By Brandon Hall
North Carolina Director of Scouting

As a kickoff to the fall season, some of the top talent from the east coast gathered at beautiful Ting Stadium in Holly Springs, NC to participate in the South Atlantic Border Battle.  Teams are based out of regions with North Carolina fielding teams for the 2018 and 2019 graduating years.  Each team is run by area scouts the Atlanta Braves heading up the 2019 North Carolina team and the Boston Red Sox running the 2018 graduates from North Carolina.  To fill in slots on rosters from other areas, a couple of North Carolina players did fill in.

As we continue to break down some of the performances from the weekend, overall, it looked like the first event of the fall.  Typically events like this are dominated by pitchers when they are in the zone, but pitchers can be a bit rusty.  This weekend was no different with a most arms jumping on the mound for the first of second time since late July.  Velocities were down across the board and command for each guy tended to strengthen in the 2^nd inning of the appearance. 

While premium stuff was not on display for each pitcher, these are still some of the better prospects in North Carolina and hitters would only get one look.  Most pitchers only worked two innings and the lineups could run 12 – 14 hitters deep.  Tough to get into a rhythm, position players typically do not shine but are still afforded the opportunity to showcase their skill.  Each team took a couple of rounds of live BP on Saturday, with cage work prior to their game on Sunday.  Defensively, players went through a pro-style workout on Saturday and took an extended infield/outfield on Sunday.   

Below are some quick notes on the players from the Red Sox team.  More in-depth reports are to follow with video on select players.

South Atlantic Border Battle Quick Hitters