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Today's scout blog features two uncommitted 2023 arms, two 2025 bats, and a 2022 draft prospect and Virginia Tech commit. 

Hickory

Brayden Bachman OF / 2B / Hickory , VA / 2025 Solid 5-foot-10 frame with proportional strength throughout. Bachman impressed last year on Atlantic Shores varsity team as an eighth grader and left that same impression in the game versus Nansemond River this week. It is an offense first profile with strong bat to ball tendencies and an advanced offensive skillset. Bachman never seems overmatched at the plate. He is aggressive in his approach and just has a knack for finding the barrel. The swing path is level, is fairly short to contact, and has controlled intent to the swing. Really high on this bat and will continue to get better as he matures.

Nansemond River

Thomas Wolfe RHP / Nansemond River, VA / 2023 Repeatable, normal effort delivery. Hips and shoulders level, lands on line, and hands break to a full arm action. Throws from a three-quarter arm slot and showed feel for three pitches in the zone. The fastball sat 81-83 mph early and had the ability to move it in and out. The breaking ball was 69-71 mph with gradual 11/5 break and flashed feel for a changeup that had gradual fade. Threw a complete game with seven strikeouts, while scattering four hits to the Hickory offense.

 

McLean

 

Ethan Ball SS / McLean, VA / 2025 This was my first look at Ball and he is definitely an intriguing freshman to follow. Square, balanced stance at the plate. Hands are set close, late load to separation, and small lift to stride landing on line. Level path swing with some whip through the zone. Had two singles on the day and does not seem to be affected by velo. Athletic two sport athlete that will be one to keep an eye on.

 

 

Griffin Stieg RHP / OF / McLean, VA / 2022 This is my second look at Stieg this spring and he was pretty sharp in this outing. Stieg entered in the second, in a continuation from a previous date. From start to finish the fastball held pretty strong at 90-93 with more 91-92 than anything. He did dip for a handful of pitches to 88-89 mph, two being early with a runner on first, and then in the sixth he dipped to 89 for just a few pitches. In the seventh inning, his sixth inning of work, he sat 91-93 mph. The fastball varied in action. At times he would get slightly under it and it would ride up and in to right handers. Then when he tried to get it to the glove side he was able to stay on top of it a little better. When working to the inner half of the plate, the fastball had riding life with some lift and got swings and misses up in the zone. Presently the fastball is more control than command, but the stuff and action of the pitch tends to trump the location. Spin rate on the fastball ranged mostly from 2345-2545 and got as high as 2656 RPM on one pitch. Stieg showed much better command of the slider in this outing. The 79-82 mph pitch had late bite with some horizontal tilt. He flashed one slider at 85 mph, stayed mostly in that 79-82 mph range with above average spin rate that got up as high as 2630 RPM. Showed average feel on a few changeups that sat 83-84 mph.

 

Langley

 

Hank Lippman RHP / SS / Langley, VA / 2023 Long, lanky 6-foot-1 frame with plenty of room left to fill out. Lippman has a short, quick arm action from a three-quarter arm slot. Shows quick arm speed that is present on his fastball, slider, and changeup mix. The fastball sat 85-88 mph through his first three innings, with mostly 86-88, and seemed to have an extra gear the last few feet and got on hitters. The velo did fade a little later into the outing, but he did have to throw some extra pitches as there was an inning or two that the defense gave McLean an extended inning. The slider was tight with 11/5 shape and depth at 75-77 mph and got multiple swings and misses, especially when he was able to get it out front and work it to the glove side. Showed some changeups throughout his outing that appeared to be a really solid third pitch. The changeup sat 80-81 mph with fastball arm speed and had some late diving action to left handed hitters. Lippman appeared to attempt a few curveballs early at 72-74 mph, but the arm was a little behind and they backed up out of the hand. Overall he showed a solid three pitch mix, the fastball velo has ticked up since the fall, and is a 2023 that should be getting some much deserved attention in the near future.