VA/DC Scout Blog: John Champe and Gainesville
April 27, 2022
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Tuesday night saw a wet afternoon in Northern Virginia, but the rain mostly cleared out and many teams were able to still get games in, with John Champe and Gainesville starting on time as Cedar Run District play continues. Champe started senior righty Ryan Grzesiak (Virginia Tech) and Gainesville started freshman righty Caden Merritt.
Champe was able to jump out to a 1-0 lead, taking advantage of a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt during the second inning. Gainesville also scored on an errant throw on a bunt in the third as part of a three run rally to open up a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals tacked another on in the fourth inning, which was the final inning of Grzesiak's night. In the bottom of the fifth, Gainesville rallied for seven runs and walked the game off with an 11-1 win. Merritt was outstanding and dominated during the game.
John Champe
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Ryan Grzesiak RHP / OF / John Champe, VA / 2022Grzesiak is a Virginia Tech commit with a tall long lanky frame that has a lot of projection and room to add strength. Long loose arm action that is quick with normal effort to his delivery, ball explodes out of his hand. Simple drop and drive delivery, lands open with a fall off finish. Throws from a low three-quarters arm slot but height still creates downward angle on his pitches. Fastball sat 89-91 in the first before settling into 86-89, touching 90 for the rest of the outing. Pitch gets that angle from his height plus some late armside run that plays up when he works down in the zone. Showed ability to throw fastball for strikes to both sides of the plate. Curveball was 76-78 with late hard power 10/4 break to it, has good armspeed and shows some swing and miss when its buried down in the zone, can be a bit slurvy when tries to throw it for a strike. Change-up had good armspeed and was 80-81 with heavy sinking action, almost playing like a splitter. Drew swings and misses with all three pitches and can throw all for strikes, control was inconsistent from pitch to pitch but overall was better than when we saw him last year. Still has a ton of upside and while his stuff is already good, there is a chance for him to take it up another notch or two as develops more consistent control and adds strength to his frame.
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Gainesville
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Wyatt Bach SS / 2B / Gainesville, VA / 2024
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Carson Cates SS / 2B / Gainesville, VA / 2024
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Lucas Marrero LHP / OF / gainesville, VA / 2023
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Caden Merritt OF / RHP / Gainesville, VA / 2025Merritt has a taller lankier athletic frame with some strength present and projection left. Shorter free arm action that is quick with some effort to his delivery, throws from a three-quarters arm slot. Nice rhythm to delivery, drops and drives and swings into an open landing with a hard fall off finish. Fastball was 77-80, touching 81 once in the outing, he held that velocity the entire game and even was pretty much able to hold it when he was in the stretch. Pitch gets some downward angle and has a bit of late boring action to armside. Showed a curveball with good armspeed and sharp 10/4 break to it that ran 64-70. Very confident in his feel for the breaking ball, manipulating its shape and velocity from pitch to pitch. Had a few batters where he had hitters off balance just changing speeds on the curve without even throwing the fastball. Showed good control of both pitches in and around the zone and should develop true command as he continues to develop. Piled up the strikeouts, most of his swing and misses coming on curveballs. Very calm and in control demeanor, carries himself like a veteran on the mound. A lot to like as a pitcher with room to continue to develop as he adds strength and velocity, definitely an arm to keep an eye on. Shows some athleticism and batspeed at the plate as well, short quick swing with a slightly uphill path. Has some power potential there and a chance at being a two way player.
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