By Adam Akin
Director of Scouting

The 2016 PBR Tennessee Top Prospect Games took place on Tuesday, June 14 and Wednesday, June 15 and included a position player workout, followed by three 9 inning games each day. Players were afforded the opportunity to showcase their abilities to the PBR Tennessee staff and many college coaches in attendance. The following is our evaluation of every pitcher that was assigned to the White Team in Tuesday’s action.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS

Sam Donato, RHP/OF, Father Ryan, 2017
Max FB: 87, FB: 85-87, CB: 69-71,
6'2, 165-pound, RHP was one of the top arms we saw at the 2016 Top Prospect Games.  Donato has both a lanky and athletic frame and uses good rhythm throughout his motion to deliver pitches from an arm angle that is a little more over-the-top than we saw in January, loose and quick arm action was impressive and gave him some really good downward action on nearly every pitch, never quite gets front side all the way closed but stays on line and very much under control throughout.  Fastball was live and came across the plate very heavily with some sink and run, curveball was a little hit-and-miss but showed devastating 11/5-10/4 action when thrown correctly, both pitches were thrown consistently for strikes as he was able to strike out 3 hitters in two innings of game play.  Donato is on the rise.

Matthew Steidl, RHP, Pope John Paul II, 2018
Max FB: 86, FB: 84-86, 74-74 Slider
6'4, 170-pound, RHP uses a big rocker step and the raising of his hands to begin his collected delivery, normal leg lift leads to a near pause in the middle of his wind up that helps him to gather himself before exploding toward home plate, long and lanky build helps Steidl get down the hill and much closer to home plate, long and loose arm action comes from a high ¾ arm slot and produces a lot of pitches down in the zone, ability to really get on hitters was evident in game play when striking out 3 hitters in two innings.  Fastball showed some slight run and was very effectively down in the zone the majority of his outing, breaking ball acted more like a slider and had some late break on its 10/4 movement.  Steidl impressed throughout his outing as he was able to throw strikes low in the zone and keep hitters off balance with a breaking ball for strikes.  His combination of length and athleticism will make him a prized arm in the 2018 class.

Evan Porter, OF/RHP, Maryville, 2017
Max FB: 87, FB: 85-87, 76-77 Slider
6'0, 190-pound, RHP uses a rhythmic motion with a fairly quick pace to get himself gathered for each delivery, high leg lift and quick stride out give him the ability to jump at hitters on a consistent basis, short and quick arm action comes out of a ¾-high ¾ slot and seems a little stiff, stays in line throughout his delivery and finishes very balanced and collected, worked quickly and kept himself in rhythm throughout his outing.  Fastball showed some heavy run and sick through the zone and was very difficult for hitters to square up, breaking ball was a hard slider with late and sharp 10/4 action that was thrown for strikes and can certainly be an out pitch when he wants it to be.  Both pitches were thrown for strikes and kept down in the zone.  Porter is athletic and has just enough funk to really get in a hitter’s head.

Chase Haley, OF/RHP, Creek Wood, 2017
Max FB: 84, FB: 81-84, CB: 70-72, CH: 72-73,
6'0, 170-pound, RHP uses a quick and unconventional motion to deliver pitches from a high ¾ arm slot, covers some distance with his rocker step and lifts his lead knee up quickly, gets closed, and comes down attacking the plate quite violently, max effort delivery really comes at the hitters and finishes very aggressively.  Fastball stayed mostly straight and didn’t quite get to the velos we have seen from him in the past, curveball showed 11/5 action and the ability to get hitters to chase when behind in the count, changeup stayed straight but was able to really threw off the timing of hitters because of its fastball-like arm speed, threw strikes with all three pitches and did a good job of commanding the strike zone for the majority of his outing.

Collin Loose, RHP, Clarksville Northeast, 2017
Max FB: 83, FB: 80-83, CB: 70-71,
6'3, 175-pound, RHP begins with a sideways stance toward home plate and uses a relatively quick rocker step and leg lift to get his momentum built up, raises hands with leg lift and gives himself some good rhythm heading into his release, stays in line with his stride and uses a high ¾ to over-the-top arm angle to delivery  pitches with a short arm action, gets down the hill pretty well and swings his right leg around to the first base side on his finish.  Fastball was pretty straight but showed the occasional run in on the hands of right-handed hitters, breaking ball was very much a slurve and showed some gradual movement into the zone with 11/5 action.  Loose threw a lot of strikes.

Cooper Cook, OF/RHP, Knox Halls, 2018
Max FB: 83, FB: 78-81, CB: 65-66,
6'0, 170-pound, RHP gets his upper and lower body very much in sync throughout his entire motion by staying very connected and under control with every movement he makes, very conventional wind up and delivery result in a strong and polished finish, strides just a little bit closed but is still able to get out over his front leg and stay balanced throughout, short but fairly loose arm action from an over-the-top angle helped him to get the movement he did.  Fastball showed some run and sink and the ability to bear down on right-handed hitters, curveball had some gradual 11/5 break but had good arm speed to mix up the hitters. Cook was a little erratic with his command, but threw strikes when he had to.

Jay Lawrence, 3B/RHP, South Warren, 2017
Max FB: 78, FB: 75-78, CB: 66-68, CH: 64-67,
6'0, 188-pound, RHP uses a slower and deliberate delivery with a high leg lift to build up momentum into his release, doesn’t get much rhythm going because of the lack of pace in his motion, strides just a little bit closed but is able to get out over that leg, stays mostly balanced but has a tendency to fall toward first base a little bit from time to time, uses a stiff arm action through a high ¾ slot to deliver a lot of strikes.  Fastball stayed straight but was used to hit spots and get ahead in the count, curveball showed 11/5 action with some gradual movement through the zone, changeup was thrown with good arm speed and provided a good change of pace to keep hitters off balance.

Hunter Davis, RHP/3B, Gordonsville, 2018
Max FB: 77, FB: 75-77, CB: 66-67, CH: 70-71,
5'9, 155-pound, RHP uses a slow and deliberate motion to deliver pitches from a loose arm action and a ¾ arm slot, does a good job of engaging his lower half and really reaching out with that front foot, strides a little across his body and falls toward the first base side after delivering each pitch because of overcompensation, athletic on the mound, uses a smooth follow through for a good finish.  Fastball stayed straight and didn’t have much zip but was thrown for strikes, breaking ball showed some 11/5 action, although it varied from time to time, changeup was a decent change of speed.

Hayden Layne, RHP/SS, Hendersonville, 2019
Max FB: 75, FB: 74-75, CB: 63-65, CH: 71,
6'1, 170-pound, RHP starts from a side angled stance and begins his motion by taking a small rocker step that leads into a high leg lift and hand raise, uses a somewhat jerky arm action from an over-the-top release point to deliver pitcher with some effort, stayed balanced and under control when throwing his fastball but fell off toward first base on his breaking pitches.  Fastball stayed straight and was left up in the zone a couple of times, curveball showed gradual 12/6 movement and was able to slow down the bats of some hitters, changeup can also be a good change of pace, although its velo wasn’t much less than his fastball. 

left-HANDED PITCHERS

Blake Rauhuff, OF/LHP, Knox Halls, 2019
Max FB: 82, FB: 79-82, CB: 69-71, CH: 75-76,
5'11, 175-pound, LHP uses a very controlled and mechanical motion that gets him to a very high point at its peak, leg lift gets him to the top of his delivery and allows him to explode toward the plate, strides a little bit closed but is athletic enough to get over that front side, works through a high ¾ slot with loose arm action and seemed very polished for a 2019 grad, delivery showed a lot of effort and pulled him toward the 3^rd base side on his finish.  Fastball didn’t have a ton of movement but was painted on the corners against right-handed hitters, struggled to find the zone against lefties for some reason, curveball showed 1/7 action with gradual movement through the zone, changeup was his best off speed pitch as it showed good sink and was thrown for strikes with sink through the zone.  Rauhuff showed a big velo jump since his last PBR event. 

Blake Sellers, LHP, Homeschool, 2018
Max FB: 78, FB: 73-78, CB: 68-69,
6'0, 160-pound, LHP showed a unique delivery in which he started slow and picked up the pace of his delivery throughout the motion, a slow side step eventually turned into a quick leg plant and a pitch coming from a funky angle.  The combination of a high leg lift, a closed off stride, and a loose sidearm arm slot really caused some hitters trouble, jumps at hitters and tries to keep them off balance consistently, hand gets on top of breaking ball and noticeably raises his arm angle just enough to tell.  Fastball showed some run and its speed varied, curveball had 1/7 action as it comes from that higher arm angle, would benefit from adding a sweeping slider that he could throw from that lower arm slot.

Nate Pianto, LHP, Pope John Paul II, 2017
Max FB: 73, FB: 70-72, CB: 64-68,
5'11, 155-pound, LHP throws entirely out of the stretch and uses quite a unique delivery, a twisting leg lift and a submarine/sidearm release point provide Pianto with a good bit of deceptiveness, awkward delivery is not something seen very often at the high school level and he uses it to his advantage, surprisingly stays under good control throughout delivery.  Showed the ability to make his fastball cut or run depending on the hitter and situation, breaking ball was a sweeper that showed a lot of gradual movement across the zone, throws a lot of strikes and makes the hitters beat him, very tough on left-handed hitters and has the ability to keep righties off balance.