Adam Akin
Director of Scouting

The 2016 PBR Tennessee Underclass Games took place on Tuesday, July 26 and Wednesday, July 27 and included a position player workout, followed by two 7 or 8 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 Navy Team in Tuesday’s action.

Jack McLaughlin, RHP, Father Ryan, 2018
Max FB: 86, FB: 82-85, CB: 66-67, CH: 72-73,
6-foot-4, 175-pound, RHP uses a slow and very deliberate motion in which he really tries to gather himself at the top before unloading toward the plate with elbows and knees coming right at you.  McLaughlin gets some good shoulder tilt and is able to create a good downhill plane on his pitches, he finishes with aggressiveness and a little bit of effort that pulls him slightly toward the 1B side, long arm action comes through a high ¾ slot.  Fastball showed some run to go along with that tilt and the ability to be painted on the corners, curveball slowed his arm some, but had some good 11/5 shape and was thrown consistently for strikes, changeup was a very good pitch as it showed some sink and fade through the zone.  McLaughlin struck out 4 in his 2 innings of work and earned himself a spot on Tennessee’s Future Games team with his performance.  An uncommitted 2018 that is sure to draw heavy interest. 

Jett Jackson, RHP, Dickson County, 2019
Max FB: 85, FB: 81-85, CB: 65-66,
6-foot-2, 155-pound, RHP was one of the top arms at the entire event and earned himself a spot on Tennessee’s PBR Future Games roster.  Jackson is a long and athletic pitcher with an arm that screams potential.  He shows flexibility and balance with an extremely high leg lift and a long stride that gets on the hitter quickly, very long and extremely loose arm action is something you don’t see often and leads to a ¾ to high ¾ release point and a smooth finish.  Fastball stayed down and came through the zone hard and heavy, breaking ball showed some sharp 11/5 shape and can certainly become a big time strikeout pitch, changeup was only thrown in warmups and seemed to have a little run.  Jackson is a huge follow in the 2019 class that should see enormous velocity increases in the next couple of years.

Brad Grenkoski, RHP/OF, Farragut, 2019
Max FB: 84, FB: 83-84, CB: 69-71,
6-foot-3, 185-pound, RHP is very long and athletic and uses a great deal of that to his advantage. Grenkoski stays tall throughout his delivery and finishes standing almost straight but very much in line on almost every pitch. Uses very good rhythm throughout his delivery and parlays that into a long and loose arm action that comes through a ¾ arm slot and showed some real projectability.  Fastball showed some subtle run and stayed firm through the zone, breaking ball had some sharp 11/5 shape and was thrown for strikes.  As a young 2019, Grenkoski has plenty of time to continue growing on the mound and should be highly regarded.  He earned a spot on the Tennessee Future Games team with his performance.

Jacob Laws, LHP, Loretto, 2017
Max FB: 84, FB: 82-84, CB: 74-76, CH: 75-76,
6-foot-8, 260-pound, LHP is a very big and somewhat intimidating presence on the mound, one of the taller pitchers you will see, Laws is athletic enough to make it all work, slow motion and some build up leads to a good shoulder tilt and some aggressiveness toward the plate.  Laws stays very tall throughout his motion and uses his height to his advantage, doesn’t quite get out over his front side like most would prefer to see, but remains in line and under control. Fastball showed some slight and late run that has the potential to get in on the hands of lefties and inch toward the cap on righties, curveball had 1/7 to 2/8 shape and showed gradual but steady movement through the zone, changeup was a solid change of pace.  Laws struck out 2 in his 2 innings of work.

Aaron Hubbell, RHP, Wilson Central, 2018
Max FB: 83, FB: 80-83, CB: 68-71, CH: 75-76,
6-foot-3, 205-pound, RHP uses a collected motion that keeps him very consistent, keeps his arm action simply by leaving his hands stay up high until he’s ready to deliver the pitch, starts tall and finishes very bent over and lower toward the ground.  Relatively shorter arm action leads to an over-the-top release point that seems to start loose and finish somewhat stiff, stays balanced and aligned well.  Fastball was straight but was located down a lot, curveball was good with 12/6 action and was used a lot with 2 strikes, changeup was really just a change of speed.  Hubbell struck out 3 in his 2 innings of work.

Cal Burgett, LHP/OF, Mount Juliet, 2018
Max FB: 79, FB: 77-79, CB: 62-65,
6-foot-0, 155-pound, LHP uses a controlled motion, stays closed for a long time when heading to the plate, lands slightly closed and causes himself to fall a little toward the 3B side, smooth and fairly low effort delivery looks very clean. Fairly long and loose arm action comes through a ¾ slot and remains very consistent.  Fastball showed the same bit of run and potential sink we saw at the Top Prospect Games, curveball showed 1/7 action that he can throw for strikes or bury in the dirt, changeup fades through the zone.

Drew Hill, SS/RHP, Chester County, 2018
Max FB: 81, FB: 77-81, CB: 63-65,
5-foot-11, 174-pound, RHP uses a few hitches in his delivery that create a motion that is hard to continuously time up, Hill takes a sudden pause both in the middle of his rocker step and near the peak of his leg lift that help him stay connected.  He stays very much in line throughout his delivery and only falls toward the 1B side on occasion, his arm action is somewhat conventional until he shows a release point from almost straight over-the-top.  Fastball was a little erratic and left up in the zone quite a bit, curveball showed the potential to be a really good pitch with 12/6 action down through the zone.

Mason Malone, RHP/2B, Waverly Central, 2020
Max FB: 81, FB: 78-81, CB: 60-63,
5-foot-11, 150-pound, RHP threw completely out of the stretch and used a drop of his hands into his leg lift that created some decent movement at the beginning of his delivery, gathers well with some good shoulder tilt and stays under control throughout, finishes very slightly to the 1B side.  Long arm action that drops the ball just below his back hip before coming home leads to an over-the-top arm slot and a good downhill plane on his pitches.  Fastball showed some very slight run but came across very firm for a 2020 graduate, curveball showed 11/5 shape and was used to sneak a lot of strikes across the plate.  Definitely a 2020 to keep an eye on.

Dawson Hindman, SS/RHP, Houston County, 2019
Max FB: 73, FB: 70-73, CB: 62-65,
5-foot-11, 135-pound, RHP uses a very controlled motion without any wasted body movement, very relaxed and low effort delivery until the very end, where he musters a little something extra.  Decent arm action through a high ¾ to over-the-top release point helps him to finish very balanced.  Fastball stayed mostly straight and was left up in the zone a few times, curveball showed 11/5 shape and showed a lot of potential while staying down in the zone. Hindman recorded 1 K in his inning on the mound.