By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

Last weekend in Cary, NC, USA Baseball held its National Team Identification Series for the 17U and 16U age levels. I popped in for a couple games to see a couple specific players. Overall, everyone looked like you would expect for late in the summer. There were slow bats, errors and velocity was down. It’s time for some of these guys to take a break and catch their breath. Nonetheless, the guys are I saw offered some intrigue. Here are some notes on them…

Michael Bacica, Windermere Prep, FL (2018)
Bacica, a North Carolina recruit, has a gangly frame at 6-foot-4, 175 pounds. He’s arms and legs coming at you, which he had trouble repeating and it affected his control. His velocity was down from previous outings, sitting mostly in the low 80s, though as mentioned, it’s the end of a long summer. He got some cutting action to his fastball and has a long arm action through a high-3/4 slot. His curveball was loopy at 68-71 with 12/6 shape.