Baseball is finally starting back up and running in Arizona. Our staff at PBR Arizona recently started its Summer coverage with one of their top invite only events of the year. The Class of 2023- Top Prospect Games took place this past Tuesday, June 16th at Shadow Ridge High School in Surprise, AZ. This event featured 60 prospects from the 2023 class from all across the state of Arizona. This annual sold out event has become a must attend event for future college prospects, highlighting some of the top talent across the state from the 2023 grad class.

Today, we continue our post event coverage by taking a look at our first impression in our Quick Hits segment, highlight some of the players that stood out at this invite only event. Be sure to stay tuned over the next few weeks for more post-event coverage. 

CLICK HERE to view all event statistics. 

+ 2023 SS Cooper Neville (Mountain Ridge)- 5-foot-11 165-pounds, large athletic frame, lean proportional body with some strength in lower half, room to get stronger. Really looks like a ball player with solid all around actions. Left-handed swing and make-up stood out,  hitting a hard line drive deep to LCF in game action. Plays the game hard up the middle with a high baseball IQ, dove for a couple balls to try to keep it in the infield. Soft hands, fielding ball out in front, bringing glove to belt before separating, solid arm that will improve with continued progression. 

+ 2023 SS Joshua Tiedemann (Hamilton)- 6-foot-1 170-pounds, large lean frame, broad shoulders, some physicalness to body with above average athleticism. Some advanced overall actions and tools. Shows the ability to slow down the game with an easy relaxed approach. Hits from a slightly spread out base loading into back leg with knee turn leg lift, minimal forward movement. Power potential in his swing that will come more often in the future. Ran a 7.2 laser timed 60-yard dash. Low effort fielder whose arm should play across the diamond. We were excited to see Tiedemann on the mound but he wasn't able to throw due to his summer team playing. Should be a player to follow. 

+ 2023 SS Andrew Grenert (Northwest Christian)- 6-foot-1 160-pounds, large projectable body, looks the part of a future middle infielder as well as showing versatility in playing OF. Shows good actions all around with tools that should improve a lot as he starts physically maturing and adding strength. He has an advanced left-handed approach at the plate with some controlled aggressiveness. He even sat on a ball, hitting one of the hardest hit balls of the day into the opposite field gap in our live game. Left-handed hitting SS that should be followed closely. 

+ 2023 RHP/OF Juan Carlos Kalemera (Pinnacle)- 5-foot-11 175-pounds, maybe even looks bigger than that with above average strength for the age, also showing some athleticism running 7.29 60-yard dash. Multiple sport athlete that uses his raw athleticism. Lot of potential in his game by fine tuning certain areas. He has natural arm strength, throwing 88mph from the OF. He also logged the top velocity on the mound at 85mph. He even showed us glimpses of an above average change-up with cut that paired well with the FB. 

+ 2023 RHP/OF Linden Reaburn (Casteel)- 5-foot-10 180-pounds, broad shoulders, strong physical build, power actions. Reaburn has popped up on our post event content quite a few times in the past. Typically, he lands there for his right-handed arm on the mound. However, at this event, he had one of his best performances he's had as a position player. He turned in a 7.29 60-yard dash as well as tied for the top exit velo of the day at 94mph. He had the top arm in the OF at 90mph. His arm still plays on the mound for the future but his position workout shined a bit more on this day. 

+ 2023 C Gio Melchione (Desert Ridge)- 5-foot-11 180-pounds, large build with proportional strength. No stranger to our events. Looks noticeably lighter on his feet than the past, turning in a 7.6 60-yard dash which is a significant improvement for him. His mobility and flexibility have all received an uptick. His arm behind the plate has been above average with some effort, working 1.99-2.1 pop times. Another part of his day that jumped out was his round of BP. Typically, he is a line drive hitter with no flash but showed some ability to drive the ball deep to LF on this day with arguably one of the top BP rounds. 

+ 2023 C Jordan Vigil (Basha)- 5-foot-10 155-pounds, lean build, young body with shorter limbs, some strength. Defense stood out behind the plate turning in 1.96-2.06 pop times with 73mph arm strength. Also, showed some receiving skills, relaxing his glove before sticking the ball from a lower center of gravity. If his hitting can catch up a bit, he's going to be a catcher to follow closely behind the plate especially as he gets more experience and starts getting stronger.

+ 2023 3B Drew Douglas (Basha)- 6-foot 160-pounds, athletic frame with long torso, going to be very interesting to see how Douglas’ game develops into the future. His repeatable left-handed swing should be followed closely, hitting from a spread out base, controlled approach with small leg lift. Consistently barrels up the baseball. His speed will probably keep him at 3B going forward if his arm gets stronger over time. He has the athleticism to play OF where he played most of his HS season, wouldn't be surprised to see him stick in the corner OF in the future as well. Left-handed swing should be followed. 

+ 2023 LHP Justin Chambers (Higley)- 6-foot-1 170-pounds, we haven’t had a chance to see much of Chambers before this event. He didn’t disappoint, showing a long body with some strength & above average athleticism, running a 7.29 60-yard dash. He really stood out on the mound, pounding the zone, working his FB 80-84mph. He also worked in two breaking balls with lower spin. SL was 69-70mph & CV was 67-69mph. He also showed some two way capability, hitting some line drive from a raw swing. 

+ 2023 C/RHP Derek Shaefer (Cactus Shadows)- 6-foot-1 160-pounds, young frame, long projectable body, strength looks to be coming. Looks like a ball player. Showed some versatility being able to play some SS, C, and P. Hands & speed at SS probably move him behind the plate in the future, where he shows good athleticism with easy actions & flexibility, being able to get low in his stands effortlessly. Showing good direction with a quick release to 2B on throws, turning in the top pop times of the day at 1.95-2.05 at 71mph. Offensively, he shows a clean swing with pull approach, hits from a relaxed base, using a leg lift to generate leverage. Projectability makes Schaefer a strong follow.

+ 2023 SS Carter Bailey (Corona Del Sol)- 5-foot-11 160-pounds, young frame, quick twitch player, above average athleticism. Tools & all-around play stood out at the event. Ran a 7.05 60-yard dash which was one of the top times of the day. Also, recorded at 94 mph exit velo which was tied for the best. Hits from a slightly upright stance using a leg lift knee turn before landing in a solid launch position at front foot strike. Showed some bat speed to go along with the pop. Approach is a bit raw currently but should continue to get better over time. Excited to see what Bailey's tools become as he's putting up good numbers already.  Should improve across the board with more maturity. Bailey is going to be a player in the 2023 class to follow.

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