SoCal Upperclass Games Scouting Reports: Pitchers

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LA MIRADA, CALIF. - The annual SoCal Upperclass Games blew into Biola University and brought with it some top uncommitted talent from around the region. The event featured a showcase followed by a 12 inning simulated game in which pitchers threw to five batters per inning. With several ranked players in the 2022 and 2023 classes, the SoCal Upperclass Games featured quality fall baseball with plenty of talent to be seen. 

As customary to most PBR California events, scouting reports complete the post-event content rollout. TrackMan and Blast Motion provide necessary data needed to analyze and understand player capabilities but the written eye test remains undefeated and an integral part in scouting. Today we take a look at pitchers. 

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SCOUTING REPORTS

Colin Galvin, Servite (CA), 2023
Positional Profile: RHP
Body: 6-0, 190-pounds. Bigger-bodied pitcher's build. Strong lower half.
Delivery: Side steps into a high knee tuck. Slight sit into his back leg and rides it down the mound. Shoulders work more uphill with a glove and frontside pulling down hard into footstrike. Gets good extension with his stride.
Arm Action: RH. Full and loose arm swing in the back. Pulls into the scalp during cocking phase. Releases out of the H 3/4 slot. Good acceleration into release. Consistent arm speed/slots on all pitch types.
FB: T86, 81-86 mph. Filled up the zone and challenged hitters. Flashed some rise with 23.3-inch max vertical break. Above-average spin for velo at around 2300 rpm and topped at around 2400 rpm.
CB: 69-72 mph. Slurvy break due to present horizontal movement. Located it consistently low in the zone. Produced some swings and misses.
CUT: 75-78 mph. Only threw 3 but showed some promise. Had some depth with some present HB break. Pitch that still needs some development.

Stefano Gonzales, Mater Dei (CA), 2023
Positional Profile: RHP
Body: 6-0, 160-pounds. Medium build. Lean and athletic. Room to add gains.
Delivery: Side steps into a medium knee tuck that gets him engaged with back hip. Maintains decent separation until landing. Shoulders stay linear and body maintains good direction towards home. Lands with a firm and straight front leg and puts himself in a good fielding position.
Arm Action: RH. Fluid arm action. Medium arm circle in the back that stays connected with his body. Arm accelerates late and with pitch release out of a ¾ slot.
FB: T77, 74-77 mph. Above-average movement characteristics with 21.2 inch vertical break and 12 inch horizontal break. Plays well up in the zone.
CB: 62-67 mph. Slows down arm speed but works from the same slot.   Effective when located low in the zone.

Ben Jacobs, Huntington Beach (CA), 2022 UCLA
Positional Profile: LHP
Body: 6-0, 189-pounds. Proportional starting pitchers build, maturity throughout, body shows it won't take much at the next level to be ready physically.
Delivery: Continued his smooth and consistent delivery, utilization of the lower half helping drive pitches towards home. When mechanics are in sync, one of the best deliveries in the state. At times though was caught flying open and missing up and out with the fastball, those high school swings and misses could turn into PAC-12 extra-base hits if the mechanical command isn't improved. 
Arm Action: LH. Clean arm that looks to get the most out of it without much stress. Consistent release points on his pitches, off-speed pitches have lots of potential thanks to arm speed.
FB: T89, 86-89 mph. Above-average high school left-handed fastball both velocity and spin rate. Fringe draftable pitch but a few ticks up in velocity could put him squarely on 2022 draft boards.
CB: 72-74 mph. Curveball spin rate average of 2403 is what to know, elite metric, showing tons of projection on the pitch.
SL: 77-80 mph. Slider is a nice complimentary pitch to the curveball, lower spin and movement though could catch him off guard if pitch is not located at the next level.
CH: 81-82 mph. Changeup does what it needs to do, 8 mph speed differential and significant spin difference make this an out pitch. 

Ben Lyons, Rancho Bernardo (CA), 2023
Positional Profile: RHP/OF
Body: 6-0, 170-pounds. Proportional build with present athleticism enabling his true two-way ability.
Delivery: Simple and repeatable, stays compact, closed with parts moving towards home plate, consistent follow-through. Starters mechanics, at times almost threw to many strikes, will give his team quality starts. 
Arm Action: RH. Arm works from a high release point with speed throughout, shows signs of almost a certain velocity gain sooner than later.
FB: T84, 79-84 mph. Filled up the zone to both sides of the plate, lived on the glove side part of the zone, 58% of the pitches thrown. Average 19.7 Induced vertical break, which puts him in the 93rd percentile with 'extreme ride'.
CB: 65-69 mph. Flipped over 17 curveballs with consistency and command, locating the majority of the pitches to the bottom half of the zone, left a few in the zone that got hit but not hard. Feel and location of the pitch really stood out and puts him immediately in the high school starter category for the 2022 season.
CH: Showed a changeup with good speed and spin differential from the fastball. Pitch has potential and should be used more. Armside run and fade makes this a developmental pitch that could get him through the lineup a third time.

Lukas Pirko, Vista Murrieta  (CA), 2023
Positional Profile: RHP
Body: 6-1, 200-pounds. Larger build with a filled-out upper half. Higher waist and present strength in lower half.
Delivery: More of a tall and fall delivery. Sides steps into a higher knee tuck and initiates more of a lean/fall down the mound towards the plate. Controlled and easy throughout. Maintains good direction towards home and stays in backhip well into landing. Finishes with a firm/straight landing leg and a good fielding position.
Arm Action: RH. Fluid and easy arm action. Medium arm circle in the back that gets to a 3/4 slot. Slight uphill with shoulders and glove in delivery allows for some pulldown action. Above-average arm speed. Consistent slots and maintains arm speed on all pitch types. Hides ball well behind body until it comes up to release.
FB: T84, 81-84 mph. Commanded it well (80% strike percentage). Showed consistent feel to the gloveside. Has some present "rise" to it with 21.5 inch average VB and 25.6 max.
SL: 69-72 mph. Sweeping break due to minimal VB break at 1.1 inch average. Still developing but showed the ability to throw it for strikes and garner some weak swings.
CH: 69-73 mph. His best secondary. Flashed above average "fade" on it with 17.4 inch HB break average. Kills some spin on it which gives it some drop. Same armspeed as FB gives it some deception.

Collin Taylor, Birmingham (CA), 2022
Positional Profile: 3B/RHP
Body: 6-2, 210-pounds. Sturdy build, strong lower half, two-way and switch-hitting athleticism.
Delivery: Simple and clean delivery; keeps the body compact, hides the ball some, uses lower half, keeps the arm moving, head inline, follows through with backside.
Arm Action: RH. Arm path is clean, more to come does a good job accelerating through follow-through.
FB: T82, 80-82 mph. Fastball dominated his showing with 79% of his pitches being a fastball. Significant Induced Vertical Break at 20 shows extreme ride in the highest percentile playing up his fastball. Located the pitch throughout the zone and with confidence.
CB: 64-67 mph. Flashed a curveball 4 times, showed good speed decrease and break from fastball, pitch that needs to be used more.
CH: 72-74 mph. Developing pitch, key to next level success, pronation in front key. 

Davis White, Harvard-Westlake (CA), 2023
Positional Profile: RHP/OF
Body: 6-2, 170-pounds. Lean and higher waisted. Can add some efficient gains to the build.
Delivery: Simple and repeatable with his delivery. Higher leg lift that works straight up then down. Uses the mound well as he creates good drift with his center of mass as he works downhill. Maintains level shoulders. Works in good direction towards home. Clean lead leg block at finish.
Arm Action: RH. Longer arm action in the back as it shoots out the back with a slight stab and pause before it accelerates with some decent arm speed into release. Release is at an H 3/4 slot. Slightly slower arm speed on offspeed pitches but consistent slots.
FB: T84, 79-84 mph. Pounded the zone with it, especially glove side at a 74% strike rate. Present above average vertical break at 21-inch average. Produced some swings and missed up in the zone.
CB: 67-71 mph. Slurvy break due to present horizontal movement. Used as both a get me over pitch and chase pitch. 50% strike rate.
CH: 71-74 mph. Fooled both RHHs/LHHs and got them out in front. Present downward fade with some present HB. Proved effective off the FB.

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