Kaden
Hilburger

PreSeason All-State East

Hilburger is 6-0 with an athletic frame that has plenty of projection left. He is a switch hitter. From the left side, hits from an open balanced athletic stance, low leg kick stride on line, short smooth load back to a slight wrap. Hips rotate completely with some violence and he maintains some lower half balance. Hands stay inside, short and quick to the ball, slightly uphill line drive swing path, strength at contact with extension through the ball, showed a slight pull approach with extra base power present in the alleys and more to come. From the right side, hits from a slightly open balanced athletic stance, low leg kick stride on line, smooth load back to a slight wrap. Hips rotate completely with some violence and he maintains good lower half balance. Hands stay inside, short and quick to the ball, slightly uphill line drive swing path, strength at contact with some extension through the ball, showed a good approach working gap to gap with easy extra base power present. Best exit velocity was 95. In the outfield, gets body behind the ball and fields through it with above average hands, clean exchange, throws from a three-quarters arm slot, short loose quick arm action, position velocity was 92. Showed versatility working out in the infield as well. Ran a 6.79 60 yard dash. On the mound, he throws from a three-quarters arm slot, very short free quick arm action and some effort to his delivery. Drop and drive delivery, shoulders are slightly uphill and closed, lands slightly closed with a hard fall off finish and recoil. Fastball was 85-87, with some late armside run to it. Slider was 73-78 with some armspeed and gradual 10/4 break to it, pitch has some shape to it. Change-up was 74-75 with some armspeed and heavy fade to it.

TPG East

Hilburger is 5-11 with an athletic frame that has some strength present and some projection left to it.  He is a switch hitter, from the left side, hits from an open athletic stance, two tap stride on line, smooth load down, has rhythm. Hips rotate completely with some violence and he maintains good lower half balance. Hands stay inside, short and quick to the ball, slightly uphill line drive swing path, showed good approach working gap to gap with some carry in the gaps. From the right side, hits from a slightly open athletic stance, strides on line, short load back. Hips rotate completely with some violence and he maintains good lower half balance. Hands stay inside, short and quick to the ball, slightly uphill line drive swing path, strong at contact with extension through the ball, showed a pull approach with some power present.  In the outfield, gets behind the ball and fields through it with average hands, clean exchange, throws from a three-quarters arm slot, position velocity was 91. Ran a 6.94 60 yard dash.

Richmond Braves Workout

Hilburger stands 5-foot-11, 170-pounds with an athletic frame. Defensively he possesses the speed and arm strength to play three outfield positions. Ran a 7.0 60 on the day, but is a better in game runner than what the time would indicate. Was 92 mph from the outfield so there is plenty of raw arm strength. Has recently transitioned into a switch hitter, was previously primarily from the right side. Small step to stride from both sides of the plate. Is short to the ball and a slight uphill tilt to the swing from both sides. It appeared as though he needs to see more right handed arms because there seemed to be some pitch recognition issues, but that is understandable and should not be a problem in the long run. The swing is more fluid from the left side and when the timing is on he seems to be more balanced from the left side with the head and the rotation of the body. Offers some two-way potential as he was 80-83 on the mound, but I think long term he will be positional only because of his ability to defend and the athleticism in the swing.

Mid-Atlantic Summer Championship

Projectable athletic frame at 5-foot-10, 155-pounds. On the mound pitches with shoulder slightly uphill with a slight drop and drive down the mound, landing on line at foot strike. Lead leg could stand to firm up a bit sooner on landing. Arm circle longer, but showed some arm speed getting it through from a high three-quarter arm slot. Fastball sat 74-76 and topped at 77 mph on the day. Solid armspeed and intent on the breaking ball that had some depth and 12/6 action at 65-66 mph.