By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

Starting on July 26, I embarked on a baseball binge, traveling to five cities across the country over the course of 29 days. In that time, I went to Tampa for the East Coast Professional Showcase; Indianapolis for the Prep Baseball Report Future Games; Long Beach, CA, for the Area Code Games; Chicago for the Under Armour All-America Game; and New York City for the Metropolitan Baseball Classic. Squeezed between Chicago and New York were two nights at home where my clothes went from my suitcase into the laundry and back into my suitcase.

To wrap up the trip, I’m going back through my notes and highlighting players that stood out the most. We’ve already looked at the top 2016 pitchers and position players as well as underclassmen. My last entry takes a look at several players to watch. I stopped short of calling them sleepers—some of these names are certainly known—but they may not be getting the same buzz as other prospects.

Ulysses Cantu, 3B, Boswell HS, TX
Cantu has a thick, strong frame at 6 feet, 205 pounds. He is limited defensively, but his strength shows up at the plate where he has a good, loose swing. The ball jumps off his bat thanks to bat speed produced by tremendous strength in his wrists. At the Area Code Games, he routinely hammered the ball, going 7-for-17 with a double and a few exit velocities that exceeded 94 mph. The Texas Tech recruit squared up one ball that came off the bat at 106.