Player Name: Joe Flynn
Position: 3b/P
School: Ward Melville
Joe Flynn is the top prospect in the 2015 graduating class. He will be attending Princeton University in the fall. He is built like a linebacker and mature beyond his years.
Offense: When he connects with the baseball, it jumps off the bat as can be seen in this video. He bats with a slightly crouched stance, with his weight on his back foot. The bat employs a bat wag and keep it nearly parallel to the ground. His back elbow is up and his feet are about shoulder width. His load is a toe tap in which he doesn’t lift his leg off the ground. When he gets into his load, his swing is reminiscent of David Wright. He keeps his head down on the ball, gets into a great Power L position and follows through with his hands on the bat.
This season, nobody has wanted to pitch to Flynn. He has walked 23 times in 82 plate appearances. In a May 5 game this season he was intentionally walked in all four plate appearances. In the final at bat his team was up by five runs. When he gets a pitch to handle he usually crushes it, but pitchers have become more cognoscente of where they are throwing it.
In this game, he grounded out to second base in his first at bat on a curveball. It came after three straight fastballs to fall behind 2-1. It was a well placed pitch down and in.
In his next at bat, he was walked on a 3-1 fastball outside to lead off the inning. The pitcher came after him with consecutive curves to start the at bat and he watched both of them as the count evened at 1-1. After a fastball outside and a curveball low-and-away he walked on a fastball outside.
In the sixth inning he smoked a first-pitch fastball to CF but was thrown out attempting to advance to second. It was an aggressive decision with the score tied at 0.
Base Running: He can run, I have not seen him attempt a steal yet. In college, I can envision him being a 15 stolen base player, but picking his spots as opposed to being a green-light guy.
Defensively: He is smooth in the field for a muscular player. In this game he had only one chance and he converted it.
Flynn is an intense player, he is intimidating to the opposition. In one game a player made a statement to him at third base and he jawed back at him. He is a player that will take exception to hard slides and smack talking.
It’s hard to project him getting any stronger because he is already fully developed for a high schooler but in college he can still improve his ability to hit breaking balls as he prepares to get drafted in three years.
