2024 Utah Top 10 Prospects: Spring Edition '23
May 11, 2023
2023 Spring Edition
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NAULIVOU LAUAKI JR.RHP / 1B / SPRINGVILLE, UT / 2024
Committed: U of Oregon5/11/23
Junior came out of the shoot this spring firing 90-94 for the mound in the preseason St. George tourney with his 82-84 mph SL w/late tilt and biting TQ depth, however as with that day and throughout the spring, his control has been off and has had issues with the BB and going deep into games with pitch counts. One thing that hasn’t changed and has taken an even higher step forward has been the bat. Lauaki has been crushing baseballs at an alarming rate and putting up state player of the year numbers. A .580 hitter through the regular season with 8 HR’s and 27 RBI, with 40 total hits, has been pitched around as of late, and for the life of me, pitchers continued to challenge him up to this point and he made them pay. ++ type raw power, that can hit it out, to any part of the ballpark, Lauaki is showing legitimate D1 type hitting ability and it remains to be seen what he will be at Oregon, but one thing is for sure, is that a massive individual with the ability to touch the mid 90’s with his FB and drive balls out of the park, lends to a good problem to have, as Lauaki could be an intriguing two way type, with the ability to hit in the middle of a lineup and come out of the pen, using two weapons in a power FB/SL combo on the mound. Has been fun to watch thus far!
8/02/22
Three days after returning home from the PBR Future Games, Lauaki made the commitment to play for the Oregon Ducks. Junior should jump to the top in the 2024 Ducks recruiting class. With an arm and bat, but more so the arm, Junior should be an immediate impact type rotation piece right away. Although with two years of HS remaining, Lauaki will jump to the #2 spot in the class of ‘24 rankings when they are released in 2 weeks. Lauaki made his presence felt right away on workout day with a couple of long HR’s during BP, as he launched an event best 404’ shot to deep LCF and threw EZ bullets across the INF from 1B. But it was on the mound that sealed the deal for his college choice, as he showed his best stuff to date. Lauaki has been 86-88, 88-91 T92 this summer, as he’s played all around the country. But it was in the humidity of Atlanta that he featured one of the two best FB’s recorded at the Future Games. Lauaki displayed an EZ effort, med kick to delivery with a fluid arm stroke, the FB sat 90-92 and topped out at 93.1 on the Trackman system and held his velocity in his 3 innings of work vs a very good hitting Team Kentucky. But the secondary pitch was just as lethal, with his SL coming in at 80-82 with late sharp tilt, that bottomed out. The pitch is a put away pitch, as he has abv avg feel to land and bury beneath bats for swing/misses. With an imposing 6-3 240 Lb build, Junior is not even close to gaining his man strength at 16 yrs old, it’s easy to dream of a mid to high 90’s heater as he reaches campus. The sky's the limit for the incoming junior at Springville HS. |
