Top Rated H.S. Pitchers & Catchers in '23 Class

Hey team, Alex Swenson here. Hey, thanks again for joining me. And if you're new to this channel, I'm A former Division 1 college coach, scout and recruiter with 11 years of experience and I'm here to help you or your son play at the next level. I specialize in the transition from high school baseball to college baseball and help high school athletes and their family get to that next level. So if you're looking for any help or you're just want more information, you can go down below in description. I have some links to my website and how to get ahold of me if you want, if that interests you. Okay. But in today's video we're going to be talking about the top left handed pitcher, the top right handed pitcher and the top two catchers in the 2023 graduating class. So if you get anything from this video, please smash that like button that thumbs up down here and subscribe to my channel. I put out a weekly video on recruiting and just how to get better on and off the field. Field. Alright, let's get into it. The reason I'm covering this today is to show you the top talent at these specific positions in this specific recruiting class A and see the best work at least. I love to watch the best work and try to take something away from that and improve. So my goal is for you to look at these guys and to take something away to help you improve your game or at least motivate you to continue to work and to continue to get better. Now the thing is you have to be careful of comparing yourself to these athletes and the reason I say that is some of these athletes are just genetically blessed. You'll see what I mean here, especially the pitchers moving forward. But there's going to be something that you can take away and again hopefully you do that to help improve your game or at least again motivate you. Alright, let's hop into it. Hey team, so if you have any questions about today about this video that I'm doing here, anything about recruiting or development, please comment down below or get ahold of me and I'll be happy to answer those questions for you. So let's get into the first athlete who is Thomas White, left handed pitcher, 2023 graduate. He is rated as the number one left handed pitcher for perfect game and and PBR he is 6 5, 200 pounds out of Phillips Academy. Let me go on and start this video so you guys can see again that he's just genetically blessed not only with his how tall he is his weight, but his actions, his athleticism as, especially as a left hander, he's. He's very, very athletic in that sense. And even FL flexible, which I'll get to here in a minute. He's been up to 98 miles an hour. He sits around 91, 94. Command of his fastball is average to above depending on the day. And it can improve, but it's going to improve just again, based off of what we've seen, he is uncommitted. Not because he doesn't have any offers. He has a lot of offers, but he just hasn't decided yet. And the draft comes into play in the sense of he's going to get a lot of money in the draft and, and whether he decides to go to the minor leagues or goes to college, he's going to have to determine that and how much money he's going to get and what's going to be worth it or not. So again, his command of his fastball can improve, but it's still good, sharp breaking ball and he can throw for a strike. His change up is getting better. It has a fade and depth. But if you watch his mechanics here, they're very simple, right? They're nothing crazy. They're very repeatable here. Uses his lower half really, really well. His good arm action, nothing crazy going on. It helps him with his command. And that's just another way to see if he's going to be a guy that can throw strikes. And he's pretty much consistently around the zone. And there's nothing crazy with his mechanics that's going to say like, hey, he's going to be wild for a long time. And we got to reel this in again because his mechanics are really simple. So this is another video of him facing a hitter. Again, super simple. That was just velocity, strike, down, down and good. I mean he just beaten right there, just velocity overpowering. But I want to talk a little bit about mechanics wise, so. So if you watch Thomas, one thing that really helps him other than his height and pounds and his athleticism is his separation. What does separation mean? If you guys are watching his hips right here, his hip, where his belt is, it starts to go and starts to open. Alright, Especially right there. But if you look at his shoulders, they remain closed. So what is happening right here is one. It's good flexibility, good mobility, but it's kind of a coil coming up and it's going to release and it releases. The timing is good and that's where he really gets his velocity in his arm. Action as far as whip where he really gets a lot of velocity. Again, like a person like me, I'm short. I'm not going to get that much whip because my arms not that long. Now I could have just as good of separation with popping my hips and then, and then my top half firing and I'll get the most of what my body can do. But that's one big thing that you guys can work on as far as pitchers is that hip separation and shoulder separation. So your hips fire right as that foot's dropping down. But you stay close with that top half and then it releases and you get that really good arm whip and he gets out over that front leg. Really, really good. So I hope you guys took something away from Thomas. Let's get into Xander Muth. He's a right handed pitcher, 220, 23 grad. Rated as the number one right handed pitcher by Perfect Game and PBR. He is very similar okay to Thomas in the sense he's 6 5, he is £190 and he is out of Illinois, but very, very again just gifted genetically. He is committed to Ole Miss. So you'll see as a catcher and the number rated 2, number 2 rated catcher in the 2023 class is also committed to Ole Miss. So the Ole Miss is going to be loaded. All right, so Xander is a, is again out of Illinois and he has been as high as 95 miles an hour. He sits 90 to 93. This guy is probably my favorite as far as to watch. Nothing against Thomas, but just how he works where his arm slot is in the depth of his fastball. It has good run and good depth to it. It just, it is horrific for right handed hitters to face this guy. And let me explain why that is. Okay? His arm slot, if you watch it right here, I'm going to try to slow it down. Is that low three quarter right there. Okay. What that typically does when you have a guy like Xander throwing this ball with this much velocity, you're going to get so much movement okay with the ball and it's just deceiving the guy. There's one of these pitches that this one right here that it starts there and then you can see it running back into the right handed hitcher into his hands, which is just ruthless. Again, when you got a guy throwing consistently 90, 90 to 93 miles an hour with movement down and in. To high school, high school hitters, okay, this is brutal for college hitters and even professionally, but to high school hitters this is just not even Fair. Plus his command is really good. And then we just got into a breaking ball here. Breaking ball comes out of the same window as his fastball. So as a hitter, I'm seeing, all right, there's. That looks like a fastball. It's his arm slot, okay? And the window, when I say window, when the ball releases, it comes out of that same window as a fastball. But then, I'm sorry, that was a fastball, guys, but that's a good comparison. This is a breaking ball, same arm slot. Oh, and that is ruthless. So when he comes out of the hand as a hitter, you're seeing, oh, that looks like a fastball, okay? And then, boom, it's not. It breaks off the table. Where a lot of high school pitchers and even college pitchers, when they throw their breaking ball, it kind of pops out of their hand or their arm slot is higher or lower, whatever it may be. And good hitters can pick up on that and they be able to see, ah, breakable, right? And they will be able to make that adjustment. Xander does an awesome job as well. Watch his hips fire. Look, they're starting to open up. But his shoulders are back. You see his belt buckle and he gets that whip arm action and that is just again, filthy, okay? And plus he fills it up. So Ole Miss got a really, really good one here. Let's get into the catchers. So Blake Mitchell, catcher, 2023 grad. Rated as the number one catcher by Perfect Game and PBR. He's 6 foot, 185 pounds. So nothing, nothing crazy out of Texas Sinton High School. He is committed to lsu. He bats left, throws right, and he is a standout from just an athleticism standpoint of from catching. We're going to watch some of his catching here because defensively, especially in the sec, we got to be able to catch well, got to be able to receive well. And that is pretty, pretty good there, too. Short and simple. If you saw some of his, like, he's going to back pick you if you get too far off. Very short and simple footwork gets rid of it. His catch to release is really good. Let's watch him throw down again. Footwork, simple. Transfer, simple. And obviously his arm is really good. Receiving is good. Strong with the wrist, gets under blocking. This is him hitting here, uses all fields, but still very. Yeah, he hits the left field, but he has a really good pop as well. He's very projectable with his back. You know, his power potential is there as well. And consistent one nine with the catching. This is him Hitting. One video of him hitting, that's. That was a bomb with wood bat the right field at a field that is pretty deep I think. 340 down line. 370, 380 in the gap here. So very impressive. Blake Mitchell, catcher. Again, super athletic behind the plate from a catching standpoint. And then left handed bat is always attractive to these scouts. Campbell Smithwick. Okay, Campbell Smithwick, catcher, 2023 grad. He's rated as the number two catcher by PBR in number five by Perfect Game. But overall, if you would put perfect game and PBR together, the rankings together, he'd be number two overall. So that's where why I put Campbell smithwick. He is 6 foot, 185 pounds. Very similar. Okay. Build out of Oxford High School in Mississippi. He's committed to old Miss. That's left throws right. Top. A lot of these guys, a lot of these scouts rate him as the top defensive catcher overall because he is excellent receiving, excellent blocker, excellent thrower and he's consistent and accurate with his pop. Times 1/9 easy down there. Honestly, I couldn't find a lot of of catching video on him. Some you'll see here on the next one. I saw some video. He's been moving up the charts from the catching standpoint because his bat is getting better and better. He's always been a pretty good bat, but comparatively to the top guys in his class, he just wasn't there. But he's, he's getting there. So let's watch a little bit of him. Very simple swing, all right with these guys. Very, very simple in the sense of watching. Yeah, this is, that is where his power is coming right there. As far as. Very simple. Get his head out. And this is him catching as well. Some throws, good actions. It's kind of a warm up one. You'll see him pick it up right here. Lets the ball travel. Good footwork, good arm action. Good arm. Let's slow it down right here. So he lets this ball travel. He doesn't go out and gets it. He starts turning all right as that ball. So he recognizes where the ball is going to be. Sets his body up to make a good throw. His back foot is short. Simple. Two second base. Gets his front foot down. Good arm action. Again, simplicity, guys. If there's something to take away from all these guys, it is simple. It is simple. When you have things that are simple, you can focus on more of the ball or more of the strike zone as opposed to pitcher or the catchers. You don't have to manipulate as much going through your motion, catching or blocking. Keep things simple. Do not complicate this, guys. Anything, whether. Whether we're hitting, whether we're catching, whether we're pitching. Keep things simple and work on your foundation. Get in the weight room, guys. I hope there's something that you took away from today's video. And if you. Again, if you have any questions, please, please let me know or comment down below and continue to be work, man. Take something away from these guys. Watch the best. Watch them, watch what they do, and see if you can implement something that can help your game and where you need to improve, there's always somewhere to improve. All right, guys, look forward to seeing you in the next video.