Gore, McMahon Stand Out On Day One Of East Coast Pro

TAMPA—The first day of this year’s East Coast Pro Showcase began with a series of workouts. Each team ran the 60-yard dash before taking batting practice, then each team participated in an infield/outfield session. The event, designed by scouts and for scouts, drew a crowd filled with scouts from every major league team.

Rosters are broken down by region. Each team is selected by scouts from the region that the team represents, though there are always a few exceptions of players from different areas playing on other teams. What follows is a breakdown of the standouts from each team from Day One.

Cleveland Indians: Mid-Atlantic Region

One of the more impressive performances of the day came from Mason Streater (Boiling Springs (S.C.) High). In the early rounds of batting practice, Streater stayed back and looked to use the whole field. When he started to turn on the ball, he showed impressive bat speed and timing. Streater also showed smooth infield actions and arm strength during in-and-out. In the game, Streater went 2-for-2, pulling a hard double to left field, and then a pulling a hanging slider to left for a base hit in his second time up. Playing third base, Streater had several chances and showed some natural infield instincts. He will be closely monitored for the rest of the week.

During batting practice, Randy Bednar (Landon School, Bethesda, Md.) showed some of the best pure bat speed of the day. Bednar’s swing has a lot of moving parts, with a leg lift that brings his weight to his back foot, causing him to crouch slightly before firing his hips forward and getting tall on his back side. That sort of up-and-down movement is a trait often associated with difficulty in seeing pitches. Bednar also starts with a high hand set and drops his hands down before exploding through the hitting zone. His swing is not conventional, but he has unteachable bat speed. In game action, Bednar went 1-for-3, reaching first base in 4.25 seconds on a ground ball to third before striking out twice. He swung and missed at four pitches in the game.

The Indians started lefthander MacKenzie Gore (Whiteville (N.C.) High). Baseball America’s only previous look at Gore came during his sophomore season, when he faced Rangers prospect Eric Jenkins in the 2015 postseason. Gore showed an intriguing package of stuff, control and athleticism. He has a high leg kick and finishes with his torso extended over his front side. Despite being squeezed by the home plate umpire, Gore struck out seven batters and walked only one.

Gore showed Baseball America intern Will Bryant his grips after the game. His changeup is sort of a hybrid of a circle changeup, a splitter and three-finger changeup. Gore throws it with his pinky on the side, his ring finger on top and his middle finger opposite his pinky. His index finger hangs off the side, tucked underneath the inside of his thumb. The pitch can show splitter-like dive or occasional cutting action.

Gore also showed strong velocity for a prep lefthander, pitching at 87-90 for most of the outing after starting off working more at 89-91 and hitting 92 several times. His curveball looked slow out of his hand and then showed late 1-to-7 or 12-to-6 break. As an athletic southpaw with a deep arsenal of stuff, Gore could be one of the top lefthanders in this year’s class.

Miami Marlins: Deep South

Catcher MJ Melendez is one of the more intriguing quick-twitch athletes in this year’s class, armed with excellent raw arm strength and bat speed, though he is still learning how to employ both. Melendez, the son of new Florida International head coach Mervyl Melendez, will attend high school in Florida for his senior year, moving from Alabama. Melendez hit some line drives in batting practice and had one of the day’s three home runs. After seeing consecutive changeups from a righthander, Melendez punished a high fastball, hitting it with topspin over the wall in right field.

Jordan Anderson (James Clemens High, Madison, Ala.) showed off his loud raw tools, displaying at least above-average bat speed from the right side during batting practice. Anderson loads his hands slightly and has a significant back-elbow swoop that gives him some of his jolt but also makes him prone to hitting the ball with topspin to his pull-side, as he did twice in game action.

Anderson technically reached base four times. ECP has a rule that batters who walk or are hit by pitches simply reset their counts and a courtesy runner goes to first base. Anderson hit two ground balls through the 6-hole, walked once and was hit by a pitch. He also grounded out to third base, reaching first base in 4.22 seconds. He has excellent raw tools and will be closely monitored for the rest of the week.

Lefthander Hugh Fisher (Briarcrest Christian School, Memphis) fits into a developing theme of this year’s draft class, the athletic and projectable lefty. His offspeed pitches need work, but Fisher has a very loose arm and quick-twitch athleticism. He has some natural ability to spin a breaking ball, though it is very raw. Fisher threw his curveball with a slower arm action, a shorter arm at release and a deliberate wrist snap. Fisher threw his changeup with a slower arm action, but there are some natural elements to the pitch that could allow it to develop, as Fisher planted with his front side early and dragged his back side through with the pitch.

Baltimore Orioles: Georgia and North Florida

The Georgia prep ranks typically produce an athletic outfielder or two each year, and 2017 should be no different. On Monday, Cole Brannen (The Westfield School, Perry, Ga.) led off the second game of the day with a home run off of righthander Tanner Burns. After drawing a walk, Brannen took a fastball down and away and shot a fly ball down the left field line, barely clearing the wall. Brannen hit a triple at last week’s Under Armour All-America Game, hitting a one-hopper off the left field ivy at Wrigley Field. While he showed more of a pull-oriented approach in batting practice, Brannen does have the ability to go with pitches on the outer half. After his home run, Brannen went on to flyout to left and then he golfed a high-trajectory fly ball to shallow center field.

Infielder Mark Vientos (American Heritage, Plantation, Fla.) showed arguably the best bat speed of the day in batting practice. He drops his hands and wraps them slightly, and hit for a lot of topspin in batting practice, but he has a chance to develop impact power. In game action, he went 1-for-2, hitting one ground ball up the middle and another through the 6-hole.

Righthander Spencer Strider (Christian Academy of Knoxville) showed a projectable arm. He showed a fast arm and had some life on his fastball, which registered at 89-92 in his first inning of work before settling in at 89-90. He has a near-full arm circle and fires through a three-quarter slot. Strider worked extremely quickly, and did not always get extended over his front side. He threw a low 80s changeup and a frisbee slider.

Texas Rangers: Northeast and Eastern Canada

Canadian Cooper Davis had a very strong game at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double. Davis didn’t stand out from the pack in batting practice, but his double came on a hard rope down the right field line. His single came on an infield single, and he reached base in 4.18 seconds. In his final at-bat, Davis grounded out and reached first in 4.05 seconds.

Infielder Andrew Papantonis (Delbarton High, Morristown, N.J.) showed impressive quick-twitch ability in batting practice, pulling line drives with authority and minimal pre-pitch hand movement. He also showed off smooth hands during the infield session. In game, Papantonis went 1-for-3 with a walk. He struck out in his first plate appearance, then flied out on a well-struck, high-trajectory fly up the middle. In his final trip to the plate, Papantonis pulled a hard line drive into the left field corner for a double.

Righthander Chris McMahon (West Chester (Pa.) Rustin High) opened eyes with a big fastball. He pitched mostly at 91-94 mph over three strong innings, in which he struck out five. McMahon threw his changeup with a slower arm action but took significant velocity off of it, throwing it in the upper 70s. He showed some ability to spin a breaking ball too.

Tampa Bay Rays: South Florida

Tim Elko (Hillsborough High, Tampa) was one of the standouts for the Rays, showing impressive strength and leverage in his swing during batting practice. Elko went 2-for-3 in the game, punching a ground ball through the right side of the infield in his first at-bat, then roping a line drive to right center for a triple (though it likely would have been a single if the center fielder had taken a better route to the ball). He grounded out in his third plate appearance.

Raymond Gill (Gulliver Prep, Miami) showed impressive line drive ability in batting practice. He went 0-for-3 in the game, chasing one high fastball for a strikeout and hitting a sharp line drive to left field for another out.

Robert Touron (Gulliver Prep, Miami) has an effortful delivery, with an across-body finish to his arm action and a hard-to-miss head whack as his arm comes across, but he showed very sharp stuff on Monday. His fastball has movement at 90-92 and it touched 93. Touron showed flashes of feel for a changeup, though it was hit well when he elevated it. He showed a soft sweeping horizontal breaking ball.

Kansas City Royals: Midwest

Jordon Adell (Ballard High, Louisville) showed off his new-look swing in batting practice and in game action. Adell homered off the Mercedes sign in the left center field power alley in batting practice. He has closed off his stance and reduced his load since earlier this summer. Adell walked and lined out to center field in the game. He also pitched one inning, and showed a sharp, tight-spinning curveball and a fastball that was up to 93 mph.

Righthander Jeff Criswell (Portage (Mich.) Central High) showed a promising arm for the Royals. He has a slight wrap in the back of his arm action. Criswell throws from a three-quarters arm slot and finishes cleanly out front, though there is some effort in his shoulder. His fastball bumped 94 mph and sat at 89-92 in his first inning of work, before settling in at 87-90 in his second inning and dropping to 85-88 in his third. He was releasing his curveball early as he tried to gain feel for it, and the pitch showed sharp and late 12-to-6 snap when it was on. Criswell also showed a changeup with tumbling action.