Player Name: Steven Hansen
School: Chaminade
Position: RHP
Steven is a 2017 graduate of Chaminade HS. He has a good pitcher’s build and has plenty of room for physical maturation.
He begins with his hands low and a slight step along the rubber to enter his wind up. At his balance point, he has his back leg firm and a high and tight leg kick with his front foot pointing up. He keeps his eyes locked in on the target. He is already moving forward at this point, ready to generate power moving towards the plate. During the falling action, he drops his back leg significantly, which is conducive for power. He kicks his leg out, as opposed to straight forward. I would prefer to see the latter, but at this stage of his development it is probably not something he will alter. He has an extremely long arm circle, which is not necessarily a bad thing for mechanics but it gives the hitter a long look at the ball. His stride is nice length for his size, but I would like to see his front leg recoil fully as he delivers the pitch–it stays a little too bent. His arm slot is high 3/4. He is not what you would call a “max effort pitcher”. It looks like he is not delivering the pitch with 100% of his effort. While it does sacrifice some velocity, he could pace himself for longer outings this way. His finish is very solid–finishes square to home plate.
He worked in the 78 MPH range. with the fastball and showed very good command of it. This is step 1 to being a successful pitcher at any level. Additionally, he displayed VERY good command of his curveball. Any pitcher that can control two pitches will win games. He will get lots of weak contact and looking strikes with it. It will be crucial that he can also control the ball OUT of the strike zone, meaning that he will also be able to get a strikeout when he needs it. Hansen also showed good downward movement on his change up, with the same arm speed. It was thrown below the strike zone, but with his arm speed and downward drop it could still generate swings and misses.
This is a pitcher with lots of potential. Being able to show the command that he did is a great sign, especially with two full seasons of high school still ahead of him. If he bumps that velocity to 82-83 MPH this season, those schools will definitely be sending some letters.
