Prep Baseball Report

PBR at The Rock 17U: Quick Hits Day 2


By Wisconsin Staff

A jam-packed Day 2 at The Rock hosted some more exciting Class of 2021 talent across the Midwest. Check out these follow names who put together noteworthy performances on the second day of action. The Day 2 highlights can be found below.

+ ISA Stars Royal received a dominant six-inning performance against MVP Elite from LHP Connor Brinkman (New London, 2021; uncommitted), who led the team to a 7-0 win. Brinkman struck out 11 without allowing a walk, and just five hits, pounding the zone with 79-82 mph fastball, up to 83 early, with arm-side action. Short, tight action on a slider, 1/7 plane, 70-73 mph. Hulking RHP Alex Windey (Wrightstown, 2021; uncommitted) relieved Brinkman for the seventh after supporting him from the plate with an opposite-field home run earlier in the ballgame. Windey possesses big arm strength and speed, worked 84-86 mph in his lone inning. Uncommitted OF Bennett Spaeth (De Pere, 2021) also recorded a couple big knocks that drove in a couple runs. Another note on Spaeth, our staff has seen the right/right outfielder a handful of times this summer and he’s proven to be able to land consistent barrels in key situations.

+ Verona Edge picked up a 3-0 win behind a strong out from RHP Spencer Buskager (Oregon, 2021). Buskager showed an innate ability to change speeds with his fastball and the ability to sit 85-87mph when needed and even late in the game. His breaking ball showed big promise at 74-75 mph and 2,300 RPM. RHP Jacob Kisting (Verona, 2021) relieved Buskager in the 7th with the bases loaded, no outs and the tying run at first base and made quick work of the rest of the Windy City lineup getting three quick outs while sitting 86-87 mph.

+ Brew State Baseball Academy’s LHP Mitch Fassbender (Wauwatosa West, 2021) twirled a quick and solid outing over at Wisconsin Lutheran College during the 11 a.m. slot. The lean, lanky southpaw threw six innings, allowing only one run and striking out six while walking none. His fastball sat 78-81 mph, touching 82 mph throughout his outing and he controlled it well, consistently pounding the zone for strikes. It’s pretty evident that Fassbender has a lot of trust in his breaking ball; a sweeping pitch in the 68-70 mph range that he went to quite a lot. There’s a lot to like with Fassbender, most notably the potential he brings to the mound should he fill out his frame. He’s an uncommitted arm still looking for a place to call home at the next level. 

+ We’ve seen OF Leo Falletti (Wilmot Union, 2021) show well at several different points over the last calendar year. After several quality at-bats in two games on Day One, Falletti followed that up with another strong showing today. The strong, athletic framed right-handed hitter had himself a day, finding the barrel all three times and going 3-for-3 with two doubles. He controls the barrel well and uses his strength to drive the baseball, primarily to the pull-side. Still uncommitted, Falletti is certainly an intriguing athlete that’s bat will play at the next level. 

+ STiKS Black had it working on all cylinders Thursday in an 8-0 run rule win over RakeCity. Kellan Short got the complete game win allowing just one hit and striking out five. Q Phillips and Anthony Gross led the offense with two hits a piece. Gross doubled twice to center field driving in one. While Phillips added a hustle double after scorching a liner past a drawn in infield.

+ Great Lakes Baseball Academy (Bambenek) put together a complete showing against Illinois Indians, spearheaded by what was a near-flawless performance by uncommitted RHP Sam Malec (Woodbury, MN, 2021). A thin 6-foot, 155-pound athlete with a live arm, electric arm speed, with relatively low effort. Malec exploded out of the gate with 89-91 mph stuff, up to 92, but even more impressively landed a sharp, late-biting slider 76-79 mph. Malec also utilized a fading change at 80-81 mph that he used more often to left-handed hitters. Still, Malec attacked batters from both sides of the plate using the slider at will. He K'd nine in five innings without allowing a walk, and let up just two hits. He held the velocity well, sitting 87-88 mph late into the start, highlighting the way he's harnessed his dynamite stuff. Offensively, Great Lakes benefited from home runs off the bats of SS Ben North (East Ridge, MN, 2021) and OF Colton Becker (South St. Paul, MN, 2021). North drove in four runs total, Becker drove in two. Two-hole bat Mason Dean (Mounds View, MN, 2021) also recorded three hits to help keep the offense churning.

+ Windy City’s bats heated up for their second game of the day. Their offense tallied seven runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs. The first round tripper was hit by Wylder Guido (Nazareth Academy, IL, 2021), as he sent the ball over the left field wall for a two run shot to put Windy City on the board. The next home run came off the bat of Luke Kracik (Maine South, IL, 2021), as he drove another two-run shot over the wall in right field. 

+ OF Chuckie Smith (Crete-Monee, IL, 2021) did it all for Morris Chiefs against Illinois Hawks. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-handed-hitting outfielder has a strong and physical frame. In his first plate appearance, Smith showed off his power and present bat strength with a home run over the wall in left-center field to get the Chiefs on the board. In the following half inning, Smith showed off his defense abilities in centerfield by robbing what would have been a game-tying home run. RHP Rex Stills (Wheeler, IN, 2021) showed why he is a top-40-ranked player in his state’s 2021 class. He’s got a wiry and projectable frame with room for physical maturity. He started on the bump and worked four no-hit innings. His fastball sat 83-85 mph, touching 86 with fairly easy effort. He mixed in a breaking ball at 71-74 mph with 11/5 shape. His final line was 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K, 3 BB. Cincinnati commit RHP Blake Lemmon (Chesterfield, IN, 2021) came on in relief and shut down opposing hitters. The top-25-ranked player in the state’s class sat 85-87 mph, dialing it up to 88 in his final inning. He also mixed in a breaking ball with sharp bite at 72-73 mph to help miss barrels. His final line was 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 BB.

+ For ESP Black, Cole Yearsley (Yorkville, 2021) helped put his team on the board early in their game against Great Lakes, when he hit a two-run home run down the left field line. While teammate Blake White (Oswego East, 2021) goes complete game, allowing two hits and striking out two.

+ MASH Baseball’s LHP Nolan Johnson (Lakeville North, 2021; uncommitted) went to work in 3.2 innings of relief for his team, attacking the zone. Johnson faced 12 batters and struck out 10 of them, while sitting 82-84 mph, up to 86.

+ GRB Rays Green received a couple big performances at the plate: C Trett Joles (Boyceville, 2021) showed off his huge bat strength when he homered to straight away center field in the second frame, helping Rays Green take a lead they’d only add to. Joles and Nick Nowak (Waukesha South, 2021) are a pair of upside uncommitted ‘21 catchers to know in the state. Nowak went 2-for-2 yesterday with a triple and showed well from behind the dish with agility and a twitchy quickness out of the chute. 2B/SS Cal McGinnis (Kimberly, 2021; uncommitted) is a left-handed-hitting middle infielder who’s having a productive summer, and he added another couple base hits on Thursday, too.

+ Top Tier Americans earned a loud win over MN STARTERS on Thursday evening, 9-1. The offense got going after a slow start, and RHP Tom Egan (Mount Carmel, IL, 2021; uncommitted) was a steadying force on the mound Egan is an athletic right-hander, and he throws a lot of strikes while living in the 83-86 mph range, topping 87. He also mixed a firm slider, 75-78 mph, that kept batters guessing and it helped him earn six Ks. At the dish, SS Ethan Bowers (Vernon Hills, IL, 2021; uncommitted) showed a fluid, repeatable right-handed swing, which produced three RBIs Thursday. And it might impossible to top how the game concluded. Up 8-1 in the fifth inning, Vytas Valincius (Baylor School, TN, 2021) stood in. Valincius has a well-deserved reputation as one of the country's top power threats, inside a mammoth strong 6-foot-4, 240-pound frame. In a 1-0 count, Valincius assaulted a center cut fastball that was one of the hardest hit balls we've seen this summer. It carried comfortably over the fence, landing approximately 400 feet from home, giving Americans the whole walk-off 9-1 win.

+ Day 2 ended with a future Big Ten matchup of southpaws: NorthStar Navy sent Minnesota commit LHP Tucker Novotny to the hill squaring off with Cangelosi Sparks Indiana commit Grant Holderfield (Oak Park-River Forest). Novotny featured a heavy fastball at 86-88 to go with a hard 76-77 mph curveball. But it was Holderfield who got the W sitting 85-87 mph with a plus-like slider living between 2,700-2,800 RPM. Holderfield allowed just three hits and struck out seven over four shutout innings.

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