Prep Baseball Report

Uncommitted Spotlight: '25 INF Dane Shepard


Steven Hardesty
Central Coast/North LA Area Scout

  

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Ventura, Calif. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series takes a dive back into the 2025 class as this class begins its SR. year of High School there are still several talented uncommitted players in this class who figure prominently in our Class of 2025 Rankings.  All players featured within our Uncommitted Spotlight series are ones that college coaches and fans should be keeping their eyes on over the coming months.

We invite you to get to know them through the eyes of our Prep Baseball California staff of scouts both through our in person looks at players and/or the data-backed numbers collected at our events with our partnered companies. TrackMan, Blast Motion, and Swift Performance provide comparable data to project and evaluate players. All of these systems come together to give a clear picture at what colleges will get when a players steps onto their campus.

Today, we put the spotlight on the number 215 ranked player in the 2025 class in SoCal '25 INF Dane Shepard from St. Francis High School in La Canada, California. Shepard strikes a strongly built athletic frame at 5'11 195 lbs. that shows present strength in both the lower and upper part of his body. His athleticism is solid including a 7.27 60 with a . He shows good actions on the INF dirt moving around with solid footwork, sure hands and present arm strength/accuracy (82 MPH INF arm velocity) to his throws that give him potential to play 3B or even possibly slide to the 2B position.

While his potential to handle multiple spots in the INF at a solid level is interesting the potential he flashes as a RH hitter with feel for his barrel and strength in his bat give him a quality offensive profile. His operation at the plate during batting practice and game play is simple and consistent. He starts from a wider set up with a small load and quiet hands that goes into a consistent feel for his timing and appraoch. He lift in an uphill path that plays from the oppo gap to pull side line with carry as he has showcased in batting practice and in game. Shepard shows quality swing metrics including hand speed up to 23.1 MPH with present bat speed at 72.5 MPH while adding torque in his turn with 12.3 G's of rotational acceleration. His present strength and quality swing combines into good batted ball data from Trackman including a max exit velocity up to 93.4 MPH while averaging 87.3 MPH. Shepard's lift in the swing includes a max distance of 361' to the pull side while flashing feel for the sweet spot with a 57% rate. 

As he prepares for his SR. campaign this fall/winter to compete for a prominent role in the lineup at St. Francis which plays in the uber-competitive Mission League there is plenty of opportunity for Shepard to continue to flash his arrow up profile as a talented uncommitted '25.

College coaches and fans be sure to click on Shepard's profile to see full video and information.

Scouting Report

6/20/24

Dane Shepard, ST FRANCIS HIGH SCHOOL (CA), 2025
Positional Profile: 3B/2B
Body: 5-11, 193-pounds. Athletic frame with present strength.
Hit: RHH. Even stance with hands by his ear. Wide base with slight movement before swing. Short path to the ball. Big finish. 67.4 mph bat speed with 9 G's of rotational acceleration.
Power: 93 max exit velocity, averaged 84.5 mph. 361' max distance. Possesses strength to be serious power threat. Consistent fly ball hitter.
Arm: RH. INF-77 mph. High three quarters release across the infield.
Defense: Fluid footwork engaged throughout the play.
ATH: 7.27 runner in the 60. Steady body control throughout. 22.80 max vertical.