Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

Preseason Top 25: No. 5 Gulliver Prep

January 31, 2016

By Justin Burgess
Florida Area Scout

After four weeks of unveiling 20 of the preseason top 25 teams, we have now reached what appears to be the pinnacle of Florida high school baseball talent—the top five teams. Last week’s teams featured some heavyweight programs that are recognized nationally—such as IMG, Jesuit, and Sarasota—and this week’s final cohort of schools should be familiar to everyone as well.

Coming in at number five is Gulliver Prep. The Raiders will definitely be looking to looking advance further than the state semifinals where they lost to eventual 4A state champion, Bishop Verot. Luckily for the Raiders, it appears that their road to a state championship may not be quite as difficult as it was in 2015 since they return many key players, have had a key transfer into the program, and some of the stronger programs in 4A have been reassigned to Class 3A.

Gulliver will be led by two senior position players who are both signed with division I schools. Javier Valdes is the 29th-ranked player in Florida and is one of the top shortstop prospects in the state. The Florida International Signee is a solid all-around player and can really pick it and swing the bat. We should not be surprised if Valdes is selected in the 2016 MLB draft in June. To stay in the middle of the diamond, 2016 C Pedro Pages will also be an asset and a team leader for the Raiders. Pages, who is signed with Florida Atlantic, is a strong and physical player who possesses a plus arm and consistently fires a sub-2.0 down to second. Pages also shows good power as the ball really jumps off his bat. Look for him to hit in the middle of the order, throw numerous runners out, and draw multiple scouts out to their games this season.

As for their 2017 class, Gulliver boasts two Miami commits who are certainly already viewed as 2017 draft prospects. Robert Touron is a long, loose, and lanky RHP with a whippy arm that runs his fastball up to 92 mph from a low ¾ arm slot. He also shows a solid curveball that is very difficult on righties and a solid changeup that he keeps down in the zone. Touron is the number eight prospect and the top-ranked RHP in Florida’s 2017 class. Their other top junior prospect is 3B Raymond Gil, who is a strong and athletic player with an advanced bat. Gil’s 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame allows him to really drive the ball with power to all fields. From third, Gil has soft hands and a strong arm that truly makes him an asset on defense as well.

To continue this trend of two highly-touted prospects in each grade, Gulliver’s 2018 class is also represented by a couple of players who are already committed. C/1B Adrian Del Castillo is a Miami commit who can really swing the bat and stands at 6-foot, 200 pounds. Del Castillo will obviously be playing 1B most of the time as this will be his last year waiting for Pages to graduate. The key transfer for the Raiders that was mentioned earlier is 2018 1B/OF Chase Sanguinetti. The Florida State commit has plus power for his 5-foot-11, 180-pound frame and above average power for his age. Sanguinetti moved down to Gulliver from Tampa Prep and will be another lethal bat in the middle of the lineup for the Raiders.

As for their schedule and playoff outlook, it was mentioned earlier that Class 4A appears to be somewhat lighter this year because teams like Bishop Verot, Tampa Catholic, and Trinity Christian have moved down to 3A. Even though this is the case, 4A will still be a tough bracket as Key West is in their district, Mater Lakes moved down from 6A, North Broward Prep is in their region and acquired Gregory Veliz, and Bishop Moore will be loaded. North Broward Prep will be tough regional game, especially if they have to face Veliz, but their depth and lineup should allow them to make it back to the Final Four. Overall, the Raiders appear to be the early favorite to win the 2016 4A state championship.