2023 West Coast Games: Team Review

8/8/23

West Coast Games

The surprise position player of the event for me! After posting a .400 BA as a sophomore this past spring, Reed flew under my radar for a myriad of reasons, but after attending the CBA Scout Day, he caught my attention with an EV of 100.8 and his ability to square up the baseball and find the sweet spot. Built like a ball player w/strong well defined features and a strong lower ½ that he utilizes well in his swing. The body shows rhythm and timing as he gets his hands into the proper position to load the bat, in getting to a solid 45 and then sinks into his legs and shows plus bat speed in firing his lower ½ and core, to get the knob inside the baseball. Shows barrel release and acceleration through contact into a firm front side and stays behind the baseball to get his hands extended and looks to do damage with violent intentions. At the WCG’s, Reed went off at the plate and finished the 3 games 7-9 with 5 2B’s and a 3B while creating energy and anticipation when he stepped into the box, that something was about to happen! The only 2025 on the roster, and he played well beyond his age class in performance and how he carried himself and went about his business. Reed also turned in an 84 mph OF arm velo and one that I can see making the jump near 90 in the next couple of years. Plays hard and was aggressive on the bases and looked for the extra base hit out of the box. A definite name to follow in the state over the next 2 years and one that excited me enough to place at #6 in our next 2025 state rankings release after his showing in Las Vegas. Definitely a D1 bat moving forward!

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.@PBR_Uncommitted ~ @HaigenReed_24 ~ 2025 Haigen Reed, OF, 5-11 170 (Desert Hills HS/CBA Summit) #PBRWCG23

One of the breakout stars of the event this past weekend, as the only ‘25 on the… pic.twitter.com/9NKCemPTVY

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 8, 2023

West Coast Games

Offense 

A PBR Future Game alum and now a two-time West Coast Game alum as well. Last year I took Swensen to both events as a pitcher only, as I wasn’t in tune with how well he plays the OF, his athleticism and how he swings the bat. A two sport athlete, who plays WR on the gridiron, Swensen is solid as a rock physically at a lean, tight toned 6-1 190 with broad developed shoulders and a defined muscled lower ½. Looks the part in uniform, and runs on his toes and gallops on his gate to run the bases. The bat plays, as Swensen led the Warriors and was in the top 5 in Region 10 in hitting at .440 with 3 HR’s, 23 RBI, 6 2B’s and 3 3B’s to go along with an OB% of .547. A RF with a RF arm, Swensen also has very good vision, as he scored a team leading 82.29 on the Vizual Edge test. A spread out square stance to hit with his hands over his back shoulder and the bat laid flat. Swensen then takes the outward turn of his front heel to start a soft foot lift and sets it back down softly to fire his strong lower half into the baseball. The bat speed is fringe to avg, yet he times pitchers up with minimal moving parts to get the barrel to the ball and drive balls consistently to the opposite RCF gap the majority of the time. An instinctive defender that can on occasion take a bad route, but makes up with his reads off the bat and his athleticism to re-route and track balls down. Will be asked to patrol CF next spring and has enough arm strength to land online one hop throws to all bases. 

Pitching 

A simple square address to the hitter with a simple side rock step to start a flexible high compact kick to delivery. Repeats his delivery with a slight hand pat to the glove at the apex of his delivery. Drops into his legs and rides the slope with a semi long stride, and gets solid ext out front thru a LTQ arm slot, that produced sinking FB’s up to 89, with a range of 84-88 in a shutdown 2 inns of work vs Oregon. The CB still takes on SL type action with a lack of depth at 74, and may need to go the SL and speed the arm up to create the velo effect of the pitch. The CH 75-78 is his best secondary pitch and shows abv avg feel with fading sink life, and kills the spin and shows deception and misses bats and barrels. A K thrower that is efficient and works quick with athleticism and arm speed, along with an ease to his operation, to add FB velo and fill a sinker/SL type profile.

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??????? ???@PBR_Uncommitted | @2024Makaio | 2024 Makaio Swensen, OF/RHP, 6-1 190 (Snow Canyon HS/CBA Summit Warriors) #PBRWCG23

Drove pitch after pitch to both gaps on a line w/sweet spot contact. An abv avg athlete. Three… pic.twitter.com/WL9Ar9PKYG

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 5, 2023

West Coast Games (Workout + Past Looks)

A small spark plug type, like Orioles UTL-Adam Frazier. Has catalyst type qualities and skills. Ran a 6.59/60, which was tops at the event. Shows an adept feel for the bunting game and will use it and cause pressure on the defense. Attending only the workout day and impressed with the data that those who look for that will be intrigued by. 6.59/60 - 88 mph online accurate arm from the OF and a max bat speed of 70, while just spraying balls to all parts of the field. Lacks HR power, which is not part of his game. Although his max EV is 95, that is an outlier and who he is, is a pressure player, that keeps the defense on high alert, to get to baseball’s and get rid of the ball after he puts in in play. Can work a count and does have some swing and miss, although it's more about controlling the zone, due to not focusing on baseball year round, with football delaying that skill, in being able to turn his solid avg-plus tools into usable skills. Had a really good junior year with the bat, as he hit in the 7 hole for a loaded back-back 4A state title team. Was essentially a bottom of the third lineup, leadoff type.

2023 Stat Line: G 31 PA 108 AB 97 R 32 H 41 AVG .423 HR 2 RBI 28 2B 4 3B 3 BB 8 SO 17 SB 21/21

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.@PBR_Uncommitted ~ @tylerw3st3422 ~ 2024 Tyler West, CF, 5-10 165 (Crimson Cliffs ~ ‘24 CBA Summit) #PBRWCG23

Attended workout day and then had football the rest of the weekend.

Uber twitchy and athletic… pic.twitter.com/YrKNmEHu1Z

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 11, 2023

8/13/23

West Coast Games + Past Looks

A small compact build with chiseled features and definitely put together from the weight room and it has really helped his game and is very noticeable. Athletic and twitchy with solid baseball movement patterns. After a big 2023, I expect even more from this kid. An under the radar type, that is quiet and needs to market himself better, because this kid can play. A strong pound for pound type that led 6A in OB% at .614 and was hit by 19 pitches, as he crowds the plate. Uses an even prop shoulder width stance, with his barrel tipped to the pitcher. Gets to a solid load to launch the hands inside the baseball and releases the barrel with bat speed and natural strength to impact the baseball. Exit velos consistently in workouts of over 100 mph and was 3rd at the WCG’s with a 90 mph arm from the OF. Shows big tools for his size, with the exit velo, arm strength and 60 times of 6.88-6.94. Didn’t get much to hit during the WCG’s, yet didn’t give in to chasing or trying to get out of his approach and was hit by a pitch and walked 6-7 times. Can drive the ball out of the park in all directions, but looks to hit low LD’s, instead of lifting, which as he gets older and understands his game more, look for some consistent pull and straight away power numbers, as the base metrics and eye test of the swing and barrel consistency are there. 

2023 Stat Line (Junior Yr)

G 29 PA 102 AB 66 R 32 H 28 AVG .424 HR 2 RBI 26 2B 7 3B 2 BB 15 SO 16 HBP 19

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??????? ???@PBR_Uncommitted ~ @RemEdwards2024 ~ 2024 Remington Edwards, CF, 5-10 165 (Mountain Ridge HS) #PBRWCG23

Uber twitchy w/explosive movement patterns! Short build ~ Compact, chiseled strength.

Max EV: 100.8
Max… pic.twitter.com/v1W07qkaX0

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 6, 2023

8/13/23

West Coast Games

A PBR Future Game alum and now a two-time West Coast Games alum, always puts up impressive numbers at the plate in the workout phase of all our events. With a 101.7 exit velo at the Preseason All-State in March, Stinson put up another solid junior year with another 7 HR season, to match his sophomore year. At the WCG’s, Stinson showed a 99.1 EV with a handful of long HR’s to straight away LF with his max distance of 379’. Stinson can do a lot of things well on the diamond, as he can run anywhere from a 6.82-7.21, and in some cases the tracks have been slow and the 6.82 was clocked in at the Future Games in July of ‘22. Stinson uses an upright upper body tilt towards the pitcher, with his barrel set into a pre-set load at 45 degrees. He rolls and closes his front shoulder as his first movement and lifts his foot to start the launch phase of the swing. A whippy semi uphill path, creates HR power, with the flick of the wrists, as Stinson has easy pull power and the ball jumps off his bat with height and carry. An avg arm in the OF and can play all three spots with instincts and reads balls off the bat well, and his angles can be sharper, yet he shows instincts and field awareness to run balls down. With 2 top JC offers on the table, Stinson is in a good spot, yet could explode as a senior, but his commitment could be coming and stay tuned…

2023 Stat Line (Junior Yr)

G 27 PA 104 AB 82 R 26 H AVG .341 HR 7 RBI 26 2B 8 3B 0 BB 11 SO 18 HBP 10 SB 11

Jeff is the man!! https://t.co/lfU2xjr454

— Keaton Stinson (@Keaters_28) August 6, 2023

8/13/23

West Coast Games

Another PBR Future Game alum, and now a two-time West Coast Games alum, Walker had a very good WCG’s, as he blasted a high and deep shot to straightaway LF for Team Utah’s only HR of the weekend vs Idaho in game one. Walker also performed well on workout day, as he ran a top 5 60 time at 6.85 with his best of 6.76 at the Future Games a year ago. Walker also posted a tied with 4 others at a #2 INF velo of 86 as well. Also Walker took a turn in the rotation, as he went in game three for 2 inns, and was 84-87, sitting 85-86. The SL 73-76 was the best pitch for quality K’s, as he was in the zone with every pitch at 100% efficiency. The FB was scattered for the most part, yet was around the zone. When he needed to make a pitch, the go to pitch was the SL and he either landed it, or got rolled over soft contact. Walker would have been higher with the FB, but cut his palm hand, while sliding headfirst into 1B the day before and insisted he was okay to throw, but it has to effect his velo, as he was up to 90 a couple of weeks ago in CA at a tourney with Trosky National. A two way very good athlete with quality movement patterns, Walker has yet to separate what he could and may do from a positional standpoint at the next level, but he has options and it’s a good thing to have. 

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‘22 PBR Future Games alum
‘22/‘23 West Coast Games@PBR_Uncommitted ~ @JettFrankWalker ~ 2024 Jett… pic.twitter.com/yjt7VsWXU5

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 13, 2023

West Coast Games

The one player I was most anxious to see after setting demolishing 6A pitchers throughout the state, as he hit .523 5 29 w/9 2B’s and 3 3B’s in a region where he had to face 3-4 pitchers in the high 80’s and one in the low to mid 90’s. After pulling a hamstring in the state tourney, Pickle was on ice the entire summer and the West Coast Games was his first extensive activity and there was some rust and he didn’t show the type of player that he really is. The workout faze of the Games, Ike was really good and put up easy power with a max EV of 102 and was among the leaders with a max distance of 394’ with a few shots deep and out of the park to LCF and straight away LF. The defense was crisp and he made easy 83 mph throws on the money across the diamond. In the games where he wasn’t rushed due to his layoff, he showed really well at 2B and turning the pivot and making strong throws to 1B. This is a D1 caliber player for sure, and schools will want to jump on this kid now, as any school that is saving money for the spring, may be in a fight for him, if his senior year is any thing like his ‘23 campaign and the power numbers take a tick up with the raw power beginning to show up even more in games. 

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??????? ???@PBR_Uncommitted | @Ike_Pickle | 2024 Ike Pickle, SS/3B, 5-11 190 (Skyridge HS/Mtn West)

After a pulled hammy at the 6A state tourney kept him out for the summer, Pickle in his return, put up one of the more… pic.twitter.com/CMn7QskXJa

— PBR Utah (@PBR_Utah) August 5, 2023

One of the better offensive performers in the state regardless of class. After hitting .439 as a sophomore at Cottonwood HS as the primary catcher, Fox moved over to powerhouse Olympus HS and put up big numbers, by hitting .524 as the leadoff hitter in front of 2 other Future Games alums. Versatile defender that moved from behind the plate to 2B and also did see time behind the plate in deference to a MLB prospect. A high bat to ball type that walks more than he strikes out and finds barrels to the pull side and can handle velocity, as he crowds the plate and stays inside the baseball, while getting the bat head out front. A quick power ½ with twitch allows for range in the MIF and a quick pop to release behind the plate. A 1.91-1.99 pop was the best of the event and was on the money with his throws. Also showed plus movement patterns at SS during defensive work and the feet are educated and he gets rid of the ball and throws K’s with a clean fluid arm stroke across the diamond. An athlete that actually deserves money over others that have been offered over him. He's better than most recruits that are already committed.