Adam Akin
Director of Scouting

The 2016 Knights Baseball PBR Day took place on Sunday, September 25 at Dave Hall Field on the campus of Columbia State Community College and included a position player workout, followed by bullpens for the pitchers. Players were afforded the opportunity to showcase their abilities to the PBR Tennessee staff and college coaches in attendance. The following is our evaluation of every position player from the 2017 graduating class that participated in the action.

 

Outfielders

Rob Patterson, OF, East Robertson, 2017
60 Time: 7.19, Position Velocity:  OF-89, Exit Velocity: 83
5-foot-10, 165-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and mostly even stance with his hands tucked just behind his back ear, uses a short and early but smooth stride with a push back of his hands and a slight tilt of the barrel to get loaded, lower half fires and gets through but can push him forward a little too much at times, swing is short as it comes into the zone in a steeper manner but is able to flatten out on balls up in the zone, showed the ability to hit line drives all over the field with a solid round of BP.  Defensively, attacks the ball in the outfield and is very aggressive when playing through it, uses his athleticism to his benefit, clean exchange leads to a long and loose arm action through an over-the-top release to produce very strong throws with accuracy. 

Wiley Barton, LHP / OF, Trousdale, 2017
60 Time: 7.32, Position Velocity:  OF-78, Exit Velocity: 85
5-foot-9, 155-pound, LHH hit from the same balanced and even stance we had seen from him at recent events, stays loose and also showed that simple and easily repeatable load as well, bat path remained flat and allowed him to put together a very good round of BP, ability to hit the ball anywhere it is pitched.  Defensively, uses those good hands and footwork to play a solid outfield and make all of the routine plays, solid player.

First Basemen

Gage Gregory, 1B, Goodpasture, 2017
60 Time: 7.82, Position Velocity:  IF-80, Exit Velocity: 92
6-foot-4, 215-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and very slightly open stance with some pre-pitch barrel movement, uses a short stride and hardly any upper body movement to get loaded, bat path is short and can be steep toward the ball, muscles up a little bit and could stay looser, lower half gets through and can sometimes over rotate a little bit, strong enough to get through the ball very well, showed gap to gap pop in BP.  Defensively, showed good footwork and hands around the bag with an ability to make all the plays, typically clean exchange led to a shorter arm action through a high ¾ release point, throws had some strength behind them. 

Ryker Kristinus, 1B, Siegel, 2017
60 Time: 8.00, Position Velocity:  IF-78, Exit Velocity: 87
6-foot-3, 210-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and slightly closed stance with some relaxed and quiet hand positioning, uses a pretty short stride and a subtle movement back with his hands to get loaded, could get more use out of his lower half to add more pop as it doesn’t get through and holds him back a little bit with his closed front side, swing plane starts a tad steep but is mostly flat and allows some lift at the end, showed some pop in his round of BP with some deep fly balls. Defensively, showed above average hands and average footwork around the bag with a clear understanding of the position, took an extra step in his exchange but produced fairly accurate throws from a shorter arm action through a high ¾ slot. 

Corey Mason, LHP/1B, Buckhorn (AL), 2017
60 Time: 7.27, Position Velocity:  IF-70, Exit Velocity: 88
6-foot-0, 175-pound, LHH hits from a fairly wide and even stance with some good balance, uses a short stride and a unique movement up with his hands before letting them come down and back with some rhythm to get loaded, lower half does get through but occasionally drags and can be a little late doing so, bat path is mostly flat through the zone with a little lift on pitches up in the zone, pulled off a couple of times but showed the ability to hit the ball to all fields as a line drive hitter.  Defensively, showed the ability to work around the bag smoothly, pretty good hands and footwork put him in good positions, short arm action came through a high ¾ slot and delivered accurate throws across the infield.

Andrew Winningham, 1B, Franklin, 2017
60 Time: 7.53, Position Velocity:  IF-70, Exit Velocity: 83
6-foot-1, 180-pound, LHH showed very much the same as we have seen him in recent events, still using a wider and even stance with that relatively high hand positioning, utilizes the same load we’ve seen, swing plane was a little flatter and produced some hard hit balls including some gap to gap pop toward right-center.  Defensively, worked fine around the bag with average hands and footwork and used a pretty efficient exchange to work into a short arm action through an over-the-top slot, throws were pretty accurate.

Middle Infielders

Ethan Johnson, SS, Ravenwood, 2017
60 Time: 7.00, Position Velocity:  IF-78, Exit Velocity: 78
6-foot-1, 160-pound, RHH hits from a slightly wider and open stance with some higher initial hand positioning than we’ve seen from him in the past, uses an abbreviated leg kick and stride with hardly any hand movement to get loaded, lower half works on occasion but often times holds him back and doesn’t allow him the separation he could be getting, swing path is a little steeper than we’ve seen because of how high his hands are coming from, was able to spray some line drives around in BP.  Defensively, continued to show good hands and footwork with the ability to play through the ball, solid player showed a clean exchange and short arm action through a high ¾ to over-the-top slot to deliver accurate throws across the infield.

Third Basemen

Patrick Music, 3B, Ardmore (AL), 2017
60 Time: 7.21, Position Velocity:  IF-80, Exit Velocity: 84
5-foot-7, 160-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and mostly even stance with some low initial hand positioning, uses a short stride and hardly any hand movement at all to get loaded, lower half is explosive and provides some torque to his swing, does come forward a little too much at times but stays behind the ball, bat path is slightly up and through the plane of the pitch from his lower hand position, showed the ability to drive the ball all over the field with some pop, gap-to-gap hitter.  Defensively, showed good hands and footwork at the corner and some athleticism that’s hard to find over there, didn’t play through it as strongly as he could but did well, smooth transfer led to a short but loose arm action through a high ¾ to over-the-top slot to produce firm and accurate throws across the infield.

Javon Tyson, 3B, Siegel, 2017
60 Time: 7.46, Position Velocity:  IF-78, Exit Velocity: 88
5-foot-10, 170-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and slightly open stance with some low initial hand positioning and a waggle, uses an aggressive stride and some smooth movement up with his hands to get loaded, lower half fires through strongly but can pull him forward a little much, attacks the ball with good bat speed, swing plane begins a little steep but showed some lift at the end that produced some gap to gap pop.  Defensively, showed good hands and average footwork at the corner and was able to make every play, didn’t play through it as well as he could, shorter arm action through a high ¾ release point got the ball across the infield.

Catchers

Dhruz Devdhara, C/1B, Page, 2017
60 Time: 7.75, Pop Time: 2.06-2.19, Position Velocity:  C-71, IF-75, Exit Velocity: 78
6-foot-0, 175-pound, RHH hits from a balanced and even stance with his hands in a fairly high position in front of his face, uses good rhythm with his short and closed stride and movement back with his hands to get loaded, lower half gets through but keeps him very tall throughout his swing and ends with a soft front leg, swing path is mostly flat through the zone and produced some line drives, can get pushy with his hands.  Defensively, showed good hands and above average footwork behind the plate, worked through the ball well and used a quick exchange to get rid of the ball quickly through an over-the-top slot, throws were mostly very accurate, showed versatility by competing at 1B as well.