C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
Today was the first chance for a lot of guys to get some playing time and experience with people in the stands and a few guys had big days:
--Dallas Beaver hit a home run in his first at-bat, hitting it high enough to where it didn't register on the team's stat tracking software. Wasn't necessarily the hardest hit ball but it went out. He finished with another single as well. I was pretty impressed with his ability behind the plate as well. Listening to him talk, he seems pretty even keel and level headed. He's also built like an SEC catcher and frames pitches like you'd expect a fifth-year senior to do.
--Another grad transfer Bryant Bowen had a pretty solid showing as well, playing in the outfield and showing a really good approach at the plate. He worked a walk off freshman RJ Dantin in his first at-bat before cranking a three-run home run off Josiah Sightler in his next trip up. The ball he hit was an absolute moonshot, hit 106.5 mph off the bat.
--I left pretty impressed with Noah Campbell, who finished with two singles and a couple RBI. He looked good and much more comfortable at the plate than he did last season and has a more level swing, at least that's how it looked from my seat. He made pretty good contact all day, and could have had a third hit but Anthony Amicangelo made a nice, instinctive play to rob him on a sinking line drive.
--Going off catchers, freshman Colin Burgess looked as advertised defensively in Thursday's scrimmage. He's stocky but has some quick-twitch in him and his pop time looks elite. He's still not a finished product (no freshman is) but he receives the ball well. He also finished the day offensively with a single and reached on an error.
--He didn't get a hit, but Noah Myers looks like he could be a big problem on the base paths for other teams. He is speedy and gets a good jump. Looks really instinctive once he gets on.
--After a stellar summer, Wes Clarke looks much more comfortable this year. He hit a ball over 100 mph off the bat to the wall in centerfield and looks much more comfortable playing first base, making a nice play on a hot shot down the RF line. He drew two walks on the day in three at-bats.
--Brady Allen looks much better this year and looks to have put on some good weight this offseason. He put together a few good at-bats without a hit but did draw a walk.
--A pitcher I was impressed with was JUCO transfer Brannon Jordan, who started off a little rocky with some command problems walking Noah Myers to start his outing before a stolen base and wild pitch but settled down, striking out three of the final four batters he faced.
He primarily was fastball-slider at around 90-92 on his fastball and 75-77 on his slider. The thing that makes him pretty good is he's really quick to the plate, near one second. He's got a quick delivery which controls the run game.
--Freshman RJ Dantin got the start opposite Jordan and sat around 89-91 on his fastball with a curveball at 75 mph and a changeup at 80 mph. He has a really compact, repeatable delivery, which usually means he doesn't have many command issues. He battled a little bit of it early, walking Bowen and hitting Andrew Eyster, but struck out Brennan Milone to end the inning.
He'd hit some trouble in his second inning thanks to a few errors but there are tools there to work with.
--John Gilreath and Daniel Lloyd both threw as well, and Gilreath coming off a shoulder injury was in the high-80s in velo while Lloyd sat in the low-90s. Gilreath had a nice play coming off the mound to field a slow roller on Myers then got a line out before putting two on with a single and a walk. He'd rally to strike out Braylen Wimmer to end the threat.
Lloyd looked solid, getting a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts and a nice play from Clarke.
--In a really nice moment, Graham Lawson got his first inning since having Tommy John after the 2018 season. He threw one inning, getting two quick outs before three straight walks and then rallied to get a ground out. He was up to 94 mph but sat 91-93 on his fastball and could easily be much higher once the season starts.
I'd chalk the command issues up to just figuring out his elbow.
Starting lineups:
CF, Noah Myers; LF, Anthony Amicangelo; RF, Brady Allen; C, Dallas Beaver; SS, Braylen Wimmer; 1B, Josiah Sightler; DH, Jax Cash; 2B, Jonah Beamon; LHP, RJ Dantin
2B, Noah Campbell; SS, Shane Shifflett; LF, Bryant Bowen; RF, Andrew Eyster; 3B, Brennan Milone; 1B, Wes Clarke; SS, George Callil
--Dallas Beaver hit a home run in his first at-bat, hitting it high enough to where it didn't register on the team's stat tracking software. Wasn't necessarily the hardest hit ball but it went out. He finished with another single as well. I was pretty impressed with his ability behind the plate as well. Listening to him talk, he seems pretty even keel and level headed. He's also built like an SEC catcher and frames pitches like you'd expect a fifth-year senior to do.
--Another grad transfer Bryant Bowen had a pretty solid showing as well, playing in the outfield and showing a really good approach at the plate. He worked a walk off freshman RJ Dantin in his first at-bat before cranking a three-run home run off Josiah Sightler in his next trip up. The ball he hit was an absolute moonshot, hit 106.5 mph off the bat.
--I left pretty impressed with Noah Campbell, who finished with two singles and a couple RBI. He looked good and much more comfortable at the plate than he did last season and has a more level swing, at least that's how it looked from my seat. He made pretty good contact all day, and could have had a third hit but Anthony Amicangelo made a nice, instinctive play to rob him on a sinking line drive.
--Going off catchers, freshman Colin Burgess looked as advertised defensively in Thursday's scrimmage. He's stocky but has some quick-twitch in him and his pop time looks elite. He's still not a finished product (no freshman is) but he receives the ball well. He also finished the day offensively with a single and reached on an error.
--He didn't get a hit, but Noah Myers looks like he could be a big problem on the base paths for other teams. He is speedy and gets a good jump. Looks really instinctive once he gets on.
--After a stellar summer, Wes Clarke looks much more comfortable this year. He hit a ball over 100 mph off the bat to the wall in centerfield and looks much more comfortable playing first base, making a nice play on a hot shot down the RF line. He drew two walks on the day in three at-bats.
--Brady Allen looks much better this year and looks to have put on some good weight this offseason. He put together a few good at-bats without a hit but did draw a walk.
--A pitcher I was impressed with was JUCO transfer Brannon Jordan, who started off a little rocky with some command problems walking Noah Myers to start his outing before a stolen base and wild pitch but settled down, striking out three of the final four batters he faced.
He primarily was fastball-slider at around 90-92 on his fastball and 75-77 on his slider. The thing that makes him pretty good is he's really quick to the plate, near one second. He's got a quick delivery which controls the run game.
--Freshman RJ Dantin got the start opposite Jordan and sat around 89-91 on his fastball with a curveball at 75 mph and a changeup at 80 mph. He has a really compact, repeatable delivery, which usually means he doesn't have many command issues. He battled a little bit of it early, walking Bowen and hitting Andrew Eyster, but struck out Brennan Milone to end the inning.
He'd hit some trouble in his second inning thanks to a few errors but there are tools there to work with.
--John Gilreath and Daniel Lloyd both threw as well, and Gilreath coming off a shoulder injury was in the high-80s in velo while Lloyd sat in the low-90s. Gilreath had a nice play coming off the mound to field a slow roller on Myers then got a line out before putting two on with a single and a walk. He'd rally to strike out Braylen Wimmer to end the threat.
Lloyd looked solid, getting a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts and a nice play from Clarke.
--In a really nice moment, Graham Lawson got his first inning since having Tommy John after the 2018 season. He threw one inning, getting two quick outs before three straight walks and then rallied to get a ground out. He was up to 94 mph but sat 91-93 on his fastball and could easily be much higher once the season starts.
I'd chalk the command issues up to just figuring out his elbow.
Starting lineups:
CF, Noah Myers; LF, Anthony Amicangelo; RF, Brady Allen; C, Dallas Beaver; SS, Braylen Wimmer; 1B, Josiah Sightler; DH, Jax Cash; 2B, Jonah Beamon; LHP, RJ Dantin
2B, Noah Campbell; SS, Shane Shifflett; LF, Bryant Bowen; RF, Andrew Eyster; 3B, Brennan Milone; 1B, Wes Clarke; SS, George Callil
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