By Toby Bicknell
Texas Scouting Director

The temperatures dropped from day one to day two of the Texas High School baseball season, but the cool north wind could not keep Colleyville Heritage from having yet another impressive performance. A solid crowd of Heritage fans turned out for this matchup with South Grand Prairie, as did a number of professional scouts. PBR Texas was in the house to get their first look at the highly touted 2017 RHP Alex Scherff, ranked #24 in The PBR Draft 100.

Scherff, a Texas A&M recruit, has a solid frame at 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, with well defined lower half, long legs and broad shoulders. The Panthers ace was impressive last night, starting the game with his fastball pumping 94-95 mph. We got an early look at his changeup as it shows depth and arm-side fade at 82 mph, while he threw one curveball at 75 mph in the first inning. Scherff was dominant in his 4 inning, early season outing, only throwing 55 pitches, allowing one hit, no walks, no runs, and striking out six batters. He pitched out of the stretch only a handful of times, but still maintained his velocity at 90-93 mph. In his last inning we got a better look at his curveball which he throws for a strike and has good shape and depth, ranging from 72-75 mph. Although he has a slight elbow drop on the off-speed offering, he has a good feel for how to spin the baseball and is able to command the pitch in the zone. Even for such and early season outing with cooler temperatures, it is easy to see why Alex Scherff is one of the top arms in the country.

Following Scherff on the mound was senior right-hander Joseph Huff. Huff put up 2 scoreless frames with his fastball working in the 80-84 range. He had quick tempo, good energy and fielded his position well.

Coming in to close out the game was sophomore shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Witt Jr., an Oklahoma recruit, and the #1 player in PBR 2019 class ranking, was also outstanding. He works from a high-¾ slot and has explosive, late life on his fastball at 89-92 mph. He made quick work of the three SGP batters he faced, going three up-three down and earning the save in Colleyville Heritage’s 3-0 victory over South Grand Prairie.

All-in-all, Colleyville Heritage appears to be an early favorite to contend for some hardware in 2017.

 

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