Sawyer
Slade

Slade put up massive numbers in 2022 for the Orem Tigers and earned 5A 1st ™ All-State honors. The stat line was impressive as he hit .467 9 47 w/9 2B’s, to go along with 50 hits, which put him 8th all time in Utah history for a single season. Slade also had a really good summer, hitting a handful of wood bat HR’s as well. The setup is semi spread and square with a crouch and loads to a 45-degree slot and repeats a short, compact powerful stroke to hit with a whippy two hand finish. The ball jumps on contact and he squares balls up often. The defense still needs some work on pitch framing and working underneath the ball to stick pitches and get the low K. The feet are fringe in quickness, yet he gets the ball underway and showed on the bag accuracy during the workout phase of the event. Slade is a top tier HS bat, that colleges should be jumping on right now and not later. 

Sawyer showed a solid catch and throw profile behind the late with on the money throws to 2B. The bat is crude in its swing path and load, with some kinks to iron out, but the metrics are off the chart. With hand and bat speeds of 25.7 and 84.4, Slade also posted an EV of 97.5 and showed power to all fields and drove a ball on a line and deep, for a HR to RCF in the game that followed the workout. Look for big things from Sawyer as he handles a quality HS staff, that includes an ASU commit fronting the rotation.