Player Name: Max Steele
Position: RHP
School: Miller Place
Max is a 2017 graduate of Miller Place HS. He appeared in two games for the varsity club in 2015.
He is very wiry at 6’1″ 160 lbs, reminiscent of Jacob deGrom’s stature. He has a very clean and efficient delivery. He begin his windup with his hands held down low and a long step back along the rubber. His balance position is very solid. He has a high and tight leg kick about letter height. He looks down at the ground as a timing mechanism before picking up his target. His back leg is firm. Max gets terrific drive from his back leg and has a good stride for his height. He is able to stay closed until the last second which generates the most torque and prevents the release point from being inconsistent. The one area for improvement in his delivery is his extension. He cuts himself off a bit and could add a couple MPH by finishing more.
Steele displayed a wide array of pitches. His four-seam fastball was sitting at 82-83 MPH. His two seam was 81 MPH. He did yank a few fastballs to the glove side but showed good life on the heater for the most part. He showed three different off-speed pitches. His splitter was 74-78 MPH and had decent drop but was not quite as effective as his curveball and change up. The curveball flashed a potential to be a plus pitch. With the torque he generates from his wiry frame, it can be devastating pitch, as deGrom as been able to develop recently.
It was a good performance from Steele. I can envision him being a Div-II starter. He may need to scrap one of the off-speed pitches but as a three-pitch pitcher he has what it takes to succeed.
