PDP League Scout Notebook: Nick Griffin, Drew Bowser Among Saturday Standouts

BRADENTON, Fla. — Below are notes on players who stood out from Saturday’s PDP League action as the first week of games wraps up. If you missed our scout notebooks from Thursday and Friday, find them here and here.

Nick Griffin, LHP, Monticello (Ark.) HS
Committed: Arkansas

Griffin was impressive for Team Jeter on Saturday, working his way through three scoreless innings with relative ease. The lefthander showed maturity on the mound and exciting stuff during his stint.

Griffin is a 6-foot-4, 175-pound lefty with a projectable frame and loose, athletic body. While tall, he is able to repeat his delivery and hit a consistent, slightly high three-quarter arm slot as he delivers the baseball. His arm action does get long in the back, but it gets through on time thanks to his stride length and hip rotation. His motion helps him create some downward angle on pitches, thanks to his height and stride. On the mound, he is focused and unfazed by his surroundings, working at a good pace with a quiet confidence.

His arm strength allows him to dial up his fastball to 89 mph, and he was able to throw it for strikes through most of this outing. At times he would miss arm side, and other times the pitch would sink out of the zone. He worked with it early in counts for strikes, helping him to set up his secondary offerings.

The lefthander was able to throw a breaking ball that had a short break with late downward snap. While a bit erratic, it worked to get hitters off of his fastball. In addition, he effectively used an upper-70s changeup that had sinking action and mimicked the plane of his fastball, causing hitters to swing and miss.

Final line: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

Drew Bowser, SS, Harvard-Westlake HS, Studio City, Calif.
Committed: Stanford

Bowser didn’t record a hit for Team Jeter, but he made some loud contact at the plate. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound shortstop was fun to watch and showed some tools that make him an interesting prospect.

The infielder has sheer strength and room to add more weight. His strength and athleticism show both at the plate and in the field. Bowser has some good pop in the bat, using some pre-swing hand movement to get his swing started. He doesn’t load his hands much, choosing to let his legs and torque assist him in generating bat speed. For a bigger guy, his swing doesn’t have too many moving parts, which helps to simplify the swing process and create some consistency with the path of the barrel.

Even though he is 6-foot-3, Bowser showed the ability to move around well, with good footwork on ground balls. He doesn’t have premium range, but his hands are sound and his arm flashes above-average with good carry and accuracy.

Brandon Fields, OF, Phillips HS, Orlando
Committed: South Carolina

Fields had a base hit, an RBI and a walk from the nine spot in the lineup for Team Howard. The center fielder is tough to ignore, showing off a wide range of skills on the field.

Fields is 5-foot-11, 195-pounds with a strong, thick lower half and muscular upper body. Although stocky, Fields is twitchy and shows explosiveness with his swing. He stays balanced and relaxed at the plate, with some bat tapping on his shoulder before loading into his swing. He uses a small leg lift, shifting weight onto his back leg before striding and closing up his open stance. His upper body strength translates to solid bat speed.

Fields’ physical ability shines in the outfield and he is a good runner for his size, showing the ability to cover ground with a good arm.

Kyle Harrison, LHP, De La Salle HS, Concord, Calif.
Committed: UCLA

Harrison tossed three innings for Team Howard on Saturday, working around just two hits without walking a batter. The lefty struck out two hitters and showed stuff that flashed above-average.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound lefthander has a suitable frame for a pitcher, with long levers and a strong arm. He doesn’t have much of an arm circle in the back, as he has a slightly longer action that slings through his delivery on a three-quarter arm slot. His motion is fluid, and Harrison showed the ability to repeat it with relative ease.

The lefthander worked with an upper-80s fastball, topping out at 89 mph. He showed above-average command of the pitch, darting it to both sides of the plate for strikes and had no issues going inside to righthanded hitters.

His two secondary offerings were impressive and complimented his fastball. Harrison showed a feel to throw a changeup off his fastball, and also worked with a low-70s curveball. He was able to manipulate the break on his curveball, opting to use a larger break to bend out of the strike zone as a chase pitch late in counts.

Final line: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO

Notes:

Nate Wohlgemuth, RHP, Owasso (Okla.) HS — Wohlgemuth showed good arm strength in his outing for Team Jeter. He has brute strength, with a quick arm and sling-like action. His fastball topped out at 91 mph, and he showed the ability to throw a slider with a short break.

Hunter Haas, SS, Corona del Sol HS, Tempe, Ariz. — Haas had a single and a double in four at-bats for Team Larkin. The shortstop has an athletic body and a feel to play some other positions on the diamond as well.

Petey Halpin, OF, St. Francis HS, La Canada, Calif. — Halpin smacked a double in four at-bats for Team Jeter. The outfielder is athletic and has bat speed. He makes sure to hustle and is an offensive catalyst atop the lineup.

TJ McCants, SS/2B, Pensacola (Fla.) Catholic HS — McCants had a hit in two at-bats for Team Jones. The infielder has sound footwork at shortstop and good body control which allows him to make off-balance throws accurately.