Under Armour All-America Game: Top Standouts
July 24, 2016
By Sean Duncan
Executive Director
CHICAGO, IL – The Under Armour All-America Game and its festivities concluded Saturday night a few innings early due to weather. Although a few pitchers didn’t get to throw, we got a good look at many of the top 2017 prospects throughout Friday’s positional player workout, Saturday’s BP, home run derby, pregame and, ultimately, the game.
While we are all champions in today’s trophies-for-all society, here is my opinion on the biggest winners at the Under Armour All-America Game:
+ Jordon Adell, OF/RHP, Ballard HS, KY
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Adell is the No. 3 overall ranked prospect and widely considered the top athlete in this year’s draft class. He was also the biggest winner over the course of the two days. How can a player raise his profile when he was already held in such high esteem? Well, throughout the summer there were plenty of murmurs about how, despite his plus-plus bat speed and prodigious BP power, he didn’t hit in games. Whether he did or didn’t hit can be debated, I suppose. But as far as I’m concerned, everyone has completely overthought Jordon Adell’s next-level abilities, chiefly because the Louisville recruit has been in the limelight longer than most because of his high-ceiling tools.
All I know about Adell’s hitting abilities is he was depositing balls on Waveland Avenue at Wrigley Field with little effort. The ball carries off his bat as well as any player in the country. He did the same during BP on Friday with the same distance once he found his rhythm. During the game Saturday, Adell handled big velocity with no problem. In his first at-bat, he just missed on a 97-mph fastball, hitting a sky-high pop up to second base. He also smoked a 94-mph fastball at the third baseman, and ripped a run-scoring single on a 93-mph fastball. He also struck out looking.
If you distill it down, Adell possesses plus-plus speed, plus arm strength and plus power. So he is still refining his swing to be more consistent. How many legitimate five-tool players are there in high school? Like none.
By the way, on the mound, Adell is also 91-95 mph, with at times a sharp low-80s breaking ball. He was scheduled to pitch, but decided not to throw on Saturday.
A look at several other standouts ...