By: Diego Solares & Evan Furfaro

 

On Wednesday, June 16th, ScoutConnect hosted its inaugural Summer Games, Underclass event at the SportsBarn East in Wood River, IL. This invite-only event featured several of the top 2029 and 2030 prospects in the St. Louis / Metro area. 

 

Participants went through a pro-style workout, collecting data through our TrackMan and Blast Motion units, as well as your traditional showcase stats, like 60s, positional throwing velocities, etc. Afterwards, players were split into teams and played in a simulated game, giving them the ability to showcase their talents in a workout setting, as well as in gameplay. 

 

For all of the statistics collected from the event, click HERE. 

 

Below you will find our notes from the day, highlighting several of the day’s top prospects, and shining some light on the next wave of talent that’ll hit the varsity fields at their high schools in the coming years. 

 

+ INF/RHP Kody Anderson (Triad, 2029) was very productive this spring as a freshman on the mound for Triad and continued to show us why in Tuesday’s event. He displayed an athletic, up-tempo delivery that worked longer in the back and got to a 3/4 slot. Anderson’s fastball played in the zone at 82-84 mph, paired with a bigger curveball at 70-72 mph with 11/5 shape that generated swing/miss in and out of the zone. Also flashed a changeup in the upper-70s. Anderson gave us an intriguing look on both sides of the baseball in our event with a simple, easy, right-handed swing, displaying the ability to stay loose throughout and repeatedly on the barrel. This showed in his average exit velocity of 85.3 mph, and his peak at 90.3 mph, two numbers that will certainly increase with added strength. On the infield, Anderson showed clean, in rhythm actions while on the move and recorded one of our top velocities across the diamond at 83 mph. Anderson will certainly be a high-follow name in the incoming sophomore class. 

 

Kody Anderson

 

+ Another winner from our Underclass Summer Games was INF Jacob Scheffler (Springfield, 2029). With a lean and athletic frame, Scheffler showed a strong, leveraged, left-handed swing that was repeatedly on the barrel throughout his rounds at an average exit velocity of 87.3 mph. One of our highest of the day, Scheffler also recorded a peak exit velocity of 93.5 mph. On the infield, he showed fluid, clean actions with rhythm and timing in the lower half. On top of that, he hopped on the mound and pumped 82-84 mph fastballs with hard, late run. Scheffler displayed the makings of a top prospect that coaches will be circling to see in the coming years. 

 

Jacob Scheffler

 

+ OF/INF Jackson Parker (O’Fallon) continues to look like a high impact prospect in the area for the 2029 class. Parker’s ability to blend physicality and athleticism is advanced, and noteworthy, as he dashed to a 6.72 60, the lowest of the entire event. It’s a strong, muscled-up frame with physicality throughout that showed the ability to work gap-to-gap on the barrel, averaging 87 mph per batted ball, with a peak mark at 91.2 mph. In game, Parker found two loud barrels, and stole multiple bases as well. 

 

Jackson Parker

 

+ MIF Augie Benear (Triad, 2029) has been a winner for us in every look this summer. He features a more compact frame with lean strength throughout. It’s a clean and easy left-handed swing that was able to work both sides of the field in each of his rounds. Benear also showed clean and fluid actions while on the move up the middle. Lower half showed rhythm and timing with soft hands. What stands out the most in our more recent looks from Benear is the ability to compete and perform at a high level. Has made several advanced plays up the middle showing projectable value as an up-the-middle defender. There’s no doubt that Benear will be a middle infielder for coaches to keep their eye on these next couple of years as he continues to fill out and add strength.

 

Augie Benear

 

+ Another intriguing backstop from Tuesday’s Underclass Summer Games was Hunter Huffman (O’Fallon, 2029). A lean, and athletic frame, Huffman peppered line drives to both sides of the field from a short, but strong right-handed swing. He also showed quick catch and throw ability from behind the plate with a 1.97 pop time and a short, compact arm stroke. He’s a worker behind the plate too, chesting the baseball up in game consistently on his blocks. 

 

Hunter Huffman

 

+ Of our group of incoming sophomores at this event, C Ben Meskovic (Rockwood Summit, 2029) was a big winner. Lean and athletic, Meskovic showed a compact, right-handed swing with the ability to lift the ball on a line to both sides of the field. From behind the plate, Meskovic consistently put the ball on the bag while recording our best catcher velocity at a peak of 77 mph, and our lowest pop time of the event at 1.90. 

 

Ben Meskovic

 

+ OF/LHP Carter Henson (Collinsville, 2029) showed well in our look from this past Tuesday. With a lean, athletic frame, Henson utilized a long and level, left-handed swing that stayed on a line through his rounds. He has also been in the low-80s on the mound in our looks. Will certainly grow into more strength with a chance to be an impact, two-way prospect in Illinois’s 2029 class. 

 

Carter Henson

 

+ Maybe the most impressive look of the day came towards the end of gameplay, when RHP/INF Lucas Crossno (Seckman, 2030) hopped on the mound. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound incoming freshman first popped onto our radar at our 14U Spring Invite, when he toed the rubber in the championship and helped keep his club in the game. This past Wednesday’s viewing was even more impressive, however, and put on full display what’s likely to be a major impact prospect in Missouri’s 2030 class. A fluid and controlled mover that really gets down the mound, Crossno sat 82-84 mph with a fastball that played with carry through the zone. The absolute separator between him and any other arm is his ability to spin a frisbee slider. Aside from its raw traits (2600+ RPM, -0.2 VB, -19 HB), the feel that Crossno has at his age to control a breaking ball that moves that much is standout worthy. He was able to land it in the zone at this event, or consistently throw it to the glove side, getting a multitude of uncomfortable swings-and-misses. The arm talent and upside on the mound is undeniable, but the all-around athleticism, especially at the plate, is standout worthy as well. Crossno created some of the highest average bat speed (72.5 mph) and average hand speed (21.2 mph) of the event and with that came loud contact throughout his two rounds of BP – 85.1 mph average EV, 95.1 mph max, 337.6 ft. peak distance. Crossno is the type of prospect who could have an immediate impact as a freshman next spring for Seckman, and is one we’ll obviously be following closely in the coming years. 

 

Lucas Crossno

 

+ One of our biggest winners from the 2030 class in the Underclass Summer Games was OF Patrick Toney (Webster Groves, 2030). Toney features a lean but strong frame that displayed advanced bat speed for his age (71.8 mph) and generated the highest averaged hand speed of the event at 22.8 mph. He showed a long, loose, right-handed swing that produced one of our highest peak exit velocities of the event at 92.4 mph. Toney’s athleticism is clear, and it’s why we’re so high on his future upside – he showed long, easy, and gliding strides in the 60 that will certainly register a sub-7.00 time in the near future, and he also swiped several bags in game. 

 

Patrick Toney

 

+ Another top prospect in the Illinois’ incoming freshman class that attended was C/INF Ahmi Hale (Glenwood, 2030). A strong, compact right-handed hitter, Hale took a highly polished round of BP for his age, spraying barreled line drives to all fields from a simple, strong, and controlled swing. He was comfortably the event leader in average bat speed (74.5 mph), finished near the top of the leaderboard in average hand speed (21.9 mph), and registered a peak exit velocity of 91.7 mph. From a catch-and-throw standpoint, Hale showed a quick, clean transfer with a short, compact arm stroke, topping at 75 mph on his firmest throw to the bag. He will absolutely be a name to follow closely up in the Springfield area throughout his high school career. 

 

Ahmi Hale

 

+ RHP Sawyer Merris (CBC, 2030) was another incoming freshman from Missouri that has shown power arm potential to our staff, both in-game looks and this past Wednesday. Merris toes the rubber with a long-levered, athletic frame that holds present strength and room to keep adding. It’s a short, compact arm stroke that produced a low-80s fastball that played with life through the zone and carry traits. His ability to spin the baseball is advanced as well; he ripped off an upper-60s curveball (2500+ RPM), and also showed a firmer, more lateral low-70s slider at 2400+ RPM. 

 

Sawyer Merris

 

+ OF/LHP Max Barriger (Belleville West, 2030) was one of the more intriguing athletes of the day. Long, lean, and lanky with loose, free-flowing levers, Barriger worked on the barrel to the pull-side from a clean left-handed swing that kept a level barrel through the hitting zone with length. On the mound, Barriger has a clean, simple, and fluid delivery with a long, loose arm swing that’s going to continue to gain arm speed as he gets older. It’s one of the more easily projectable deliveries in attendance, and our staff has little doubt that Barriger will be a must-follow prospect on the mound in the coming years. 

 

Max Barriger

 

+ Another high ceiling incoming freshman from Missouri in attendance was C Colin Dean (Lafayette, 2030). The 6-foot-1, 170-pound right-handed hitter doesn’t lack any present physicality for his age, but is only going to continue getting stronger, and has a chance to really look the part in a few years. Offensively, Dean’s power projection is immense, and his impact potential is really high once he learns how to elevate the baseball off the barrel consistently. At his peak, Dean punished a baseball off his barrel at 96 mph, and he drove a pitch in-game to the left-center gap that would have been a no-doubt extra-base hit, if not a home run, had the event been outdoors. From a catch-and-throw standpoint, Dean’s peak throwing velocity (76 mph) jumped up three ticks from the winter, and his top pop time (1.98) greatly improved as well. 

 

Colin Dean

 

+ Rivaling his counterpart from a pure physicality standpoint is C/CIF Jaxton Carroll (Edwardsville, 2030), who was another highly talented incoming freshman in attendance. There’s no shortage of strength in Carroll’s muscled-up frame, and that physicality shows in his ability to impact the baseball. Among all the players in attendance, Carroll had the highest average exit velocity (88.56 mph), had the fourth highest max exit velocity (93.1 mph), and his furthest batted ball (324 ft.) was the second furthest output of the event. Aside from his physicality, Carroll ran a 7.29 60, the second quickest time of any incoming freshman at the event. He will be a name to watch as a top prospect to follow in the Illinois’ 2030 class. 

 

Jaxton Carroll

 

+ C/INF Koda Hudson (Columbia, 2030) popped onto our staff’s radar after showing well at our 14U Spring Invite earlier this year, and is a name that we like plenty internally in the Illinois ‘30 group. An athletic left-handed bat, Hudson leveraged the baseball gap-to-gap in BP, showing the ability to create elevated backspin. His catch-and-throw workout was clean, working quick to release with a short arm stroke and in-line footwork, and he showed sure-handed actions on the infield as well. 

 

Koda Hudson

 

+ A pair of up-the-middle defenders worth highlighting are MIF Luke Eichhorn (Affton, 2029) and MIF Wade Putnam (Mt. Zion, 2029). Eichhorn’s a scrappy, athletic incoming sophomore that’s always shown well in our staff’s looks. He’s an agile defender on the infield, controlling his body well on the move and consistently putting his feet in the right spot. At the plate, it’s a simple, controlled right-handed swing that doesn’t try to do too much and sprayed line drives off the barrel throughout his two BP rounds. Putnam showed well in his event debut, getting his ‘A’ swing off from the right side in BP. He squared his hardest ball up in BP at 92.1 mph and also posted the second highest average hand speed (22.3 mph) on the day. 

 

+ RHP Logan Schroeder (Edwardsville, 2030) and RHP Lincoln Rimkus (Lindbergh, 2030) were two strike-throwing right-handers that threw well in their inning of work. Schroeder messed with timing and held runners efficiently, mixing in a slide step, quick pitch, and high leg kick out of the stretch. He threw his fastball to both corners of the plate, with some arm-side action at times, and turned over a changeup that played well off his heater, while also spinning a bigger, sweeping breaking ball. Like his counterpart, Rimkus also showed the ability to throw three pitches for strikes. An athletic, up-tempo mover down the mound with a long, loose, and quick arm swing, Rimkus’ fastball played best down in the zone with late, tight arm-side run. He spun a bigger slider with depth off it, and also flashed feel for a diving changeup thrown with fastball arm speed. 

 

+ LHP/OF Jace Smothers (Carterville, 2029) and LHP/1B Teddy Grosch (Fort Zumwalt North, 2029) were two left-handed arms of note from this event. Smothers is a long, lanky, lean-limbed athlete with a quick arm that’s plenty far away from where he’s going to be physically and is easy to project on. Grosch showed a strong left-handed barrel in BP and was also in the strike zone throughout his one inning on the mound. 

 

+ INF Noah Walters (Mehlville, 2030) showed clean defensive actions on the infield and flashed bat strength from the left side in BP. 

 

+ RHP/QB Cameron Hummel (Glenwood, 2030) was a highly physical 6-foot-2, 175-pound arm from the event to keep tabs on over the coming years that’s so far away from his future ceiling on the mound. As Hummel gets older, and stronger, he’ll learn how to control his levers better down the mound, allowing him to pitch downhill while creating more life through the baseball.