Pasadena City College: Jesse Hanckel Scouting Report, April 2017

Pasadena, California —— At the top of this post, watch one of our six scouting videos of Pasadena City College freshman right-handed pitching prospect Jesse Hanckel, taken from a recent start of his on April 11, 2017, for the Lancers in a California junior college baseball non-conference game against Ventura College.

Jesse Hanckel scouting report notes

A two-sport junior college star—he’s also the quarterback for the Pasadena City College Lancers football team—right-handed pitcher Jesse Hanckel has been absolutely lights out early in his freshman spring season for the college’s baseball team. He’s a big, strong kid, listed at 6’4″ and 205 lbs. with good size and strength in his legs and core, and Hanckel uses it well on the mound, where Baseball Census watched him make a stellar start for the Lancers on the road at Ventura on April 11, 2017.

Hanckel sits in the mid-80s with his fastball right now, but a three-quarters arm slot allows him to have some heavy bore and sink to the pitch at times. He’ll tie up right-handed hitters pretty well in the process, keeping them honest on the inner half of the plate and drawing fairly weak contact on balls diving down an in to their back foot. He then has enough feel to turn around and show a big, sweeping slider that moves across the plate glove-side and draws most of his swings and misses (Hanckel has struck out 38 in 45.2 innings pitched thus far this spring). He shows a changeup, too, but the fastball/slider combo right now proves his most tantalizing combo and provides a very strong base for his future.

There are issues, of course; Hanckel can occasionally get too horizontally rotational, throwing his release point out of whack and struggling to command his pitches like he should. That flattens out his fastball, and when it’s left in the hittable part of the zone like that, it can get hit hard. That also flattens out his slider, which already sweeps somewhat laterally even when right. The more he can stay vertical, and the more depth he can show on that slider, the better off he’ll be against better hitters at the four-year level. But for now, he shows good feel for the pitch and doesn’t hesitate to use it.

He’s a good athlete, without question, as you can tell from his considerable work on the football field alone. He spent 2015 as a redshirt quarterback at Fresno State University before coming to Pasadena City College, so he’s already got a taste of Division I life, at least on the football side. That may be where his career takes him in the immediate future, but considering his impressive work early for the Lancers’ baseball team, too, will his next stop give him a full shot to make it as a right-handed pitcher in addition to his quarterback duties?

Scroll down for all of our Pasadena City College RHP Jesse Hanckel video clips. To visit Jesse Hanckel’s player page, please click here.

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