High School Crosscheck: Week 8
April 8, 2019
The 2019 National High School Invitational took place last week and, as usual, was a scouting convention with more than a dozen High School Draft 100 prospects in attendance. A few highlights are below, but be sure to check out the daily notebooks for more…
In the first round, a highly anticipated matchup between RHP Brennan Malone (IMG Academy, FL) and RHP Jared Jones (La Mirada HS, CA), the top righty for 2020, lived up to the hype. Malone came out sitting 93-96 and held that most of the game. His last pitch, a called third strike, was 94. Both of his breaking balls were working and showing above average. The slider was sharp at 80-84 and the curveball had 11/5 shape and depth at 74-76. He threw a couple changeups late at 83-84 with sink. His command wasn’t pinpoint, but he did show better control than past appearances and threw 70 percent of his 89 pitches for strikes. Over seven innings, he allowed three hits, three walks and a hit batter while striking out eight.