October 20 Alabama Fall Open: Quick Hits

October 20 Alabama Fall Open: Quick Hits

The Alabama Fall Open was held Sunday, October 20 at Birmingham Southern College. The quality of players at the event was rather impressive. Many players had very impressive days but today we take a look at 10 of the players that jumped out at our scouts. We will continue to roll out content from the event over the next few days but let's take a quick look at these ten players. 

Austin Frye (2020, 3B/RHP, Chelsea) Showed some nice strength in the hands at the plate and a slightly pull approach with continued tilted line drives to the LCF gap during BP. Athletic player that has solid skills at the hot corner with nice feet and the glove works well.  

Garrett Frye (2020, SS/2B, Chelsea) The actions at SS are legit and everything works well together. The transfer was quick and the ball really seemed to carry out of the hand. Showed a mostly middle of the field approach during BP but handled balls on the inner half as well. 

Evan Smallwood (2023, SS/RHP, Spain Park) The young ‘23 grad had a nice day at the event. Ran a 6.82 60 yard dash and showed nice rhythm at the plate with some quickness in the hands. Solid barrel control and the action in the infield are very advanced with nice arm strength. 

Michael Hopkinson (2021, 2B/3B, Faith Academy) “Hoppy” is just a ball player. Continues to show solid skills everywhere across the field. Always looks under control and has some “smoothness” to his game. Ran a 6.98 60 yard dash with a solid BP round and fluid actions at SS. Athletic enough to play 3 infield positions and was 92 mph exit velocity off a tee. 

Brennen Norton (2021, 3B/2B, Cullman) The loudest round of BP on the day with serious pull side juice as he left the yard a few times during his round. Uses a very strong lower well and has definite strength in the hands. An event best 96 mph exit velocity off a tee while also running a 6.95 60 yard dash and throwing 85 mph across the infield. A legit ‘21 grad.  

Jacob Huff (2020, C/OF, McGill Toolen) Another physical player at the event that shows plenty of athleticism doubling as an outfielder and catcher. Did a nice job creating backspin off the barrel and showed gap to gap power and the ability to hit to all fields. Also ran a 6.79 60 yard dash and was 93 mph exit velo off a tee. 

Hayden Stancil (2022, SS/RHP, Cullman) The ‘22 grad turned some heads on the day. Took BP with a wood bat but it was impressive as he really showed the ability to stay through the zone and the ball came off the bat very well to all fields. Showed as much juice to the backside gap as he did to the pull side. No questions on the ability at SS including glove work and arm strength.  

Alex Johnson (2022, C/1B, Albertville) He showed well behind the plate as he threw a 2.0 pop time to the 2B bag. Throws were very accurate on the bag and the ball seemed to really carry out of the hand. Has some juice in the barrel to the pull side while using his lower half very well. Nice, natural set up receiving pitches behind the plate. 

Tommy Fester (2020, RHP/3B, Cambridge, GA) The senior right hander showed a true 3 pitch arsenal. The FB was up to 82 mph with ASR and sink. The breaking ball had late bite and the change up showed nice sink and depth as well.

Brandon Brewer (2021, RHP/OF, Scottsboro) Tall, lanky build on this junior who was also up to 82 mph with the FB. The pitch showed some late sink while the breaking ball showed late cut with slider type action. The change up showed nice vertical break and tumble to the arm side.

Keep checking back over the next few days as we will continue to release content from the event of the players in attendance. Tomorrow we will look at the leaders of the individual testing stations. 

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