Spotlight: Uncommitted 2022 James Gladden

Preseason All-State Session I

Positional Profile: C/RHP
Body: 5’11”, 160 pounds. Athletic, lanky, projectable frame.
Delivery: Starts with quick, side rocker step into a chest high leg kick. Quick, twitchy delivery and gets good extension over his front leg. Long levers provide good deception and ability to hide the baseball through delivery. Creates a good explosion but does tend to fall off to the 1B side of the mound.
Arm Action: RH. Throws downhill out of a high three-quarter arm slot.
FB: T83 mph, 81-83 mph. Displayed some arm-side run.
CB: 69-71 mph. Thrown out of nearly the same release point as FB, tight 12/6 action.
CH: 75-77 mph. Good, deceptive action of the hand.

MD Top Prospect Games II

Athletic body type and projectable 5’11, 150 pound frame. Hits from a tall, athletic, balanced, slightly open stance at the plate. Quick load with some hand separation and a small stride. Stays short to the ball with a level swing path, quick hands, and creates fast bat speed through the hitting zone. Stays behind the ball well generating strong lower half involvement and showed nice extension past contact. Gap-to-gap line drive type hitter with pop. Recorded an 85 mph exit velocity. Gains ground on throws to second base with quick footwork. Exchanges were quick and clean. Throws with short arm action from a mid three-quarter slot at 73 mph. Pop times ranged 2.00 - 2.15. Ran a 7.39 60-yard time.

MD Preseason All State

Compact, athletic frame at 5-foot-9, 147 pounds. Open, athletic stance hitting from the right side. Swing had some rhythm. Uses a small leg lift and loads hands back with a slight arm bar. Bat path is flat with a high finish and showed quick hands through the zone with some pop. Head gets out of balance at times causing some balance issues at finish, but showed some quick twitch ability at the plate. Exit velo was 84 mph. Feet were quiet on approach from the outfield. Arm action was short and showed some arm speed throwing from a high three-quarter arm slot at 78 mph. Gains ground on throws to second base behind the dish with a quick clean exchange. Arm action is short with a quick arm speed throwing from a high three-quarter slot. Showed firm hands receiving. Catcher pop times ranged 2.03 - 2.20 with a velocity of 74 mph. Home-to-first time was 4.55.

Freshman Free Showcase

Young frame with room to grow and build on at 5-foot-7, 115-pounds. Ran a 8.00 60-yard dash. hits from a taller balanced set up. Smooth glide back with leg kick to hitting position. Short swing path at the plate with up hill finish. Average bat speed should get better as he gets stronger. Not much extension through contact. Sound footwork and exchange throwing from behind the plate. Short arm action with catcher velo of 64 mph. Pop time as low as 2.38. Worked thru ball well in the outfield with velo up to 72 mph.