place for me. It is in a great area of the country, it has excellent academics, and they play some of the most competitive baseball in the nation. Plus, it just felt right when I was on campus.

PBR: We know your very talented at the plate and in the OF. Tell us all about your strengths, weaknesses. Tell us the first time you realized you were going to be a special player.

Whitley: I think that my best strength is my work ethic. I know that if I don't put in the work, I'm never going to achieve my goals, so I'm willing to devote everything to doing just that. Tools-wise, I think my best traits are my speed and power. I've been doing a lot of work to improve both of those as well because I know I need to make gains. Two aspects of my game that need work at the moment are my throwing arm and base running technique. As far as a "writing on the wall" moment, I'd have to say it was at the East Coast Pro and Area Code showcases. Those were my first opportunities to play against the top competition in the country, and I found that I could play with all of them. I don't know if it would be considered to be "writing on the wall", but it certainly helped me prove to myself that I can compete at that level.

PBR: Your ranked No. 1 New York by PBR. How does that feel considering the size and talent in the state?

Whitley: Well, to be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel about it.  New York is a state full of great baseball players, and I'm certainly honored to have that distinction, but it is not something that I ever think about. I've just been training hard and looking forward to next spring.

PBR: What's your training look like this winter? Goals for the spring?

Whitley: During the winter, I lift 4 days a week, run twice a week, and hit 5 days a week. For the spring, my goal is to just play hard, play loose, have fun, and see how everything plays out.

PBR: Who is the best player you will see this spring? Best team?

Whitley: The best player I'll face this spring is probably a pitcher who I played with at the Metropolitan Classic this year, Ian Anderson. He plays for the team that will probably also be the best team we'll face, Shenendehowa.

Stories On Whitley