MLK Weekend Notebook
January 23, 2019
Martin Luther King Jr. weekend annually serves as the unofficial kickoff to the high school baseball season in Southern California. Many of the top teams in the region participate in a number of events ranging from college team camps to three-way games to the biggest preseason event, the JSerra MLK Weekend event. I call it an event because it's not a tournament, it's a round robin series of games that attracts roughly 42 teams.
In other words, it's a pretty darn big deal that was almost for not given the rain that hit the Los Angeles and Orange County areas last week.
I usually split the weekend up by hitting two of the college team camps - USD, SDSU - in San Diego on Friday and Saturday before finishing the weekend off in Orange County. The weather wrecked havoc with USD's field forcing them to cancel their team camp. This left with one day at SDSU before heading to JSerra on Sunday and Monday for what amounted to 13 games in three days.
Obviously with that many games comes the opportunity to see many teams and players as we head into the 2019 season. Below are some notes on players that stood out in my viewings last weekend.
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Joshua Hahn 1B / LHP / Huntington Beach, CA / 2019Josh Hahn is No. 5 in the state Class of 2019 rankings and certainly did nothing on Saturday to convince us otherwise. The southpaw is showing more consistent velocity in the 88-90 range with the fastball that is flashing more arm side life as it enters the hitting zone. His changeup continues to develop as it flashed some unseen sinking action along with fade while his curveball flashed downer biting action. But the thing that stands out with Hahn is his physical development. He’s made a commitment to getting stronger and it’s showing. He’s thicker in the lower half and through the shoulders which can only bode well for him this season when he’s unlikely to come off the field. |
UPCOMING EVENTS
| SHOWCASE | STATE | DATE | LOCATION |
| Northern California Preseason All-State (Invite-Only) | CA | 01/27 | San Joaquin Delta College |
| Super 60 Pro Showcase | NATIONAL | 02/03 | The Max |
| Solano-Sac Junior Future Games Trials | CA | 02/24 | Vacaville Christian HS |
| SoCal Junior Future Games Trials | CA | 03/09 | O'Malley Field - Harvard Westlake |
| East Bay Junior Future Games Trials | CA | 03/24 | Athenian School |
| North Bay Junior Future Games Trials | CA | 04/28 | Clyde P. Smith Field - Cardinal Newman HS |
| Northern California Future Games Trials | CA | 05/26 | Islanders Field |
| Orange County Futures Games Trials | CA | 06/08 | Hart Park - Orange CA |