VA/DC Scout Blog: Highland & Steward

March 9, 2022
Jason Burton
Scouting Director PBR Virginia/DC

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On Tuesday I took in my first regular season high school matchup, with private school #10 Highland School traveling to Steward School in Richmond. Take a look as we go through some notes on five players, including four uncommitted players.

Highland School:

Blagen Pado OF / SS / Highland, VA / 2023

5-foot-10, 175-pound athletic frame with a strong lower half. Advanced run tool that will allow him to show off some of his athleticism and versatility at the plate and on the defensive side. Hits from a square athletic stance, strides forward on line, and finishes with a wider base. Pado does a nice job adjusting posture with pitch plane and stays inside at contact. Sprays it around and is not afraid to hit it where it is pitched.

Garrett Pancione C / OF / Highland, VA / 2022

Athletic 6-foot, 190-pound frame with lean strength throughout. Seemed to be the vocal leader and a big part of the backbone of this Highland team. Defensively he did a nice job working with the staff. Blocked balls in the dirt, turned some border line pitches into strikes, and was an active thrower. Had a nice snap throw, behind the runner at first, in the bottom of the second inning. Offensively, Pancione starts from a square athletic stance, weight evenly distributed, and minimal stride. Small difference in two strike approach as Pancione goes to simple heel lift with no stride to simplify the swing even more. High contact rate, short path to contact, and did a nice job of matching plane a few times. Pancione had two infield singles and then a big two strike, two out, two RBI single to right center field.

Owen Winebarger LHP / 1B / Highland School, VA / 2024

Long lanky 6-foot-1, 165-pound frame. Narrow frame with sloped shoulders. Normal effort delivery, average arm circle length, and three-quarter arm slot. Strides on line and opens slightly early with the shoulders. Came on in relief for three innings of work for an extended save. The fastball sat 77-79 mph and when he stayed behind it, it showed late arm side run that ran away from some right handed hitters. The slider sat 69-71 mph and varied in shape at times, but was best when it had more horizontal break and sweeping action to it.

Steward School:

Michael Lewis OF / RHP / Steward School, VA / 2023

Lewis stands 6-foot, 175-pound athletic frame. Simple, repeatable, low effort delivery. Hands break in rhythm, full loose arm swing, and lands slightly closed at stride. Throws from a three-quarter arm action. Lewis worked three three innings and put up five strikeouts along the way. Lewis was very efficient early in counts and showed the ability to start and finish counts with the breaking ball. The fastball sat at 80-82 mph early on and worked the edges of the zone well. The breaking ball was the go to offering on the day, as he threw it at will. Any count and versus any hitter. The 70-72 mph offering flashed some downer bite when down he got in down in the zone and got a few of his punchouts there. Is not an overpowering arm, but understands how to pitch and is not afraid to win the battle with spin.

Sam Roberson SS / RHP / Steward, VA / 2023

Listed at 6-foot, 165-pounds Roberson shows athleticism in his actions with an above average run tool. Moves well laterally in the infield and gets out of the box and down the line displaying his quickness. Balanced athletic stance at the plate, starts square, and a small stride landing slightly closed. Hands are loose, small load to separate, and level path to contact. Roberson did a nice job in his first at bat of staying on an elevated breaking ball and driving it into the center field gap for a double. Showed a 4.65 on the turn at first and seemed to find another gear on his way to second after the turn. It is a contact driven swing and uses the whole field as displayed in his final at bat where he took a fastball off the plate for a line drive single into right field for a single.