Top-10 Profiles of 2020: No. 10 Joey Spence
December 16, 2020
As the year starts to unwind, our staff will start to highlight the top-10 most viewed profiles from 2020 – starting at No. 10 and counting down.
Today, we’ll look at West Bend East’s Joey Spence (Notre Dame commit), the No. 4 overall recruit in Wisconsin’s 2021 class and the No. 257 ranked prospect in the country. We’ve gotten plenty of looks at Spence throughout his high school career and he’s done nothing but impress in each stop – especially offensively. Our Director of College Scouting, David Seifert, had this to say about the left-handed-hitting backstop following his performance at the PBR Midwest ProCase on July 7:
“Making hard contact throughout the day, Spence’s bat is his carrying tool. With a smooth, repeatable swing and plenty of strength in his 5-foot-11, 195-pound mature frame, he squared up lasers to center and left center in two of his four at-bats. With top level bat-to-ball skills, the left-handed hitting Spence generated 96 mph exit velocity with a powerful core and strong forearms. His 7.09 sixty was loose with lower effort, something his compact body type may suggest otherwise. Behind the dish Spence displayed near average arm strength (78 mph) with fair carry and consistent pops in the 2.03-2.09 range. His footwork was short and direct, while his throwing motion compact. He will head to Notre Dame next fall and has all the tools and skills to make an immediate impact on the program.”
Scouting Report
6-foot, 195 pounds; compact strength in catcher’s build. One of the top left-handed bats in the Midwest. Spence brings about a quiet confidence to the batter’s box with an inherent feel for hitting. Simple approach allows him to smoothly square up contact, looking to line the ball back up the middle first and foremost, but he can spray lofted, hard-hit balls to all fields. His receiving skills have helped his pitch selection as a batter, and it’s made him a middle-of-the-order menace for opposing pitchers. He’s an above-average receiver with quick actions out of the chute, with arm strength, and he has proven to be an athletic and mobile blocker.
Notre Dame commit; No. 2-ranked prospect in the state’s 2021 class. 5-foot-10, 190-pound catcher with a strong, compact, durable build. Spence has some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the Midwest inside the ‘21 class, and it was on full display last weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, Spence went 6-for-9 and was integral to STiKS Black’s climb to the championship. The left-handed-hitting catcher has a smooth, quick swing with natural loft and bat strength. He has all of the actions from behind the plate, too, and is already an above-average receiver with a short, strong arm out of the chute.
The No. 2 overall player in the Wisconsin 2021 class, went 5-for-5 with two extra-base hits and a walk over a two-game span on Saturday afternoon. The left-handed hitting catcher drilled a triple to center field in his second at-bat of the day and followed that up by hammering a double to the right-field wall in his third at-bat. He’s one of the top-ranked players in the Wisconsin 2021 class and is a high-follow.
11/9/18 - Verbally committed to Notre Dame.