Daily Leaders
The South Qualifier, much like its host city of Houston, is spread out across six different locations with the newly renovated Premier Baseball Complex and Baseball USA headlining most of the workload. There is a lot of big name talent here and there are sure to be some relative unknowns pop on the scene, deep in the heart of Texas.
Starting us off is Nick Wolff (2018, Spring, Texas) of the South Texas Sliders Orange. Pitching on Premier Field 3, Nick has a medium and athletic build on the mound and uses has a short stiff leg lift, striding down the mound with good direction to the plate and a compact arm swing to a three-quarters release point, which creates downhill plane. He commanded both his fastball and curveball effectively in the zone. Wolff spotted his four-seam fastball at a sneaky 81 mph with life working predominantly low and away, occasionally missing up with the pitch. His curveball is nearly a true 12-to-6 breaker at 68 mph with good depth. Wolff’s arm action was more deliberate when delivering the curveball but it did not affect his ability to produce swings and misses late in counts.
Pitching on Premier Field 4, Garrett Egli (2017, San Antonio, Texas) of Team Lights Out Black put on an impressive performance. With a lean and long athletic build and really clean mechanics, Egli comes out of the stretch with a high hand set, and using a high leg lift he separates with a direct stride to plate. The arm action is long and loose gaining speed to an over-the-top release point. He displays solid command of both his fastball and a sharp curveball. The fastball is firm and straight with downhill plane at 81 mph and shows a high ceiling for velocity development due to his mechanics and room to add strength. The curveball is sharp and tight with 11-to-5 break at 71 mph, maintaining his arm speed and throwing it with the same plane as his fastball. In particular his curveball was a really effective two strike pitch, keeping it low and enticing hitters to swing over the top of it. Egli finished the game with six innings, giving up only one earned run on three hits with seven strikeouts.
Potentially out-doing Egli was lefthander Alex Ayala (2018, Corpus Christi, Texas) who was pitching at the same time as Egli on Premier Field 8 for Hill Country Baseball 18u. Utilizing a high leg lift with internal rotation that coils the front side of his body, Ayala kicks out at the top of his leg lift, striding down the mound to a high three-quarters release point, with his long arm action gaining speed to that release point. His fastball has life and downhill plane ranging at 82-85 mph. He did occasionally miss to the arm side, as well as up, with the fastball but overall uses it effectively when climbing the ladder with two strikes. Hi mid-70s curveball is firm and shows good 1-to-7 depth while maintaining his arm speed and release point. Ayala threw a complete game seven-inning shutout allowing only two hits while striking out 12.
In a short two-inning outing, righthander Justin Ruble (2018, Tomball, Texas) of the Houston Heat caught attention with his tall and lean athletic build with plenty of room to fill. He has a high and deliberate leg lift, driving in to the back leg down the mound and direct to the plate. He creates downhill plane with a high three-quarters release point with some extension at his follow through. Ruble commanded his four-seam fastball and 11-to-5 curveball well. The fastball ranged from 84-86 and touched 87 mph with the curveball coming in at a sharp 72 mph. The curve is a great and effective two-strike pitch causing a lot of swings and misses while working in the same plane as his fastball. Ruble finished his two-inning outing allowing two hits with five strikeouts.
Lefthanded hitting Klayton Henderson (2017, Terrell, Texas) of the Dallas Patriots-Brooks is our first position player to stand out. He went 1-for-3 with a hard line drive single to right-center field that scored two runners. Henderson starts his swing with an athletic, high and early leg lift and his stride separates landing in a strong, torqued position. He has sudden bat speed through the zone with a good barrel plane to the ball.
Lefthanded hitting Antonio Gauthier (2018,Lake Charles, La.) of the Nola Monsters is a very young 2018, just turning 16 a month ago and he is arguably one of the most agile catchers in his class. In this game he played third base and showed athletic actions to the ball, confident hands and a strong, accurate arm. Gauthier has really impressive and athletic movements at the plate that create good power for his size. He reached base on a hard line drive single running 4.28 seconds down the line, and then wasted no time in stealing both second base and third base. The second steal induced a throwing error, which ultimately led to the Monsters’ first run and a first inning lead. Gauthier finished the game going 2-for-3 with a run.
Righthanded pitcher Ian Landreneau (2018, River Ridge, La.), also of the Nola Monsters, had an impressive 3 2/3 inning outing holding his opponent to only one hit and striking out five. He starts his windup with a high, loose leg lift, kicking down the mound and coming high over the top with his release point to create heavy downhill plane. He has a super quick and compact arm action and an extended finish that produced a hard and straight fastball that touched 88 mph in the first inning worked in the mid-80s for the rest of the outing. His fastball then became a true cutter at 83-84 mph. Landreneau also mixed in a slider at 73 mph with sharp sweeping movement and an 11-to-5 curveball at 68 mph.
Rounding out day one is Nicholas O’Donnell (2017, San Antonio, Texas) of the SA Angels Blue. O’Donnell has a tall and lean build with room to fill. He uses a high and stiff leg lift with his hands held high and a long arm swing with a short three-quarters release point. He creates downhill plane while also throwing across his body, although he quickly lost his velocity after an impressive first inning of fastballs touching 91 mph, sitting at 86-88 for the remainder of his outing. O’Donnell also mixed in a sharp, sweeping slider at 78 mph and a hard curveball registering in at 73 with 11-to-5 arc. He left the game due to his pitch count, going 2 1/3 innings with no earned runs and three strikeouts.