Illinois Preseason All-State: Top Overall Prospects

March 27, 2020
By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

On Feb. 9, PBR Illinois hosted one of its biggest showcases on its annual calendar: The Preseason All-State. This invite-only showcase brings together the state’s best talent in its 2021 class, regardless if a player is committed or not. Over 110 of Illinois’ best juniors made it to McCook last month, many of whom remain uncommitted. Monday marked the start of our position-by-position breakdown of the event.

This week, we’ve been rolling out position-by-position analysis from this event that started with the day’s catchers and took us through the outfielders, infielders, and pitchers. We’re concluding our event coverage today, by ranking the top 15 prospects from the event.

Continue reading below for reports and the top overall prospects.

TOP OVERALL PROSPECTS

Drew Gray OF / LHP / Belleville East, IL / 2021

Positional Profile: LHP/OF; high-level two-way talent with a high ceiling.
Body: 6-foot-3, 180-pounds. Long-limbed, high-waisted frame with plenty of room for continued physical development.
Delivery: Composed on the mound. Fluid, directional delivery, balanced, on-line and still head at foot strike.
Arm Action: LH. Highly-projectable arm. Works long, loose, quick from a 3/4 slot with easy effort.
FB: T89, 87-89 mph. Clean out of the hand, late jump through the zone, late arm-side-run and life.
CB: 71-74 mph. 12/6 shape, depth, flashed bite, feel.
SL: 79-83 mph. Maintains arm speed, tunnels off fastball, late 2/8 shape, tight spin. Potential swing-and-miss offering.

Hit: LHH. Balanced, quiet setup, minimal load and short leg-kick timing trigger. Fluid rhythm, loose, athletic hands, natural lift in swing, consistent hard contact to the pull-side.
Power: 94 mph exit velocity from the tee. Ball jumps off the barrel.
Arm: LH. OF - 93 mph. Long, loose, whippy arm from a 3/4 slot. Advanced arm strength ball stays true with carry.
Defense: Attacks the baseball, long fluid strides, natural outfield actions, fields in rhythm, plays through athletically and gains ground on transfer.
Run: 6.85 runner in the 60. Long, easy strides.

Eric Orloff LHP / Glenbrook North, IL / 2021

Positional Profile: LHP
Body: 6-foot-2, 200-pounds. Large frame, strong lower half.
Delivery: Tall and fall delivery, lifts and turns to close front side, regular effort, high front side, lands closed and creates angle.
Arm Action: LH. Loose, lively arm action, works out of high 3/4 slot, above average arm speed.
FB: T89, 88-89 mph. Lively finish, works with late run and sink to arm side, above average control of the zone.
CB: 71-72 mph. Sharp action with depth, 1/7 shape, fastball arm speed, dropped for strikes.
CH: 78-79 mph. Straight change showed occasional sink action, deceptive arm speed, tough angle.

Ty Batusich C / Joliet West, IL / 2021

Positional Profile: C
Body: 6-foot, 186-pounds. Wide-shouldered, strong, well-proportioned frame.
Hit: LHH. Balanced, quiet setup, minimal load and wasted movement, short stride. Short and quick to the ball, natural lift, strong hands, advanced hand/eye, knack for the barrel and made a lot of hard contact. Works gap-to-gap and flashes big pull-side power.
Power: 98 mph exit velocity from the tee. Ball jumps off the barrel. Power potential to all fields.
Arm: RH. C - 78 mph. Short arm action, over-the-top slot. Consistently around the second base bag.
Defense: 1.93-2.02 pop times. Low setup, soft hands, sticks pitches at the bottom of the zone. Out of the crouch, quick glove-to-hand release.
Run: 6.86 runner in the 60. Well above-average runner for position.

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