Adam Akin
Director of Scouting


The 2016 Knights Baseball PBR Day took place on Sunday, September 25 at Dave Hall Field on the campus of Columbia State Community College and included a position player workout, followed by bullpens for the pitchers. Players were afforded the opportunity to showcase their abilities to the PBR Tennessee staff and college coaches in attendance. The following is our evaluation of every pitcher from the 2020 graduating class that participated in the action.

 

Blake Money, RHP/1B, Summit HS, 2020
Max FB: 85, FB: 83-85, CB: 65-68, CH: 71-75,
6-foot-5, 210-pound, RHP showed some athletic movements throughout his controlled and well-paced motion, big-bodied and advanced 2020 graduate, hands together drop with rocker step and come back up with his leg lift, crunches at top before heading home, leads with front hip to an in line stride, long and loose arm action comes through a high ¾ to over-the-top release point, some effort in his finish but usually finishes well-balanced.  Fastball showed hard run and seemed heavy through the zone, curveball showed 11/5 shape with gradual movement, changeup was a solid pitch with some slight arm-side run at the plate.

Jared Dickey, RHP/OF, Friendship Christian, 2020
Max FB: 83, FB: 80-83, CB: 60-66, CH: 63-70,
6-foot-1, 205-pound, RHP is a big-bodied athlete that moves well and has the ability to do a lot of things on the field, uses a solid and up-tempo motion that starts with a rhythmic rocker step to the side that brings his hands down, hands come back up with a leg lift that doesn’t quite get his front side closed and loaded, shoulders stay even and strides in line toward the plate, short arm action comes through a ¾ slot.  Fastball was mostly straight with slight and occasional run, curveball showed 11/5 shape, changeup was a good pitch with arm-side run and sink through the zone.

Grayson Cole, RHP/OF/3B, Mt. Juliet, 2020
Max FB: 80, FB: 76-80, CB: 66-69, CH: 65-68,
6-foot-0, 170-pound, RHP has a long a wiry figure and showed some all-around athleticism as a two-way player, showed a smooth motion with consistent tempo throughout, small rocker step to the side led to a leg lift that brought up his hands before separation, strides slightly closed in approach to the plate and shoulders stay even, short but quick arm action comes through a high ¾ slot, finishes mostly balanced. Fastball was mostly straight but showed potential, curveball showed slight movement with 11/5 shape, changeup was a change of pace. 

Ben Durham, LHP / OF, Middle TN Christian, 2020
Max FB: 77, FB: 75-77, CB: 58-61, CH: 65-68,
5-foot-11, 180-pound, LHP uses a smooth motion that’s consistent and very repeatable, hands stay together near chest height throughout rocker step and fairly high leg lift, gets a very slight shoulder tilt and a good hip load at the top, strides in line with the plate and stays mostly balanced with only an occasional and slight lean toward 3B, arm action starts longer and shortens up to come through a low ¾ slot.  Fastball stayed mostly straight, curveball showed 1/7 shape with some gradual movement through the zone, changeup was mostly a change of pace.

Cole Thomason, RHP/OF, Summit HS, 2020
Max FB: 74, FB: 68-73, CB: 61-64, CH: 63-66,
5-foot-7, 145-pound, RHP a quicker and more up-tempo beginning to his motion actually finishes very simple and with little effort, rocker step is basically just a slight weight shift and leads to a quicker leg lift that gets his front side slightly loaded, separation and in line stride leave a pretty flat shoulder plane with very slight tilt on the way home, longer arm action comes through a high ¾ release point. Fastball stayed mostly straight but was thrown for strikes, curveball showed 12/6 to 11/5 shape with slight movement, changeup was just a change of speeds.