After two weeks of Midwest Prospecting, the Scouting Trail returned me to SEC country and Kentucky Proud Park. The beautiful, brand-new stadium on the campus of the University of Kentucky was as advertised. Impressive in every aspect, including the fine hospitality by everyone from the ticket-takers to the baseball staff. The Thursday through Saturday series featured a top half of the first-round lefty for the 2019 draft, and likely another for 2020. As for tools and talent, here’s what I saw…

No. 6 Zack Thompson, LHP, Kentucky- Tall, strong framed lefty at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. Thompson is one of the top three college pitching prospects in this year’s draft. He’s an above average athlete who repeated his delivery with a slightly cross-body landing. Showed clean arm action with a full path to a high three-quarter slot. Finished with a consistent release point and extension out front. He is a rare lefty who can rack up the punchouts (91 SO in 63 IP this spring)  and features four average to better present pitches. The best of those pitches on this look were a fastball up to 96 mph and a plus, swing/miss changeup. The change was thrown at 81-84 mph with fastball arm speed and was consistently located down in the zone with sink and armside action. Spin rate ranged from 1560 to 1700 rpm. He commanded his fastball to both sides of the plate, showing some angle...