By Adam Akin
Director of Scouting

The 2016 PBR Tennessee Top Prospect Games took place on Tuesday, June 14 and Wednesday, June 15 and included a position player workout, followed by three 9 inning games each day. Players were afforded the opportunity to showcase their abilities to the PBR Tennessee staff and many college coaches in attendance. The following is our evaluation of every pitcher that was assigned to the Gray Team in Tuesday’s action.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS

Ryan Hill, RHP, Wilson Central, 2017
Max FB: 86, FB: 83-86, CB: 71-74, CH: 67,
6'1, 190-pound, RHP uses a personalized wind up to shake up the timing of his delivery, utilizing a near pause in the middle of his delivery, fairly high leg kick and good shoulder tilt get him down the mound very well.  Fastball was hard coming through the strike zone from a nearly over-the-top release and was noticeably heavy heading into the catcher’s mitt, threw a lot of strikes, curveball was sharp with 11/5 action and was thrown with arm speed not far from his fastball. Very well put together pitcher in the 2017 class seemed polished and had a very strong presence on the mound.

Luke Reno, RHP, Christian Brothers, 2017
Max FB: 85, FB: 82-85, CB: 70-72, CH:
6'4, 177-pound, RHP shows a long and loose delivery from a high ¾ arm slot, uses a methodical motion to really gather himself before he heads home.  Fastball was firm although without much movement, lanky build helps Reno get down the mound consistently, curveball was harder and sharper than previous events and showed some good 11/5 action as an out pitch, changeup was much more developed than we’ve seen as he wasn’t scared to throw it to righties or lefties with good arm speed .  Reno seemed much more polished on the mound than in the past and seems to be taking strides in the right direction.

Carson Simmons, RHP, Siegel, 2017
Max FB: 84, FB: 80-83, 72-75 Slider
6'4, 169-pound, RHP uses some good rhythm throughout his delivery to gather as much momentum as he can toward the plate, keeping hands high throughout motion seems to keep him connected and gathered before the pitch, arm works very well with loose action from a high ¾ delivery.  Fastball had some good downhill trajectory and slider can most certainly be used as an out pitch as it was sharp and kept every hitter off balance, struck out 3 hitters in 2 innings of work. Simmons is very projectable, has gained velocity at every PBR event he has attended, and is a couple mph from getting a lot of attention from a lot of college coaches.

Cody Spurgeon, RHP, Clarksville, 2017
Max FB: 84, FB: 81-84, CB: 70-71, CH:
6'2, 215-pound, RHP shows good rhythm throughout his delivery as everything seems connected and under control, good use of lower half helps to stay consistent throughout his delivery and release.  Fastball really bears down on RHH’s hard from a high ¾ arm slot with run and was thrown to both sides of the plate, a little erratic at times, curveball shows some powerful 12/6 action and led to a strikeout or two in the dirt.  Spurgeon recorded 3 k’s in his 2 innings of work.  Has made a big velo jump in the past 10 months and has obviously worked hard to get better on the mound and transform his body.

Jason Chandler, SS/RHP, Siegel, 2018
Max FB: 78, FB: 76-78, 66-67 Slider
6'2, 146-pound, RHP has a lanky build with a loose arm and delivers pitches from an almost sidearm release, gets a little bit of run on his fastball and can keep hitters off balance with his sweeping slider, keeps spine straight up and down throughout the delivery and throws mostly all arm.  Good athlete could gain some velocity over time, especially with some more utilization of his body.

Tyler Sills, RHP/2B, Battle Ground Academy, 2018
Max FB: 77, FB: 74-77, CB: 57-58,
5'11, 150-pound, RHP does a great job of using his entire body to get everything he can out of his currently smaller frame, pitches with good tempo and uses an over-the-top arm angle to get some break on his 12/6 curveball, fastball stayed pretty straight but has the potential to get a lot better, showed signs of bearing in on a RHH.  Sills is an interesting prospect, as he seems to be one growth spurt away from a huge jump. 

Tait Phillips, RHP, Heritage, 2017
Max FB: 65, FB: 64-65, CB: 56-57,
5'11, 180-pound, RHP uses a submarine release that produces some run and sink on his fastball that you would probably only see from someone throwing from that angle, once again didn’t get back up to his previous high of a 73 mph, but was able to throw both of his pitches for strikes.  Even though Phillips’ deception can be valuable, he will need to get that velocity back up to where it’s been in the past.  Does like to compete.

LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS

Alec Lubas, LHP/OF, Ravenwood, 2018
Max FB: 84, FB: 79-83, CH: 74, 74-75 Slider
6'1, 202-pound, LHP uses a lot of movement and some quirky mechanics to produce a delivery that really jumps at hitters, closed stride and short and quick arm action add to deception and make it even harder on hitters.  Shows an over-the-top release as fastball is mostly straight for a lot of strikes, slider is his best breaking ball with some very sharp 2/8 movement, changeup fades in the zone.  Lubas struck out 3 hitters in 2 innings of work.

Parker Moss, OF/LHP, Collierville, 2017
Max FB: 81, FB: 78-81, CB: 74-79, CH: 72,
6'1, 175-pound, LHP filled up the strike zone throughout both of his innings on the mound, pitches with good tempo and makes the hitters beat him. Never gets all the way closed during his motion but strides across his body just a touch, uses a shorter arm action and a high ¾ arm slot to get some run on his fastball, breaking ball had different movement at different times but was almost always sharp, changeup was thrown for strikes, as well.  Real competitor on the mound.

Cole Knott, LHP, Knox Christian, 2018
Max FB: 76, FB: 73-76, CB: 67-68, CH: 70, 
5'11, 170-pound, LHP uses a small rocker step and pretty normal leg raise to begin his windup, keeps shoulders even and flat throughout most of his delivery, strides a little toward the third base line, shows a good and fluid arm action to throw 3 pitches around the zone, got decent break on his curveball but slowed arm down a little on his changeup.  Keeping arm speed up will be a key for Knott, as changing speeds will be a must.