Nicolas
Hotop

10/7/18 - Central Coast Open - 6-foot-1, 150-pounds, lanky body, long and still maturing. Fringe average 60 yd dash with 7.62 time. At the plate maintains an open stance with wider hands and a high back elbow. The bat maintains a level path that is direct to the ball while showing quick turns (81 MPH exit velo). From right hand side he focused on staying to the middle of the field and flashed some barrel control with ability to spray over middle infielder's heads. Similar profile from left side with more foot lift and similar quick turns driving more of the pull gap. At 1st base showed soft hands and played with athleticism around the bag showing strong body control. Arm was compact with some build up on throws across the diamond (75 MPH).

Pitching - Lanky body, long and still maturing. On the mound starts with wide hands that stay wide and turn with a high front knee where arm gets down and out early as he leans back over the rubber before getting to shorter arm action and high-3/4 release. Heel strike with negative momentum move through deceleration. Lower body strength and stability are areas of improvement that will enhance all. Fastball life was fair and was up in zone (74-76 mph), 11/6 type curveball (63-65 mph) break with fair spin and rolling action, timing of hand to optimal release point flashed as a positive as he warmed, change-up slipped out a little early and had occasional dying/fade (67-70 mph).

6/1/18-6/3/18 @ BAWS 2018 - Lean lanky 6-foot-1 145-pound young man with a ways to go before reaching physical maturity. Wide stance with high hands and high back elbow; from Left side more open and longer bat path. Compact stroke from right side with flat level bat path. Showed ability to work counts from both sides of the plate; swing and miss on offspeed. Average range at 1st base with some stiffness in glove; average arm with extra load. Fluid runner showing athleticism out of box; 4.47 Home-1^st from right side, 4.18 Home-1^st left side. On mound, simple delivery with hand turn to release arm on high knee; rocks back into hip and sits down the mound creating added deception to pitches. Fastball 72-73 mph straight; pitches up in zone and getting small cut to glove side when down in zone. Slider 62-63 mph with short small break on 11/5 shape; times where pitch has loose spin leading to less snap.