Prep Baseball Report

Future Games: Team New Jersey Catchers


TJ Hunt
Director, PBR New Jersey

The Future Games starts up tomorrow and it's time to round out our Preview Coverage of Team New Jersey's squad for 2018.

2020s Gregory Bozzo (Ridge HS, NJ), Brian Furey (St. Augustine Prep HS, NJ), and Luke Shliger (Trinity Pawling HS, NY) will lead the catching staff for 2018 in Indianapolis.

Right away, Furey sticks out – simply because he is left handed and drives the ball into the gaps. Lefty catchers are a hot commodity on the recruiting trail. He hits from a tall, athletic stance with balance throughout and slight uphill finish. He is able to handle velocity, and did so on a team that had 11 high Division-I pitchers in 2018 in St. Augustine.

Bozzo has a lean, ultra-athletic build at 5-foot-11 185-pounds. He has a quick release with near 2.00 in game pop times and sub-2.00 times in a workout environment. Bozzo uses a leg kick and creates rhtyhm in hands in pre-pitch. Creates torque with mid section in swing and uses extension in hands to create gap to gap pop.

Shliger stands 5-foot-9, 170-pounds with a strong body frame. He ran a 7.18 60-yard dash showing athleticism for his position. At the plate, slightly open narrow stance, loose hands, long stride back to even on the pitch,  extremely aggressive with his swing path, slightly uphill very loose and fluid, repeatable 89 mph exit velocity and expect plenty more bat speed from the 2020 prospect