Matthew
Pearch

What was really impressive about Pearch’s performance is that he was rocky and didn’t have his best stuff, but still performed very well and came out on top. Allowing 0 ER through 2 IP working through trouble, you see that he still found his way with hitters and did his job. At 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, he has a very athletic, strong build that allows him to excel in multiple sports. Not only is he a very impressive pitcher, but also a standout quarterback which makes his delivery all more impressive as he doesn’t get to work on it full-time but yet, has better mechanics than most. The QB-Pitcher profile is something that is fairly common in big-time arms and shouldn’t go unnoticed. He displayed standout athleticism on the mound in Future Games with a smooth, controlled and balanced delivery at a H3/4 arm slot. Fastball worked really well for him especially, generating a lot of whiffs and ran up to 88, staying consistently between 85 and 88. Had good feel for the curveball too, running 74-76. Pearch will be a name to follow through the remainder of his high school time and with his high projectability, there is no telling how high he goes beyond. 

Uncommitted. 6-foot-2, 180 pounds. This was my first look at this freakishly athletic arm, and he did not disappoint. Pearch went 6 INN in a playoff game with 13 K’s against a good lineup, grabbing whiff after whiff on his electrifying carry FB and freezing hitters with his bender. This is a player who has an advanced understanding of how to throw very hard at a young age, and the velocity potential is endless. His delivery is even more impressive when you realize he’s a dual sport athlete, the starting QB for Dunwoody. Despite having much less time to work on pitching than the year round baseball players, his delivery is better than most of them. As I’ve pointed out with other future flamethrowers, playing QB has a history of directly correlating to big time arms. Patrick Mahomes is the most famous of them, but there are plenty of notable arms in the Peach State who have made big noise as QB’s - Ethan Martin out of Stephens County HS was a 1st Rd RHP who committed to UT as a QB/RHP. 2022 RHP/QB Sam Horn out of Collins Hill HS (currently at Mizzou) is a mega prospect in both sports, as is Bama QB/RHP Dylan Lonergan out of Brookwood HS. The list goes on, and Pearch’s potential on the bump is quite similar to these other names. You can read more about why his delivery projects big time velocity in the tweet below, but what might be most impressive is his direction or line to the plate. His smooth, controlled up+down+out phases lead to consistent balance and prevent his upper body or arm from having to do any extra work. Most importantly, it allows him to throw consistent strikes with his FB and go to SL. The SL tunnels quite well off his FB up, staying on FB trajectory out of the hand with late bite. His FB has the metrics to dominate games on its own right now, and I feel this is a D1 arm of the highest quality who will develop into a draft prospect over the next 2 years.