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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting/Content Management 

2014 Top Prospect Games participant and Patriot High School corner infielder Tanner Heltibridle has committed to attend the College of Charleston in the fall of 2016. He is the third member of the Pioneer’s Class of 2016 to commit to play baseball after high school, joining teammates Austin Gerber (RHP, 2016, Radford) and Brett Lysohir (OF, 2016, Charleston Univ.). Heltibridle was injured in 2015 and was not able to contribute to the Pioneers’ Cedar Run Conference regular season championship. His return to the lineup this spring should help Patriot replace the losses of Nate Eikhoff (MIF, 2015, Virginia) and Eric Sloper (MIF, 2015, Shepherd) as the senior-laden Pioneers look to make a deeper run into the Regional Tournament in 2016.

Heltibridle is a 6-foot, 190-pound, first baseman that hits from a tall, balanced stance. He has a long load back with his body and hands, an explosive lower half, and good extension. He really drives the back hip through the ball and stays behind the ball well. He has a line drive stroke with raw power and an exit velocity of 90 mph off of the tee at the Top Prospect Games in 2014. In the field, Heltibridle had slightly above average hands. He moved to the ball well, had average range, and showed awareness around the bag. His hands were soft and used feet to create angles. He had a positional velocity of 79 mph.

When he arrives at the College of Charleston next fall, Heltibridle figures to immediately add a powerful lefthanded bat who could either step into the lineup as a DH or first basemen or be an impact bat off of the bench in late inning RBI spots. As his career progresses, Heltibridle has the potential to develop into a middle of the lineup run producer with home run power to all fields and maintain a high on-base percentage.

Congrats Tanner!