Game Notes: NIACC JuCo Classic, Day Two

Mason City, Ia. —— Below are a few quick hits on just a handful of the notable junior college baseball prospects that stood during the four games of day two of the NIACC JuCo Classic in Mason City that took place on Saturday.

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North Iowa Area Community College

It was a big day for the arms at host NIACC, led off by 6’3”, 225-lb. lefty Tom Skoro, who started the first game against Marshalltown (IA) Community College. A Minnesota native, Skoro sat 84-87 with a hard-running, lively fastball, and paired it with the ability to spin both a 75-78 sharp slider and a 69-71 curveball with feel. A kick-back from Kansas State, Skoro looks the part of a pro arm-in-training, with the physical size and strength to boot, though he’ll need more velo to really draw pro interest right now. Regardless, he’s a solid 4 OFP for me and I’ll be plainly surprised if he doesn’t draw major Division I interest this spring.

Then, two big arms went for the Trojans in the nightcap of the NIACC JuCo Classic: sophomore right-handed pitchers Evan Reifert and Harrison Beethe. Reifert worked into the fourth inning sitting 91-94 with his fastball, also showing off a two-seamer, a very sharp slider (80-82), and a firm changeup (85-86). A couple fastballs found barrels as State Fair Community College eventually wore him down in the fourth, but Reifert has the arm strength to dictate at-bats and flash dominance. The slider is a plus look, too, and he’ll use it to equalize righties pretty much whenever he wants.

Beethe also sat 90-93 coming out of the bullpen on Saturday night, pairing it with his own 82-84 changeup and 80-82 slider. Beethe is maybe the most athletic frontline arm I’ve seen work this fall; almost no question he’ll be a rotation guy at a four-year stop after NIACC, but he’s got the explosiveness and arm action that I’d love to see working in the back end of a (pro) bullpen in a couple years blowing it out in the mid- to upper-90s. There’s more velo in there…

Marshalltown (IA) Community College

Tyler Coleman, OF

A Texas native, Coleman took solid at-bats all day long and homered twice in Marshalltown’s two games. Sitting just 5’10”, 190 lbs., he doesn’t necessarily wow you at the outset to see him work, but after two full games of quality at-bats and hard contact to his pull side, I walked away with him circled on my pref list. Speed has some room to improve, but it’ll work right now, too; had him 4.41 up the line from the RHH box during game on on Saturday.

Southeast (NE) Community College

While North Iowa Area CC sent out a few frontline 90+ arms on Saturday night at the NIACC JuCo Classic, Southeast CC lacked the MLB Draft-quality arms that’ll turn heads, though they sent out pitcher after pitcher with sneaky pitchability in the mid- to upper-80s that all no doubt have a real chance to make an impact at the four-year level. On Saturday, it was Justin Reinkall (FB 85-88, SL 74-77, CH 73-75) and Caden Comer (FB 82-87, SL 69-73, Cut CH 76-79) in game one, and Mark Timmins (FB 82-87, CB 70-74, CH 75-78) and Luke Sousek in game two that all flashed life across their arsenals, at least a modest ability to pound the bottom third of the zone, and the ability to spin breaking balls for strikes. Full, in-depth scouting reports with video on all these guys individually soon; just wanted to make a quick note that between Friday and Saturday, Southeast CC has a few young arms that will be of service to Division I and larger Division II programs in the next eighteen months.

State Fair (MO) Community College

I’ll see State Fair CC twice more on Sunday morning, so I’ll hold off on diving too deep on them here, but righty Logan Bexten went five innings against Southeast on Saturday afternoon and looked great doing it, sitting 82-86 with a heavy, running fastball paired with a 75-76 changeup and a deep, sharp 65-68 curveball. He pounds the zone, works very quickly, and has the arm action to suggest there’s still a bit more velocity to squeeze out of his 5’11”, 175 lb. frame in the coming months/years. Sneaky-good arm for a four-year to do their homework on this fall and make a run at in the spring.

Give freshman righty Peyton Soria some credit here, too; though his command faltered at points during Saturday’s nightcap at the NIACC JuCo Classic, he’s got a lively, loose arm with a ton of life on his fastball, and when he really figures things out mechanically, he’s going to throw a ton of ground balls thanks to the natural downward life on his sinker/slider combo. Just a freshman and already 6’3”, 195 lbs. with clean arm action, Soria is worth a follow over the next year, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him sitting in the upper 80s/low 90s with heavy fastball action in 18 months.

That’s it for now in Mason City; we’ll be back with notes from Day Three (Sunday) in the next 24 hours. And, we’ll be posting hundreds of videos and scouting reports from the weekend exclusively for our subscribers as the fall wears on, so keep checking back daily on the site to see who we’ve added as October and November come and go…

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