Top Tier West: Takeaways
July 6, 2023
On Tuesday, June 6th, the PBR Illinois staff traveled to Triton College to host the Top Tier Scout Day, where 150+ players from the Top Tier program participated in a pro-style workout in front of our staff.
To see a full list of players that attended, click HERE. For all the statistics collected at this event, click HERE.
Today we’ll dive deeper into a few of the players who popped to our scouts on the day of this event. We broke down the event into individual takeaway stories from each Top Tier affiliate. Below you’ll learn more about a handful of names to know from the Top Tier West team.
TOP TIER WEST: TAKEAWAYS
RHP/OF Tyler Townsend (Sycamore, 2026) is a legitimate two-way prospect that stood out in multiple areas at the event. Standing in an athletic and projectable, 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, Townsend showed athleticism on the mound with a loose and quick arm with acceleration out front. His fastball was 83-84 mph, touching 84.6 mph with an average of 10.1 inches of horizontal movement. He spun an upper-60s slider well, spinning it at an average of 2431 rpm with 14.7 inches of movement. Townsend threw his change-up for strikes, flashing fade to the arm-side with 13 inches of movement. At the plate the right-handed hitter blistered baseballs almost exclusively to the pull-side, recording a peak exit velocity of 94.7 mph and 354 foot max batted ball. An athletic mover in the outfield, Townsend attacked the baseball and worked in-stride. He showed one of the most lively outfield arms producing a max velocity of 87 mph, the second highest of the event. Townsend is a high-follow prospect in Illinois’ 2026 class.
Left-handed hitting MIF Nikolas Nelson (Dekalb, 2025) stood out with his advanced round of BP and ability to stick on the dirt defensively. Nelson has fluid movement patterns at the plate, stays on-plane and balanced throughout with natural loft through the zone and feel for the barrel. Nelson reached a max exit velocity of 88.4 mph, and he sent a ball a max distance of 320 feet. He was smooth defensively up the middle with clean actions, steady hands and his arm played accurate at 76 mph.
INF/RHP Jason Phillips (Plano, 2026) is a well built 6-foot-2, 225-pounds with strength. Phillips sent balls back up the middle consistently. His exit velocities were in the lower-80s throughout, but he flashed power and the ability to create leverage through contact - recording a max distance of 320 feet. Phillips showed soft hands and fluid actions from the infield. Despite the prowess with the bat, he also is a strong-armed 2026 to know on the mound. Phillips has a short, clean arm, ran his fastball up to 83.7 mph with a 93% spin efficiency to go along with a three-pitch mix, including a low 70s slider that averaged 2203 rpm. Physically advanced 2026 with two-way potential.
RHP/INF Kamrin Jenkins (Oswego, 2026) has a lean, projectable 5-foot-11, 165-pound frame and features upside to all parts of his game. From the right side of the plate, Jenkins has a projectable swing with ease and quickness, producing the fastest peak bat speed at the event of 83.8 mph (72.9 mph avg). Jenkins has a quiet, polished look at the plate with easy, smooth movement patterns, stays short to the ball and works to the big part of the diamond, producing a max exit velocity of 90.2 mph. He also showed fluid actions on the infield playing light on his feet with a clean, easy arm that played at 82 mph across the diamond. The 7.24 runner in the 60 also hopped on the mound and showed just as well. It is an easy and repeatable delivery with a loose and quick arm with acceleration out front. He threw a projectable fastball from a loose, clean, ¾ slot, touching 81.1 mph. His slider showed 11/5 shape that could develop into a swing-and-miss pitch. He rounded out his repertoire with a change-up thrown with feel at the bottom of the zone with fade to the armside (13.8” HM avg).
Kamrin Jenkins
Another 2026 to keep a close eye on moving forward was LHP Andrew Zwemke (Oswego). Zwenke has an advanced 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame that he controlled well moving down the mound, especially for his age. Zwemke has a clean, easy arm and filled up the strike zone at a 100% clip behind a fastball that topped at 81 mph with more to come. He also landed a mid-60s breaking ball for a strike and showed a low-70s changeup with an average of 8.9 inches of horizontal break.
RHP Connar Temple (Batavia, 2025) is an athletic arm to follow in the 2025 class. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound, wiry, upside right-hander is an athletic mover down the mound with a loose, whippy arm and fastball that topped at 86.2 mph, sitting at 83.6-85.7. Temple is still developing and harnessing his three-pitch mix but he should continue to ascend as he gains quality strength to his upside frame.
CLICK HERE for a link to the event page.