2022 West Coast Games: Team Utah Review

8/20/2022

A surprise find for myself, as Cal was putting up hitting #’s for PBR Utah’s #1 ranked team at Fremont HS. The Silverwolves reeled off 24-25 straight wins, heading into the 6A tourney, and one of the biggest reasons was Cal Morrow. I was looking at MaxPreps stats and couldn’t take my eyes off the numbers Morrow was putting up, so I made the 350 mile drive to the Ogden area to see Morrow in action. He didn’t have the day I expected, but you could see the swing was ready for the next level and he looked the part at 6-1 200 with present strength and a gap to cap backspin type approach. Garnering 6A 1st ™ All-State honors, Morrow put up a stat line of .369 5 47 w/14 2B’s and also touched 88 w/the FB on the mound. Morrow was a breakout bat at his first event (Top Prospect Games in mid-July) and earned the invite to the West Coast Games. The bat is really good! The defense needs reps and lots of game play and fly/ground ball reps away from game action, as he doesn’t play summer ball, as he is hidden from the metro view of Northern Utah. He did show closing speed on a couple of balls into the gap and into foul territory (RF) to make some run saving catches. The bat should be offered now by top JC’s and a nearby powerhouse D2 in CO, just across the border. He would be a perfect fit, to hit right away at those types of programs!

Doezie comes from bloodlines, as his father Troy played at the College of Southern Idaho and played 5 seasons with the Twins organization. Avery is a tall, physical 1B, that runs a sub 7.0/60 for a 6-4 210 kid that looks the part. Offensively there upside with a few tweaks. Hits from a conventional upright even prop square setup with his hands high over his back shoulder. Gets down into his legs well, with a short compact stroke. Does need to get better ext. through the plane of attack and balls tend to get in on him, due to a little steeper approach to the baseball. With a few tweaks to get into his legs in his setup and be more athletic and work on getting his barrel into the zone quicker in the back, there’s power to unlock here. When he’s on time, there’s definite bat to ball skills and he has all the makings of a late bloomer with the bat and could take off. Defensively he needs to get reps with following his throws and getting through release and ext. out front. The hands work well and he plays through the ball well. There is definite pluses in his favor, with a tall LHH physical build w/a quick lower ½ to run 6.9/60’s and he has the makings of a stroke to hit w/a tweak or two w/bloodlines and a former MLB 1B in Chris Shelton as his HS coach!

8/20/2022

Slade put up massive numbers in 2022 for the Orem Tigers and earned 5A 1st ™ All-State honors. The stat line was impressive as he hit .467 9 47 w/9 2B’s, to go along with 50 hits, which put him 8th all time in Utah history for a single season. Slade also had a really good summer, hitting a handful of wood bat HR’s as well. The setup is semi spread and square with a crouch and loads to a 45-degree slot and repeats a short, compact powerful stroke to hit with a whippy two hand finish. The ball jumps on contact and he squares balls up often. The defense still needs some work on pitch framing and working underneath the ball to stick pitches and get the low K. The feet are fringe in quickness, yet he gets the ball underway and showed on the bag accuracy during the workout phase of the event. Slade is a top tier HS bat, that colleges should be jumping on right now and not later. 

8/20/2022

Nalder earned Utah 5A Region 8 MVP and put up a massive stat line during the 2022 spring season, as he hit .522 6 47 w/11 2B’s and an OPS of 1.442! Compact and strong with the ability to impact the ball w/a short, direct, flat stroke, while keeping the barrel in the zone a long time. The bat is his carrying tool! The defense needs work as he needs to work under the ball better to receive. The arm is strong, and can put balls on the money, yet is a bit inconsistent in his accuracy. The arm plays in the OF and he does throw like a catcher, but the carry is good and he gets off strong accurate throws. The arm will play on the corners with RF especially. A gamer that gets after it, while working his tail off to prove his skeptics wrong. It baffles me why a top school hasn’t just seen the bat and wants the impact that is there to translate quickly to the college level.

8/20/2022

A physical broad muscled athlete with a two way profile. Tough to say where he fits on one side of the ball yet vs the other. Does show really good hitting metrics with present power and an unorthodox style to hit. The load is a deep hand launch w/the bat laid back and flat in back as he starts his hands and knob to the ball, which creates torque and bat speed, though it could be difficult to catch up to better pitching at the next level, but he does show 100-103 mph exit velos and has hand and bat speed with strength to impact the ball. Plays 1B/OF and looks to be more comfortable as a 1B’man. Fields out front, but can get choppy on his actions and foot work. Does have tools, yet just needs to translate into game performance, #’s wise. On the mound, the delivery is flexible with a high kick up top and stretches out down the rubber to use the slope and pitches downhill with angle. The arm action is short and compact thru a TQ/HTQ slot and has a loose wrist to finish the FB 82-84 and can spot up to both sides. Can have some inconsistent command at times, yet showed really well at the West Coast Games and made quick work of hitters in his 1st inn of work. The CB has the beginnings of some shape, though can spin w/some looseness in spin and back up at times. Needs added depth with getting over and on top of the pitch better, as he tends to get around the pitch and create sideways spin, creating some flat plane. May be a candidate for a SL in his future. The intrigue here is a physical put together build with well defined muscles, and impacts the baseball, while sitting at or near the top in EV at every event, while the LH arm pumped K’s. Is a great teammate and is eager for instruction and wants to get better and learn!

8/20/2022

Had a good showing at the West Coast Games, as he excelled in game 3 w/3 hits and 4 RBI’s along w/a slick one handed play to his left and made a accurate backhand power feed to the 2B’man for the force at the bag. Lean and wiry with the frame to add muscle and size as he matures. His father Reed is his HS coach and is a 4 time state champion coach and has produced dozens of college baseball players, along with 12-13 currently playing at the next level. Crew’s father played 13 years of professional baseball and has 3 brothers that play or played at the next level. So the bloodlines are in place w/the instruction as well. Crew features an upright stance with a drawback of his front side into his backside w/an inward turn of the knee to load his backside and takes the knob of the bat and drives it inside out with a short, compact stroke to find the barrel. Gained valuable varsity time in ‘22 as a D1 commit went down at SS, allowing Secrist to start every game up the middle as a sophomore. Makes plays with instincts and field awareness and his arm is a bit short right now, but will only get stronger as he fills out overall and gains his man strength down the road. Look for even more development over others with the instruction and bloodlines intact. 

8/20/2022

Cayson really jumped on the scene this past spring as he led the state with a perfect 9-0 record and coupled with his sophomore season of 3-0, Bell is undefeated at 12-0, spanning the last two years. Lean, with and more skinny throughout, the frame is slight and does need to put added weight and strength, to hold up for more than a 2-3 month HS season. The base delivery and arm action and arm speed is in place, to make quick strides in velocity. Pitches out of the stretch only and features a unique setup in his hold position. He sets his front leg in a closed position and then leans back and lifts into a flexible high kick to delivery. The momentum down the slope and stride length, lengthen out to use the slope to power the ball down on the zone. In the spring when at full strength, the arm speed is whippy and has a loose wrist to finish pitches, yet needs to use his wrist and fingers more to back spin the ball and really rip through the seems to get the baseball to take off through the zone. The FB sat comfortably at 84-88 w/run and sink w/kill spin. Needs to spin the ball tighter to be able to turn the ball over to a 4 seamer to utilize the top portion of the zone, to all the ball to keep its plane for swing and misses. The CB 72-76 takes on true TQ shape w/loose depth in the zone. The CH 75-79 has kill spin action with run, sink and depth. Currently his best secondary pitch and he maintains FB arm speed and the pitch has deception and gets swings and misses. Has an idea on the mound and competes and has know-how. Look for a strong senior year as he is drawing interest with a couple of JC offers in hand!

Not many players in the state have jumped on the scene and produced with the bat over the course of this past spring more than Strickland. He attended our Fall Prospect ID last November and then I followed his spring numbers, and this earned him the right to compete at the West Coast Games, after posting a stat line of .416 8 43 w/16 2B’s at Orem HS. At 6-1 185, Strickland is streamlined and athletic in his movement patterns and just runs fair in the 60, but is a very sound base runner and turns the corners well, and shows hand and bat speeds that are elite to drive the baseball w/conviction in producing the 2nd highest amount of xtra base hits in the state to Gatorade POY Luke Anderson. The load and trigger with the hands to hit, are unorthodox, as he loads at a 45-degree angle, and then when he gets ready to drive his hands to the baseball, he lays his barrel down into his shoulder. Yet this seems to get him into the zone quicker, as the barrel lays into the zone, which allows him to stay on the ball and in the zone a long time. His hands are quick and his bat is fast, producing ultra quick bat speed times. With a number of wood bat HR’s this summer, any JC program that hits with wood, will get an impact bat right away. Defensively he makes the routine plays and the arm is a bit short, but gets rid of the ball quickly with a short, quick arm stroke and is accurate with his throws. Based on the production, metrics and size for an offensive 2B’man, someone needs to gobble this kid up quickly. I like this one!

A 6-2 165 RHP with the frame w/added physical maturity and focusing on gym development to put in an added 15-20 Lbs over the next year. A two way player at SS/RHP, who profiles at the next level as a pitcher, Olsen has arm speed and arm strength to be a low 90’s arm by next spring. Currently sitting 86-88 T89.2, Olsen touched 91 this summer and can see this being his cruising speed in the near future. His spin of 2431 is solid and above avg as well. Features a simple turn and pivot on the mound with a flexible, quick med kick to delivery. A short strider who under-strides, which creates more use of his upper ½ vs lower ½. If he can increase his stride to 90% stride length vs his vertical height, it will allow him to get into his legs and power the ball with increased velocity as he gets through release. Has the proper CB 71-72 shape w/med depth and a spin of 2,282, which with added arm strength at physical developments, this could increase to avg in the 2400+ range. The makings are there for a 3 pitch mix w/feel for a fading, sink life CH 75-76 as he’s able to kill the spin to 1765! Upside here for sure! Someone grab this kid!