Plenty of opponents are glad to be seeing Anthony DeSclafani and his fastball graduating from Colts Neck.
The nominees:
Kevin MacLachlan, Jr., RHP, St. John Vianney: The 6-foot-4 righty can pump it up to 91-92 on a good day and simply overpower opponents. If he can get more movement on it and improve his secondary offerings, you're looking at a potential all-state pitcher next year.
Anthony DeSclafani, Sr., RHP, Colts Neck: He brings the heat in the 90-91 range, but the big thing about DeSclafani is that he buzzes it right at the knees, forcing batters to fight it off more than execute their plan. Once he packs more size on his 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame, he should be up around the mid-90s, whether that's at the University of Florida or in the minor league system of the Boston Red Sox, who recently picked him in the 22nd round.
Ryan Harvey, Jr., RHP, Manalapan: Harvey can get it up to around 86-87 and uses it as an effective weapon to work out of any jams by blowing the ball by hitters.
Pat Light, Jr., RHP, CBA: Light's fastball sits mainly in the 82-83 range, but it moves, and he spots it so well that it was a formidable weapon for him this year.
Tyler Gebler, Jr., RHP, Toms River South: Gebler got hit at times when he got it up in the zone, but when he reared back and threw a heater in the 83-85 mph range, it usually missed a bat.
The sleeper - Rudy Ferrentino, So., RHP, Toms River North: Ferrentino is still learning, but he has some late explosiveness on his fastball and as he continues to add size and experience, he looks to be overpowering with it.
And the Stumpy goes to...This one was a toss-up between DeSclafani and MacLachlan, but I'll give a slight nod to
DeSclafani because his control of his fastball is so pinpoint. He only had 7 walks in 58 1/3 innings, compared to 19 in 50 2/3 innings by MacLachlan.