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World Wood Bat Association World Championship: Part 2 of 3 November 4, 2009 By
Nick James
The World Wood Bat Association
World Championship brought to the Roger Dean Sports Complex in Jupiter, Florida, 85 teams made up of players from all over
the United States, Latin America and Canada. One of the premier scouting events of the year, a horde of college coaches and
professional scouts spread out across the thirteen-field facility monitoring one of the best collections of prep talent you’ll
ever come across. Perfect Game USA hosted the event and provided coverage from Day 1 (Thursday, October 22) through the championship
game and consolation match-ups on Day 5 (Monday, October 26) via blog, video and stat wraps (link here for the daily entries). You can also click the following for a schedule of future Perfect Game showcases and tournaments. To view other scouting write-ups and reports you can visit the scouting arm of Perfect Game -- Perfect Game Crosschecker. In Part 1 of the WWBA World Championship review I went through four rounds of a hypothetical draft with my selections limited solely
to the players I saw down in Jupiter. Here are the results: Round 1 Selection: Karsten Whitson,
RHP, Chipley HS (FL)
Runner-up: Nick Castellanos, 3B, Archbishop
McCarthy HS (FL)
Round 2
Selection:
Josh Sale, OF, Bishop Blanchet HS (WA)
Runner-up: Kris
Bryant, 3B/1B, Bonanza HS (NV)
Round 3 Selection:
Marcus Littlewood, SS, Pineview HS (UT)
Runner-up: Chevez
Clarke, OF, Marietta HS (GA)
Round 4 Selection:
Kevin Ziomek, LHP/OF, Amherst Regional HS (MA)
Runner-up:
Zach Alvord, SS/2B, South Forsyth HS (FL)
With the Part 2 of the series I'll offer picks for Rounds 5 through 8. As with before, I’ll
try to stay true to approximately where I think the players would go were the Rule 4 MLB draft held today, but don’t get too caught-up in the rounds. The purpose of this series isn’t to project
where I think the players will be selected next June, it’s simply
a mechanism for discussing the players and performances from the Jupiter
event while making sure we touch on a good chunk of an incredibly wide spectrum of draft eligible talents.  Round 5 My Selection: Sean Coyle, SS/2B,
Germantown Academy (PA) | Tournament Team: All Star Baseball Academy. Coyle (pictured) is one of the
best fielders in the draft class possessing advanced hands, range and solid arm strength. The talented middle-infielder shows
plus agility and athleticism side-to-side and charging, as well as a good approach in the field, taking solid lines and setting
himself up on a variety of balls. At the plate, Coyle squares-up consistently, spraying the ball to all fields through a compact
and controlled stroke. His size (5’9” / 175 lbs) is currently the only thing I see preventing him from drawing
interest a little earlier in draft, and he could be a special college contributor should he decide to act upon his verbal
commitment to North Carolina. Video of Coyle in the field here. Runner-up: Austin Southall,
OF/1B, University HS (LA) | Tournament Team: Texas Scout Team Yankees. Southall shows good strength at
the plate and an ability to drive fastballs with authority. There’s some length in his swing, however, and his plane
is more conducive to line-drives right now than it is to the homerun. His footspeed limits him to the corners in the outfield
and may ultimately land him at first base. He’s also close to filled-out in his frame, though his size will play at
the next level already (particularly as he continues to firm-up). Some tweaks in his swing could land him towards the top
of many draft boards, and three years at LSU (to where he has verbally committed) could see him develop into a top-tier power
bat. Video of Southall at the plate during the WWBA World Championship here. Round 6 My Selection: Mike Foltynewicz, RHP/1B/OF, Minooka HS (IL)
| Tournament Team: Cangelosi Baseball. Folty sports three pitches with above-average to plus potential, though
only his fastball is a consistent offering at this point. He generally sits in the 87-91 mph range, though I had him up at
91-92 mph during his two-inning, no-hit outing on Sunday morning, with good boring action. The University of Texas commit
has an interesting curveball that can be an above-average, power breaking ball when on. He comes out of a 3/4 slot and gets
excellent bite on the pitch when he throws it hard enough. But he seemed to ease up on it in-game, causing some inconsistency
in its shape and bite. Reports I read prior to the tournament had his curve as a mid- to upper-70s offering, though I saw
71-74 on Sunday. One nice surprise was a workable change with some depth and fade. He slows down his arm speed on both his
curve and his change, though he should be able to work this out as he becomes more comfortable with each. He also flashed
a smaller, tighter breaking ball that could have been a slider or a cutter, coming out of a slightly lower arm slot than his
curve. Video of Foltynewicz’s outing here.
Runner-up: Kevin Jordan, OF, Northside HS (GA) | Tournament Team: Royals Baseball Club.
Jordan is a potential five-tool outfielder with solid arm strength (89 mph out of right field to home at the Bo Jackson 5-Tool
Championship) and impressive speed (6.55 60-yard dash). While he showcased some homerun power on Saturday night during the
“power” competition at the Bo Jackson event, his in-game at bats show more of a linedrive approach, squaring-up
by way of a compact swing and good extension through contact. There’s power potential there, though, and it wouldn’t
be surprising to see him drive balls more consistently as he matures. Jordan posted a multi-hit performance on Sunday morning,
including a single and a triple, and should draw attention off the strength of both his tournament and his 5-Tool Championship
performances. Round 7 My Selection: Christian Yelich, 1B/3B, Westlake HS (CA)
| Tournament Team: ABD Bulldogs. Yelich (pictured) isn’t yet getting much attention from the standard industry
 media outlets, but the 6’4” / 180 lbs first-baseman has the makings of a impressive power bat down the road. As
of now, he isn’t consistently tapping into that potential, but there is room in his frame to add some mass, and he already
does a very good job of centering the ball and accelerating the barrel through contact. In the field, Yelich moves well at
first base and shows soft hands. His arm strength isn’t great, but he has enough footspeed to potentially entice an
organization to try him in left field. Video of Yelich at the plate here.
Runner-up: Jacob Felts, C, Orangefield HS (TX) | Tournament Team: SE Texas Sun Devils.
Felts is a prototypical catcher, measuring in at a sturdy 6’0” / 190 lbs and already showing good actions behind
the plate and solid footwork on his throws (Video of his footwork and release here). I clocked Felts at 1.97, 2.05 and 1.99 on pop times to second base, and he utilizes a respectably quick release with solid
accuracy. At the plate, there is power potential in his bat, though he currently can hit off of a soft front side and can
get his weight forward too quickly in his transfer. Felts has a decent approach, and when he squares-up the bat speed produces
balls that really jump. Video of Felts at bat here. Round 8 My Selection: Bobby Wahl, RHP, West Springfield HS (VA)
| Tournament Team: Orioles Scout Team. Wahl was perhaps my favorite draft eligible player to watch over the course
of the tournament. His stuff was similar to what I saw earlier this summer, but this was the longest outing I’ve been
privy to, and he did not disappoint. His fastball doesn’t blow you away -- yet -- currently sitting in the mid- to upper-80s
and touching 90/91 mph. But his arm action is free and easy, and his broad frame is quite projectable, making it easy to picture
him ultimately sitting low-90s and touching that 94-96 mph range. He throws a low-70s curve and a slider around 80 mph, both
of which are inconsistent but show promise. His change-up was sparsely used and he can throw it a little too hard, fluctuating
between mid-70s to low-80s with the pitch. Wahl is a fun high schooler to try and project. Everything is pretty clean and
easy, and the ball looks terrific coming out of his hand. One issue from a mechanical standpoint is he can fail to finish
on his pitches, leading to some control issues. But all of the pieces are there for him to develop into a productive pro.
Video of Wahl’s three-inning, five strikeout performance here.
Runner-up: Brandon Stephens, C, Lassiter HS (GA) | Tournament Team: East Cobb Baseball.
Stephens’s defensive game is currently ahead of his offensive game, though he’s so strong behind the plate this
isn’t necessarily a slight. He’s an excellent receiver with soft hands and a quiet body. Movements side-to-side
are smooth and he shows good arm strength and a quick release (though my pop times were all a tad over 2 seconds, he has logged
sub-1.9 pops to second throughout the summer circuit). It’s also worth noting he handled some very talented arms on
the East Cobb Baseball squad. At the plate, he has a short stroke but is almost all upper-body right now. There’s enough
bat speed for him to drive the ball gap-to-gap, but he’s leaving a fair amount of power on the table by not better utilizing
his core. Stephens currently profiles as a defense-first catcher. With some improved mechanics at the plate, he could develop
into a more complete player and candidate to go in the earlier-rounds. With eight rounds down, that leaves Rounds 9 and 10 in our mock, as well as an additional suggested
"later rounds" target and runner-up. I'll also give a quick take on two players from the 2011 Draft Class and
one from the 2012 Draft Class, which will bring us to a tidy 25 players covered.
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Related Links Rankings - WWBA World Championship Top 15
Rankings - Top 10: Aflac All-American Game Article - Summer Scouting: Aflac All-American Game
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