Baseball season is here, and that means the Five Tool staff is out there working, evaluating and filming. If you know anything about Five Tool, you know we capture a lot of baseball video. A LOT. And that means we see a lot of amazing plays and excellent performances. 

Each week, we’re going to share with readers, fans and baseball junkies 10 of the best plays and performances we recorded and covered from across the nation during the previous week. Now that we’re off and running in Texas, California, Arizona and beyond, we’ll undoubtedly be forced to leave some recognition on the bench to keep this to 10. 

This week featured tournament action from across Texas and some highlights from Arizona and California. After giving a lot of love to big flies and big stuff, we’re highlighting some standout defensive plays this week. But if you throw 100 MPH, you’re going to rank No. 1 on the list. 

10. Trailing in the seventh inning on the road at Sierra Canyon, Crespi’s Diego Velasquez smashed a no-doubt bomb to tie the game. He admired it and those in the stands might have needed binoculars to see it because of how far it went. A 2025 USC commitment, Velasquez has the type of swing that makes him a threat to go deep each time he’s in the box. 

9. How is Juan Kalemera uncommitted? The right-handed hitter from Pinnacle (Arizona) drilled an opposite-field triple and also unloaded on a pitch and smashed a mammoth homer way out to left field. Kalemera has noticeable bat speed, leverages his strong lower half and has very little wasted movement in his swing. 

8. Let’s keep it in Arizona for the next player on the list. We’re suckers for awesome defense in the middle of the infield, and Mountain Pointe’s Cole Rogers provided one of the highlights of the week with an outstanding play up the middle. Shaded to the pull side against a left-handed hitter, Rogers showed his range and athleticism by quickly getting to a ball up the middle, used his backhand while diving, athletically jumped to his feet and showed some arm strength to make the throw. Textbook. Beautiful. 

7. Fearlessly, Flower Mound Marcus’ David Hernandez made one of the top defensive plays of the week. Off the bat, the uncommitted 2024 prospect read the ball well, sprinted without hesitation, and completed a slick sliding grab as he neared the fence in foul territory. And how about the bench showing him some love? 

6. Chandler Hart began building a buzz this summer as a major prospect in the 2026 class and he added more fuel to that fire this past week. Against a strong Keller lineup, the Allen product fired 4.0 no-hit innings with eight strikeouts. A very tall, athletic lefty, Hart touched 88 MPH and fired three pitches for a strike routinely. 

5. We’re going to stick with tall lefties who can rack up strikeouts and move to the 2023 class. Louisiana signee and Cy Woods stud Chase Morgan is a pitcher many have said is making a jump this season. Well, we watched him in person this past week and it looks like that intel was accurate because he punched out 12 in 5.1 innings versus Brenham and only gave up three hits. With increasing velocity and a curveball that flashes as a plus pitch, Morgan should be one of the top arms in Houston this season.

4. Sinton’s Jaquae Stewart, a Houston Christian signee, did it all during Thursday’s win versus a loaded Smithson Valley team. The left-handed hitter and pitcher threw a complete game shutout and also provided the only run-scoring knock of the game when he came through in the clutch and drilled a hard RBI single to right field. 

3. He began the year smacking the cover off the baseball, and Will Magids hasn’t stopped. Heck, the Austin Westlake outfielder, who is making a strong case as one of the top uncommitted seniors in the state, hasn’t slowed down one bit. The tall, athletic right-handed hitter went 7-for-12 in tournament action this past weekend with three doubles, one triple and eight runs scored in five games. 

2. All Fisher Polydoroff does is hit. It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is. He hits. And the uncommitted 2024 prospect from Keller, who leverages his impressive weight room strength in his swing, went 9-for-21 this past weekend, which included getting five hits in one day. He has the strength and approach to hammer the ball all over the yard. 

1. Against one of the top teams in the district, Round Rock’s Travis Sykora wanted to make a statement. From the first pitch, he did. Literally. The first pitch he threw was 100 MPH. Across 4.0 innings, Sykora, who signed with Texas but attracts at least 20 scouts at each of his starts, gave up just one hit, struck out five and didn’t issue a walk. As impressive as his velocity was, Sykora’s slider was extremely good, too.

Five Tool Staff