Jack Radel is a right-handed pitcher in the 2023 high school class out of Sioux Falls Roosevelt High School in South Dakota. He’s committed to Notre Dame and his high school team was recently in town for a few games. Since Radel lives in South Dakota, he’d otherwise be a very difficult arm to catch live so I was fortunate his squad made a trip “south”.
Frame: Athletic, lean, and projectable. High waist, sloped shoulders with plenty of room for added strength in the future.
Arm Axn: H ¾ arm slot, medium circle, clean path, slight recoil finish.
Delivery: Rhythmic SWU (1B side), medium leg kick, ¼ turn, online average stride, drifts from rubber, average extension, solid hip/shoulder separation, level shoulders, falls off to 1B side, medium effort, inconsistent repeating at present.
FB (2&4): (87-92)- Radel’s HS basketball season recently wrapped up and I suspect he’s still building up from that. Reports are that he was touching 94 last summer, which I don’t doubt. As Radel frame continues to mature and add strength I think there’s a very good chance there’s significant velocity gains in the future, which is solid hip/shoulder separation also suggests.
Mvmt/Life: The 2-seam showed below average tail/sinking action. The 4-seamer had a tendency to cut on him when he overthrew but did show some quality carry to it when elevated.
Command: Primarily worked north/south with the heater. Really struggled out of the gate to find the zone but settled in a bit better in following frames. Was control over command in this outing.
SL: (80-83)- His best ones showed two-plane, downer shape. Was on the side of it regularly which created more of a slurvey shape to the breaking ball. Flashed several with quality spin but far from consistent. Struggled finding consistency landing it in the zone as well, but flashed it enough that I’m confident there’s feel present.
CH: (83)- I only counted him throwing one cambio in game action, at least while I was behind home plate. Showed some fade and depth on the ones he threw in pregame bullpen.
Takeaways: Raley didn’t have his best stuff in this particular outing but given the obvious athleticism and how projectable the frame is, he’s definitely a pitcher to keep on a follow list going forward. There’s a lot to dream on with Raley and it’s not hard to imagine him adding significant velocity in the near future as his frame continues to mature and add strength. I’m hoping I’ll get another look at him this summer at the 2023 MWSA event.