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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/26/2023

13u/14u WWBA West Scout Notes: Day 3

Joey Cohen     

Connor Rae (‘27, AZ) is one of the hottest hitting players this tournament. Through five games thus far, he is 8-for-12. At the plate, he loads early/smooth using a leg lift trigger that lands on time along with present rhythm in his hands that throw a loose and quick barrel with advanced accuracy. He hits in the leadoff spot for a deep Canes AZ lineup, and it makes a lot of sense after watching him hit. Rae has an advanced bat-to-ball profile that I think will start to tap into some real power sooner rather than later as he starts to fill into his 6-foot, 170-pound body. Rae has played both 2B and CF this tourney and has showed the present athleticism to play them well and most likely stay up the middle down the line. 

Maddox Wahlenmaier (‘27, AZ) has been as consistent as it gets throughout the summer on the mound. Dating back to the Southwest Summer Kick-Off to now he has turned in quality outing after quality outing and yesterday he was great in 6.2 innings of work against a solid MBA Navy squad. With all the success this summer, he is also showing some exciting upside and projection with his frame and current stuff that is also trending up. His arm action is shorter and more compact within a delivery that has some slight crossfire into RHHs but is still repeatable. He ran his fastball up to 81 that flashed some running action and mixed in a developing larger breaker he could land for strikes. 



Zachary Nelson (‘27, WA) is one of the more hitterish bats I’ve seen in the ‘27 class this summer. He is currently 8-for-16 this WWBA West where he has shown an aggressive approach and swing. Nelson starts in a closed set up where he uses a simple quick trigger to get going where he just lets his strong hands fire. The barrel works more direct to the baseball, and it showed with his results being majority of hard contact on the ground or low line drives. With the present bat/hand speed the offensive profile looks like one that could do a lot more damage in the future if he ends up lifting the ball some more. Nelson also jumped on the mound this tournament where he has quality stuff. He ran his fastball up to 85 and went four strong innings against a very talented CBA squad generating a ton of weak contact. Nelson has turned himself into a top follow in the ‘27 class. 

Anthony Renda (‘27, AZ). I have taken in back-to-back two-hit days by Renda and he has a swing that is conducive to a lot of contact and a lot of barrels. In his swing, Renda sinks and gets engaged with his lower half getting into some more athletic posture. He then creates some rhythm and consistent timing with his toe tap trigger while getting to launch early which allows him to recognize pitches easier. His swing then works on a clean path through the zone, getting on-plane early and maintaining it through extension. Renda has also performed well on the mound this tournament where he threw a complete game shutout on Sunday where he filled it up with a mid 70s FB. There’s a ton of present skill in Renda’s game and he’ll be a very interesting follow when he starts to tap into more strength and athleticism. 


Andreas Soto (‘27, NV) had an impressive complete game shutout yesterday where he showed advanced qualities along with intriguing upside. Soto has a clean and easy operation down the mound where engages his lower half well while being able to maintain balance and control down the mound. His arm works shorter and compact in the back and to release at a lower ¾ slot which give him more repeatability along with giving his fastball some unique shape from a lower release height. He worked his fastball up to 78 and he exhibited legit feel to the glove side with it flashing some running action as well. Soto’s advanced strike throwing ability, clean/easy operation, and projectable 6-foot-3, 150-pound frame make him one of the more exciting arms to follow the next few years. 

Charlie Borchard (‘27, AZ) is having a solid two-way week for AZ-TREX thus far. Currently 4-for-8 at the plate and had a solid pitching performance throwing five innings and giving up just one run. At the plate, Borchard has a rhythmic LH swing with real loose hands that whip the barrel through with good barrel direction while maintaining good balance. Borchard has also taken his walks this tournament exhibiting a patient approach. As a pitcher, he has shown upside as well. He has a simple delivery where he works with easy quickness down the mound. His arm action is shorter in the back and works to a lower ¾ slot. His fastball works into the low 80s and he mixes in a slurvy breaker that showed sharpness and bite. It’s also a really exciting frame/body where he currently stands at 6-foot-3, 165 pounds that should fill in quite well. 

Hagen Haefs (‘27, AZ) threw a complete game shutout yesterday where he showed standout stuff. In his outing he gave up just one hit, walked none, and struck out seven. Haefs delivery exhibits both athleticism and aggressiveness down the mound where he moves quick and fast into rotation with some present effort. The arm is action is longer but is loose and continuous in the back and works up with some advanced armspeed to release. His fastball got up to 82, living in the high 70s that he pounded for strikes with at a high rate (77%) and seemed to play harder due to some good life. He mixed in a larger curveball that has late bite and depth along with a changeup that had some fading action to it. 

Lincoln Eure (‘27, UT) turned in quite possibly the best start of the tournament yesterday throwing a CG shutout where he gave up just two hits and struck out 14. Eure has one of the better deliveries I’ve seen where he uses his lower half well. He holds his backside and back hip while making his move down the mound and is able to rotate fast and land with a decent block. His arm action is shorter in the back which allows for some repeatability and works with adv. armspeed to release. This repeatability with his operation/AA aids in his strike throwing ability which he did at a 77% clip throughout his outing. His fastball worked up to 83 and his slurvy breaking ball showed sharpness and late bite inducing whiff and buckle. 

Kaden Lampe (‘27, AZ) put together a solid performance against CCB yesterday. Had a no-hitter through four and ended up going five strong giving up one and struck out six. He ran his fastball up to 76 and is another young arm who has shown advanced feel for his breaking ball which exhibited larger/downer break to it. What stood out with his breaker was the confidence of which he threw it which was in any count and against both handed hitters. His delivery has some deception to it where he has a real high glove arm that points up to where he will eventually release from. His arm action is more elbow lead out the glove but is still able to be loose and continuous throughout. 

Austin Brown (‘28, UT) has stood out throughout this tournament with his advanced physicality and two-way ability. In the two GBG Utah games I took in, Brown had two really loud extra-base hits. One was an opposite field barrel deep into the left-center gap that turned into an inside-the-park HR, and the other was a towering shot triple off the right-field wall. Brown starts in an athletic stance and has a simple rhythmic trigger where his hands create some separation where they load the bat back into a more upright barrel launch position. The swing is a loose one where he is able to catch barrels with a swing path that works more uphill with quality extension that allows him to stay through the baseball. On the mound, Brown threw 4+ innings where he carved through a lineup with his FB/CB combo. He got his fastball up to 75 and his curveball showed quality depth that induced a lot of whiffs especially against left-handed hitters. 
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