SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA - The inaugural Prep Baseball Report California Senior Games took place at JSerra High School and attracted close to 60 top uncommitted seniors from across the state. There was one committed pitcher, Jeremy Wiegman (Huntington Beach HS), that participated. Wiegman committed to Cal State San Marcos a couple days before the event and still came out. Thanks, Jeremy.

We will continue to break down players evaluations, video, and our own scouting notes and post content around that. But for now, let's take a look at some quick hits from the California Senior Games.

On the bump....

The arms we saw all day left our staff continuously giving each that look that scouts give one another when they like a guy. It's usually paired with a raised eyebrow or "oh" look on the face. RHP Steven Miller (Notre Dame HS) shows continued development on the mound where he was up to 87 mph with the fastball, but it was his sharp, tight breaking ball at 69 mph that caught everyone's attention. The pitch shows two-plane, downer break that seems to fall off the table when it gets into the zone. Miller also showed feel for a diving changeup during his warm-up throws...RHP Lee Atkinson (Adelanto HS) came in and started snapping off a breaking ball that simply buckled hitters and was as good as any we saw. He followed that up with a running fastball at 87 mph that flashes late life. Atkinson is a physical righty with strength throughout the frame...RHP Josiah Castillo (Orange Lutheran HS) showed a loose, easy arm action with a fastball that touched 87 mph. Command became inconsistent late in the outing, but the arm is loose and he has strong, loose wrists that snap off a tight, late sweeping breaking ball that was effective and for strikes..RHP Adrese Azzani (Miramonte HS) is a first baseman that happens to pitch. He projects as a pitcher that happens to play first base. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound righty toed the rubber and immediately started throwing darts at 83-84 mph and dotting them to spots. He backs it up with a sharp, late biting breaking ball at 68-69 mph. The arm is loose and clean from a full path and oozes projection given the frames ability to add mass/strength...RHP Maximus Cappello (Liberty HS) came out fast and maintained that throughout his outing. The righty struck out four-of-five hitters faced, with the other out being a lazy fly ball. With a fastball that touches 86 mph and both a slider and changeup up to 77 mph, Cappello's fast arm and quick delivery enhance the deception on his pitches making for uncomfortable at-bats...RHP Gavin Lizik (Esperanza HS) is a guy we saw a few times in the spring and really took a liking to because he pounded the zone with two pitches and showed feel for a third. The only thing that's changed is the feel has developed into command with the third pitch. Lizik didn't allow a hard hit ball out of the infield with a fastball (T85) that shows some late life, a slurve (T76) that shows late diving action away from righties, and a fading changeup (T74) that disappears to lefties.

On the dirt...

The infield defense during the game was outstanding with plays being made by many guys at many positions. Without argument the play of the day was made by 3B Michael Snyder (Harvard Westlake HS) who, while playing third base, made a diving play to his left where he was parallel to the ground before making the catch on an absolute laser. The catch brought some ooh's and ah's from the crowd and the players on the field. Snyder hit the ball hard all day with nothing to show for it. Hit an absolute shot to the right center field gap that was caught. Everyone thought it was going to drop...SS/2B Aaron Casillas (Mission Viejo HS) continues to show impressive defense up the middle. Casillas has some of the softest, quickest hands you'll see. Made a play deep to his left and showed enough arm strength to make the throw and get the runner...SS/2B Jordan Ku (Ocean View HS) showed some tools that caught the attention of everyone on the field. A lean, twitchy strong switch-hitting middle-infielder that showed some sneaky power at the plate during BP after he registered a 91 mph exit velocity off a tee. Defensively he's smooth with fast/clean hands and exchanges with enough present arm strength (81 mph INF velo)...2B/3B Justin Bailey (Trabuco Hills HS) continues to impress our team of scouts with his overall development. Defensively he looks quicker and his hands/glovework are quicker and more sound. He looks stronger and that's carried over at the plate. Bailey took a full-count fastball about 25 feet beyond the left-center-field wall...SS/2B Lance Gardiner (Capistrano Valley HS) showed very well on the day both offensively where he smoked a ball in-game after a very strong round of batting practice, and defensively where his strong, accurate arm was on display in the workout and game....while he didn't get many opportunities in-game (he made all of them), SS/2B Tyler Cox (Harvard Westlake HS) stood out from the second he stepped on the field. Ran a session best 6.78 60 to open things up then really showed his burgeoning power during his loud round of BP where he was hitting line drives to all fields. Showed off his fast hands and arm strength with a group best 87 mph infield velocity. In-game he put together a couple strong at-bats showing a strong feel for the barrel and the quickness to catch up on pitches in on the hands. 

In the outfield....

No outfieler tested better than Moises Guzman (Millikan HS) who simply put, put on a show during that portion of the day. He was either first in outfield velocity at 92 mph, and tied for first in the 60 yard dash at 6.78 seconds. He carried that over to the game where his hustle was evident on his first at-bat fly ball out busting it out of the box and through the bag. Smoked another line drive later in the game that was caught, but showed excellent feel/control of the barrel through the zone on a fastball away....Nino Vultaggio (JSerra HS) has the physical characteristics of a ballplayer and he uses them to his advantage on the field. An excellent runner, Vultaggio shows an understanding of angles in the outfield and the ability to steal bases as a baserunner. His power is projectable at the plate as he continues to iron things out, for now he's a gap-to-gap guy with the ability to run into one....Tucker Tollmann (Serra HS) immediately caught our attention when he busted out a 6.91 60 yard dash then he shows the speed plays in-game by easily stealing second with a great jump after a hard ground ball forced an error. Shows big present power that really projects with more consistency.

Behind the plate....

It's almost as if Connor Brady (Chino Hills HS) waited until after the Senior Games to commit as news broke shortly after the event that he committed to Point Loma Nazarene University. Brady is one of the more consistently sound defensive catchers in the area. With fundamentals that are off the charts good, Brady pairs an accurate arm that popped 1.96 - 2.16 range and consistently on the bag....Matthew Maloney (Ocean View HS) impressed us initially at the Los Angeles Open and did so again at the Senior Games. A strong, well-proportioned 5-foot-10, 190-pounder, Maloney shows some pop at the plate that really projects to over-the-fence power. His hands are soft with clean exchanges and accurate throws that popped in the 2.09 - 2.14 range. He even showed the ability to throw down accurately from his knees.

The Testing....

The event started with a pro-style workout in the morning followed by two showcase games. We saw some impressive testing performances as 10 players ran a sub-7.0 60 yard dash and 19 players registered an exit velo of 85 mph or better. Moises Guzman (Millikan HS) and Tyler Cox (Harvard Westlake HS) opened a lot of eyes with the top 60 (6.78) and the two top exit velocities (92 and 91 mph respectively). Cox also had the top infield velocity at 87 mph and second best exit velocity of 91 mph. Meanwhile, Guzman had the top outfield velocity of 92 mph.

On the mound, Steven Miller (Notre Dame HS), Lee Atkinson (Adelanto HS) and Josiah Castillo (Orange Lutheran HS) all topped the radar at 87 mph.

Behind the plate Connor Brady (76 mph) had the top position velocity while Ethan Bennett had the top pop time at 1.98. 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

SHOWCASE	STATE	DATE	LOCATION
SoCal Preseason All-State (Invite Only)	CA	01/05	JSerra High School
Central Valley Preseason I.D.	CA	01/13	Fresno City College - John Euless Ballpark
Super 60 Pro Showcase	NATIONAL	02/03	The Max

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