Trent
Grindlinger

In all of my scouting trips Grindlinger has been one of the hardest players for me to get consistent looks at as I always seemed to be in a different place than him outside of my look at the 2024 Prep Baseball ProCase West. A strongly built 6'3 210 lbs. backstop who shows strength throughout his game. In the workout portion of the day Grindlinger showed off a strong RHH offensive profile with a confident set up in the box featuring a small waggle in the bat from a high hand set and slight bend of his knees while using kind of a repeated dance of his front foot then uses a small foot lift into a shorter stride. Once he gets to the launch position he uncorks a quick turn with strength through the zone that able to generate consistent loft with carry off the bat from the middle to pull side of the field. His profile shows both hit and power, but might lean slightly more towards the power than hit side based on the swing path, but not by a wide margin. He has plenty of arm strength to be a strong thrower behind the plate clocking a low of 1.92 on his pops, but did have some inconsistency with a pair of throws sailing high on him, but was on the bag with his throws to 3B. In the game Grindlinger's first at bat came against Angel Cervantes which Cervantes won with a firm FB away that got a 4-3 groundout from Grindlinger. His next at bat came against the rising '27 southpaw Logan Schmidt and his low to mid 90's FB which saw him get an 92 MPH offering over the plate that he lofted down the RF line with carry and dropped for an easy double for him. For his 3rd trip to the dish he squared off with Cameron Millar and his low to mid 90's FB and when he got one on he outer third of the plate Grindlinger stung it into rightfield on a line, but his second hit of the day was robbed on a spectacular diving play from Angel Laya. His ability to hit the ball with authority from line to line gives his power a real chance to play in game at the next level. For his final plate appearnce of the day he squared off with Bobby Mahoney and drew a BB. 3 high quality plate apperances in 4 trips for Grindlinger on the day. The Mississippi State commit enters the spring as the #113 player on the Prep Baseball Draft HQ Top 150 Draft Board and while high school catching is not a sexy demographic for MLB teams if Grindlinger can put together a loud spring with eyes on him might be enough to give him a interesting decision between the SEC or pro ball come July 2025.