Prep Baseball Report

Scouting Notes: Don Hunt Memorial Challenge



By Jacob Gill
Philadelphia Region Director of Scouting

don hunt memorial challenge

Northampton 4, Nazareth 2

The Blue Eagles tallied single runs in each of the first two innings, but the Konkrete Kids posted two-spots in the 2nd and 5th frames to notch the victory in the day's opening game.

Anthony Gaetaniello (Moravian) went 2-4 out of the lead-off spot, scoring Nazareth's first run and driving in its second.  He ran a 4.19 home-to-1B on a chopper down the 3B-line and stayed inside the ball well on a knock through the 4-hole.

Harley Davidson2015 SS Harley Davidson (right) displayed quality actions in the field, gained ground well on this throws, and exhibited an above average arm across the diamond.  The left-handed hitter showed good barrel whip on a groundout to 1B and reached base twice (HBP, BB).

Davidson's DP partner, 2014 Evan Grube, is not the biggest guy or smoothest fielder, but he made quality plays to his left and right.  Perhaps the best was on a well-hit groundball back through the middle that he backhanded and flipped to Davidson, who turned it into a 4-6-3 DP.

#11 Whitehall 1, #9 Parkland 0

The day's marquee match-up lived up to it's billing, as Elliot Mortimer (CG, 5 H, BB, 6 K) made a first inning run (that he drove in with a sac fly) stand up.  The York College-bound righty's FB sat 84-86 early on.  He mixed in a CB at 69-71 and a SL, which had the same action as the CB, but was thrown harder (74-76).  He liberally used the SL in all counts as his go-to pitch, commanding it in the zone and using it as a chase pitch.

Gabe MosserMortimer's counterpart, 2014 RHP Gabe Mosser (right), was nearly as effective (6 IP, 4 H, BB, 4 K).  Mosser threw downhill out of a high-3/4 slot with a clean arm action at 82-84 (and touched 85) with occasional sink in the first few innings.  He started to pull off and lose his slot (along with some velo) in the middle innings, before regaining his direction, slot, and velo toward the end of his outing.  He will need to continue to develop his 70-73 CB, as he was constantly on the side of it, causing it to roll and flatten out.

Whitehall 2014 Ryan Bonshak only got two at-bats on the day, but posted a well above average home-to-1B time for a catcher (4.34).  Bonshak blocked well and exhibited a good presence behind the plate.  Even though his elbow gets a bit low, causing his throws to tail, he posted a 2.00 in-game pop time to gun down a would-be base-stealer.

Louis E Dieruff 4, William Allen 0

In game three, William Allen got a CG 5-hitter from 2013 Alex Rodriguez.  Throwing from a high-3/4 slot, Rodriguez was not overpowering (FB 72-74), but he pounded the strikezone.  He had success keeping his fastball away to left- and right-handed hitters, while mixing in a big, looping CB at 58-62.

Rodriguez's battery-mate, 2013 Sammy Santiago, showed quick feet and solid arm strength.  His one in-game pop time was a 2.21 on a ball he had to reach to his left and rake back across to the throwing pocket.  His pop times were 2.03-2.13 in between innings.

Uncommitted 2013 Brady Yocum started for the Canaries, comfortably working at 83-84, and flashing a couple of 85s and 86s (although he did not have nearly the command when he tried to hump up).  He pitched from a high-3/4 slot and exhibited good mound presence.  Yocum had good arm-speed sell on a 71-72 CH and showed a slower CB in between innings, but did not feature it in the game.  As his outing wore on he didn't always finish his delivery, which caused a temporary bout of wildness (3 of his 4 walks came in the Huskies 3-run 4th inning).

Emmaus 6, Allentown Central Catholic 4

A prior engagement prohibited PBR from sticking around for the night-cap, but the Green Hornets did not disappoint their fans who were in attendance.  The only undefeated team remaining in the LVC, Emmaus built a six-run lead after an inning and half and held on with the help of stellar relief work from 2014 LHP Josh Lemaster (3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K).  2014s Jared Miller and Jacob Pacheco racked up 2 hits and 2 runs scored apiece, while 2013 Zach Fotta and 2015 Joel Bartoni tallied 2 RBI each.

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