Five More Trend Upward in Northern California Bay Area
On Sunday, April 19 the Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout tour rolled through Northern California, with a stop at James Logan High School in Union City — located in the East Bay, about halfway between Oakland and San Jose.
This event saw four players mark significant improvements in at least one measurable category, with two of those players adding to a long history of upward trends — 2017 OF/SS Conor Bagchee and 2016 SS/RHP Brett Whitney. Another player, 2015 1B Connor Braun, recorded a full-grade increase in his raw power marks on the Baseball Factory 10-70 Scouting Scale.
Though stopwatch and radar gun readings may be of more interest to many readers, they are certainly not the end-all and be-all of players or pitchers. Though we measure what we can to support our eventual tool grades, it’s the tool grades written in the boxes that really matter.
With that in mind, there were quite a few players in attendance that could be overlooked by by those with a myopic or otherwise measurable-centered point of view. Though none of the players in the list below were overly impressive on the stopwatch or radar gun, each showed a well-rounded set of tools and earned high marks for hitting and fielding abilities — the tools that matter the most for most position players.
- #23 2016 1B Dylan Durrin (Elsie Allen HS – Santa Rosa, CA)
- #5 2017 OF Keith Hale (Liberty HS – Brentwood, CA)
- #11 2017 LHP/OF Andrew Oliver (Cardinal Newman HS – Santa Rosa, CA)
- #39 2017 LHP/1B Clayton Westrope (Livermore HS – Livermore, CA)
- #46 2018 OF Aldrin Wilson (Skyline HS – Oakland, CA)
2015 1B Connor Braun
2015 1B Connor Braun (Clayton Valley Charter HS – Bay Point, CA) stands 6-foot-5 and 248 pounds, and featured the best right-handed raw power of the day. He showed glimpses of advanced raw power when we first saw him in July 2011, before he had attended his first day of high school. After a shoulder injury, we lost his trail from 2012 until recently, but his most recent showing revealed an improved ability to drive the ball with authority all over the field.
2016 3B Aidan Nagle (Cardinal Newman HS – Santa Rosa, CA) is physical in his own right at 6-foot-1 and 218 pounds, and showed the best left-handed raw power of the day. He could probably fit in the above “well-rounded” category, but left-handed raw power is always in style — and therefore worthy of a separate mention.
Top performers by measurable category appear below:
60 Yard Dash
| SEC | 60 Yard Dash Leaders |
| 6.80 | Ayrton “Bear” Hancock (2017 – SS/OF – Heritage HS – Brentwood, CA) |
| 7.15 | Conor Bagchee (2017 – OF/SS – St. Francis Central Coast Catholic HS – Watsonville, CA) |
“Bear” Hancock’s most recent 6.80 marked an improvement of more than four-tenths of a second over the 7.21 we saw in March 2013.
We have a lot more history on Conor Bagchee, dating back to February 2012 when we first saw him. At that event, he ran 8.60. By March 2013, about one year later, he was down to 7.62. One year after that, he’d trimmed another two-tenths off and was down to 7.41. By June 2014 he was all the way down to 7.13, slightly better than the 7.15 he posted in April 2015.
Fastball Velocity
| mph | Fastball Velocity Leaders |
| 84 | Fabian Martinez (2016 – RHP – Elsie Allen HS – Santa Rosa, CA) |
| 84 | Jake Spencer (2016 – LHP – Gunderson HS – San Jose, CA) |
| 83 | Kyle Smith (2015 – RHP – Vista HS – Pinole, CA) |
Catcher Release Time
| Sec | Pop Time Leaders |
| 1.90 | Ryan Gamboa (2016 – C – Red Bluff Union HS – Red Bluff, CA) |
| 1.98 | Michael Daly (2017 – C/SS – Cardinal Newman HS – Sonoma, CA) |
| 2.03 | William Kahn (2018 – C – Stuart Hall HS – San Francisco, CA) |
| 2.08 | Austin Revei (2015 – C – Elsie Allen HS – Santa Rosa, CA) |
When we last saw Ryan Gamboa in October 2011, he posted a low pop time of 2.30. At that same event, he recorded 75 mph raw velocity. Since then, his low pop time has gone down four-tenths of a second to 1.90, while his raw velocity has increased seven notches up to 82 mph.
Raw Velocity
| mph | Raw Velocity Leaders |
| 83 | Matt Rooney (2016 – SS – Valley Christian HS – Pleasanton, CA) |
| 83* | Kyle Smith (2015 – RHP – Vista HS – Pinole, CA) |
| 82 | Ryan Gamboa (2016 – C – Red Bluff Union HS – Red Bluff, CA) |
| 82 | William Kahn (2018 – C – Stuart Hall HS – San Francisco, CA) |
* Kyle Smith recorded 83 mph raw velocity AND 83 mph fastball velocity
2016 SS/RHP Brett Whitney
Above, we saw that 2017 OF/SS Conor Bagchee (St. Francis Central Coast Catholic HS – Watsonville, CA) improved his 60 yard dash from 8.60 to 7.15 from February 2012 to April 2015. Over that same period of time, his raw velocity increased by 18 mph (not a typo) from 63 mph in February 2012 up to 81 mph by April 2015.
We have quite a bit of history with 2016 SS/RHP Brett Whitney (Will C. Wood HS – Vacaville, CA) as well. When we first saw him in October 2010, he reached 62 mph raw velocity and ran 8.56 in the 60 yard dash. By December 2013 he checked in at 75 mph and 7.33 — a notable improvement in each, even if he stopped there. Since then, he’s held tight in the 7.3 to 7.5 range with his 60 yard dash, while his raw velocity has gone up another 7 mph to a peak of 82 at the April 19 Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout in Lodi, CA. At this most recent event, he posted 81 mph.
Bat Exit Velocity
| mph | Bat Exit Velocity Leaders |
| 84 | Conor Bagchee (2017 – OF/SS – St. Francis Central Coast Catholic HS – Watsonville, CA) |
| 83 | Dominic Eliason (2017 – RHP/2B – Cardinal Newman HS – Sonoma, CA) |
| 83 | Osiris Johnson (2018 – SS/OF – Encinal HS – Alameda, CA) |
| 83 | Kyle Smith (2015 – RHP – Vista HS – Pinole, CA) |
| 82 | Connor Braun (2015 – 1B – Clayton Valley Charter HS – Bay Point, CA) |
| 82 | Ryan Gamboa (2016 – C – Red Bluff Union HS – Red Bluff, CA) |
| 82 | Max Jung-Goldberg (2018 – 3B – Palo Alto HS – Palo Alto, CA) |
The Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout Tour is rolling through all 50 states. Tryouts are held for players ages 12-14 and 14-18. Don’t miss your opportunity to Be Discovered.
Find an Under Armour Baseball Factory National Tryout near you and register online or call (800) 641-4487.
