Riley Greene

We wrote earlier in the week about the impressive performance of the pitchers at the Under Armour Baseball Factory Futures East event in Jupiter, FL, but that doesn’t mean they were the only ones to show well. Several position players opened the eyes of our scouts, displaying tools, a solid game performance, or some combination of both.

Hunter Barco

Leading the list of standouts was Riley Greene. Greene, an outfielder committed to the University of Florida, has an outstanding left-handed stroke that generates big loft power. He drove balls out of the park during batting practice, showing quick hands and an effortless move through contact.

Jiovel Lantigua

Aside from the loud BP, Riley ran a 6.69 in the 60, was very good defensively in the outfield workout, and doubled to LCF in the game.

Greene wasn’t the only one to show batting practice power.

Fellow lefty and top LHP prospect, Hunter Barco, also hit some balls out of Marlins Field #7 at the Roger Dean Complex. Hunter’s long levers generate bat speed and hard contact. Another lefty with some juice was Jiovel Lantigua. With a strong lower half and an aggressive hack, the U Mass-Lowell commit showed pulled power through both rounds.

Mykanthony Valdez

Though the wind was blowing in from left field, the raw power of right-handed hitter Mykanthony Valdez was still on display. His strong hands and coordinated swing allowed him square up many balls during BP and drive balls to all fields. Valdez, a Miami commit, went 1-for-2 with two walks in the game, while showing good hands and plenty of arm strength across the diamond from third base.

Some of the best bat speed of the day came from FSU commit, Josiah Miller. Miller is an athletic infielder, who ran a 6.75 and swung the bat with authority from both sides of the plate. He has bat whip and power potential both left and right-handed.

Jordan Carrion

One of the most polished hitters at the Futures event was infielder Tyler Callihan, committed to the University of South Carolina. Callihan has a clean, rhythmic left-handed stroke with a mature approach. He exudes a quiet confidence in the batter’s box and barrels hard line drives to all fields with flashes of power. Tyler led off the game with a hard double to left center field.

Defensively, Isaac Nunez was impressive at shortstop. He has quick, efficient feet, sure hands and showed the ability to throw from different arm angles. Nunez is another University of Florida commit, and looks to follow in the footsteps of recent Gator middle infielders with high level defensive skills.

Dylan Crews

Another solid defender (and fellow Florida commit) was 2020 grad, Jordan Carrion. Jordan is smooth in all that he does and made routine plays look just that – routine. He glides to balls and has a good feel for reading hops. Jordan also swung the bat well in BP, showing a balanced, line drive stroke.

Yet another 2020 with an excellent showing at the Under Armour Futures event was Dylan Crews. A versatile defender, Crews was solid in the OF and very good at the plate. He has a loose, simple swing with excellent barrel awareness. He found the barrel throughout BP and had some of the most competitive game at bats of the event yielding one hit.

Other noteworthy performances were turned in by the following:

Dillon Besnier – Outfielder with a good frame and a sound right-handed swing. Squared up several balls in BP and showed good discipline in the game, walking three times.

Jud Fabian – Athletic outfield prospect (also committed to Florida) who ran a 6.81, played well defensively, hit some balls hard in BP and showed good strike zone discipline in game.

Jacob Herbert – Future Gator catcher with a compact and powerful right-handed swing, also threw a 2.01 to 2B.

Ryan Keenan – Quick-twitch athlete committed to Vanderbilt who ran a 6.67 (the fastest time of the event) and showed a clean LH stroke.

Maxwell Romero, Jr. – Solidly-built catcher with arm strength (1.95 to 2B) and good hands behind the plate. Has a pull-oriented approach from the left side at the plate.

Ben Rozenblum – Ran a 6.99, threw a 1.95 from behind the plate, and went 1-3 with a walk in game.