By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

JUPITER, FL—Saturday at the World Wood Bat Championship started with my second attempt to see RHP Charles King (Coppell HS, TX). The tall, projectable righty had his start pushed back after a delayed flight and luggage mishap. He stands at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds with long limbs and pitches from a 3/4 slot. His long legs give him a decent stride length, but he doesn’t incorporate his lower half much and spins off his front side. He’s loose overall with average arm speed. His fastball sat 93-94 mph early and settled at 92-93 before dipping to 90-92 in the fourth inning—not an alarming drop off by any means. However, King struggled with his control and walked five batters in 4.1 innings. He allowed three runs and four hits while striking out five. He threw first-pitch strikes to just eight of the 21 batters he faced. King flashed a good changeup with fade at 82-85 and it’s ahead of his breaking ball right now, which has similar velocity, but lacks spin and break.