Player of the Week: Steven Vasquez
March 23, 2021
Welcome to our Arizona Player of the Week
Each week our PBR Arizona staff will choose a player of the week from our coverage throughout the previous week's AIA Coverage. This player will be chosen based on their performance or for particular reasons that set them apart from other players from around the state of Arizona. We will try to post our player of the week at the beginning of every week throughout the spring high school season.
Player of the Week
2021 LHP Steven Vasquez
2021 LHP Steven Vasquez of the Odyssey Institute has been named your PBR Arizona- Player of the Week for his performance during the first full week of high school competition for the 2021 season in Arizona. Vasquez is currently uncommitted but shouldn't be much longer if he keeps up these performances. We haven't had a Player of the Week in Arizona since Ryland Zaborowski took our last one before the season was shutdown early in 2020.
Vasquez is a player that will surly be the leader and the key piece on both sides of the ball for the smaller 3A program throughout the season. In his first start on the mound in 2021, Vasquez was nearly perfect, literally. He retired all but two batters he faced except for a ground ball single and an error. Over the complete 7-inning game, Vasquez struckout 12-batters with the lone hit. Offensively, the Minotaurs have only had two games but Vasquez has had a great start to the season with the bat as well. He went 2 for 3 with an RBI in Game 1 to open the season while going 5 for 5 with two doubles and HR in Game 2. He had 5 total RBIs and 3 runs scored in the game. Coaches will want to keep an eye on Vasquez during the season as he has strong upside on the mound and could provide some depth at first base for the right program out there.
We congratulate Steven Vasquez from the Odyssey Institute on being nominated our PBR Arizona- Player of the Week.
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Scouting Report
2021 LHP Steven Vasquez (Odyssey Prep)- 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, tall, strong body, big legs. Worked out as a two-way player, continues to show upside as a left-handed pitcher but could have two-way potential in the right program. Right-handed hitter, wide base, squared neutral stance. Uses small leg lift with active lower half. Rests bat on shoulder, loading to back foot. Solid round of BP, showing his natural strength with present bat speed. Gap to gap approach, handsy swing while displaying some feel for the barrel, hit several balls over 95mph reaching 98.32mph while hitting four balls over 350ft. Solid athleticism & body awareness around the bag, naturally big target. Fields the ball out infront with two hands, eyes down. Above average arm strength at 83mph across the diamond. Athletic uptempo delivery, some intent coming down the mound while closing off the front side, creating some deception. Throws from a H3/4 arm slot with loose arm action. FB was thrown down in the zone with vertical action at 85-87, topping out at 87.62, averaging 19.7in of IVB. CV showed above average with some sharpness, 4:00 tilt at 70-72mph at 2300rpm. Still uncommitted.
6-foot-4 200-pounds, uncommitted, two-way player. Tall athletic body with present strength, looks like there is even more to build off. Competed as a first basemen, hitting from a spread out stance with raw leg kick. Some extra movement. Has some pop in the bat with an aggressive pull approach at 93mph exit velocity. Good bat speed. Above average athleticism around the bag at first base. 84mph arm strength across the diamond. Also worked out on the mound with tempo & rhythm in delivery, showing separation. Clean athletic arm action from ¾ slot. FB sat 85-88mph with downhill action. CV was thrown at 66-68mph with decent shape and bite but needs to be thrown harder. CH was thrown with more velocity than the past although he didn't use it much in live action. Left-handed pitcher to follow, some two-way ability.
6-foot-4 200-pounds, long limbs with strength in legs, body really stood out. Two-way player that was one of the more interesting follows of the day. Hit from a wide closed off stance, cutting himself off at times. Natural pop at 93mph with a middle approach. Showed some ability to lift baseball. On the mound, showed a smooth delivery with some body control, landing athletic. Flat footwork in the infield, slowing his body down. Raw when it comes to reads and taking angles. 67mph arm strength across the diamond. Threw strikes down in the zone from a H ¾ arm slot with a quick arm. Showed some feel for 3 pitches. Ball jumped out of the hand on straight FB, sitting 80-83mph with occasional late run. CV showed above average potential at 62-66mph with 1/7 shape. High spin CH showed some sink down. His body & overall potential should make for a good follow over course of the spring & summer.