PA Travel Baseball State Championships Team Review: Team Phenom
August 31, 2016
By Jacob Gill
Pennsylvania Assistant Director of Scouting
and Greg Williams
Pennsylvania / West Virginia Director of Scouting
The inaugural Pennsylvania Travel Baseball State Championships concluded without a champion, as rain washed out the final day of competition, but twelve teams from around the region were still able to play from sun up to sun down on the Friday and Saturday of action. Over the coming week-plus, we will highlight some of the top performers and prospects from each team, continuing today with...
Team Phenom
Liberty uncommitted senior SS/RHP Elias Gross stood out with solid two-way abilities during the course of the weekend. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound shortstop showed confidence in his glove hand and advanced arm strength. The right-handed hitter went 4-for-10 with a double, two walks, and three RBI. On the mound Gross sat 84-87 touching 88 mph out of a high 3/4 arm slot with an overhead rocker delivery. Tends to be max effort in his delivery and command was an issue walking eight in six innings of work. Still had enough in the tank to reach back for 86 mph in the 6th. Slider sat 69-71 and was not used frequently.
Bonner-Prendergast 2017 OF/3B Domenic Dellabarba constantly found his way on base out of the leadoff spot. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound right-handed hitter went 3-9 with one double, two walks, and one hit-by-pitch, while showing an ability to barrel the baseball to all parts of the field.
Allentown Central Catholic 2018 OF Timothy Antigua went 3-for-5 with a sacrifice bunt in limited plate appearances during the course of the tournament. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound right-handed hitter showed the ability to handle advanced velocity and a flare for the dramatic. His one out, walk-off single brought home the winning run for Team Phenom in their Silver Bracket semifinal win over Team PBR Red.
Downingtown West 2019 LHP Aidan McEvoy toes the rubber with a 6-foot-2, 180-pound build. Pitching entirely from the stretch, he kept his delivery fairly compact, while his finish was somewhat upright with some head snap and recoil. Fastball sat 75-79 and he also incorporated a developing curveball at 62-64.
Dellabarba's high school classmate, first baseman Tim Dougherty, is a physical left-handed hitter who took good swings throughout the weekend, going 2-6 with two double and three RBI. The 6-foot, 210-pounder has extra-base power when he elevates the baseball, which he can do from foul line to foul line. He verbally committed to Widener shortly after the conclusion of the tournament.