Cold weather high school position players are for obvious reasons some of the toughest to evaluate both at present and also to project on for future years. Scouts get less looks at them due to shorter high school seasons, weather conditions, and there’s usually far less relevant data available on them for those same reasons.
In today’s landscape, outside of a few outliers, MLB clubs like to hedge their bets by waiting to see if these types of players hold their own once they enter the college ranks and draft them once they are eligible to be drafted again. But hitters who are capable of handling the talent jump from the high school ranks to the pro ranks are out there and in this post I wanted to shed some light on a couple of 2024 Draft eligible prep bats from cold weather states that I’d put in that category going into this season. Let’s get into it.
Kale Fountain (Corner INF/OF, Norris HS)
Height: | 6’5 |
Weight: | 230 |
DOB: | 8/14/2005 |
Hometown: | Norris, NE |
College Commitment: | LSU |
Frame: | Long, lean, and athletic frame with significant projection potential for future years. Loose actions overall. |
Stance/Setup: | Square, balanced setup w/ slight knee bend. Base slightly wider than shoulder-width, bat above shoulder, rhythm present. |
Hands/Upper Half: | Rhythmic, shallow hand load, bat creates 45-degree angle during load. Slight hitch present, but still fires from a high slot-entry. Above-average bat speed through the zone with loose, whippy actions. Still head. |
Path: | More on the ‘flat’ side of the spectrum, but there’s definitely some natural loft present in the path that will be capable of producing loud, elevated balls in play. |
Lower Half: | Short, square “pick it up, put it down” stride, closed toe on foot strike. His short stride limits his momentum into foot strike and ability to maximize torso load, leading me to believe there’s even more untapped power once he’s not so overly reliant on the rotational component of the swing to generate his power. |
Defensive Notes:
The majority of my in-person looks at Fountain on the defensive side of the ball have been in a showcase setting. And from those looks, he’s shown below average footwork on the dirt as an infielder and choppy hand actions, but does possess above-average arm strength and is a plus athlete overall. I think his defensive profile long-term will be at 1B or a corner OF spot.
Closing Thoughts:
Fountain is easily one of the most intriguing high school position players in the Midwest for me this year due to the power potential in his offensive profile and the upside his overall athleticism also brings to the table. The question marks with Fountain for me revolve around his overall bat-to-ball skills, his ability to control the strike zone, and what his defensive profile evolves into long-term. Fountain already shows plus raw power in BP and I’ve seen him tap into it in game action too.
Fountain projects to have plus-plus raw as his body continues to mature and possibly make some swing stride length adjustments I alluded to above, and add strength. I see him as a power-oriented, offensive driven profile who has the potential to shoot up Draft boards with a strong showing this spring and summer.
Eddie Rynders (3B, Wisconsin Lutheran HS)
Height: | 6’3 |
Weight: | 195 |
DOB: | 2/31/2005 |
Hometown: | Wind Lake, WI |
College Commitment: | Kent State |
Frame: | Medium, lean build with plenty of room for added strength/weight in future without sacrificing athleticism. |
Stance/Setup: | Slightly open, upright, with high back elbow/hands setup- shoulder width base pre-pitch. |
Hands/Upper Half: | Rhythmic, medium hand load, fires from a high slot-entry. Bat creates a 45-degree angle during load with a high back elbow. Creates above-avg separation at launch position, occasionally arm-bars during load which adds length to stroke. |
Path: | Significant loft present in path while also staying in the zone for extended period of time. Path more conducive to handling the lower half of the zone. |
Lower Half: | Leg kick load/trigger, foot strikes at 45-degrees. Average length stride to square position. Taps into a lot of juice with how he utilizes his lower half when on time. Has a tendency to rush at times which hinders his bat speed and pop. |
Defensive Notes:
Rynders has plus arm strength and shows smooth, fluid actions as an infielder while showing advanced body control overall as well. I see his long-term defensive home being at 3B, but not due to a lack of hands or arm-strength. His fringe lateral range and lack of above average quick twitch components is why I ultimately see him moving off SS and providing above-average production as a defender at the hot corner.
Closing Thoughts:
When Rynders is on-time and synced up at the plate, he flashes plus raw power to the pull side, which isn’t hard to project to double-plus for the future, considering how much projectability the frame has for future years. I see his defensive tools translating to an above-average 3B in future years as well.
My biggest concern surrounding Rynders is that in the majority of game-AB’s I’ve seen of him against high-caliber arms, he’s really struggled to get on time and sync up his upper and lower halves, which at times drastically hinders the juice in his bat and contact ability. Despite being a high school bat in a (very) cold-weather state, I think Rynders is going to get his looks from MLB Scouts this spring and summer and is an intriguing prospect to watch leading up to the 2024 Draft.
