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Underclass Games: Catching Analysis

July 6, 2015

Trey Sofio
Louisiana Scouting Director

Follow us on Twitter: @PBR_Louisiana

The Prep Baseball Report Underclass Games took place on Monday, June 29th  at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. This event featured 2016, 2017 and 2018 graduates, and acts as an identifier for this summer’s prestigious PBR Future Games powered by Under Armour.

CLICK HERE for complete statistics from the event in PDF Format.

Today we’ll take a look at the top catching prospects from the event, led by Teurlings Catholic HS teammates Austin Kirkpatrick and Nick Webre.

Top Catching Prospects

1. Austin Kirkpatrick, C, Teurlings Catholic HS(2016)
A 6-foot-1, 155-pound catcher with a lean, athletic frame. Outstanding defensive catcher that showed the ability to receive, block and throw at a high level with a pop time of 1.86 seconds and a positional velocity of 75 mph. Showed outstanding athleticism behind the dish with loose hips and a high energy level. Right-handed hitter with a balanced setup, smooth load, short stride, efficient lower half and solid balance. Displays quality bat speed with a level path, line-drive approach and fluid rhythm that produced an 81 mph exit velocity.

2. Connor Manola, C, Brusly HS(2017)
A 6-foot, 170-pound catcher with a lean, athletic frame. Outstanding defensive catcher that showed solid receiving skills with a clean, quick exchange and excellent footwork that resulted in a pop time of 2.00 seconds and a positional velocity of 73 mph. Right-handed hitter with a balanced setup, slight wrap in the load, short stride, and solid balance. Showed an uphill bat path with solid bat speed, and a line-drive, gap to gap approach that resulted in an 84 mph exit velocity.

3. Nick Webre, C, Teurlings Catholic HS(2017)
A 5-foot-10, 185-pound catcher with a strong, athletic frame. Left-handed hitter that hits from an athletic setup with smooth load, short stride, explosive lower half, and excellent balance. Shows a solid bat path with outstanding extension, gap to gap approach with power to the pull side and fluid rhythm that produced an exit velocity of 89 mph. Quality defensive catcher with soft hands, quick hips, blocks balls well, quick transfer and solid arm strength with carry on throws that resulted in a pop time of 1.87 seconds.

4. Trey Morgan, C, West Feliciana HS(2016)
A 6-foot, 180-pound catcher with a strong, developed, athletic frame. Solid defender both as a catcher and infielder that shows soft hands, fluid footwork, clean exchanges with short, quick arm action out of a high-3/4 release with accuracy, a positional velocity of 83 mph and a pop time of 2.01 seconds. Right-handed hitter with an athletic setup, short stride with a tap, explosive lower half, solid balance, explosive bat speed, an uphill bat path with great extension, and a gap to gap approach with fluid rhythm that produced an exit velocity of 98 mph.

5. Slade Bolden, C, West Monroe HS(2018)
A 5-foot-11, 183-pound catcher with an athletic, strong frame. As a catcher he shows a nice presence behind the plate with some stiffness in the hips and hands, but displays quality arm strength that resulted in a pop time of 2.12 seconds.  Right-handed hitter with a balanced, athletic setup with little to no load, short stride and explosive lower half. Shows a short path with quality extension, gap to gap approach with juice to the pull side and quality bat speed that produced an 87 mph exit velocity.

5. ST McMurrian, Oak Grove(MS) HS(2017)
A 6-foot-1, 185-pound catcher with an average, athletic frame. Right-handed hitter that starts from a crouch with little to no load, short stride, solid balance into a rotational type swing. Gap to gap type hitter with a line drive swing that showed solid bat speed recording an 84 mph exit velocity. Solid defensive catcher with quality receiving skills, a clean exchange and carry on throws recording a 75 mph positional velocity and a pop time of 2.05 seconds.

Reminder
On Monday September 7, Prep Baseball Report Louisiana will be hosting a Prospect Identification Showcase at St. Thomas Aquinas HS in Hammond, LA. This event will be open to all 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 prospects. Players will participate in a pro-style workout and have their performances video-taped and hosted on the Prep Baseball Report website. Sign up now to get your recruiting process started and #BeSeen. The Prep Baseball Report services are subscribed to by over 400 college coaches and scouts. To register and learn more information, click here.

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