2023 PBR All-American Game, Spotlight: Jack Bauer
August 30, 2023
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Prep Baseball Report is hosting its inaugural High School All-American Game at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. The unique event will feature the nation’s top high school seniors who are set to battle against a roster of the country’s best juniors in Class of 2024 vs. Class of 2025 action, giving pro scouts a unique look at current and future draft classes.
We’ve begun to unveil the event’s participants on our social media channels, and we’ll spotlight those players more closely on our site, too, highlighting past performances and scouting reports from the live looks we’ve gathered on this gifted group throughout the years.
We're highlighting left-handed pitcher Jack Bauer, an Illinois native and the top-ranked southpaw in the nation's junior class. Bauer represented the Land of Lincoln at the 2022 PBR Future Games before committing to Virginia shortly after. He has shined time and time again in a variety of looks over the last year, looking the part of a premier arm each time he toes-the-rubber. Following several impressive appearances on the national stage this summer, he'll be in Milwaukee next month for our All-American Game.
"Bauer is easy to dream on at a square-shouldered, 6-foot-3, 175-pounds, dripping with athleticism while holding significant room to add strength. A simple delivery and boring arm action produced some eye-opening stuff including a fastball that ranged from 90-93 with high likelihood of seeing significant upticks in future looks. Less apt to use a quality changeup (83 mph with fade in this look), the pitch holds above average characteristics, but it is the advancement of the slider which is likely to carry Bauer to the upper echelon in the class with regards to prospect status. Less effective a year ago, the pitch now rips off at 76-77 with sweeping action north of 2900 rpm. Given his physical profile and the spin characteristics, it is hard not to compare Bauer to recent White Sox 1st rounder, LHP Noah Schultz, and similarly to Schultz, Bauer might see remarkable strides forward in as little as a year as he grows into his frame and becomes more comfortable with movement patterns. He struck out three in two innings of work."