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 Royal Team in Wednesday’s action.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS

Chandler Schultz, RHP, Ensworth, 2017
Max FB: 87, FB: 84-87, CB: 71-73, CH: 71,
6'0, 165-pound, RHP was the most polished pitcher at the Top Prospect Games and showed a very rhythmic motion, worked with a quick pace and had a commanding presence on the mound, a lot of moving parts in his delivery but everything stays connected throughout, body comes up at the top with his leg lift before dropping into his back leg and attacking the plate, long and loose arm action has improved from past events and came through a high ¾ slot, stride foot lands just a little closed and caused him to finish over it and toward 1B.  Fastball was able to really bear down on right handed hitters with good run and keep lefties reaching, curveball acted more like a slider but had some good break late in the zone.  Schultz is an athlete on the mound that will draw attention.

Jacob Pennington, 3B/RHP, Oakland, 2018
Max FB: 85, FB: 82-85, CB: 66-69, CH: 71-72,
6'2, 175-pound, RHP begins with his hands together in front of his face and drops them as the first movement to begin his motion, takes a simple little rocker step to the side and a toe-tap on the rubber with his right foot to lead into his leg lift, stays tall and even at the top of his motion as he doesn’t use hardly any shoulder tilt, alignment stays in check as he strides directly toward the plate, a little effort in his finish pulls his body toward the 1B side at times, fairly long and loose arm action comes through a high ¾ slot and looks very clean. Fastball was heavy coming through the zone and showed some hard run in on the righties, curveball showed 11/5 shape with some hard and late action of its own and was able to get some hitters to chase, changeup faded a little bit but was mainly a change of speed. Pennington committed to the University of Tennessee shortly after the TP Games.

Ethan Tressler, RHP/3B, Davidson Academy, 2017
Max FB: 85, FB: 82-85, CB: 72-73,
5'11, 175-pound, RHP starts with his hands up near his face and uses a rocker step to the side to begin, brings his hands down to his waist as he drags his right foot from the right side of the rubber to the left side, brings his right leg straight up and gets very tall at the top before using some shoulder tilt and an extra bit of hip turn to get closed and attack the plate, strides directly toward the plate and usually finishes balanced with somewhat of a walkthrough, reaches back for a long arm action that gets a little efforty once he heads home, seemingly slings the ball through a high ¾ release point and a good finish.  Fastball stayed mostly straight but showed decent life, breaking ball was more of a slider with its 10/4 shape and gradual movement through the zone. 

Blake Osborne, OF/RHP, Davidson Academy, 2017
Max FB: 84, FB: 80-83, CB: 68-70,
5'10, 150-pound, RHP begins his motion very subtly with a tiny rocker step and a slow a gathering leg lift, works at a slow pace until the very end of his delivery, gets his front hip closed and leads to the plate, stays aligned and strides directly toward the plate, slight shoulder tilt and some effort contribute to his long and loose arm action from an over-the-top release, falls slightly to the 1B line on his finish but remains athletic.  Fastball showed a little bit of run at times but mainly stayed straight, curveball showed 12/6 shape and has the potential to be a swing-and-miss pitch but got hit hard once when it hung.

Garrett Schultz, OF/RHP, Ensworth, 2019
Max FB: 82, FB: 77-81, CB: 60-63, CH: 68,
5'10, 150-pound, RHP works pretty quickly on the mound and showed some good tempo throughout his outing, begins with a rocker step forward and brings his front leg up rather quickly, hands are lowered during the rocker step and raised back up with his leg, gathers at the top before coming home hard with a short arm action through a high ¾ release point,  could get into his back leg for a little more leverage, strides directly toward the plate and only falls off slightly to the 1B side. Fastball showed some life with slight run and seemed heavy coming through the zone, curveball showed 11/5 action and had a lot of break.  Don’t be surprised to see Schultz continue to add velo.

Parker Stinnett, 2B/RHP, Powell, 2018
Max FB: 83, FB: 79-83, 66-69 Slider
6'2, 175-pound, RHP begins with his hands together in front of his face and drops them to begin his motion, uses a smooth but fairly big rocker step to the side to lead into a leg raise where he brings his hands back up to gather at the top, doesn’t quite get his front hip closed off and stays tall when heading toward the plate, alignment is good as his stride foot lands in line with the plate, stays even without much shoulder tilt and showed a longer arm action than the past, high ¾ release point.  Fastball tried to run at the end but was very subtle, breaking ball was more of a slider at this event as it showed 10/4 shape and some were pretty sharp.

Gavin Pulliam, C/RHP, Franklin, 2018
Max FB: 82, FB: 77-82, CB: 71-74, CH: 74,
6'0, 185-pound, RHP uses some very good rhythm throughout his delivery and shows it early with a smooth rocker step and some multiple toe-taps on the rubber to really build some tempo, continues that pattern with his leg lift as he gets some movement from his foot that follows the pattern he has established, hands stay around chest level throughout his motion although they start a touch higher, takes the ball out of his glove mid-delivery and gives it a little pat in his glove go continue his rhythm, stride takes him straight to the plate but his effort pulls his body weight toward the 1B line, shorter arm action comes from a high ¾ release point.  Fastball showed signs of life and was located pretty well, lowered his arm angle quite a bit for his breaking ball as it showed a little bit of slider movement but was sometimes just a spinner.

Daniel Willie, RHP/OF, Ooltewah, 2017
Max FB: 80, FB: 77-80, CB: 68-69,
6'2, 175-pound, RHP begins with a long rocker step to the side and covers a lot of ground with that left leg as he pulls it up to get very closed before heading to the plate, hands stay high the whole time as he gathers at the top and gets some slight shoulder tilt and a little drop into his backside before heading home with the pitch, long arm action through a high ¾ release point stays under control and helps him land in line with good balance.  Fastball stayed mostly straight through the zone, curveball showed 11/5 action and the ability to be thrown for strikes.

 LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS

Matthew Mercer, LHP, Chattanooga Christian, 2017
Max FB: 86, FB: 82-86, CB: 71-73,
6'0, 165-pound, LHP uses a pretty generic motion to get his delivery started, high hand positioning gets even higher as he uses a rocker step to the side and a high leg lift to get gathered at the top, doesn’t quite get his front him closed off before he heads toward the plate, hands drop back down to chest level and separate to produce a shorter arm action through a high ¾ - over-the-top slot, arm did look a little stiff but till allowed him to register the best fastball velocity of any lefty at the event, strides directly to the plate but falls slightly to the 1B line.  Fastball stayed mostly straight but came at a downward angle to the plate, curveball showed sharp and late 1/7-2/8 shape and has the potential to be a big time pitch. Certainly one of the top pitchers at the TP Games.

Ryley Jenkins, 1B/LHP, Adamsville, 2017
Max FB: 79, FB: 78-79, CB: 66-69,
6'1, 185-pound, LHP begins with a pretty generic rocker step to the side and swings and lifts his leg back up a good ways to get very closed before heading home, hands stay near chest level throughout his motion, gets some shoulder tilt at the top and straightens out his lead leg while swinging it around his body and toward the plate, lands slightly closed and gets around his front leg with a long arm action through a high ¾ slot, finishes over and around his stride leg and falls a little toward the 3B side but his command was not affected.  Fastball stayed straight but was deceptive because of his delivery, curveball showed some 1/7 shape but typically floated through the strike zone.