By Doug Hall
Tennessee Director of Scouting

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The PBR Tennessee Fall Top Prospect Games event took place at Lipscomb University on November 1 and afforded close to 60 players the opportunity to showcase their abilities in a combination showcase/game play event. Despite abnormally chilly conditions, some solid performances were turned in as some players established themselves as potential high-level prospects.

Below we take an in depth look at the group of pitchers that took the mound for Team White during the event. This is pitcher analysis only. Those players who also played a position at the event had their position player evaluation featured in a previous article.

Trey Hinton, RHP, Christian Academy of Knoxville, 2016
5-foot-10, 170-pound prospect uses long arm action through over the top arm slot, challenges hitters and pounds the zone, fastball has good arm side run at 77-80 mph touching 82 mph, curveball sat at 66-70 mph with 12/6 movement and can throw for strikes, would like to see a changeup added to his repertoire in game play, easy effort delivery with repeatable mechanics, gave up two singles and recorded two strikeouts in two innings.

Carmelo Venero, OF/RHP, Farragut, 2016
5-foot-11, 155-pound prospect with athletic frame uses short arm action through high- 3/4 to over the top arm slot, arm shows quickness, fastball sat 77-79 with arm side run, curveball has 11/5 shape with sharp late action, still developing slider, changeup sat at 71 mph with sink, quick, efficient delivery, works lower half of the zone, gave up no hits and struck out one in two innings of work.

Robert Worley, 1B/RHP, Dyersburg, 2016
6-foot-3, 215-pound prospect has a big strong body frame, uses long arm action through high-3/4 to over the top arm action, arm shows quickness, easy delivery effort, fastball has arm side run at 75-79 mph touching 80 mph, curveball sat at 67-70 mph with 11/5 shape and hard, late slider like action with near fastball arm speed, good rhythm, in two innings gave up two hits and struck out one.

Josh Buck, LHP, Sycamore, 2017
6-foot, 180-pound left-handed pitching prospect uses short arm action through a high- 3/4 arm slot, fastball was straight and sat at 74-77 mph topping out at 78 mph on one occasion, curveball shows 1/7 action 63-64 mph, tendency to push change-up and has room to improve, looks like there's more in the tank and would benefit from a stronger lower body which should lead to an increase in arm velocity, gave up 3 singles and 2 strikeouts in two innings.

Jake Grooms, 1B/RHP, Farragut, 2017
6-foot-4, 225-pound prospect has a big strong frame, uses long arm action through an over the top slot, loose arm that shows quickness, easy effort delivery, straight fastball sat at 73-76 mph touching 77 mph, curveball shows 12/6 and 11/5 shape and sat at 65-66 mph with near fastball arm speed, changeup shows good arm speed at 70 mph, in two innings of work surrendered three hits and struck out two.

Blake Strassburg, RHP, Sycamore, 2016
5-foot-9, 160-pound right-hander uses long arm action through high- 3/4 arm slot, fastball sat at 71-73 mph with sink, curveball was 57 mph with 11/5 shape, was effectively able to change speeds between fastball and curveball to keep hitters off balance, gave up two hits and struck out two looking in his two inning of work.

Nathan Clark, 3B/RHP, Farragut, 2016
6-foot-1, 170-pound with lanky frame has room to fill out, uses short arm action through a side arm slot, can cut or run his fastball that sat at 60-65 mph, curveball was 61 mph with late 10/4 movement, gave up a single and struck out three in two innings of work, interesting sidearm pitcher that needs to develop more velocity to be most effective.

Ryan Lyle, 3B/RHP, Goodpasture Christian, 2017
5-foot-11, 175-pound right-hander uses short arm action through high- 3/4 arm slot, deliberate delivery that stays online, fastball was 69-70 mph touching 73 mph on one occasion, curveball sat at 60-61 mph with 11/5 movement, throws strikes, gave up three hits in two inning outing.