By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

Prospect showdowns rarely live up to the hype, but it’s probably mostly because it’s so easy to get pumped up for them and then the expectations become unreasonable. I’ve targeted several games over the past few years with great anticipation and the only one that sticks out as living up or even surpassing the hype was the match-up in Loganville, GA, last year between OFs Clint Frazier (Loganville HS, GA) and Austin Meadows (Grayson HS, GA). That game defied description because of Frazier hitting to monstrous home runs and the electric home crowd, but even it had a slight disappointment in that Meadows didn’t have a great game.

I certainly wasn’t expecting that when I drove to Asheville, NC, this weekend, but I was at least hoping for a good matchup between LHP Alex Destino (North Buncombe HS, NC) and 1B Braxton Davidson (Roberson HS, NC). In the same conference, they’re cross-town rivals and good friends, not to mention two of the top players in the state and potential early-round picks in the draft. Davidson has first-round aspirations as one of the top hitters in the country. He is committed to North Carolina. A South Carolina recruit, Destino held the advantage on paper with it being a left-on-left matchup, but it was quickly evident that Saturday was just not his day.