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Friday Five Tool Five (Dec.17)
12/17/2021

Friday Five Tool Five (Dec. 17)

Introducing the Friday Five Tool Five. National Scouting Director of Five Tool Drew Bishop gives out thoughts and information on Five Topics on his mind. This new segment will be a weekly occurrence.

In today’s installment of the Friday Five Tool Five we talk about the 2023 #FiveTool55, two uncommitted 2023s, and our January 8 academic showcase. You can find breakdowns of the up-to-date released list at https://fivetool.org/category/news/ and hear breakdowns of numbers 23-55 on episodes 27 and 28 of the Five Tool Podcast.

1. Breaking down the 2023 Five Tool 55 by college commitments

One of my favorite hobbies is to evaluate team building from a roster construction and staff building angle. That said, I thoroughly looked at our rankings to see if there were any patterns whether it be from a school and the type of players they recruit or where a certain school may go to get their guys. So let’s see examine the current 2023 Five Tool 55 to see if anything jumps out. As it currently stands and with ten of the 55 still #uncommitted, the schools that have at least two kids committed are below:

Texas A&M — 6

Baylor — 5

Texas — 5

Arkansas — 3

Oklahoma — 3

TCU — 3

Arizona State — 2

Houston — 2

LSU — 2

Texas Tech — 2

Vanderbilt — 2

So what does this tell us? To me, it shows that there is a ton of talent in Texas that some of the best programs in the country come looking for. All five of the power conferences have at least one kid committed on the list. Arizona State’s new staff has made a conscious effort to make headway in Texas since being hired and it is starting to pay off with commitments from the caliber of player such as Jack Bell (#23) and Derrick Mitchell (#46). National powers Arkansas, LSU, and Vanderbilt also make it a point to recruit the state of Texas with each having at least two currently committed players. Baylor has made early noise in 2023 and continues to prioritize multi-sport, two-way athletes to add to their roster which tells me they believe in their development and think they can take good athletes and find the best role for them. With five commitments, all five could legitimately play on either side of the ball in college.

Overall, this list shows wide representation of where Texas talent plays their college baseball, but it does continue to fascinate me that so few kids go west of Texas. In my opinion this speaks to the investment schools in the southern and eastern parts of the country make with their baseball programs, whether it be facilities, fanbase, or both.

2. More takeaways from the release of the Five Tool 55

  1. This class is loaded and deep. There are quite a few kids that missed the initial 55 committed to prominent P5 schools such as TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Arizona State and several SEC schools.
  2. The 2023 class in Texas has more day one draft potential guys than the 2022 class.
  3. The 2023 class is loaded with catchers. This group is stacked behind the plate.
  4. There is a great deal of two-way talent in this class that has a real chance to produce at the plate and/or on the mound.
  5. I want to see a race between 2022 Jeric Curtis and 2023 Kendall George.
  6. I’d like to see a home run derby with Logan Myers, Davis Rivers, Boots Landry, Nehomar Ochoa Acosta, JM Long, Nik Sanders, Jaquae Stewart, Jerson Martin, Dillon Lester, Travis Sykora and Blake Mitchell.

3. UNCOMMITED SPOTLIGHT

Dylan Schlaegel | 2023 OF| Mansfield Legacy HS | Stix Scout Team

Coming in at #47 on the initial 2023 Five Tool 55 list, Dylan Schlaegel is a winner. The athletic outfielder from Mansfield takes advantage of his power/speed combo to make his presence felt on the diamond. A guy we have had down the line in 4.10, Schlaegel has gap-to-gap power that he shows consistently. At just under six feet tall, Schlaegel models his game after Mookie Betts which falls in line with his style of play and glowing remarks he gets from teammates and coaches. Multiple people have commented on Dylan’s ability to give his team energy and make the players around him better. As Dylan continues to grow and develop he will undoubtedly make some team happy when he chooses his college future.

4. UNCOMMITTED SPOTLIGHT

Cam Pruitt | 2023 SS | Wylie HS | Dallas Tigers

Cam Pruitt is one of the most coveted 2023 players left on the market. A plus athlete, Pruitt combines athleticism with his instincts to make one of the most consistent players in the class. With standout bat speed and a bat path that keeps the barrel in the zone for a long time, his bat-to-ball skills allow him to utilize his speed by putting the ball in play at a high rate. One thing that sticks out about Pruitt in the batter’s box is his willingness to not try to do too much which is not always the case for a player that has had as much success early in his career. Countless times, with runners in scoring position, we have seen Pruitt simply take the ball the other way for a run scoring single showing his maturity. On defense, Pruitt uses his athleticism and footwork to position himself to take good angles to make tough plays look routine. It will be exciting to watch Cam continue to fill out and see his power develop into what could be a scary gap-to-gap speed combo. Whichever program ends up with Pruitt in their 2023 recruiting class will be getting a good one.

5. Five Tool News: Academic Showcase — January 8, 2022

Five Tool will be hosting an Academic Showcase on January 8, 2022 in Melissa, TX. We have invited college coaches from academically strong schools that are not in the D1 dead period.  We are currently adding to our list of programs committed to watch via live stream or recorded video that to this point has over 20 schools including Rice, Harvard, Princeton, Georgetown, Air Force, and MIT. Hendrix and Trinity will be live in attendance. We will update this list on our website as we gain confirmation from more schools. This showcase will serve as an identifier for spots on our Five Tool Academic teams in the Arizona Fall Classic in September. For more information please go to our website events page.

Drew Bishop
Five Tool Baseball
National Scouting Director
@drewhbishop
drew@fivetool.org

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