Prep Baseball Report

West TN Prospect Games: Team White Pitchers



By Matt Byrd
Tennessee Director of Scouting

The West Tennessee Prospect Games took place on August 16 at USA Baseball Stadium and afforded close to 50 players from around the state to showcase their abilities in a combination showcase/game play event. The following is a look at the Team White pitchers from the event. This is pitcher analysis only. Those pitchers who also participated as a position player at the event had their positon player performance featured in a previous article.

CLICK HERE to view the stats of all players in attendance.

Zachary Wendell, 2016, Clarksville Academy, LHP
The 5-foot-11, 160-pound lefty had a solid performance at the West Tennessee Prospect games. Wendell showed great pitching mechanics with a very relaxed but powerful delivery from the ¾ arm slot. Fastball sat from 79-80mph, four seam fastball showed consistent cutting action while two seamer showed late run. Curveball from the 1/7 trajectory with a very sharp break at 66-67 mph.. Changeup from 72-74mph with late cutting action like four seam fastball. Wendell was dominant in his performance throwing 2 innings giving up just two hits while striking out five.

Evan Russell 2017, Scotts Hill, RHP
The 5-foot-11, 187-pound strong athletic frame righty shows a powerful delivery at the prospects game. Russell does a great job at using his lower half to provide him with a fair amount of torque in his strong delivery to the plate. Throwing from the ¾ arm angle the righty’s fastball sat at 79-81mph and topped out at 82mph with some arm side run. Showed to have good feel for his curveball spotting it up in the strike zone at 69mph with a 11/5 sharp break. He pitched one inning giving up no hits and hitting one batter.

 Noah Sharp, 2017, Harding Academy, RHP
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound lanky built righty throws from the high-¾ arm slot with minimal effort in delivery. Showed a fastball that seemed to get on hitters quickly sitting at 77-79mph that was mostly straight. Sharp appears to have good feel for the fastball as he established it for strikes consistently against the hitters he faced.  Throws a slow curveball with 11/5 trajectory at 55-56 mph. Changeup showed cutting action at 70mph. Sharp threw two innings giving up one hit and had two strikeouts.

Collin Loose, 2017 Clarksville Northeast, RHP
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound righty has a tall and lanky frame that projects well. Up tempo delivery. Throwing from the high-¾ slot, Loose has a quick arm action to the plate that can deceive hitters given his tall and lanky appearance. His fastball sat at 78-79mph with late arm side run, topping out at 80mph. Curveball was thrown at the 10/4 trajectory which sat at 64-65mph with short but sharp break. Loose pitched two innings allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two hitters.

Braden Nace 2016, Crockett County, LHP
The 6-foot-2, 184-pound lefty displays a solid athletic frame. Nace showed good feel for all pitches. He does a good job at establishing the fastball for strikes and using his 12/6 curveball to keep hitters off balance at the plate. Throwing from high-¾ arm slot with shorter arm action, the lefty’s fastball sat at 76-78 mph and varied between arm-side run and cutting action. Curveball thrown from the 12/6 trajectory was effective against hitters sitting at 68-69mph. Changeup sat at 72mph with arm side sinking movement. Nace threw two innings allowing two hits while striking out two. He showed slightly better velocity at the Top Prospect Games in June with a fastball that topped at 81mph.

Baylor Steelman, 2016, Lavergne High, LHP
The 5-foot-8, 140-pound lefty throws from a high-¾ arm angle with a balanced delivery Arm is quick with clean arm action. Works both sides of the plate well.  Steelman’s fastball sat from 78-79mph and varied between some occasional run and cutting action. Curveball shows 1/7 trajectory with a long break sitting from 65-67 mph. Stuck with the two-pitch mix. Steelman had a solid performance on the mound, throwing one inning, striking out two with no runs scored on no hits. 

Michael Feather, 2016, Christian Brothers, LHP
The 5-foot 8, 178-pound stocky built lefty throws from the over the top arm slot with regular effort. Feather worked quickly on the mound with an up tempo delivery, not overpowering but shows excellent pitchability, his fastball sat from 73-74mph with occasional cutting action, curveball sat from 67-68mph from the 12/6 trajectory with sharp break. Changeup sat from 69-71mph thrown with good arm action and had late sinking action. Feather had a good outing on the mound throwing two innings with no hits and four strikeouts and does a great job of changing speeds and hitting spots to keep hitters off balance.

Cody Spurgeon, 2017 Clarksville, RHP
The 6-foot-1, 235-pound righty has a big, stocky build. Uses his strong legs to his advantage in getting down the mound. Throwing from a high- ¾ slot with clean arm action, his fastball sat at 76-78mph with good late run to the arm side. His curveball sat at 65-66mph with sharp late break at the 11/5 trajectory. Stuck with the two-pitch mix and showed the ability to throw both consistently for strikes. Spurgeon gave up 3 hits with two strikeouts in two innings pitched.

Tyler Flynn, 2018, Tipton-Rosemark Academy, RHP
The 5-foot-11, 160-pound athletic built righty throws from a high-3/4 arm angle with long and loose arm action, minimal effort in delivery and repeats it well, Flynn’s fastball sat from 74-76 mph with occasional arm-side run. Flynn did a great job spotting up with his slurvy-type curveball at 63-64mph. He stuck with the two pitch mix during the event. Flynn threw two innings giving up two hits on 0 runs with two strikeouts.

Roland Ryan, 2018, Knoxville West RHP
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound righty has a nice strong, athletic build. Throwing from the high-¾ arm slot, Roland showed a good feel for his fastball as he established it for many first pitch strikes.Did a good job of using curveball as a set up pitch for his running fastball.  His fastball sat at 70-72 mph. His curveball showed gradual  10/4 action and sat at 62mph. Changeup  showed a sharp sinking action that sat at 67mph. Roland pitched one effective inning allowing no hits.

Andrew Threatt 2018, Stewart County, RHP
The  6-foot, 195-pound strong framed righty works through an over the top arm slot with compact arm action. Shows a high leg kick at balance point. Tends to open lower half early. Drop and drive type delivery. Threatt’s fastball sat at 75-77mph with occasional cutting action. His curveball was a 12/6 sitting at 62-64mph with late downward movement. His changeup sat 68-69mph with sinking movement that mirrored the fastball arm action. Threatt pitched three innings allowing three hits with two walks.

Andruw Jones 2016, Germantown, LHP
The 5-foot-7, 185-pound stocky framed lefty does a great job at hiding the ball in his windup to the plate. Has an up tempo delivery with some herkiness. Throwing from over the top arm slot, he works across body at times, His fastball sat at 71-72mph with arm side run. Throws a 12/6 curveball that sat at 58-60mph. Also displays a changeup at 69mph with good arm side fading action just like the fastball. Jones pitched one inning giving up one hit and hitting one batter.