PBR Georgia Player of the Week: LHP Carter Holton & C Harry Ford
February 25, 2020
Our very first Player of the Week award will feature both a pitcher and a hitter. Despite the opening two weeks of the season being marred by rain almost every day, the weekends have provided some relief with sunny conditions, even if it was a bit chilly out. This week’s Pitcher of the Week is awarded to LHP Carter Holton (Benedictine; Vanderbilt), and claiming the Hitter of the Week award is C Harry Ford (North Cobb; Georgia Tech).
We got a good look at Holton two weekends ago during the first week of the Georgia Dugout Club tournament and he showed exactly why he is one of the top ranked 2021s in Georgia. Our very own National Crosscheck Nathan Rode was in town to see the southpaw first-hand and came away with high praise.
2/15/20 - Vanderbilt commit. Ranked the #3 2021 in the state. 5-foot-11, 175 pounds. Showed a strong two-pitch mix on the mound. Slightly closed landing. Arm works extremely quick and keeps speed consistent on breaking ball. SL showed large shape with tight spin. Executes well with the pitch in all counts. ⅙ bend at 72-76. FB sat 88-91 in first couple of innings. Has natural run and works both sides of the plate. Does an impressive job throwing to the inside part of the plate. Works extremely fast in between pitches. Also showed two-way potential. Hit a HR to RF and took 91 the other-way for a single on lefty-lefty matchup. Low hands to start and keeps them low during load. - National Crosscheck Nathan Rode
For this week, Holton was even more impressive in his start against a very talented Redan squad. In 6.0 innings pitched, Holton accounted for 16 of the 18 outs by way of strikeout while allowing only one hit and zero runs. He also added two doubles and two RBI in seven at-bats.
Harry Ford has helped lead North Cobb to a perfect 5-0 start this season, getting things done at the plate and behind the dish. Arguably the top defensive catcher in the entire 2021 class, Ford put his talents on display this summer for Team Georgia at the 2019 Future Games. Our staff came away extremely impressed with him, and there is little doubt that this backstop will have a high priority next spring in the 2021 MLB Draft.
8/05/19 - The 5-foot-10, 180 pound Ford can only be described as dynamic behind the plate, and Georgia Tech obviously thought so also, as Ford committed to the Yellow Jackets quickly after the event. Very few catchers can match his athleticism behind the plate and scouts see it as soon as he squats behind the plate. Ford is light on his feet and shows soft hands, giving him easy range behind the plate. His arm strength registered at the top of the scale at 83 mph and line up well with his Future Games best pop time of 1.83 to 1.90. There is little doubt the catch and throw skills are elite, but probably most impressive was just how well, Ford is swinging the bat these days. Smooth easy right-handed stroke played well during the workout, but also carried over to the games, as Ford just missed running a couple balls out of the ballpark. He showed consistent hard contact while never really getting hard on his front side, like we saw earlier in the Spring. Arrow way up for this young backstop after his showing at the Future Games. - PBR Georgia Staff
This week Ford showed his potential as a two-way player at the next level. Over a four game stretch he went 9-for-13 with three 2Bs and a 3B, collecting 5 RBI and 6 runs scored, he also stole three bases. His biggest hit of the week came on Saturday in a 2-1 win over North Cobb Christian when he delivered a go-ahead two-out RBI double. Behind the plate, he was his usual self, cutting down three of the five runners who tried to test him.
Be on the lookout tomorrow for our Diamond Notes, which highlight the players who were nominated for Player of the Week, but just missed out on the award.
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