Name: Jon Faraci
School: Hills West
Position: 3b
Jon is a ’15 graduate of Hills West and committed to play at St. John’s in the fall. He is a massive 6’4″ 230 lb slugger. He is an imposing presence at the plate. He stands tall prior to the pitcher entering the stretch position, but he crouches down more as the pitcher is preparing to throw. His feet are roughly shoulder width apart and his back elbow is up. The bat is close to upright. He has a very short stride and keeps his head on the ball well. The bat is very quick to get into the zone and he creates tremendous lift with the angle of his swing. He employs a strong power L and has quick wrists. He keeps both hands on the bat.
Offensively: In the March 30 game, he had a very productive game with a home run and a double. His first two bats were not great. In his first at bat, he watched a fastball go outside and one go for a strike before beating one into the ground that went for a 1-3 putout. In his second at bat, he watched a fastball low, fouled off a high fastball, watched a fastball up out of the zone before popping out to the shortstop on an 80 mph fastball on the inside corner.
Next at bat, he clearly made an adjustment or simply got his timing down. On the first pitch, he crushed a fastball middle-middle over the right field fence for a long two-run home run.
In his first at bat, he watched two curveballs miss low, swung through a well-placed change up on the outside corner before smacking a meaty high fastball into left center field (video above) for a double.
Defensively: He had a few chances in this game. The positive was that he caught both of the routine popups. He also has very quick reactions and snagged one hard hit grounder to his right. On the flip side, he made two bad throws–one was scooped by the first baseman while the other one went for an error. He has a strong arm but he spiked it into the ground and was off line. That will need to be improved as the season progresses.
Base Running: He is a big, powerful guy that will not be asked to steal bases very often. He did not attempt a steal and was able to jog around the bases on his home run and double.
