It’s Mattingly Week! 

(It’s also fine to refer to this week as Christmas in July.)

Yeah, we’re excited the AABC Don Mattingly World Series is here, and the 64-team tournament and our premier 17Uevent will crown one champion on Saturday. In the meantime, action kicked off on Monday with some exciting performances on the mound and in the batter’s box. Here are my takeaways from day one, which are comprised almost entirely of in-person looks:

1) Hawaii 2G Elite Toro flexed its offensive muscle to pull away and win convincingly in one of the tournament’s first games. Jace Souza (Kamehameha; Hawaii) has gone from a really interesting, projectable prospect last year to a noticeably stronger, athletic left-handed hitting outfielder who clearly added some strength to his impressive frame. Souza, a Texas Tech commit after a standout performance at the 2022 Pudge Rodriguez World Classic in front of Red Raider coaches, sparked a big rally by drilling a deep double to the center field wall and also made it down the line in 4.2 seconds in another at-bat. He manned center field. 

I remain a big fan of Noah Kubo (Mid-Pacific Institute; Hawaii), who consistently shows impressive bat-to-ball skill with right-handed bat speed and plays the game with infectious energy, effort and competitiveness. 

2) It’s been the summer of Keller throughout Five Tool events because we can’t have a national event without a Keller pitcher throwing hard and standing out. Today, uncommitted right-hander Mason Cook was up to 92, flashed an impressive slider that created some ugly whiffs, and pitched the Cooperstown Cobras to victory. He threw 5.0 no-hit innings with 10 strikeouts, a true representation of his dominance. 

Playing up an age level, 5 Star 2025 National right-handed pitcher Holden Hering (College Station) punched out eight across 4.0 innings. And at 6-4 around 225 pounds, Hering’s frame and stuff looked like it belonged in the 2024 class. Although his control was in-and-out at times, Hering moves relatively easy on the mound without much effort in his delivery and was up to 90 MPH with his fastball. 

3) 17U Hamblin/Hancock’s AJ Ripley (J.J. Pearce High School), an uncommitted lefty, did a great job of silencing a loaded OK Fuel 2024 lineup by pounding the zone with his fastball (84-87 MPH with some tilt) and spinning a quality 71 MPH curveball with some two-plane break and spin up to 2300 RPM. But the defense behind him opened the door for OK Fuel to steal a victory and that’s what it did. 

Oklahoma State commit Braylon Brooks (Tuttle) mashed a homer off the scoreboard and created some of the loudest contact of the day. Uncommitted left-handed hitting center fielder Drake Fittro (Choctaw) went 2-for-4, showed his impressive wheels and used a very aggressive approach in the batter’s box. Luke Graham, a right-handed hitter, mashed a double off the right field wall and took some good swings. 

4) Ty Powell, a left-handed hitting infielder, keeps hitting when I see him. After grabbing my attention with his bat-to-ball skill at the Houston College Championships, Powell showed that look wasn’t a fluke by again putting the bat on the ball well and putting together a quality day in the batter’s box. A 2025 prospect from Fulshear, Powell is likely putting himself on the map as a D1 prospect with his summer performances. 

But his team was bested by Scorpions 17U Black thanks to one big swing by Cavan Fuentes, who came up clutch with a grand slam. 

5) DFW Twins 17U Black cruised to victory and its lineup boasted impressive depth, physicality and skill. A lot of the usual suspects stood out, but I continue to be intrigued by Brock two-way prospect Cam Harris. This was my first in-person look at the athletic left-handed hitter in person and came away liking the swing and potential. 

It's also nice to see Jackson Burns on the mound, and in one inning the big, hard-throwing right-hander was up to 94 MPH to close out a victory. The ball continues to explode out of the Texas Tech commit’s hand. 

6) Sam DeLong will be an interesting left-handed pitcher to follow at Round Rock High School next year and he pitched the Dirtbags Tx to victory with 5.0 strong innings. A skinny 2024 prospect, DeLong sat 83-86 MPH with his fastball, showed a big curveball and his changeup was his best secondary pitch at 75 MPH. Westwood’s Jackson Gula, who hits leadoff from the left side and plays center field, went 2-for-4. 

In that same game, C2 Baseball Texas Scout 2024 right-handed pitcher Tyler Ryden (Clear Springs) established himself as a definite name to follow in a short appearance. He was up to 88 MPH with his fastball and spun 74-76 MPH curveballs with spin up to 2700 RPM with a quality changeup that lefties whiffed at. 

7) Oscar Salazar (Rouse), Dawson Park (Magnolia West), and Braeden Scherzer (Tomball), who always hits every time I see him, had some impressive moments at the plate. But Stix 2025 Scout’s Brody Kahle (Homeschool – Mansfield Knights) got the best of Houston Heat 2024 Scout with 6.0 impressive innings. Kahle showed a promising three-pitch mix: fastball (87-89 MPH), slider (79-81 MPH) executed to his glove side, changeup (81 MPH). Both the slider and changeup looked good coming out of his hand with the type of visual look you like to see, although the slider spin/shape could improve over time. 

Offensively, Cayden Mitchell (Mansfield Timberview) changed the game with an excellent nine-pitch at-bat that resulted in a two-RBI single to break the tie late in the game. Also, shortstop Hudson Knight nearly made an early play of the tournament when he ranged deep into the hole to field a ball most shortstops his age would never get to and nearly completed the very long throw in time across the diamond. 

8) Speaking of amazing defensive plays and shortstops, BVR Maroon 17U’s Blane Garza (Caldwell) fearlessly ran into shallow center field and with a trio of teammates also chasing the same shallow fly ball, he extended his glove towards the center field wall without breaking stride to make a fantastic catch. He also hit a hard single, too.

Maddox Keo, a left-handed pitcher committed to Rice, kept Texas Senators 16U Scout Team scoreless for a while, but his pitch count ran up because of at-bats getting very deep partially due to his control. But when he was right, the Willis prospect was dominant with a lively fastball that played well up in the zone and a changeup that got whiffs down in the zone. Texas Senators 16U Scout Team’s CJ Hansford again really impressed me with his three-pitch arsenal and ability to pitch. The Johnson (Buda) product kept his team in the game, which led to an extra-innings win in truly unreal fashion when a pitch got away, bounced off the umpire, took a big hop away from home plate, which allowed speedy Ed Small to come around from second to score. 

9) GPS Legends 17U Puffer and Trosky Texas Scout Team 2024 – Worley/Knoblauch turned into the Ryley Leininger (Georgetown) and Blaine Brown (Summer Creek) show. Leininger, who is uncommitted, blasted two bombs for GPS and showcased his impressive bat speed and left-handed power. For Trosky, Brown, who recently committed to Rice, hammered a homer and also drove in six runs. GPS ended up coming back from a big deficit to win, 10-9.

10) I’ve now seen Houston Tomlinson (Grand Oaks) three times. He’s been really good all three times. Monday night for 2024 Texas Twelve Red Sox, Tomlinson fired 3.0 no-hit innings with one walk and 6 strikeouts. The uncommitted right-hander, who attracted a huge group of college coaches, touched 93 MPH with his fastball and sat comfortably in the 88-92 MPH range, although it was more 86-90 MPH out of the stretch. Tomlinson got a first-inning strikeout with his first changeup of the game, an 85 MPH offering with late tumble, and also showed a 77-79 MPH slider with promise. 

Pearland outfielder Isaiah Castaneda went 2-for-4 with a loud double into the right-center gap. He’s poised to again be one of the tournament’s most productive hitters just like last year in the Pudge Rodriguez World Classic. 

Dustin McComas
Senior Editor