Week two is in the books. We kick off our Live Looks this week with thoughts from Maryland, Campbell, and Gonzaga from Tyler Jennings and Jackson Thomas.
RHP Thomas Harrington, Campbell
Harrington received brilliant reviews after a loud fall and he’s done everything you’d want through the first two weeks to raise his draft stock. After a brilliant outing against Appalachian State last week, he picked up right where he left off and turned in another great outing against a ranked Maryland squad.
It did start off a bit shaky, with a walk to Chris Allenye and a subsequent throwing error on a steal set the stage for a lengthy, 14-pitch at-bat against Matthew Shaw, who fouled off pitch after pitch before plating Allenye on a sacrifice fly to right field. After that, Harrington proceeded to retire eighteen straight before giving up a single to Bobby Zmarzlak. Harrington’s pitchability was on full display throughout the outing, starting off 91-94 before he settled in to 90-93 later on with heavy run and good command. The money pitch was an above-average change-up that flashed plus in the low-80’s with great fading action and deception that he utilized to both lefties and righties alike. He had great confidence in the pitch and executed well, inducing seven whiffs in total on the night. He threw in a nice slider in the 79-83 range with good bite and a decent curveball in the mid-70’s. He did a very good job with throwing strikes, 72 of his 103 pitches ending up as strikes. If things continue to go the way they are, you can fully expect Harrington to sneak his way into early Day 2 conversation, potentially even Day 1.
-Tyler Jennings
RHP Nick Dean, Maryland
Matched up against Harrington, Dean provided an even better outing in a well-pitched duel in Buies Creek. He’s been tabbed as Maryland’s ace this year and he proved it on Friday night, keeping the Campbell lineup off the board with seven brilliant innings for the Terrapins.
Dean started off in the 90-92 range with his sinker, a key pitch that helped accrue ground balls throughout the night. He commanded the pitch well, locating the ball east-west across the zone. As the outing went on, he settled in nicely in the 88-91 range, but much like Harrington, his change-up was the money pitch. It’s a 79-82 mph offering with great deception and tumbling action, landing for strikes and inducing whiffs on a regular basis. Campbell hitters struggled to pick it up, as it played off the sinker nicely. There was a slider/cutter hybrid in the low-80’s that had short biting action to it and a curveball in the mid-70’s that got a few empty swings. The strike-throwing was also just as impressive as Harrington, with 64 of Dean’s 87 pitches being strikes. It was a very fun duel and Dean, who lost last spring to a hand injury, is solidifying himself as one of the top arms in the Big 10.
-Tyler Jennings
SS Zach Neto, Campbell
The Big South Player of the Year last spring, Neto returned to Campbell with a lot of scouting contingencies keeping tabs on him after a nice summer on the Cape.
Admittedly, Neto did not get much to hit this weekend. Neto walked six times while not striking out at all. The lone hit that he had in the series was a bunt single, reaching first in 3.72 seconds before being picked off in the next at-bat. The other outs he produced were loud, with multiple balls traveling near or at the warning track, mainly to right field. He did swing through a couple of fastballs that were up in the zone, so that’s something to watch as the year goes on.
In the field, Neto showed off his athleticism and looked relatively smooth at shortstop. He’s got good range and a good, accurate arm, though there was one occasion where he missed his target and led to an infield single. One impressive play saw Neto end up in medium-depth left field to snag a fly ball from Allenye. Neto will likely find himself selected high come July, assuming that’s when the draft will be held.
-Tyler Jennings
1B Maxwell Costes, Maryland
Costes was draft-eligible last year, but after going undrafted, he returned to Maryland to help improve his draft stock and did a good job in the first weekend of the year, though he had some struggles down at Campbell.
It’s a first base profile only, so there’s a lot of weight on the bat to perform. Through the first two games of the series, Costes was plagued with strikeout issues. He recorded three in the first game and added another in the second game, which is to be expected. He’s got a bulky frame with good power in the bat and showcases solid bat speed at the plate, but swung through multiple breaking balls during the weekend. He did redeem himself with two hits in the final game of the series, a single back up the middle and a loud double to the opposite field gap that both scored runs for Maryland. Defensively, he’s a decent defender who made some tough plays during the weekend, including a difficult grab near the Maryland dugout on a high pop-up. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of his season goes, but given his age and senior status in school, he fits the mold of a cheap senior sign.
-Tyler Jennings
OF Bobby Zmarzlak, Maryland
Zmarzlak is an intriguing bat in the Maryland lineup. A highly regarded prep prospect back in 2019 from Connecticut, Zmarzlak showed off his potential in a limited role as a sophomore, but is going to be an everyday figure for the Terrapins in 2022.
He’s got an XL frame at 6-foot-5-inch, 205 pounds with projection, with lengthy levers attached to his body. He recorded a hit in all three games this weekend, two up the middle and one each to both sides of the field. He’s shown off the power potential to all fields in the past, including multiple home runs in our last live look of Maryland in June. The swing can get a bit long and he struggles with swing and miss, so there’s some questions about the hit tool moving forward. Strikeouts, much like Costes, will be an issue for Zmarzlak as a result. He primarily manned left field in the series, though he did not get much action in the field. He’ll be an intriguing follow the rest of the year in what is his first draft-eligible season.
-Tyler Jennings
RHP Cade Kuehler, Campbell (2023)
Moving on to the future for both teams, Campbell has a highly regarded 2023 arm in right-hander Kuehler, who has moved to the rotation full time for the 2022 season.
Unfortunately, I missed his first inning of work, but I spoke with a couple of people on site who said Kuehler started off 95-97, inducing a couple of whiffs and introducing a low-80’s curveball with good shape in a quick and efficient first inning. He began to settle in 92-94, touching 95 in the fourth inning of his outing. The secondaries struggled at first, but got better as the game went on, particularly his firm mid-80’s slider with late biting action that he could garner chases away from right-handed hitters. He showed off a high-80’s change-up a couple of times and a hard curveball in the 79-82 range with good shape and depth. Command wavered as the game went on, but he did a good job with strikes early on. The fastball struggled to get whiffs as a result of the command lacking, which is something he’ll have to work on moving forward. But it’s a promising arm to keep tabs on for next year’s class.
-Tyler Jennings
SS Matthew Shaw, Maryland (2023)
Shaw drew rave reviews last year after excelling as a freshmen, batting .332 in 45 games and showcasing good plate discipline in the process. Fast forward to 2022 and Shaw has made the transition to shortstop full time with Ben Cowles being drafted and he’s becoming a star in the Maryland lineup.
He’s on the shorter side, coming in at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds with good present strength. He provided one of the highlights of the weekend early on Friday against Harrington, with the aforementioned 14-pitch at-bat that got the Maryland dugout into the game. He fouled off seven pitches, including five in a row, on every pitch from Harrington’s arsenal. Safe to say, it was pretty special. He’s got a short and compact swing at the plate with decent pop, but he’s more of a hit-over-power bat. He does drift in his motion and needs to work on firming up his front side, but he’s made it work well so far. He looked good in the field as well, making smooth and efficient plays at shortstop. He’s likely to end up as one of the highly regarded college bats in the 2023 class.
-Tyler Jennings
RHP Gabe Hughes, Gonzaga
Gabe Hughes first and foremost, radiated a strong bulldog mentality with his mound presence (no pun intended). Hughes exerted a high level of competitiveness throughout his outing, constantly battling back when behind in counts and attacking Cal St Fullerton hitters. Hughes’ FB sat 93-94 mph exploding from his hand like a cannon. He was consistently able to generate whiffs with his FB in all areas of the zone. His SL showed out with good depth but its shape wavered from pitch to pitch on a scale of a sweeping slider to gyro cutter. Overall it was a very enjoyable outing to watch from Hughes’ poise, whiffs, and lack of hard contact against him. Right now Hughes profiles as a high-level day-two arm with the current state of his off-speed pitch inconsistency.
-Jackson Thomas
RHP WIlliam Kempner, Gonzaga
William Kempner displayed his heralded unique traits that make him a true unicorn for the upcoming draft. He really does have a one-of-a-kind delivery and release, with a sidearm release just above 4 feet from the ground. Kempner is able to use this to generate some wicked arm-side-run on his fastball that can carry onto the edges of the plate. On the night Kempner did struggle with his fastball command and release point as he consistently pulled through his glove side missing on the outer edges. Oddly enough Kempner showed an improvement in command when pitching out of the stretch in his modified sidestep compared to his original windup. In the stretch he showed less drift in his delivery and more intent on attacking the plate, letting him throw his fastball for a strike at a higher rate than the windup. Kempner’s slider showed great sweep but at times got too loopy and had too much sweep from his release, leading it to carry out of the zone and result in an uncompetitive pitch for the hitter. Kempner pitched with solid rhythm and intent in his delivery albeit his upper half, lower half, and arm were never fully in sync. He showed high-powered velocity from his arm slot topping out at 96 MPH, consistently sitting 92-94, with his slider ranging from 81-83 and a firm changeup at 87-89. Kempner projects as a quality relief prospect who has the ceiling of a high leverage 7th inning guy. To reach his ceiling Kempner will need to show a more consistent delivery rhythm, breaking ball, and more command. Regardless of his command struggles on the night, Kempner is without a doubt one of the more exciting and intriguing relief prospects in college baseball.
- Jackson Thomas