Adam Akin
Director of Scouting


The 2017 PBR Tennessee Middle Tennessee Preseason Preview took place on Monday, January 16 at Showtime Sports Academy in Franklin, Tennessee and included a position player workout, followed by pitcher bullpens.  Players were afforded the opportunity to showcase their abilities in front of the PBR Tennessee staff, as well as a number of college coaches in attendance. The following is our evaluation of every catcher that was in attendance.

 

Carson Ford, C, Grace Christian - Franklin, 2019
Pop Time: 2.09-2.21, Position Velocity:  C-70, Exit Velocity: 82
5-foot-10, 170-pound, LHH hit from the same wider and even stance we saw from him at the Underclass Games with some pre-pitch movement of his hands, cocks his knee before striding and uses a quietening of his hands to get loaded, lower half is very strong and consistent, bat path is steep through the zone but his strength allows him to get through the ball, gets muscly but showed some real pop toward center field.  Defensively, showed good hands with solid footwork behind the plate, improved his pop time dramatically from his previous event and has the potential do cut more time off with a little quicker release, arm action is short through a high ¾ slot.

Chase Hoover, C, Dickson County, 2020
60 Time: 7.51, Pop Time: 2.14-2.26, Position Velocity:  C-67, Exit Velocity: 75
5-foot-11, 170-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and even stance with his knees cocked way inside his feet, uses a short and sometimes late stride with a slight lowering and sudden movement back with his hands to get loaded, lower half acts a little awkwardly as it begins cocked but goes back while he’s loading and is never quite able to fire again, bat path is mostly flat with some slight light through contact, let the ball get in on him quite a bit.  Defensively, showed very good hands and footwork behind the plate, exchange was efficient but took a little bit to get rid of the ball, arm strength will grow with age, over-the-top release point.

Wyatt Humphries, C/OF, Gibbs, 2018
60 Time: 6.99, Pop Time: 1.99-2.14, Position Velocity:  C-70, OF-80, Exit Velocity: 92
5-foot-11, 195-pound, RHH hit from a wider and slightly open stance but with a higher initial hand positioning than we saw from him at the Top Prospect Games, stride is still short but showed a little more movement and fluidity and paired with a lowering and pushback of his hands to get loaded, lower half is strong and balanced and absolutely explodes his hips through the zone, bat path gets on plane early and stays there for a long time, drives the ball in the air with some real gap-to-gap pop.  Defensively, showed above-average hands and quick footwork behind the plate, exchange was quick and efficient and allowed him to get rid of the ball through a high ¾ release point, showed versatility by participating in the outfield as well. Definitely one of the stand out participants of the event.

Knox Preston, C/3B, CPA, 2019
60 Time: 7.51, Pop Time: 1.98-2.09, Position Velocity:  C-81, IF-81, Exit Velocity: 84
5-foot-10, 180-pound, RHH hit from a more narrow and upright stance than we have seen from him at past events, has developed a leg kick and stride that he combines with some rhythmic movement in his hands that cocks the barrel to get loaded, lower half is very engaged and fires early to create some good separation, swing plane flat to slightly up through the zone and allows him to really drive the ball much better than he has in the past, has some gap power developing.  Defensively, continues to show very good hands and quick footwork behind the plate, exchange is efficient and allows him to get rid of the ball quickly through a short arm action from an over-the-top slot, arm strength has made a jump, has the hands and footwork to play in the infield as well.  Every area of his game continues to improve.

Nathan Massey, C/OF, Spring Hill, 2018
60 Time: 7.69, Pop Time: 2.06-2.18, Position Velocity:  C-71, OF-80, Exit Velocity: 87
6-foot-2, 190-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and even stance and only uses one simple waggle with the bat before the pitch, uses a weight shift back and a short stride with a lowering and movement back of his hands to get loaded, lower half gets a shift forward to initiate the swing but doesn’t quite get his hips cleared rotationally, swing plane can begin a little steeply and sometimes comes back up quickly without staying in the zone very long, stayed up in the middle in BP.  Defensively, showed above-average hands and footwork behind the plate, could get rid of the ball a little quicker with his short arm action through a high ¾ release point, showed versatility by participating in the outfield as well.

Patrick Vandenbergh, C/SS, Ensworth, 2019
60 Time: 7.18, Pop Time: 2.00-2.20, Position Velocity:  C-78, IF-78, Exit Velocity: 86
5-foot-11, 170-pound, LHH hit from the same balanced and even stance we have seen from him all along, stride showed a little more activity  and paired with a slight movement back with his hands to get loaded, lower half fires with some intensity and puts him in a lot of good positions, bat path is a little steeper into the zone and didn’t show quite as much lift as we saw at the Border Battle Games, still showed ability to hit the ball hard to all fields.  Defensively, showed decent hands and quick footwork behind the plate, stands up a little early but works through the ball and gets rid of it with a sure exchange and a short arm action through an over-the-top slot, showed versatility by competing in the infield as well.