The Perfect Game National Showcase is the premiere event for up and coming high school stars. Takes place every June since it's inception in 2001.
There is also a prestigious East Coast event that follows as well as the Area Code games.
Except for the Area Code games these showcases are like NFL combines where players are measured. They run through a battery of tests including how fast they throw a ball and the velocity of a ball off a bat. Pitching velocity. Etc. One of the staples is the 60 yard dash.
They also take batting practice and play in games.
They also have a Jr. National Showcase ahead of the event and the fastest time recorded this go around was by white speedster from PA OF Triston Horst in 6.37 seconds. The next closest runner was in the 6.5 range. Horst is in the 2021 class. That is some real speed folks.
In the senior event I wasn't feeling particularly good as I was monitoring the 60 yard dash times and most of the swift times were not by white players. One speedster OF Colby Shade did not run at this event which further ruined things as he had posted 6.3 plus times in the past. Jake Deleo who is signed to Georgia Tech ran a fast 6.38 though.
But the final day of testing saved the day as CA OF Jake Vogel blew away the field. And there were a lot of black speedsters at this year's event. Vogel is currently considered a top 150 high school player but I think he will move up after his showing here. He has a cannon of an arm at CF too. He is currently committed to UCLA. They have a sensational speedster CF who is built a bit like Kirk Gibson in Garrett Mitchell. They just missed advancing in the college world series but Mitchell has serious talent. One problem. He is a severe diabetic. But with the advances today ( Baylor girls basketball super star Lauren Cox wears a pump) I don't see why teams should avoid drafting him next season. But probably some will use it as an excuse to avoid drafting a sensational power/speed white player. Mitchell is projected as a first round pick for 2020.
So is Arkansas SS Casey Martin whose team is still in the college world series. Martin has blinding speed and power. But his lack of contact might be a problem. He is also projected as a first round pick in 2020.
A perfect player may have emerged from the National Showcase. Peter Crow- Armstrong, whose mother was a fairly well known actress until she retired, is a swift CF who is a natural. Look for his name to be called real early in the 2020 draft.
But back to Vogel. I first noticed him in the fall when I saw his 60 yard dash time pop up. He was so much faster than everybody else at a west coast camp. This speeding bullet is among the fastest baseball players I can think of in the last 25 plus years. Only 17 he is the type of player I pray makes it to the top. I love seeing white speedsters kick ass at sprint events.
Chad Green, ( a two sport star at Mentor HS in the early 90s) who played for KY and then the Brewers organization, is likely the fastest of them all. In high school he beat Deion Sander's record time in the 60 yard dash he ran at a camp. In 2010 track star sprinter Mitchell Shifflett burned rubber . He briefly played at Virginia before falling into oblivion. In 2017 Jack Schneider a high school player out of KY ran a sizzling time. He was drafted by the Mets. Got injured and then abruptly quit baseball.
There are too many white baseball speedsters who nobody has ever heard of because they got mired in the minors etc. The list is endless. Many never get an MLB at bat.
Here is hoping some do make it and hopefully down the road we will get to see speed demon deluxe Jake Vogel patrolling CF in a MLB uniform. Like I said Matt Boling looks to have company.
[One final note. Vogel is built like a young Mickey Mantle.]
