Prep Baseball Report

Top Prospect Spotlight: 2016 C/1B Sonny Ulliana (Bergen Catholic)



Sean McGrath
Scouting Director, New Jersey

Name: Sonny Ulliana
High School: Bergen Catholic
Position: C/1B

BACKGROUND
Ulliana is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-handed hitting catcher from Bergen Catholic. He has drawn interest from several different schools along the east coast and constantly puts himself in the right position to be seen by college coaches for evaluation. He will certainly be added to the long list of Bergen Catholic alumni who have made the jump to play collegiate baseball. He will be participating in the July 15th Top Prospect Games.

SCOUTING REPORT
He has the prototypical frame to potentially play either catcher or first base at the next level. As his body matures, he will continue to add muscle to a frame that is built to last an entire collegiate season behind the plate. He has a 1.98-2.1 in game pop time due to a short arm action and quick release. With average arm strength, he could improve upon his pop time with added foot speed and more efficient foot work.

Uliana hits from a slightly open stance with an up and down hand movement for rhythm. A smooth and effective load, along with minimal stride, puts him in a good hitting position. He has good vision, bat speed and strength, allowing for loud contact when he finds the barrel. When he is going best, he combines his smooth swing plane with an up-the-middle approach. He can get over-aggressive to pull with power, which causes him to step out leading to some swing and misses. His potential behind the dish and his ability in the batter's box make him a solid division one prospect.