By: Zac Bottoms
Arkansas Scouting Director

The Top Prospects Games were June 13^th and 14^th hosted at Fayetteville High School. The event featured to top players from all for corners of the state in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 classes. The event was attended by 15 different organizations looking to evaluate talent from the Natural State. Over the past two days I have received numerous phone calls, emails wanting  more information of players from this event, and I feel we will see a lot of movement in recruiting with players who participated in the event.

The biggest take away from the event was the depth of athleticism by position players, with 20 players running a sub 7.0 in the 60 and 24 players produced exit velocities above 88 mph and 19 players flashed arm strength above 80 mph during the defensive evaluations.

2018

The 2018 class has been hyped for years, as one of the elite classes to come through Arkansas since they came into the picture as freshman. All they have done is continue to bolster this reputation, showing depth of high end talent. This event was attended by some of the front-line names, with 2018 LHP Evan Hiatt, 2018 LHP Kaleb Hill, but I want to focus on the next wave of players. 2018 RHP/OF Kam’Ron Mays-Hunt impressed as two way athlete, running a 6.53 in the 60, big time arm strength 90+ mph from the outfield and infield. On the mound he flashed a fastball up to 91 mph and a sharp slider thrown 78-81 mph. 2018 OF/INF Demias Jimerson showed raw power in batting practice driving balls over the wall consistently with fast bat speed and a rotational swing. 2018 MIF Bryce Dodd stood out with extreme athleticism running a 6.37 in the 60, fluid footwork and a strong arm throwing baseball 85 mph across the infield. I look forward to working through these player evaluations, as this class had several high end players in this event.

2019

The 2019 is a class that did not bust onto the high school scene with several players showing to be physically advanced, and has somewhat been overlooked. As this class continues to mature and develop, they are growing into a solid group that will begin to see the recruiting process pick up. 2019 RHP/OF Blake Adams, and 2019 C Cason Tollett have anchored this class at the top. Now they are beginning to see players putting themselves on the map as well. In this event 2019 RHP Zane Ryne Neves, 2019 LHP Zach Morris and 2019 RHP Landon McAllister took strides forward as some the top arms in the class. I also was impressed by the catching depth with 2019 C John Hoskyn, 2019 C William Poppy and 2019 C Jake Wright. It’s unusual to have 4 catchers considered to be top 20 prospects in one class. These four have performed well enough to be in that mix for sure. 2019 INF Peyton Holt and 2019 OF Brandon Ulmer have showed to advanced players and I look for them to be the next guys off the recruiting board.

2020

The 2020 continues its coming out party. They had a large impact on the high school season, with some of them being big contributors on teams that competed for a state championship. Two of them even started for 2017 7A State Champion Cabot Panthers. 2020 OF Clayton Gray is the first 2020 to commit, as he committed to Arkansas late last week. He showed why the Razorbacks did not hesitate to make the offer and commitment at the Top Prospects Games. Gray ran a 6.43 in the 60 threw the baseball 78 mph from the outfield and produced exit velocity up to 89 mph. In game he was very productive showing the ability to make loud contact and produce extra base hits. He was joined in the event by 2020 INF Marcus Brown, OF/LHP Nick Griffin, OF Houston King, INF Luke Pectol, INF/OF Brayden Sites and INF/OF Beau Stuckey  as players who stood out as advanced players to follow closely, as their recruiting process maybe a short process.

For more notes on this event check out the following articles.

TOP PROSPECTS GAMES: DAY TWO NOTES
A recap of day 2 of the Top Prospects Games...>>

TOP PROSPECT GAMES; DAY ONE NOTES
Notes from the first day of competition at the Top Prospects Games...>>

TOP PROSPECTS GAMES; WORK OUT NOTES
Highlights from the work out portion of the Top Prospects Games...>>

Overall the event was jam packed full of high end players, we will continue to work through scouting reports on players, and their videos over the next month.