High School

Player Name: Brandon Spector Position: P School: Yonkers ’17 Brandon is a RHP with a slender frame. He begins his windup with a short step back and a deliberate approach. He has a leg kick and keeps his foot parallel to the ground and his back leg firm. His falling action to the plate is very similar to that of Matt Harvey. He is very aggressive and drops his back leg well. He has a long arm circle and a good stride for his height. He lands on line with his target and gets good extension on his pitches. Spector threw his fastball 68-70 MPH with very good command. The velocity will improve, he just finished his sophomore seasons. He showed a 59-65 MPH curve. He had very strong command of it despite the speed. That could be a weapon for him. His change up came in a 63 MPH but he did ap...

Player Name: Hunter Kaucky Position: LHP School: William Floyd   Hunter is a 5’11” LHP for William Floyd HS. He won one game for them in 2015. He has a very slow and deliberate delivery, not uncommon fora LHP. He steps back towards third base during his wind up. He has his hands set high as he begins his delivery. He has a high leg kick–well above the letters and kicks his leg out towards first base with his foot pointed up and his back leg firm. He keeps his eyes locked in on the ground prior to picking up his target. As he begins his falling action, he drops his back leg but he could definitely add a couple of ticks by dropping it more. He has a sufficient stride for his height. His arm circle is very long and he throws directly over the top. He does land with his ...

Player Name: Tim Kranz Position: RHP School: West Babylon ’15, Stony Brook ’19 Tim is a RHP for West Babylon that is committed to play at Stony Brook in the fall. He has a very up-tempo delivery. He kicks his leg up with high energy and has a leg kick that is about letter height. He looks down at the ground at balance point before picking up his target with his back leg firm. He swings his leg around before driving to home plate, He gets very good drive from his back side. The arm circle is not long but it enables him to hide the ball very well behind his body. He has a very good stride for his height and throws with a low 3/4 angle. He has a decent finish but he can add a couple ticks if he follows through more. He works mainly in the 85-86 MPH range with the fastball, 69 with...

Name: James Kory School: West Islip Position: RHP James is a ’16 graduate of West Islip. He is coming off one of the most dynamic seasons in Long Island history when he went 10-0 as a sophomore to lead his team to the LI Championship over Massapequa. He begins his windup with his glove shoulder height. He steps back very subtly as he prepares to enter his delivery. As he lifts up his leg and turns his body towards second base ala AJ Burnett. The leg kick is just below the letters and his front foot is pointed directly down. The back leg is firm at balance point and his eyes are focused on the ground. He has a slight hesitation just prior to his falling action and then he exploded forward. The front leg swings around as opposed to coming directly home, which sacrifices velocity. The s...

Player Name: Joe Barbieri Position: RHP School: Ward Melville Barbieri is a senior RHP for Ward Melville.  He is committed to Brockport State.He has won seven games through May 23. He begins his windup with a very small step back with his hands held head high as he prepares to get into his leg kick. He has a bit of a unique balance position. His leg kick is only about belt high and his back leg is bent the entire time as opposed to staying firm like most pitchers. His front is parallel to the ground. Since his back leg is bent during the balance position, he gets very good drive from his back side. His stride is about the length of his height and he lands on line with home plate. His arm angle is high 3/4, he gets good extension and he finishes balanced towards home plate. Barbieri ha...

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. T...

Player Name: Ben Brown School: Ward Melville Position: RHP Ben is a RHP and 2017 graduate of Ward Melville HS. He has gotten off to a tremendous start this season, winning all five of his decisions in the uber-competitive League I. From the stretch, Ben gets set with his glove letter high. As he begins his motion, his eyes are locked on third base but he regains his focus immediately after. He has a leg kick and balance position reminiscent of Roy Halladay. He crouches his upper body in at the balance position and has a fast paced delivery as he gets into his falling action. He employ a drop-and-drive delivery–his back leg really bends to generate power. His arm circle is very long and the ball is pointed towards right field. Another thing he does very well is wait until the last pos...

Player Name: Will O’Brien Position: RHP School: Wantagh Will is a big, 6’1″ 200 lb pitcher that graduates in 2016 and is committed to St. Thomas Aquinas in the fall. He has a couple quirky aspects of his delivery. He begins with a big step back along the rubber with his hands held just above the belt. At balance point, he has a firm back leg, his leg kick is just below the letters, his front foot is pointed down and his eyes are locked on the ground. As he begins his falling action, he picks up his target. His leg kind of hangs in the air, as opposed to going directly towards the plate. This definitely effects the velocity by a couple ticks, but he has so much power that he can still compensate for it with his arm strength. He has an abbreviated arm circle–not quite...

Player Name: Mario Hernandez Position: P School: St. Anthony’s Mario is a 2017 graduate of St. Anthony’s HS. He is 6’0″ 170 lbs. He is a gifted student with a 94 overall average which qualified him for the National Honor Society. His delivery is very clean but also very deliberate. He begins with a step back as he prepares for his leg kick. He looks down on the ground as a timing mechanism before locking in on his target. His leg kick is extremely high, a credit to some impressive flexibility. His back leg is firm. He hesitates briefly prior to his falling action. On one hand it serves as a way to disrupt the batter’s timing, who is expecting the pitcher to aggressively propel forward. On the other hand, it prevents him from maximizing his velocity. From that ...

Player Name: Matt Pugliese Position: P School: Seaford Matt is a 2016 graduate of Seaford HS. He won three games during the ’15 season. He is 6’1″ 200 lbs. He has a classic delivery for a southpaw. It is reminiscent to another southpaw that came from Seaford and he happens to be in the big leagues; Sean Nolin. He begins his windup with his arms relaxed at his waist. He takes a long step back along with the rubber before aggressively beginning his leg kick. At the balance position, he has his eyes locked on his target, his leg around letter-height and his back leg firm. He gets decent drive from his back leg, but it could certainly improve. Similar to Scott Kazmir, he kicks his front leg out rather than heading straight towards the plate. While many pitchers employ this te...

Player Name: Thomas Riley Position: LHP School: St. Anthony’s   Riley is a 6’1″ LHP that is a 2016 graduate of St. Anthony’s. He was named to the National Honor Society during his junior year and possessed a perfect 4.0 GPA. From the windup, he steps to the side and brings his hands down to the belt as he gets into his balance point. He brings the hands back up to shoulder height and his leg kick is about letter high, foot pointing down and his back leg firm. He gets decent drive from the back leg. His arm circle is very long, which appeared to effect the release point of his slider at times. His stride was very good for his height. He lands with his foot slightly closed towards the first base side. Many lefties do this in order to create deception at the big l...

Player Name: Andrew Mundy Position: RHP School: St. John the Baptist ’15, Hofstra ’19 Mundy is a 6’0″ pitcher for the Cougars. He has a three-pitch arsenal that he attacks hitters with. His delivery is reminiscent of New York Yankees’ ace Masahiro Tanaka. He enters his leg kick by kicking is straight out rather than up but he still gets into the position he needs to. He keeps his back leg firm and his eyes locked on the target with his glove head height.Once he gets to the balance position, he kick his leg out towards the plate prior to beginning his falling action, which is a bit unique. He drops his back leg and gets significant drive from his back side. He has a good stride length and lands with his foot on line with home plate. The arm angle is low 3/4 and...