Scout Day: Carolina Forest Panthers
By: Austin Alexander-December 13, 2007
A better December day could not have been ordered to make the drive over to Carolina Forest High School on Thursday morning. It was 78 degrees with sunny skies and green grass covered the Panther diamond…a perfect day to be at the ballpark, especially in the winter!
Carolina Forest head coach Jack Jolly had the cones out, bases in, cage rolled up and was ready to conduct Diamond Prospects’ first Scout Day. He even had a boxed pizza waiting on me! (Pictured right, senior Jeremy Knab)
Most of the evaluation days that we will cover like this one will be after spring practice officially begins on January 28. However, Carolina Forest offers a baseball class to its students and DP seized the opportunity to get an early look at this year’s club. More importantly, we were able to lay eyes on every player in the baseball program and identified some names that were not on our radar.
In less than 90 minutes, we ran every player in the 60-yard dash, players worked out defensively, every pitcher threw in the bullpen and each player got eight swings in BP. Well, actually if they kept requesting “one more”, their wish was usually granted by Coach Jolly. Especially the guys who were banging balls off the light poles and school buses!
Over the course of my time at Carolina Forest, I walked away from the yard knowing these three things for a fact: 1) The Panthers have plenty of young talent, particularly in the sophomore class, 2) John Gump and Ryan Stewart have serious juice in their bats and 3) This club should be in the hunt for a 3A Lower State Championship.
After working out every player, DP will now crunch the numbers from the day as we breakdown the 2008 Carolina Forest Panthers.
-Scout Day Evaluations-
60 Times
Name | Grade | 60 Time |
Matt Archer | 10 | 8.15 |
Neal Falvey | 10 | 8.17 |
Tim Flynn | 12 | 7.73 |
John Gump | 12 | 7.17 |
Dylan Hansen | 10 | 7.97 |
Matthew Jolly | 10 | 7.19 |
Alek King | 12 | 7.50 |
Jeremy Knab | 12 | 7.55 |
Josh Knab | 11 | 7.30 |
Hunter Melton | 10 | 8.06 |
Danny Mitchell | 11 | 7.87 |
Travis Parker | 10 | 7.74 |
Blake Rothenberg | 11 | 7.47 |
Conor Schassler | 10 | 8.42 |
Andrew Scheeler | 10 | 7.97 |
Tress Shaw | 12 | 7.31 |
Chris Shover | 11 | 7.83 |
Ryan Stewart | 12 | 7.07 |
Jacob Talbot | 11 | 7.42 |
Cole Thompkins | 10 | 7.60 |
Caleb Tripp | 11 | 7.49 |
Justin Turbeville | 10 | 7.36 |
Sam Unsworth | 11 | INJ |
Catchers: Pop Time
Name | POP | |
Matt Archer | 2.00-2.03 | |
Andrew Scheeler | 2.30-2.32 |
Outfield Arms
Rank | Name |
1 | Josh Knab |
2 | Justin Turbeville |
3 | Jeremy Knab |
4 | Matthew Jolly |
5 | Hunter Melton |
Infield Arm Strength
Rank | Name |
1 | John Gump (1B) |
2 | Jeremy Knab (1B) |
3 | Justin Turbeville (1B) |
4 | Chris Shover |
T5 | Ryan Stewart |
T5 | Cole Tompkins |
Infield Actions
Rank | Name |
1 | Cole Tompkins |
2 | Ryan Stewart |
3 | John Gump (1B) |
4 | Jeremy Knab (1B) |
5 | Travis Parker |
Best BP Round/Swing
Rank | Name |
T1 | Ryan Stewart |
T1 | John Gump |
3 | Josh Knab |
4 | Chris Shover |
5 | Justin Turbeville |
6 | Matthew Jolly |
7 | Matt Archer |
8 | Alek King |
9 | Cole Tompkins |
10 | Jeremy Knab |
Bullpens
Name | Fastball | Breaking Ball | Change-up | Notes |
Matthew Avery | 75-77 | 61-62 | – | – |
Neal Falvey | 74-75 | 57-58 | 65-66 | Late arm-side run |
John Gump | 83-84 | 74-75 | 71-72 | Improved slider, solid CH |
Alek King | 75-77 | 63-64 | 70-71 | Cuts CH |
Jeremy Knab | 80-82 | 69-72 | 68-70 | Good depth with CB |
Josh Knab | 84 | 67-72 | 71-72 | Live arm, solid slurve |
Hunter Melton | 75-77 | 65-66 | 71-72 | CB/CH and command show pitchability |
Danny Mitchell | 68-69 | 52-54 | 62-63 | – |
Chris Shover | 80-82 | 64-65 | 61-62 | Slider darts late |
Justin Turbeville | 79-80 | – | 71-72 | Projectable FB/CH guy |
Matthew Jolly | 78-79 | 63 | 68-75 | Fluid arm, solid stuff |
Note: A Stalker radar gun was used to get MPH.
Top Prospects
Rank | Name | Grade |
1 | John Gump | 12 |
2 | Ryan Stewart | 12 |
3 | Josh Knab | 11 |
4 | Jeremy Knab | 12 |
5 | Justin Turbeville | 10 |
6 | Matt Archer | 10 |
7 | Matthew Jolly | 10 |
8 | Chris Shover | 11 |
9 | Cole Tompkins | 10 |
10 | Hunter Melton | 10 |
Note: Prospect Rankings are based on the player’s current ability level combined with how he projects at the next level.
Diamond Prospects is appreciative to coaches Jack Jolly and Doug Soles for their hospitality and assistance during the day.