On Sunday, June 29th, the Prep Baseball New Jersey staff traveled to Lyndhurst, NJ, for the Phoenix Baseball Scout Day.

This event is always a great opportunity for us to get our eyes on the talented players within the Phoenix Baseball organization and this year's showcase proved to be a success.

We wanted to take the time to highlight a number of the standout players from the event in a Takeaways story, found below.

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Position Players

UTL Luca Barbella (Don Bosco Prep, 2027) put together an intriguing performance at the event. Barbella worked in the outfield as well as the infield, flashing athletic actions in both positions, tossed 81 mph from the outfield and 74 mph across the infield. In his round of BP, worked on top of the baseball mixing in hard line drives and ground balls up to 86 mph. Barbella should continue to fill out his body and raise his numbers all around the field.

MIF Jeylan Rodriguez (Ridgefield, 2026) is a soft handed infielder that had one of the most impressive performances of the afternoon. Started the day running an event best 6.93 60-yard dash. In BP, had a max EV of 88 mph, working the whole field. Defensively, displayed soft hands and athletic actions, tossed 76 mph across. A follow from the event.

Two-Way Players

RHP/1B Christopher Cundari (Wayne Hills, 2026) currently ranked No. 83 in the state’s 2026 class, Curdari continues to impress in front of our staff. In the bullpen, the right-hander touched 85 mph with his fastball with an average of 22 in. of total movement. Threw a high spin curveball at 73-77 mph (2438 avg. rpm), a changeup at 75-77 mph with an average of 14 in. of horizontal movement, and a cutter at 75-81 mph (2259 avg. rpm). At the plate, peaked at 95 mph EV, working line drives throughout the round. An impressive all around day for the two-way.

C/3B/RHP Haris Cucaj (Tappan Zee (NY), 2026) showed well at his first Prep baseball showcase. The 5-foot-8, 185-pound physical two-way was near the top of the leaderboards in multiple stats, led the event in EV at 99 mph, had the top catcher velocity at 76 mph, and had the second best infield velocity at 78 mph. On the mound, worked his fastball at 81-82 T83 mph with an average of 18 in of total movement, a curveball at 71-73 mph, and a changeup at 72-74 mph with an avg. of 10 in. of IVB.

LHP/1B Kaleb Hetzel (Tappan Zee (NY), 2026; Stony Brook) is another name that was near the top of the leaderboards in multiple categories, led the event in max fastball velocity at 87 mph, second best EV at 98 mph,and third best 60-yard time at 7.22. Hetzel had a 88 mph avg. EV and flashed bat speed and feel for the barrel. On the mound, the fastball sat 84-86 mph with 21 in. of total movement, curveball was 69-71 mph, slider at 72-73 mph for strikes, and the changeup was 75-77 mph with sink.

Pitchers

RHP Cristian Matos (Don Bosco Prep, 2028) broke out in his ‘pen. The 6-foot, 185-pound right-hander had the second hardest fastball velocity at 86.5, sat 84-86 mph with an avg. of 14 in. of IVB, curveball was 71-73 mph an avg. spin rate of 2298 rpm, and flashed a changeup 79-81 mph with an avg. of 19 in. of IVB. A prospect to follow throughout his high school career at Don Bosco.

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