Ethan Hankins cements status as top high school pitcher for 2018.
East Coast Pro goes beyond what an ordinary showcase entails. Supervised by scouts, players spend the week with each other, staying in the same hotels with teammates. Pitchers—even if they pitch only once—stick around for the duration of the event, embracing a team-first culture and simulating professional baseball more than a showcase. The six teams each represent a particular area of the country; scouts from each area volunteer to organize and coach the teams. All the players on hand are prospects, but all of them did not perform equally in their week at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field. These 10 stood out on the field in the 2017 edition of ECP.
1. ETHAN HANKINS, RHP
Forsyth Central High, Cumming, Ga.
All eyes were focused on the Aug. 10 finale, which pit the Georgia-based Orioles, with righthanders Hankins and Kumar Rocker, among others, against the Blue Jays (predominantly Florida players), with some of the top arms in the class involved on both sides.
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