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Future Games Takeaways: Team New Jersey

August 4, 2025
By: TJ Hunt & Nick DiBenedetto
NJ Staff

With the 2025 Future Games behind us, our staff is taking a look at all of the names from the Team Heartland roster, and highlighting their performances at the event.

Within this Takeaways piece, our staff made mention of each player's workout day, along with their in-game performance.

Hitters

OF Finnian O’Loughlin (Delbarton, 2027)
The No. 1 ranked player in NJ showed out on the big stage in big ways. A multi-hit game, a couple of doubles, and several loud out barrels throughout the week. Tough at bats, consistently on time. Lean, athletic frame. During the showcase, peaked at 99 mph EV and a max distance of 391’. Also, threw 93 mph from the OF and ran a 7.04 60-yard time.

OF Casper Billington (Rumson-Fair Haven, 2027)
Billington was among the sleeper performers from the Future Games. It seemed like every time we saw him, he was rounding first and heading to second base in one way or another. Multiple upper 90s EVs on doubles in-game to go with a solid performance in the workout day, reached 103 mph EV and had a max distance of 349’.

OF Brayden Longo (Mount Olive, 2027)
Dynamic athlete. As soon as Longo stepped into the box, it seemed like everyone knew the pitcher was going to be in for a tough at bat. He blistered a triple in game one that had everyone do a double take, 100.4 off the bat to the backside in RCF. Hit, power, and run are his best tools, but don’t sleep on the 90+ mph arm either. Reckless abandon in CF, too. Ran a 6.65 60-yard dash during the event and threw 92 mph from the OF. In his round of BP, had a max EV of 100 mph and a max distance of 380’.

OF Curt Friedrich (Delbarton, 2027)
Friedrich is just flat out tough. He’s a tough out at the plate, plays hard in CF, and is rarely overmatched by velocity. It was really something to watch having Friedrich and Longo as the first two hitters in the order (coincidentally). Additionally, Friedrich was up to 89 on the bump from a high slot and featured a swing and miss slider, too. Was arguably the top statistical performer on the mound out of the bunch. In the showcase, tossed 92 mph from the OF, ran a 6.83 60-yard dash and had a max EV of 91 mph.

C Ryan Wetmore (Christian Brothers Academy, 2027)
Wetmore, along with Billington, was another guy who had himself a sneaky solid showing at the Future Games. A multihit game himself along with a lean, athletic frame behind the plate. During his round of BP in the showcase, had a max EV of 95 mph, with an average of 85 mph, and a max distance of 357’.

OF/1B Jackson Staples (The Hun School, 2027)
Tall, wiry athletic frame that certainly passes the eye test. Staples was among the top statistical performers from NJ on the workout day and put together some solid at bats in the gameplay portion against some premier arms. Peaked his EV at 96 mph with an avg. of 87 mph and a max distance of 368’. Also, ran a 7.09 60-yard dash, and tossed 87 mph from the OF. Keep an eye out for Staples as he continues to fill out his 6-foot-3 203-pound frame.

Pitchers

LHP Cooper Burti (Cherokee, 2027)
Burti is going to have a shot at dethroning O’Loughlin for the top slot in the next update of the 2027 rankings. Clean, athletic arm, into the upper 80s T89 mph with swings and misses on the fastball. It’s the innate feel for breaking stuff that will have Power 4 teams knocking at the door. Ripped a true breaker at 72-75 with 2667 rpm and flashed feel for a legit changeup at 81 mph (1880 rpm).

RHP Michael Fekete (Cherry Hill East, 2027)
A prototypical starter build, Fekete touched 90+ mph in his outing at the Future Games, and really settled in nicely in his second inning of work. It was mostly 87-89 mph and flashed some solid feel for a curveball at 76-79 mph.

RHP Steven Pannullo (Delbarton, 2027)
Pannullo is an interesting arm to follow. Leader in the clubhouse from a velocity standpoint at 91.2 mph, Pannullo is a true sinker/slider guy from a high-¾ slot. Still growing into his frame, expect him to continue to build velo and spin as he gets stronger.

RHP Kyle McBride (Delbarton, 2027; Wake Forest)
McBride is arguably the most projectable of the bunch. Long, wiry build at 6-foot-1 174-pounds. Clean, whippy arm, lower release and gets swings and misses in the top part of the zone. The fastball was up to 88 mph, sitting 86-87.7 mph, was able to spot the curveball for strikes, slider played at 74-77 mph with 2200+ rpm. Really intrigued to see his progression in the next year or so. Recently made his commitment to Wake Forest.

Dark Horse

RHP Jack Nicholls (Haddon Heights, 2027)
Nicholls came out of the gate firing with a heater in the upper 80s T91 mph that really got on hitters. Seemed like his curveball was backing up on him a bit in the first inning but made an adjustment and went with a slider/cutter combo pitch that was lethal at 81-82 mph, a true swing and miss out pitch. Nicholls will be a high follow prospect.

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