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Midland Bandits Scout Day: Quick Hits

February 15, 2024
By: Kevin Moulder & Diego Solares
PBR Missouri Staff

On Sunday, February 11th, the PBR Missouri staff traveled to the Midland Bandits Facility in St. Louis to host the Midland Bandits Scout Day. This event featured more than 50 players from the Midland Bandits program, representing the 2025-to-2027 grad classes, that participated in a pro-style workout in front of our staff and gathered unrivaled measurables through our tech partners in the process.

All of our events offer players the opportunity to update their recruiting resume and showcase their talents in front of our staff. We also use these events as identifiers for future invite-only events, like the Preseason All-State, our summer Top Prospect Games, and the prestigious Prep Baseball Future Games that takes place at the tail end of the summer.

For a full roster of those in attendance, click HERE.

Shortly after the event, our staff posted several of the day's stat leaders within our traditional 'Stat Story', which you can find HERE. Earlier today, we dove deeper into the data captured through our tech partners from this event, which you can find HERE. 

We’re wrapping up our coverage from the event today with these ‘Quick Hits’, where we’ve broken down a handful of the day’s standouts. Below you’ll learn more about 15 players from the Midland Bandits Scout Day that popped to our staff. 

QUICK HITS 

+ Fresh off a breakout performance at the Missouri Preseason All-State, INF/RHP CJ Lake (Oakville, 2026) put together another loud workout at this past weekend’s event. Plenty projectable with present strength at 6-foot-3, 200-pounds, Lake generates bat speed and noticeable rotational acceleration out of his load that aids him with producing loud thump off the barrel. He averaged 94.2 mph per batted ball at this event, an event best, and he also squared up the day’s hardest ball at 102.6 mph. Lake’s furthest ball traveled 371 feet into the left-center gap, and he posted a 90% hard-hit rate, meaning all but one of his batted balls was under 90 mph. His 92 mph high from the outfield was this event’s highest mark, and he was 89 mph across the infield at the Preseason All-State in early February as well. On the mound, Lake pumped his fastball at 87-90 mph, touching 91 mph on his hardest bullet. He spun two breaking balls, both in the low-70s, with differing shapes - one worked more horizontally (-15” on average) while the other showed more gradual action and vertical drop. Primed for an impactful spring on a talented Oakville squad, Lake is a name-to-know sophomore in Missouri. 


+ Another sophomore follow from this event is CIF Jaymeson Forest (Duchesne, 2026), who stands in at a highly physical 6-foot-2, 210-pounds. Forest, who also showed well at the Missouri Preseason All-State earlier in the month, doesn’t lack any strength inside his left-handed barrel. He was on the barrel often with authority throughout his round, averaging 92 mph per batted ball with a max mark of 102.5 mph. On top of just hitting the ball hard, Forest drove it with authority too, working gap-to-gap with an average batted distance (282 ft.) that’s well advanced for his age, parking his furthest ball 353 feet. Forest owns some of the loudest left-handed power in the state and will look to translate that to the field for his Duchesne squad this spring. 


+ OF Jay Mainard (Vianney, 2026) popped as a sophomore to follow after a productive PBR debut. Mainard holds inherent strength within a physical 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame that shows at the plate, as he barreled seven batted balls at 90+ mph. He has strong quick hands and a flat right-handed swing that works on top of the baseball to produce consistent line drive contact up the middle of the field. Mainhard’s hardest ball came off his barrel at 98.2 mph and his furthest traveled an estimated 330 feet, per TrackMan. 


+ MIF Finnegan Ryan (CBC, 2026) was another sophomore to show well at the Missouri Preseason All-State and again at this event. Ryan’s ability to backspin the baseball from a leveraged right-handed swing has become apparent to our staff, and he did so back up the middle of the field in this look. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound sophomore had six swings that produced barrels at 90+ mph, including a high mark of 93.4 mph. 


+ INF Luke Fisher (Lindbergh, 2026) is a physical 6-foot, 185-pound sophomore that showed above-average bat strength for his age in this look. Fisher posted the third-highest average exit velocity of the event (89.8 mph) with five of his barrels checking in at 91+ mph. His hardest batted ball came off his bat at 95.7 mph, though he also had barrels at 94.6 mph and 95.6 mph in his round. Defensively, Fisher led all infielders in attendance with a max throwing velocity of 85 mph. 


+ Two more physical bats to follow from this event are 1B/OF AJ Flamm (St. Dominic, 2026) and 1B Cooper Hoog (Seckman, 2026). Flamm is a strong 6-foot-2, 210-pound athlete that worked almost exclusively to the opposite field throughout BP with a max exit velocity mark of 96.3 mph. Hoog, a left-handed hitter, stands in at 6-foot, 200-pounds and looks to elevate the baseball intentionally to the middle of the field. Hoog had four barrels at 90+ mph throughout his round, with his two hardest being at 94.2 mph and 96.4 mph, and he juiced his deepest batted ball 332 feet. 


+ A pair of uncommitted junior backstops from this event are C/INF Samson Jost (Duchesne, 2025) and C/RHP Michael Sievers (CBC, 2025). Jost holds strength on a 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame with a short, direct swing that worked mostly to the middle of the field. He also showed above-average arm strength for his age behind the dish (T77 mph) and popped in the 1.90-to-2.00 range in his workout. Sievers stands at a lanky, more projectable 6-foot-3, 165-pounds with an uphill swing that looks to impact the baseball out front. He too was up to 77 mph from the chute, popping at 2.00-to-2.09, and he was up to 83 mph on the mound as well with his fastball while landing a low-60s curveball for strikes. 

+ MIF TJ Griese (Duchesne, 2026) swings a simple, athletic right-handed bat that sprayed line drive contact to all fields in BP. He’s a smooth, sure-handed defender on the infield with footwork feel on the dirt. 

+ RHP Sam Fisher (Vianney, 2025) and RHP Paxson Schnieders (Mehlville, 2026) are two strong-bodied right-handed arms that threw their fastballs in the low-80s during their ‘pens. 

+ INF Aiden Endres (Centralia, IL, 2025), OF Reese Parmeley (Lindbergh, 2026), and OF Nolan Spicer (O’Fallon, IL, 2026) are three position players that flashed bat strength throughout their rounds of BP. 

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