By Brandon Hall
North Carolina Director of Scouting

Players seem to be committing earlier and earlier.  As the National Letter of Intent signing date of November 8 – 15, 2017 approaches, the class of 2018 players are working to solidfy their plans.  In a recent Recruiting Essentials article on PBR, we addressed the number of players committed at this time, compared to the total number of players that committed to play in the 2017 class.  For the currently uncommitted, there is still time and there are teams still working to finalize their 2018-2019 rosters.

Over the next several weeks, we will look at some of the currently uncommitted players that PBR has had the chance to evaluate.  Each of these players have video and statistical information on their profiles as well.  This week we will profile two pitchers and two position players.

Austin Johnson (Fuquay Varina HS, RHP) and Sam Kaplan (Northern Guilford HS) present different skill sets on the mound.  Both are projectable athletes with the potential to continue to add to their current stuff.  Behind the plate, Colby Emmertz (Topsail HS, C) has emerged as one of the better athletes, in a deep crop of catchers.  A right handed hitter, he has good ball-to-bat ability while showing above average receiving skills.  Shortstop Stephen Ridge (Marvin Ridge HS, SS) is a quick twitch player that has played in some high-level situations for Marvin Ridge and the South Charlotte Panthers.  Ridge understands his game and has shown an ability to make plays that should keep him in the middle of the field moving forward.