Man, talk about deja vu.
Last year it was the first weekend of January when John Mangieri hosted a scout day at Storm Sports Academy in Hempstead with some top local arms. Yesterday, was essentially Take 2 of the event since all of the pitchers are back in the same spot entering 2021 as they were last year. Hopefully, they are not robbed of another season of development and have a chance to dominate and get drafted.
Here’s some of my thoughts on the arms that I saw:
RHP Nic Luc
School: Adelphi University
Height: 5’10
2020 Stats: 15 IP, 12 ER, 15 K
Luc has an extremely fit build and throws exceptionally hard for a pitcher of his height. He has refined his command to the point where he pounds the strike zone consistently. He is entering his fourth season (redshirt junior) at Adelphi University. They will be counting on him to become a reliable weekend starter. He was 91-92 and topped at 94. He throws a sharp slider that is a strikeout pitch. As we know, it is very difficult for right-handed pitchers under 6’0 to reach pro ball but similar to Frank Moscatiello and Aaron Pinto in 2018, if he dominates and get swings and misses, it is possible.
LHP Brendan Williams
Height: 6’5
School: West Hempstead
Williams put himself on the map this fall with his high-octane fastball in the upper 80s and his breakout performance in the Northeast Elite against Titans-Quattrini. He is still uncommitted, it’s unclear when he will make a decision but even if it due to grades he will need to at least commit to a JuCo so that he has some leverage come draft time. It will be interesting to see if anyone in his conference can touch his fastball. My guess is that answer is no considering what he has done against high-level players. With that being the case, scouts will grade the player not the performance because the box scores will be mind-boggling. He looked awesome yesterday, fastball sat in the 88-89 range which is very impressive considering it’s the first week of January. Additionally, he throws a breaking ball for strikes. Scouts already have a soft spot for lefties, now add in his height, command and that he has no mileage on his arm. Very interesting prospect. Former 1st round pick and Red Sox closer Craig Hansen commented on the video we posted on Instagram and said ‘with some mechanic adjustments he will reach 90.’
RHP Josh Rovner
Height: 6’4
School: Adelphi University
2020 Stats: 18.2 IP, 0 ER, 13 K, 7 BB
It’s a shame the season didn’t play out because I would’ve liked to see what his stat line would’ve been at the end of the season. Adelphi has routinely sent pitchers into pro ball and my guess is he’ll be the next. You don’t need to look back far to see the last power pitcher to dominate for the Panthers as their history is littered with players like Bobby Lanigan, Keith Couch, Dillon McNamara, Jonathon Mulford, T.J. Santiago and most recently, Ed Baram. Rovner added muscle to his frame and now stands in the 235 lb range. It has served him well as his fastball sits in the low 90s and I’ve seen 95 on Rapsodo. We’ll see if that transitions in the cold weather, but he also has a lot of toughness on the mound in big spots which makes him very difficult to score runs against. Pat-Med pitchers tend to have that trait. Yesterday, he showed the good velocity but also a really heavy two-seamer that even looked difficult to catch. His command of his breaking ball was not there which is fine in January as long as it’s there during the season.
RHP Justin Baeyens
Height: 6’0
School: St. Thomas Aquinas
2020 Stats: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 K
I didn’t know much about him before yesterday but he looked impressive just based on that bowling ball sinker he throws. It was extremely heavy and I have to imagine hitters don’t like facing that – especially in the cold. STAC has a rich tradition with pitching but has been down the past two years. I expect that to change this year.
