Royal
Matthews

Impressed at the Top Prospect Games in July at Salt Lake CC in my first look after a strong recommendation from his HS coach David Feasler, who is a PBR Utah staff coach as well. Royal’s father creates the bloodlines of a player that is immersed in the game, as Joel Matthews played in the Blue Jays system. A switch hitting catcher, who also is a solid 3B’man with soft hands to receive and gives a good target. The hands at the hot corner are quick and twitchy with the ability to read and react to hops with his instincts and quick feet in a tight circle of range. Can come get the ball and catch the short hop with an open glove and makes the tough play look EZ. At the plate there is emerging power potential from both sides of the plate as he features strong hands and forearms for a young 15 yr old. The setup is a mirror of each side with a bat waggle, holding the bat semi flat over his back shoulder. Utilizes a toe tap at times and other times he uses a moderate knee kick, which can throw his timing off a bit, due to the inconsistency of the timing and mechanism as to how he makes his initial move to load his hands. Matthews shows solid separation with the hands at launch and takes his cuts with the intent to do damage to the pull side. An intriguing set of tools with the arm as the tool he needs to strengthen. As he continues to mature naturally with age, the below avg to avg pop times should sit at solid avg moving forward, as the arm stroke works fluidly. Will be fun to follow his progress next spring as a sophomore, as he is set to join the everyday varsity lineup and the expectation is that of a high contributor.