Prep Baseball Report

Under Armour All-American Game: Florida Highlights



By Matt Huck
Area Scout

CHICAGO, IL- The 2015 Under Armour All-American Game took place on Saturday August 15th at Wrigley Field. Each year the Under Armour All-American Game draws in the top players from around the country.

Last years game featured Florida high school prospects Brendan Rodgers who was drafted No. 3 overall this past June by the Colorado Rockies, as well as Kyle Tucker who went No. 5 overall to the Houston Astros.

This year Florida had eleven players participate in game, more than any other state. Today we will take a look at highlights from the Florida players who participated in the game.

+ 6-foot, 200-pound, third baseman Bo Bichette (Lakewood) won the home run derby hitting six home runs in the semifinals and ten in the championship round to defeat Joey Wentz (Shawnee Mission East, KS). Bichette has an unorthodox swing, but shows plus raw power hitting home runs onto Waveland Avenue. In the game he went 1-3 with a triple and an RBI. After starting the game at third he moved over to second and made a diving stop to rob Cooper Johnson (Carmel Catholic, IL) of a hit.

+ Catcher Michael Amditis (Boca Raton) had the biggest hit of the game clubbing a no doubt grand slam into the left field bleachers for the National Team.

+ LHP Jesus Luzardo (Marjory Stoneman Douglas) faced four batters, retiring everyone he faced. His fastball sat 91-93 mph and showed good feel for his changeup at 80-82 mph.

+ LHP Travis Hosterman (Hagerty) doesn’t flash the big time velocity seen from other players in the game, but showed great pitchability retiring all three hitters he faced, two via the strikeout. Hosterman sat in the high 80s touching 89 mph with his fastball and showed feel for a curveball at 73 mph.

+ RHP Anthony Molina (West Broward), who participated in the game last year as well, sat 91-93 mph with his fastball in a clean inning of work.

+ RHP Gregory Veliz (Key West) sat 93-94 touching 95 mph in his outing, while striking out two.

+ Colton Welker had an RBI single up the middle in his first at bat.

+ 6-foot-1, 180-pound shortstop Austin James (Bloomingdale Senior) went 1-3 in the game with a walk and a stolen base.

+ One of only two underclassman to participate in the game 6-foot-1, 205-pound left-handed hitting 1B Alejandro Toral (Archbishop McCarthy) is one of the top left-handed power hitters in the country.

+ OF Keenan Bell (Episcopal School of Jacksonville) made a sliding catch deep in the left field corner in the game and showed off pullside power in BP. Worked a walk in one of his four plate appearances in the game.

+ 6-foot-6, 220-pound RHP Alek Manoah (South Dade Senior) worked 90-92 topping out at 93 mph with his fastball and featured a slider at 78-80 mph in his inning of work.

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