They were throwing gas!!!!!!!!!

I went up to Lenoir Rhyne Saturday to see the Impact Pitcher Catcher Showcase. Boy was it fun to see all those arms in one place at one time. Im sure Impact will do a story soon on the event and post all of the gun readings etc. Its not very often that you can go to one showcase and see that many guys popping the glove like they were Saturday. There were numerous pro scouts in attendance. I took one of our pitchers up there with me along with my son who catches and we all had a great time. To say it was impressive to see would be an understatement. I saw some 08's that are really good. Most of the guys were 07's. If you like to see guys that can flat our bring it I would highly suggest that you make the trip next year to check this out wether you have a kid at it or not. It was great!! Pitching in NC HS baseball is alive and well in the 07 class.

 

I hate I missed it. My son said it was great. He was glad to see Andy Partin, Andro and others again and said the turnout was fantastic. I hope the weather this February is as good as it was Saturday

Who were some of the guys that attended?

 

Impact Pitcher Catcher Showcase

Braves I knew most of the guys there and some guys I had heard about but never seen actually pitch before. On Impacts site they have the roster posted of all who attended. One thing that was really neat there were three sets of brothers there. Trent and Chad Rothlin, Nick and Wes McBride and Justin and Jacob Poovey. All of them looked very good. I really could not believe how much Chad Rothlin has grown since the last time I saw him in the fall. Chad really threw it well that kid is going to be very good.

 

I talked with our HS coach today and his brother (Ragsdale). he said the boys from Caldwell looked good. Not just Madison Bumgarner but the other two. One may have been named Hill. But said all 3 looked good. Madison was his usual self and one was in the high 80's and the other above 90. I'm sure glasd Ragsadle isn't in that conference or size of school.

My son played with Nick McBride last year in travel ball. Nick (and Wes)works on his pitching with Everett Hancock who is an asst. coach at Ragsdale. They had my sone come out and catch them a little. Evertt has really helped Nick. Last year he struggled to be consistent in the zone. This year he has no problem with it. he looks much better. He's got a big arm. I think he is actually an '09 grad.

 

South Caldwell Pitchers

I did not see Madison at the showcase. I did see Poovey and Messer. They both were very impressive. Justin showed his usual velocity but I really liked his breaking ball it was sharp and he had command of it. And it appeared that Messer had a ton of sink on his fb it looked real heavy. He really keeps the ball down in the zone on all his pitches. It is no secret that they have some great arms in that program.

 

Yeah

If I was a scout and missed this, I missed a heck of an opportunity to see the best in the state at one place. With the exception of Bumgardner, these arms are what our state has to offer this year, in terms of overall talent and ability.

Linza, Poovey, Messer, Rothlin, Mailman, and so on. All very attractive to pro scouts.

It was really fun for a pitching guy to go see this one.

 

Coach27, I was speaking with Chris Maness, asst. at Ragsdale. He was referring to how good Madison's team will be. Talked about how good the other two pitchers looked that they have. talked about how good Madison is. I just assumed he was there. he may not have been. I did not ask. I did ask where Madison would go to college or had he signed and he said he doubted he would go to college. Thought he may be drafted.

 

Don't be surprised if Madison goes to UNC. They have a strong history of their players skipping the pros for college. Madison is an excellent student and would fit in real well at Chapel Hill. They certainly have a major decision to make this summer as a family...but whatever decison they make, I'm confident it will be the right one.