LHP Thomas White, phillips academy andover, #33 On Top 400
Saturday was my first opportunity to see a premier high school prospect in person as White is among the top prep arms in this year’s draft and the #1 left-hander on our board. He went five innings and allowed no hits while striking out 9. He walked one batter that was immediately erased by a double play. It’s worth noting that the competition wasn’t the strongest as the game was called in the fifth inning because of the slaughter rule.
White is listed at 6’5 210 lbs and has a tall, medium frame with long legs and room to fill out more. It's a good body and imposing mound presence for an 18-year-old. White sets up on the third base side of the rubber and side steps into a high leg lift where he wraps the knee. He stays upright through the windup and throws from a ¾ arm slot. He finishes below the belt and occasionally falls off to the third base. The delivery is repeatable, and he works quickly between pitches, seemingly getting into a real rhythm.
White leaned on his fastball to start the game which isn’t a huge surprise. It started out 95-96 and was 93-95 with a couple more 6s throughout the entire outing. He likes to work it arm side and overpower the young righties who aren’t going to get to the pitch on the outside corner. The first pitch of the game was a hard-hit fly ball right to the left fielder which was one of the only hard-hit balls of the game. He closed out the first with two strikeouts, one swinging at the curveball and one looking at the fastball. Of his 9 strikeouts, 6 were with the fastball, two with the curveball and the last with the changeup. The curveball is his go-to secondary pitch and has two-plane movement. He throws it mostly in the high 70s and spots it over the plate mostly freezing hitters but does induce some chase in the dirt. The best secondary is probably the changeup, but he didn’t start to show it until the end of his outing once he was through the order once. He throws it in the mid-80s and showed better feel for the pitch. The changeup has some tumble arm side and will probably be vital to White’s success against stronger competition.
Wanted to catch Duke as they traveled up to Boston, but I also want to note that Harris recently saw Duke play North Carolina so check out his recent look at some of the Duke guys here.
SS Alex Mooney, Duke, #87 On Top 400 (159 BAGS+)
Mooney was one of the best high school prospects to make it to campus last year and has improved on his stellar freshman campaign this season as a draft-eligible sophomore. He’s uber-athletic and has a lean frame. His athleticism stands out at shortstop where he is able to get to balls hit to either side of him and is a plus runner on the basepaths. The swing has an aggressive uphill path, but he generates plus bat speed. Last summer with Falmouth, he hit five home runs which equaled his entire college career entering Friday. On the Cape, he mainly punished fastballs, which is exactly what he did to a first-pitch fastball left over the heart of the plate on Friday. He tends to be a dead red fastball hitter and struggles to hit off-speed, and he chased a slider and changeup off the plate for two separate strikeouts.
Defensively, he has the range and arm strength, but struggles to finish plays which leads some evaluators to write off his defense. If he can improve his accuracy and throw decisions the glove will surely look smoother all around. He has continued to improve since the moment he stepped on campus, notably by showing more plate discipline and hitting for more power, and he continues to raise his draft stock in only his second college season.
2B Jay Beshears, Duke, #264 on top 400 (167 bags+)
Beshears had an impactful game when I saw him Friday before leaving Saturday’s game early and missing the rest of the series. He transferred from Northwestern to Duke and has mimicked his stat line from the Big-10 into the ACC. He hit his 9th home run on Friday and tacked on another hit for good measure. It’s a very simple operation at the plate and he is very quick to the ball. He has some real power to his game which is impressive with his lean frame. He plays second base mainly but played some corner outfield back at Northwestern. He’s been an impact transfer and hopefully, he is not absent from the lineup for too long and can continue to play his way up the back half of the top 400.
1B Joe Vetrano, Boston College, #134 on top 400 (144 bags+)
Vetrano had a solid weekend despite his Eagles being upset by the Blue Devils. He had five hits although only one of them went for extra bases. I wanted to give him his shine because he has built on a solid sophomore year and is a big reason that BC has smashed their preseason expectations so far this year. It's a large frame that brings power to his swing and he can really impact the baseball. He’s a former two-way guy, but no part of his game really hints at that past and he has only thrown one inning since his freshman year. He sets up with a wide base and his weight all on his back leg and loads with a very simple lift into an uppercut swing with some bat speed. There’s some swing-and-miss in his game but that's rather common with power-hitting first basemen and he is actually showing some more plate discipline and walking more. He mainly struggles with chasing changeups that bottom out of the zone. The defense isn’t bad but at the end of the day, his draft stock is tied to his power output and limiting the strikeouts.
RHP Fran oschell, Duke
Fran Oschell came in and pitched three innings of relief on Friday. He came out the gates hot, striking out the side with his fastball at 96-98. It dropped a tick for the rest of the outing but still sat 94-96. He pairs the fastball with a 12-6 curveball that ranges from 82-87. He shows good command of the pitch and mostly throws it in the zone for a strike. It doesn't induce many whiffs, but it changes the hitters’ eyeline, as well as keeping them off-balanced and changing the pace. The delivery is funky with a lot of moving parts, and he throws from a high ¾ arm slot. He can lose control of the fastball and leave it up so it will be interesting to see how much deception would be traded for control if he quieted down the delivery. Oschell has only allowed one run in 21.1 innings and will be eligible next year.
LHP James Tallon, Duke
The freshman reliever followed Oschell into the game and shut the door on the Eagles to earn the save. He struck out 2 batters and threw strictly fastballs the whole inning. He followed up the Friday performance with similar success to earn the series win on Sunday. The fastball gets the job done for a reason, it grades out well metrically and is a Stuff+ darling. He throws from a simple delivery with a low ¾ arm slot and his 90-93 mph fastball plays up similarly to Wake Forest’s Sean Sullivan, although the release point isn’t as low as Sullivan’s. The pitch is extremely high spin and hovered around 2,500 RPMs and even touched 2,600. The arm slot and spin rate allow the pitch to miss plenty of bats at the top of the zone. His 40% strikeout is among some elite company with other shutdown closers. The development of a deeper pitch mix will be something to follow as he compliments the fastball with something else. Luckily, I messed up the original mental math and said in my tweet he is eligible next year but he will not be eligible until 2025.
