By Alan Matthews
July 29, 2004

WILMINGTON, N.C.—Scouts savor a showcase event well-stocked with players with high-round potential, and more than 200 scouts received their wish this week in Wilmington.

Major League Baseball’s East Coast Professional Showcase swung into full gear Wednesday afternoon, and the promising high school class of 2005 offered plenty of highlights.

Scouts groaned about the lack of impact position players in the 2004 draft, but if the crop of everyday players on display Wednesday was any indication, teams should have an abundance of promising players to choose from next year.

The event’s first day features lengthy batting practice sessions, and outfielder Deryck Johnson turned the ordinarily mundane exercise into a treat. The rising senior from Orlando's Cypress Creek High belted a pair of home runs in a three-pitch span over the right-field fence at UNC Wilmington's Brooks Field, a park that has become notorious for reducing deep drives into loud outs over the years.

Johnson, a 6-foot, 178-pound lefthanded hitter, showed good bat speed and quick hands at the plate. His stroke elicits good loft and balls off his bat had carry. He was pull-happy in batting practice but showed enough ability to create interest among those in attendance. He was one of six players from the 135-man field to homer during batting practice, and proved his swing holds up in game action when he laced a two-run single off an 88 mph Adam Warren fastball back through the middle in the first of the day’s three seven-inning games. The single staked the Devil Rays to a four-run lead they would not relinquish.

Two Jacksonville rising seniors, Mike Allen, from Arlington Country Day and Jarrod Langlois from Bartram Trail High, combined to shutdown the Cubs’ offense. Allen’s fastball touched 91 mph and he used an 80 mph changeup effectively to work four scoreless innings, giving up three hits. The righthander acknowledges the pressure of the situation, being the first pitcher of the day to take the hill in front of the mass of scouts and college recruiters.

“I was definitely a little nervous out there at first,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many scouts in one place. My velocity was a little down, but I got some help from my defense and it turned out (well).”

Kevin Elfering of the Devil Rays is one of several scouts who is helping coach and instruct the players this week, as many major league organizations sponsor teams and allow their scouts to suit up and coach the same players they might be drafting 10 months from now.

“It’s all about the players,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for them to get some exposure. They’re playing against good competition and that helps (scouts), too, because we can see how they (stack up).”

Two impressive arms matched up later. Righthanders Tyler Musselwhite of Gainesville (Ga.) High and Josh Zeid of Hamden (Conn.) Hall Country Day dueled in the evening’s final game, which did not start until 10 p.m. because of rain earlier in the day.

The host of scouts and recruiters who elected to wait around were rewarded, as the two pitchers carried a scoreless game into the middle innings. Zeid, one of 17 AFLAC All-Americans in attendance, has a clean arm stroke and traditional, over-the-top slot that generates good velocity and movement on his pitches. He topped out at 92 mph. Musselwhite used an effective three-pitch assortment including a mid-80s fastball to keep hitters off-balance.

BEACH BALLS

• Scouts would have an extra day to digest Wednesday's happenings, as rain postponed Thursday's scheduled events at the ECPS. Play was scheduled to resume Friday morning.

• Dennis Raben of Hollywood (Fla.) Hills High starred in batting practice and in games. He showed one of the best lefthanded swings during the event’s first day, with a smooth, fluid stroke and quiet hands. He homered in batting practice and ripped a double that landed on the base of the wall in right-center field off Zeid.

• The Cubs started three players—righthander Steve Johnson and infielders Justin Bristow and Justin Upton—who will appear in the AFLAC All-American game next week. After an excellent showing by both Bristow and Upton during infield practice, they committed errors that led to two unearned runs in the second inning. Upton, a rising senior from Great Bridge High in Chesapeake, Va., showed off his speed (6.3 seconds over 60 yards) later when he hustled a bloop single into a double.

• Righthander Kyle Waldrop pitched for the Twins in last year’s ECPS and was drafted by the same organization in the first round in 2004. The Twins ran three impressive arms out to the mound Wednesday, as lefty Eric Surkamp and righthanders Brett Summers and Chaz Roe combined on seven innings with five hits, two runs and 11 strikeouts. Surkamp, a rising senior from Moeller High in Cincinnati, had good feel and control of his high-80s fastball and nasty, 71-72 mph hook. Summers and Roe are also thin and projectable with good stuff.