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Malibu Uncommitted Game: Quick Hits

October 1, 2026
Steven Hardesty
Assistant Director

   

New Episode LIVE now! - At The Yard Podcast

MALIBU, CALIF. - This past Sunday, September 27th, the Prep Baseball California team hosted the  Malibu Uncommitted Game at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. This was an open event for high school classes (2027-2028), and gave our staff an ample look at some of that area's and surrounding areas' top players. 

Just over 40 players made their way to Pepperdine, where they participated in a pro-style workout plus simulated gameplay, gathering unrivaled access to data through our state-of-the-art tech partners, as well as in-depth scouting analysis from our Prep Baseball California staff. For a closer look at the showcase details and the technologies we had on-site to assist our in-person evaluation for all in attendance, click here. 

To start the day, all position players in attendance were electronically measured for height, weighed in, and recorded grip strength readings. From there, they ran a 60-yard sprint, with all split times being gathered using VALD Technologies' laser timing system. Upon completion of the athletic and body testing portion of the day, the players went into offensive evaluations with multiple rounds of batting practice, where TrackMan Technologies and Blast Motion swing trackers were in use to gather batted ball and swing data on players in attendance, in addition under going Vizual Edge testing and VALD Jump testing. This was then followed by defensive evaluations at their primary and secondary position (OF, C, SS, 1B), with arm strength being measured via a Stalker Radar gun and skill evaluations by our staff on hand. Once the batting practice portion of the event was completed, we shifted into the simulated gameplay portion of the event with pitchers facing between 5-6 hitters per inning while gathering all their pitch data via TrackMan during their innings. All players in attendance took between 2-3 live at-bats while playing live defense during the game, as well.

Today, we will be looking at some of the top overall performers from the event, found below. For all of the event information, please click here.

MALIBU UNCOMMITTED GAME STANDOUTS:

HITTERS:

Vincent Kasunich OF / 1B / Mission Bay High, CA / 2027

Kasunich traveled up from San Diego for this event, and the LH hitting OF made the trip worth it with one of, if not the most, well-rounded performances of the day. Solidly built at 6'1 and 180 lbs., Kasunich was one of the better athletes in attendance, tying for the top 60-yard sprint time at 6.72 with impressive burst and build-up of speed (1.54 10-yard & 3.69 30-yard splits) with a 20+ MPH max run speed. He tested as the third-highest max vertical jump, going over 25" on the test. That athleticism cleanly translates into how he operates on the field, showing an efficient LH swing with strong present bat speed reaching nearly 75 MPH, hand speed up to 23 MPH, while creating torque with 16+ Gs of rotational acceleration. The quality of his swing blends into his feel for finding the barrel in the box with a 99.9 MPH max EV on the day while averaging over 92 MPH on all balls in play, with a 63% hard-hit rate during batting practice and a nearly 400' max distance on his deepest drive of the day. His arm was the top one during OF testing, reaching 87 MPH on his throws, showing carry and accuracy to both home plate and 3B, giving him both CF athleticism and RF arm strength in the profile for the next level. With a loud workout easily putting him on this list prior to the gameplay portion of the day, Kasunich backed it up with a pair of sound at-bats during live game action, including a hard line drive single into the pull side gap and narrowly missing a game-time homer when he launched a ball foul down the RF line, while comfortably moving around in the OF defensively. With LH bats being at a premium, finding one with impact in the profile that can play any of the three OF spots and could easily make a move to 1B, if necessary, this is an impressive uncommitted profile that college programs will want to take a look at for their 2027 classes.

 

Jaxson Neckien OF / RHP / Westlake High, CA / 2027

Neckien came into this event as a player I was very interested in getting a deeper look at. After a loud spring for the Westlake Warriors Marmonte League championship program and an impressive two-homer game during a live look at him in the spring season, getting to see what type of raw tools and athleticism Neckien possessed really impressed me. Standing at 6'3 with an athletic, lean 183 lbs. build and long levers, there is plenty to love about the current profile for Neckien, but even more intrigue when you add in the projection of potentially more strength onto his athletic frame. His athleticism easily put him at the top of players in attendance with an event best tying 6.72 60-yard sprint time while posting 1.54 10-yard and 3.68 30-yard splits with 20+ MPH of max run speed, you can easily envision his frame covering wide swaths of grass in the OF grass to be a strong defender at any OF spot. His 26+ inch max vertical was the best of any player at the event, adding to the intrigue of what he can become as he continues to mature with his frame and top-end athleticism. His athleticism quickly translates into his baseball tools, which are loud across the board, starting with a rhythmic and explosive RH swing that has loud impact, reaching an event best of 106 MPH on his EV while averaging 99.8 MPH with a 406' max distance on his deepest drive of the day and posting an 89% hard-hit rate during the workout. During the game, he didn't collect a hit, but laced one of the hardest-hit balls all day down the LF line foul, and with an 86 MPH OF arm, which he achieves with low effort and easy accuracy on his throws to home and 3B, you can see natural CF/RF defense in his profile. Plus, he is a talented RHP who will be heavily counted on in the rotation at Westlake come next spring after a strong junior year campaign on the mound, but didn't throw in this event, focusing on his offensive profile for the day. With current ability and intriguing upside in his profile, Neckien is another must-see for college programs looking for potential impact profiles still on the board in the 2027 class.

 

Lucas Alfaro-Chuan SS / 2B / Servite High School, CA / 2028

Alfaro-Chuan is not going to be the type of player who jumps off the board with the eye test standing smaller in stature, but with a collection of quality tools across the board and an innate feel to get to those tools during both workout and game play settings. Lucas has put together a strong fall across the board, and that was no different during his appearance at Malibu. Running a sound 7.0 60-yard sprint with a tick under 20 MPH max run speed while posting 1.7 10-yard and 3.9 30-yard splits, there is easy reason to project his athleticism to stick up the middle defensively long term. His actions defensively back that up with a clean defensive workout showing comfort moving in all directions, while adding an 85 MPH arm velocity to give him SS potential with comfort handling either 2B/3B in the future too. The RH hitting uses an efficient, quick RH swing that produces 72+ MPH of bat speed, 21+ MPH of hand speed while generating torque at a solid rate with 18 Gs of rotational acceleration. He has sneaky good thump, reaching nearly 93 MPH on his best bolt from a flatter swing plane that sprays line drives around the field. His swing translates easily into game play with a multiple-barrel day for himself, including a rocket double into the LCF gap and a loud F-7 in his next trip to the plate. Just a 2028, the Trinity League product will be a good follow for college programs over the coming time ahead.

 

Caden Ceman OF / RHP / Mira Costa High, CA / 2028

Ceman attended the event as a two-way player and showed an interesting profile as a RHP who can work in the low to mid-80s at present on his FB, with the makings of a few potential offspeed offerings, but it was his day as a position player that firmly put him on this list. Strongly built at 6'2 and 201 lbs. at present, he looks the part of a future middle-of-the-order thumper from the RH side, and his day backed that up soundly. He ran a 7.0 60 with a 1.6 10-yard and 3.8 30-yard splits while reaching over 19 MPH of run speed to give himself the potential to handle any of the three OF spots athletically, but comfortably profile in the corners as a strong defender who boasts an 88 MPH OF in past workouts. His EVs don't jump off the page at present with a 92 MPH max EV, but he lives around that range consistently, showing his barrel awareness with an 87 MPH avg EV. He has quickness in his hands, which reach north of 22 MPH while showing a quick barrel and 70 MPH range bat speeds and 11+ Gs of rotational acceleration. As he continues to understand his body better, there is plenty of power to project for him, but his solid feel to hit translates comfortably from workout settings into game play as Ceman collected multiple hits on the pull side of the field with a massive double off the wall to LF and then pulled a single down the LF line, hitting both a FB and off-speed offerings for each of his hits. Hailing from the talented Mira Costa HS program in the 2028 class, Ceman should compete for a prominent role on the defending CIF-SS D3 champions varsity roster this spring and be a strong follow for college coaches in the class.

 

Jakeb Clavero C / 3B / Torrance High, CA / 2028

Clavero was in attendance for the first time at the Prep Baseball California event in Malibu, and the compact, but solidly built catcher made his presence well-known. Clavero was sound across the board during the workout portion of the day, posting a 7.3 60-yard sprint time with a sub-1.7 10-yard split and 3.9 range 30-yard split, demonstrating quality burst off the line which combined with a 21+ inch vertical jump translated well into how he moves behind the plate and in the box. He has thump in his bat for his size, just missing a 100 MPH max EV with a 99.7 bolt during batting practice, and averaged just a tick under 90 MPH of EV across all his swings, including a 62% hard-hit rate, all coming from a swing that generates 74 MPH of bat speed with 20+ MPH of hand speed with 17+ Gs of rotational acceleration. Behind the plate, the burst in his legs helps translate into quality throws to the bag at 2B from a 77 MPH catcher velocity and 2.0-2.08 pop times. While his frame won't necessarily pass an eye test, his tools and in-game ability will draw eyes when you pass attention to the Torrance HS product who picked up two well-struck balls to the opposite field, including a deep F-9 and a missile double into RCF on a SLD away. Quality defense at a premium position, sound offensive profile with sneaky good impact in the bat should make Clavero a name that college programs are going to want to take a look at for their 2028 catching recruiting process.

 

Liam Barkwill 3B / SS / Simi Valley High, CA / 2027

Barkwill has attended a trio of Prep Baseball California events, showing steady progress across each trip to our event platform, while also routinely performing well during my live looks at him with the Simi Valley Pioneers program. His performance at Malibu was as good a well-rounded game performance as any player in attendance, with a pair of impressive defensive plays that highlight his ability to handle 3B long term, but showing enough athleticism in his actions to potentially make a move to 2B at the next level, if necessary. As well, during the game he showed off strong offensive ability when he lofted a deep drive to LF that went off the wall for a double early in the game before staying on a breaking ball away later in the game to shoot a single down the RF line just over the reach of a leaping 1B defender. While his game performance was excellent, that doesn't discount the quality of his workout, with personal bests in a trio of categories starting with improvements to his swing posting a 19+ MPH hand speed and 71+ MPH bat speed and improved arm strength on the INF. He reached the mid 90's with his max EV which has been a consistent strength for him going to between 95+ to 103+ MPH on his max EV at events, showing pullside carry to his contact with a 363' max distance on the day in line with his 387' personal best and 72% of his contact being in the air across his batting practice rounds. A versatile potential defender who shows feel for defending in game with a consistent offensive profile metrically with an approach and in-game feel for hitting that continues to tick up, Barkwill is quality uncommitted INF prospect to get on college coaches radars for the 2027 class.

 

Brody Gomez OF / RHP / Norco High, CA / 2027

Gomez traveled out from the Inland Empire for the event and made good use of his time on the coast of Los Angeles with his overall showing for the day. Relatively unknown to me personally prior to the event, having attended a previous event I was not in attendance for. But, from the moment the event started to its completion, my eyes were drawn to Gomez when he was involved either in athletic testing, defensive work, batting practice, or once the game started. Gomez is compact in build at 5'8 and in the 170-ish lbs range, but there is innate strength in his frame with sound athleticism across the board, running a 7.2 60 with 19 MPH max speed and sound burst - build metrics over the first 10-30 yards of the sprint test. He has strength in the lower half, jumping nearly 21" on the max vertical test, and the arm reaches over 80 MPH on his throws from the OF with accuracy to both 3B and home plate during the workout, giving him some potential to play all over the OF in the long term.  Gomez showed off improvements to his swing since our staff last looked at him in February of 2025, posting new PRs with 21+ MPH of hand speed, nearly 73 MPH of bat speed, and the improvements to the quickness of his swing translated into improved batted ball data with a 97+ MPH max EV and 88 MPH average EVs during batting practice. He reached over 360' on his max distance to the pull side, while 86% of his contact went in the air with a lofted swing that produces a nearly 75% fly ball rate geared towards pull-side loft that, as he continues to mature, should project into sound home run ability at the next level. His workout translated well into the game with two hits both going to the opposite field, demonstrating his in-game versatility as a hitter by lacing a double into the RCF gap on a FB while smoking a breaking ball into RF for a ground ball single. 

 

PITCHERS:

Adrian Ramirez RHP / OF / Adolfo Camarillo High, CA / 2027

Ramirez was a name who had started to pop up in conversations over the summer as I talked to people around the Camarillo program, but I had not had a chance to get a live look at him until he arrived at Pepperdine, and he came as advertised, if not a tick better than the reports I had on him. The right-hander is medium in stature at 5'9 and 170ish lbs, but has sound strength in his frame already, with room to add a tick more as he keeps maturing. There is some depth to his arm stroke, but the overall operation for Ramirez is athletic and relatively without major effort while producing sound stuff across the board. He showed a three-pitch mix over his five-batter look from a high 3/4 slot, releasing around 5'8" on his pitches and producing around 5'5-5'8 range extensions on all his offerings. His FB worked at 85-88 with north of 2100 RPMs of spin at its peak while flashing a cut ride shape with 16+ inches of average IVB while only 5+ inches of horizontal movement to the pitch. He controlled it well to throw it for both called strikes, create contact or miss bats. His main secondary offering was a 74-78 MPH SLD which flashed intriguing spin traits, including 2500+ RPMS at its peak on a shape that produced an average of 11" of horizontal movement with some two-plane depth averaging around 1" of IVB on the offering and picked up a strikeout plus a rollover groundball to 3B with it. The third offering for Ramirez at present is a 78-79 MPH CHG, which he does kill some spin on at present with fading life to the arm side, but can work to create more separation vertically off the FB shape as he polishes the offering. Ramirez was efficient to the zone over his five-batter look, collecting four outs on the day with two strikeouts, one coming via the FB and the other coming via his SLD, while rolling over a 5-3 out on a SLD and jamming a RHH with a FB located to the inner third of the plate. The lone base runner to reach against him came on CHG left over the plate for a single into RF by a LHH.

 

Liam Hendon LHP / Maranatha, CA / 2027

Hendon was an attendee at the Los Angeles Preseason ID, where he threw a sound bullpen session, and returned to the Prep Baseball California event platform for this gameplay event and backed up the quality of the bullpen session with his outing in Malibu. Hendon has seen a small tick up in his FB velocity from his January bullpen to his September outing, living at 83-85 MPH this outing and peaking at 86 MPH, with consistency in his spin metrics both peaking over 2150 RPMs while consistently averaging over 16" of IVB on the offering. He backed up the FB in January with his SLD which works in the 70-72 MPH range while now peaking north of 2450 RPMs on its peak spin with an improved shape on this outing averaging nearly 11" of horizontal movement on the pitch. Finally, he mixes in an improving CHG in the 75-77 MPH range with heavy arm side movement (averaging 18" of fade) while separating off the FB shape by nearly six inches of IVB difference. His outing in Malibu started off with a single allowed when a hitter muscled a soft liner into RCF, but from there Hendon was quality picking up a pair of soft flyouts to the first basemen, striking out the fourth hitter on a well-executed backfoot SLD to a RHH and closed the outing with a flyout to RF.  Hendon threw his pitches for a nearly 70% zone rate over the five batter look and with a profile that appears to be on the rise is a quality lefthanded arm that college coaches are going to want to take a look at for their 2027 class.

 

Tyler Bryson RHP / Redondo Union High, CA / 2027

Bryson is built like a prototype pitcher checking in with a 6'2 frame that currently holds 184 lbs on it and has longer levers with high hips and room to fill strength as he matures. Passing the intrigue eye test before he steps on the mound, the Redondo Union product backs up the eye test with a quality pitch arsenal and feel to utilize it in-game situations. Bryson showcased a two-pitch mix for the event with a FB and SLD duo that helped three of the five hitters he faced, with one of the baserunners reaching via a swinging bunt single. In those five hitters, Bryson dominated the first two hitters with his SLD to collect whiffs and pick up a pair of strikeouts and a ground ball out to shortstop on a FB. Bryson threw his FB in the 84-86 MPH range while peaking at 86.7 MPH on the offering and generates over 2200 RPMs of spin with a cut/ride shape to it having an average of 12 inches of IVB with 5 inches of horizontal movement to the offering. The right-hander controlled the FB within the zone well, producing an over 60% zone rate. His SLD was difficult for hitters to make contact with when executed down in the zone, collecting whiffs with its 75-77 MPH velocity range and spin rates over 2300 RPMs while having a tighter shape to the offering with an average of 3 inches of horizontal movement, but reaching as high as 10 inches of break on the pitch. There is plenty to like about where Bryson is at the present, but even more so the upside to his profile as he continues maturing and developing in the coming time ahead.

 

Andrew Katzman RHP / El Camino Real Charter High, CA / 2027

Katzman hails from one of the preeminent programs in the CIF-City Section, El Camino Real, which has produced countless next-level players, and the right-hander appears to be right in line to join that lineage of success. He stands at a present 6'5 with 192 lbs on a frame that can easily handle another 20 lbs as he matures. Katzman has high hips with length in his arms that help him create nearly 6'5" of extension on his 83-86 MPH FB while generating 2100 RPMs of spin and averaging 15+ inches of IVB on the offering. The shape and extension on his FB play well up in the zone to collect whiffs from hitters while even more so setting up his strong present CB. The breaking ball for Katzman went to the forefront of his arsenal on the day, helping him to punch out multiple hitters on the offering, which comes in at 72-75 MPH with north of 2500 RPMs of spin. The break on the pitch is sharp and late to dive under barrels, especially as hitters try to decipher it from his riding FB. At its best, it will get almost 9 inches of negative IVB, and over his five-batter look averaged 6 inches of negative IVB. His long-term profile will be determined by the addition and development of a true third offering, but with his clean delivery, projectable frame, upside still ahead, and feel for a solid two-pitch mix at present a leverage-to-high-leverage reliever role is an easy one to project on Katzman beyond his high school career. A definite see for college coaches looking for quality arms to improve their pitching staffs in the years ahead.

 

+ CLICK HERE for a look at the complete statistics from the event.

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