Midwest Rebels Scout Day: Takeaways
October 12, 2023
On Friday, October 6th, the PBR Missouri staff traveled to CarShield Field in O'Fallon, MO, to host the Midwest Rebels Scout Day. This event featured 40+ players, representing the 2024-to-2027 grad classes, from the Midwest Rebels travel program. Those in attendance participated in a pro-style workout, collecting unrivaled data from our top-of-the-line tech partners in the process.
For all of the statistics from this event, click HERE. To see a full list of those in attendance, click HERE.
Shortly after the event, we rolled out stat leaders from the day, which you can find HERE.
We then dove deeper into the data with the help of our partners at TrackMan and took a look at some of the day’s batted ball and pitch metric leaders, which you can find HERE.
Today we’ll put the finishing touches on this event by highlighting a few of the day’s standouts within these ‘Takeaways’. Continue reading to learn more about a few names that impressed our staff from this year’s Midwest Rebels Scout Day.
TAKEAWAYS
+ UTL Aven Weaver (Troy Buchanan, 2024) was one of the biggest all-around winners from this event. A strong 6-foot, 180-pound athlete, Weaver ran the day’s fastest 60-yard dash (6.90) and he led all outfielders in max throwing velocity (T87 mph) as well. Offensively, Weaver’s strong right-handed swing worked uphill through the zone with intent to elevate gap-to-gap. He produced the day’s hardest batted ball (94.4 mph), as well as the furthest batted ball (346 ft.), and his average batted distance (276 ft.) paced all position players, too. Weaver is an uncommitted name to follow in Missouri’s senior class.
+ The top pitching prospect from this event was RHP Josh Wiedemann (Troy Buchanan, 2024). The 6-foot, 180-pound uncommitted senior pumped the day’s firmest fastball, pitching at 82-84 mph, while averaging 17.5 inches of vertical break, per TrackMan. Wiedemann also spun a 71-72 mph curveball and turned over a changeup at 75-77 mph, too.
+ A pair of strong-bodied juniors to note from this look: 3B/OF Jesse Wilmes (Troy Buchanan, 2025) and CIF Brady Kilker (St. Charles West, 2025). Wilmes stands in at 6-foot-1, 205-pounds with hand strength, finding the barrel at times (67%) throughout BP with a 91.1 mph max exit velocity and 335 ft. peak batted distance. A left-handed hitter, Kilker holds strength inside a 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame, hitting his hardest ball 91 mph.
+ Two sophomores that showed well were INF Matthew Bywater (Mount Olive, 2026; IL) and RHP James Kline (Troy Buchanan, 2026). Bywater is an athletic right-handed hitter that showed barrel feel (88%) and sprayed mostly line drives throughout BP (75%), posting a 90.6 mph max exit velocity and 322 ft. peak batted distance. Kline’s a free flower on the mound with a long, loose arm action, touching 81.5 mph with his fastball while showing a curveball (66-68 mph) and changeup (71-73 mph) as well.
+ From the 2027 class, C Gabe Garcia (Timberland) and RHP Alex McCarthy (Francis Howell) were two names to follow from this event. Garcia swung a strong right-handed barrel with hand speed that stayed short and compact to the baseball. He squared his hardest ball up at 92.3 mph, which was the second highest mark of this event. At 6-foot-2, 175-pounds, McCarthy’s fastball touched 81 mph with some backspin and carry up in the zone. He spun a 65-67 mph curveball with gradual action for strikes (T2311 RPM) and he turned over a low spin changeup (T1481 RPM) at 71-73 mph too.