New two-way Michigan baseball commit, Alfredo Velazquez, played summer ball for me the last two years.
He’s a 2023 grad out of Birmingham (Mich.) Brother Rice. Ironically he grew up quite the Michigan State fan, so this was cool to see. FYI, the Spartans offered, too, along with a host of others. South Carolina, Ohio State, Xavier, and plenty more are included on the list of schools who recruited him closely and/or offered him.
Schools hesitated because of his height (5’7”) and though i agree it may hurt his draft stock, i think he’s going to be an excellent college player. He makes up for that height with a physical profile in the upper and lower half. Also a football player.
Velazquez is a L/L center fielder with lighting on his feet, runs with 6.5-6.6 type speed, and swipes bags with no hesitation. His power tool is developing at the plate — he’s put a few balls out for us — but the hit tool is a line drive approach that results in a lot of gaps and extra base hits. 101 off the bat on his max EV. He’s the perfect top of the order guy.
What’s really enticing here is the arm. He throws it 94 from the outfield, according to Prep Baseball Report, and he’s up to 91 on the mound. Believe he hit 93 once, but hitting things once isn’t a useful tool IMO. What has he topped out at multiple times? That answer is 91. He sat around 88-89.
That velocity comes after sitting 81-82 in his freshman summer the year before. That’s a massive gain, and he did it naturally through the weight room and reworking his mechanics - especially how he uses hips - on the mound.
I absolutely can vouch for his potential as a position player, but I can’t hesitate to highlight the importance of his two-way potential, should he & Michigan choose to allow it.
He’s not all velo on the bump. He’s got a long breaking CB that perfectly complements his 4SFB and created a lot of swings & misses this summer.
As far as some examples of what this kid brings to the program, here’s a few highlights I can remember from the summer…
At the PBR National Championship in Georgia at Lakepoint (incredible complex), we played the “Under Armour Prospects” out of St. Louis. In the same game he racked up double-digit K’s on the bump, he also went yard opposite field en route to an 8-0 mercy of a really solid team.
Later in the summer, at the vaunted Perfect Game WWBA National Championship, he went up against Resmondo Baseball out of Miami-Dade County. In 2020, they were #3 in the country. They weren’t quite the team in 2021 that they were in 2020, but we saw a Miami (FL) commit on the mound who was up to 93 — so, yeah, not bad.
Velazquez went 5.1 innings without giving up a hit, and finished with a one-hit shutout of Resmondo in a 6-0 win.
Lastly, we were facing Grand Rapids Diamonds — an excellent organization who develops in-state talent on the west side at an elite level, and the right way — and we saw their Louisville commit, Josh Klug, on the mound that day.
Monstrous game and Velazquez, of course, was on the bump for us.
We were tied 0-0 in the 4th and needed to scrap. Our bottom-of-the-order guy, Eddie Sain, got on base. Then Velazquez wrapped back around at the top and got the bunt sign. He laid it down perfectly, ran out the throw, and we went on to hit a 3-run bomb from Marcus Patton two batters later. We won the game 10-3. Of course, they got us in a championship setting two weeks later.
Hope this helps for the demographic interested in Michigan’s incoming baseball recruits.
I’ll get an interview with him at some point, and I’ll get the others, too, if there’s enough interest from y’all.
Here’s Velazquez’s profile: https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/profiles/MI/Alfredo-Velazquez-4706513289
He’s a 2023 grad out of Birmingham (Mich.) Brother Rice. Ironically he grew up quite the Michigan State fan, so this was cool to see. FYI, the Spartans offered, too, along with a host of others. South Carolina, Ohio State, Xavier, and plenty more are included on the list of schools who recruited him closely and/or offered him.
Schools hesitated because of his height (5’7”) and though i agree it may hurt his draft stock, i think he’s going to be an excellent college player. He makes up for that height with a physical profile in the upper and lower half. Also a football player.
Velazquez is a L/L center fielder with lighting on his feet, runs with 6.5-6.6 type speed, and swipes bags with no hesitation. His power tool is developing at the plate — he’s put a few balls out for us — but the hit tool is a line drive approach that results in a lot of gaps and extra base hits. 101 off the bat on his max EV. He’s the perfect top of the order guy.
What’s really enticing here is the arm. He throws it 94 from the outfield, according to Prep Baseball Report, and he’s up to 91 on the mound. Believe he hit 93 once, but hitting things once isn’t a useful tool IMO. What has he topped out at multiple times? That answer is 91. He sat around 88-89.
That velocity comes after sitting 81-82 in his freshman summer the year before. That’s a massive gain, and he did it naturally through the weight room and reworking his mechanics - especially how he uses hips - on the mound.
I absolutely can vouch for his potential as a position player, but I can’t hesitate to highlight the importance of his two-way potential, should he & Michigan choose to allow it.
He’s not all velo on the bump. He’s got a long breaking CB that perfectly complements his 4SFB and created a lot of swings & misses this summer.
As far as some examples of what this kid brings to the program, here’s a few highlights I can remember from the summer…
At the PBR National Championship in Georgia at Lakepoint (incredible complex), we played the “Under Armour Prospects” out of St. Louis. In the same game he racked up double-digit K’s on the bump, he also went yard opposite field en route to an 8-0 mercy of a really solid team.
Later in the summer, at the vaunted Perfect Game WWBA National Championship, he went up against Resmondo Baseball out of Miami-Dade County. In 2020, they were #3 in the country. They weren’t quite the team in 2021 that they were in 2020, but we saw a Miami (FL) commit on the mound who was up to 93 — so, yeah, not bad.
Velazquez went 5.1 innings without giving up a hit, and finished with a one-hit shutout of Resmondo in a 6-0 win.
Lastly, we were facing Grand Rapids Diamonds — an excellent organization who develops in-state talent on the west side at an elite level, and the right way — and we saw their Louisville commit, Josh Klug, on the mound that day.
Monstrous game and Velazquez, of course, was on the bump for us.
We were tied 0-0 in the 4th and needed to scrap. Our bottom-of-the-order guy, Eddie Sain, got on base. Then Velazquez wrapped back around at the top and got the bunt sign. He laid it down perfectly, ran out the throw, and we went on to hit a 3-run bomb from Marcus Patton two batters later. We won the game 10-3. Of course, they got us in a championship setting two weeks later.
Hope this helps for the demographic interested in Michigan’s incoming baseball recruits.
I’ll get an interview with him at some point, and I’ll get the others, too, if there’s enough interest from y’all.
Here’s Velazquez’s profile: https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/profiles/MI/Alfredo-Velazquez-4706513289
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