Prep Baseball Report

2023 Top Prospect Games: Quick Hits


Brett Thorney
State Scouting Director

On Tuesday, PBR Arizona had a chance to kick off its summer season with its annual Top Prospect Games. This invite only event is held after the high school season each year and gives us an opportunity to get an update on some of the top players in the 2023 class while seeing them compete side by side in a showcase plus live game format. This event features some of the top prospects in the class from all around the state of Arizona. This has become a popular event as scouts build their watch lists for the upcoming summer & fall seasons. It also helps us evaluate new & current prospects as we start to build more content for exposure. Another big purpose of this event is to help us select players for Team Arizona that will go compete at PBR Future games at the end of July

The PBR Future Games is one of Prep Baseball Report's most premier events and is currently the top event in the country for uncommitted prospects. In a typical year with scouts being able to be in attendance, it's a huge draw with state directors picking the top 20 uncommitted prospects in their state to compete in a showcase plus live game format. We are excited to welcome scouts back to event where there were over 300+ in attendance in 2019. We're also excited for the next couple weeks where we will finish building out the rest of Team Arizona. There will surly be some quality players selected from yesterdays event. 

The event at Cactus Shadows included 60 players including 20 pitchers that participated in a pro-style workout followed by game play with two 7-inning games. As always, we gathered loads of valuable information on players that will live in player profiles.

Today, we will be highlighting some of our first impressions from the event in our Quick Hits. This is not a top prospect list but some of our initial takeaways. Be sure to follow us on social media where we will continue highlighting the event. 

To view the full event stats click here.

2023 OF CJ Snowden (Perry)- we were excited to get to see Snowden at this event as we have heard a lot of positive things about him from his past performances. He was slated to come to a preseason event but was recovering a back injury going into the spring season. He really stood out at the event on Tuesday. Snowden sports an athletic defined body, with strong lower half & big quads. Also plays football. He also has some young features yet that gives him plenty of upside. He showed us a simple controlled but yet powerful swing with level path, using plenty of strength to create bat speed. He used a mid-pull approach with power potential to LF, ball jumps of his bat with consistent loud contact. Defensively, hes a plus runner (6.86 60-yard) & athlete that should continue to add feel for the position with an above average arm. High upside prospect that should be followed closely. 

2023 RHP/UT Juan Carlos Kalemera (Pinnacle)- uncommitted, Kalemera is another strong physical athlete that also plays football. He put his versatile athleticism on display on Tuesday, showing some ability to play OF, 3B and even pitch. At the plate, he has an efficient path, getting on plane early while staying in the zone with strength in the barrel. Used mostly a mid-oppo approach. Should be able to develop some power with strong lower half and timing. Kalemera also pitched on the day showing one of the more firm fastballs of the afternoon at 87mph with some effort. He has natural arm strength that showed in the OF at 89mph. 

2023 RHP Payton Pudenz (Red Mountain)- uncommitted, wiry athletic frame with young projectable body, room to add weight. Pudenz didnt have the velocity on his FB that we have seen throughout some of our coverage this past fall & spring. He just came off a 60-pitch outing recently. However, he did show us an athletic delivery with feel & some rhythm while mixing up his leg lift to mess with timing. He throws with short quick arm action combined with arguably the top breaking ball of the day. He has the ability to throw a sweeping SL where he averaged 17.7 inches of break to the glove side, up to 2550 rpm with plenty of swing & miss potential. His FB sat 83-85mph with some run and we have seen work into the upper 80's a bit in the past. 

2023 3B Mathew Adams (Catalina Foothills)- When it comes to in game performance, Adams had quite the day on Tuesday. In his round of BP,  he showed some natural loft to the pull side of the field, catching the ball out in front. That translated over to the game a bit where he a big HR to LF early in game 1 followed by a single up the middle later. His tools should continue to come with added strength. 

2023 SS Jacob Charlson (Canyon Del Oro)- Charlson moved to Arizona from New Mexico not long before the HS where he played for Canyon Del Oro. He saw quite a bit of time at 2B this season while hitting over .400 in limited at bats for CDO. His well rounded skillset really stood out to our staff on Tuesday with tools that should continue to come with strength & maturity. Charlson has a balanced athletic frame. Offensively, he uses the whole field with a short swing, staying inside the ball while working up through the finish. Defensively, he displays athletic clean footwork with soft hands. Some feel for the position with body awareness. Gets rid of it quick with loose arm, developing arm strength. Development should be followed.

2023 OF/RHP Logan Krei (Hamilton)- Krie is an under the radar prospect that we got a chance to see for the first time at our TPG. He's a well balanced athlete that also plays football with some quick twitch actions, some grittiness to his game. He had the top 60-yard dash time of the event at 6.77 as well as top OF arm at 90mph. Offensively, he uses a flat swing with athletic hips & quick hands, hit a LD up the middle in live game action. On the mound, he ran his FB with occasional cut up to 86mph with a short quick arm. Krei has some upside as a two-way prospect as he continue to mature. 

 

+ 2023 RHP Samuel Round (Pinnacle)- Round attended our Preseason ID back at the beginning of February. He almost looked like a completely different pitcher this time out going away from his modified stretch where he previously worked up to 80mph. You can tell he spent some time refining his delivery over the last several months in order to use more of his natural athleticism. Round sports an athletic long limbed frame with plenty of room for strength gains. He throws from a 3/4 arm slot with short loose arm action. Lands slightly closed with athletic finish & short extension. Showed us three quality pitches with a FB that got on you with some quickness. His off speed has + potential while keeping it down in the zone. His FB worked 84-87mph while topping out at 88mph with varying movement via Trackman. Threw his SL/CH relatively equal frequency. SL had some sweeping action with tight spin at 2375rpm, averaging 14.3 inches of break to the glove side at 71-73mph. His CH has some sink/arm side movement at 76-79mph. Round should be a pitcher to follow this summer/fall. 

 

+ 2023 OF/C Antonio Gianni (Cactus Shadows)- Gianni had a big first year on varsity for Cactus Shadows and continued to swing the bat well at our top prospect games. Gianni is a versatile player that plays the game with energy. Can play OF, INF & catch with some success as he has solid feel for the game. Offensively, he has a short swing with twitchy hips that give the ability to accelerate on plane quickly. He has natural pop and carry off the barrel with consistent hard contact, working up to 99mph from a smaller frame. He had 15 extra base hits on the season for Cactus Shadows and hit a moonshot to LF in our live game action on Tuesday. Defensively, he can play a number of different spots, one position doesn't currently stand out. He has athleticism, can run a bit and has some arm strength. Gianni.

 

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