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As the ace of the El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.) pitching staff, sophomore Nick Sprengel showed to be more than capable of handling the pressure that comes with being the go-to guy.
The southpaw allowed two runs or more in two of his nine starts and struck out five or more in all but two starts. He had a season high 10 strikeouts against Canyon (Anaheim, Calif.) in a game that was for first place in league.
I contacted a national league scout who spent the last two seasons scouting Chris Rivera of El Dorado. He had a chance to see Sprengel pitch five times this season. Below are his thoughts.
"He [Sprengel] is impressive," said the NL scout. "He's not afraid to go after guys. He mixes pitches well and has very good command of two of them. In the future he could command three and develop a fourth."
I asked the scout about former El Dorado, and current USC pitcher, Kyle Twomey, and how the two compare.
"Sprengel is further along at this point in his career than Twomey," said the NL scout. "Twomey was a stud who really saw his development take off his junior year. If Sprengel can match that development he could be very special."
Below is video of Sprengel pitching against Valencia (Placentia, Calif.) on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Sprengel threw two innings.