By Chris Fuller
Director of Operations

The PBR Tennessee Top Prospect Games took place June 9-10 with a position player showcase at Maryville College and game play at the University of Tennessee. The following is an in depth look at the pitchers from Team White.  This is pitcher analysis only.  Those players who also played a position for Team White will have their position player evaluation featured in a subsequent article.

Alex Haynes, RHP, Knoxville Central HS, 2016
6-foot-3, 188-pound prospect, athletic frame with projection, long and loose arm action, works through a high-3/4 slot, extremely quick arm, fastball shows hard arm-side run and sink at 88-90 mph touching 91, throws a very solid 76-80 mph changeup with deception that plays well off the fastball, changeup has good sinking action, flashed a cutter at 81mph, allowed three hits (2 infield hits) walked two, and struck out three in his two innings of work, will benefit at the next level from development a consistent breaking ball, one of the top uncommitted arms in 2016 class.

Noah Sims, SS/RHP, Sycamore HS, 2016
6-foot-2, 185-pound prospect with athletic frame, uses long am action and works through a high-3/4 slot, high leg-kick delivery, quick arm, fastball sat 81-84 mph and touched 85 once with occasional slight arm-side run, curveball is solid with sharp 11/5 action at 69-72 mph and showed ability to throw it for strikes, shows confidence in 70-74 mph changeup with late sink and fade, lost some command in second inning of work walking two but finished allowing no hits with three strikeouts in solid mound performance.

Brent Richey, OF/RHP, Knoxville Christian, 2016
6-foot-2, 185-pound prospect with strong and athletic frame, uses long arm action and works through a high-3/4 slot, shows some quickness in arm, good tempo in delivery, pounds the strike zone with two-pitch mix, showed similar velocity as last fall as fastball sat 81-83 mph touching 84, throws a hard breaking ball with tight spin and slider-type action at 74-77 mph, allowed two hits (bloop and infield single) and struck out two in his two innings of work.

Drew Pierce, RHP, Dobyns-Bennett HS, 2016
6-foot-4, 185-pound prospect with long frame that projects well, uses long arm action through a ¾ to high-3/4 slot, fastball shows occasional arm-side run at 80-84 mph touching 85 once, showed slightly better velocity at winter event, curveball showed 11/5 action at 64-68 mph, soft at times, changeup was best secondary pitch on this occasion at 72-73 mph with late fade, struggled with command in first inning walking two and hitting a batter but settled down nicely in second, allowed no hits and struck out three, frame and potential to add more velocity makes him one to watch closely.

Dustin Baker, LHP, Munford HS, 2016
6-foot-1, 225-pound prospect uses long arm action through a high-3/4 slot, arm is loose and shows some quickness, stuck mostly with the fastball during his two innings of work, fastball sat 79-81 mph touching 83 on one occasion, two-seam fastball shows some arm-side run, showed a 77-78 mph changeup that would be most effective with bigger velocity difference off fastball, pounds the strike zone, allowed a lead-off hit then struck out the side in his first inning, finished his outing with the one hit allowed and three strikeouts.

Clark Poynter, SS/RHP, Bearden HS, 2017
6-foot, 165-pound prospect with athletic frame, uses long arm action through a ¾ to high-3/4 slot, has some head snap in delivery, fastball showed some arm-side run and occasional sink and sat 79-81 mph, showed a sharp-breaking 72 mph curveball with 11/5 action, good feel for the curveball, walked first batter he faced then settled in to throw strikes, projectable frame with potential to add additional velocity.

Braden Nace, LHP, Crockett County HS, 2016
6-foot, 175-pound with average build, uses shorter arm action and works through a high-3/4 slot, falls off hard third base side at times, regular effort in delivery, fastball shows occasional cutting action at 78-80 mph, touched 81 on one occasion, showed a 68-71 mph curveball that was solid when down but got under a few leaving them flat and up in the zone, solid changeup at 73-75 mph thrown with good arm action with sink and fade, allowed one hit, walked two, and struck out three in his two innings of work.

David Beam, OF/LHP, Bearden HS, 2017
5-foot-10, 165-pound prospect uses shorter arm action and works through an over the top arm slot, consistently threw strikes in one perfect inning of work, fastball sat 75-77 mph and is mostly straight, showed a 60 mph curveball with gradual 12/6 action thrown for strikes, flashed one changeup at 65 mph that showed good fading action through the zone, struck out one and induced two infield pop-ups in his inning of work.