Prep Baseball Report

MS Top Prospect Games: Quick Hits


Ronald Sims
Mississippi Scouting Director

JACKSON, MS - The Mississippi Top Prospects took place on Tuesday, July 17th, at Smith Wills Stadium, in Jackson, MS. The invite only event saw 70 players in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 grad classes. 20 plus college coaches got to see a little bit of everything on Tuesday, with players that stood out from every position. We will be rolling out content in the coming weeks, for now here is a quick glimpse of what we saw from a strong group.

Tuesday saw several prospects emerge onto the recruiting scene with standout performances.

To see a complete list of statistics in PDF format, click HERE

Today we dive into a few quick hits and observations from Tuesday's event:

+ Uncommitted RHP Josh Hill (Indianola Academy) stands 6-foot-1, 221-pounds, with a strong, projectable frame. The right-hander made the most of his mound time on Tuesday, pumping strikes at 86-88, topping at 89 mph, while mixing in a 72-73 mph breaking ball, and a 79 mph changeup. The arm works well from a high-¾ slot and Hill has the look of an arm with more in the tank.

+ Louisiana State recruit, RHP Farmer Abendroth (Warren Central) worked his fastball at 88-91 mph with angle and occasional arm-side life. While he set hitters up with a hard 12/6 curveball that ranged between 72-77 mph, he finished the deal with his lively fastball. The long-limb, rail-thin 6-foot-5, 170-pound right-hander also flashed an 80-82 mph change up with slight fading action.

+ RHP Landon Gartman (Enterprise) struck out several of the batters faced as he worked from a high-¾ right-handed slot. The Pearl River CC recruit was able to repeat his delivery with relative ease down the mound, and pumped strikes at 86-89 mph. Displayed good feel for his breaking ball at 74-76 that received several swings and misses with depth and late action.

+ OF/RHP Kris Jones (Oak Grove), Pearl River CC recruit, started the day with a 6.94 60-yard dash, and took a solid round of batting practice. The right-handed hitter has a short, direct path to contact, and the ball jumps off his bat with a top exit velocity of 93 mph and he threw 90 from the outfield. The right-hander also jumped on the mound and pitched 83-86 mph with fastball.

+ Posting the fastest 60-yard dash time of the day was uncommitted OF Derrick Hartfield (Perry Central) running a 6.56 60-yard dash time. Standing an athletic 5-foot-7, 170-pouund, the right-handed hitter also showed solid bat speed posting an 88 mph exit velocity.

+ SS River Orsak (Barber Hill (TX)) is a quick twitch middle infielder that ran a 6.71 60-yard dash and showed solid actions at shortstop with a clean, accurate arm that works well from different slots. The right-handed hitter has a flat, loose stroke that made strong contact posting an exit velocity 88 mph, also drove a double during game-play to right center field.

+ C/1B Alex Frillman (DeSoto Central) continued to swing a hot bat showing a loose stroke with gap power posted an exit velocity of 83 mph. Frillman made accurate throws to second base during the positional workout posting a top velocity of 75 mph and pop times of 1.95-2.07. Turned around a 91 mph fastball during game play, recording a stand up double.

+ Uncommitted C/RHP Caleb Sterling (Warren Central) has a clean exchange and his arm works really well behind the dish with a quick, easy arm stroke. Sterling was able to consistently produce sub-2.0 pop times during his positional workout, recording an event best 1.79. The arm also plays well on the mound, running the fastball up to 88 mph while pitching 83-86 mph, striking out the first three hitters he faced.

+ A Lipscomb recruit, SS/2B Logan Bland (Houston (TN)) has easy actions at SS, to go with solid footwork, clean exchange, and an accurate arm. He posted a 6.97 60-yard dash, and handles the bat well with a balanced setup, quick hands, and good barrel awareness, posted an 84 mph exit velocity.

+ 3B/RHP Shane Lewis (Warren Central) did a little bit of everything - from playing third base - to jumping on the mound- to posting a 6.91 60-yard dash time. But it is the right-handed swing adds to the intrigue from a recruiting standpoint, as he has a smooth, balanced swing with gap power and an exit velocity of 96 mph. He was on the barrel during BP and the ball jumps off his bat.

+ SS/RHP Bo Gatlin (Oxford) was impressive in all facets of his game starting the day showing solid athleticism by posting a 6.75 60-yard dash time. During the defensive evaluations, Gatlin worked through balls fluidly on the infield with adequate arm strength on throws to first, recording a positional velocity of 87 mph. At the plate, the right-handed hitter showed a loose swing, and bat speed that produced an exit velocity of 96 mph.

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