His stats this year are horrendous, mostly due to being a freshman and a midweek pitcher going up against tough competition (Notre Dame and Michigan State) but there is an interesting foundation to build upon.
Hayden is listed as 6'3" 210, prototypical pitchers' frame and is an average athlete, with good on mound balance. I really like his set of mechanics. Plus body control, deep back leg drop, in line throughout the delivery and rotates extremely well with a shorter arm action. The deep back leg drop allows him to throw with a lower release point that lets him operate up in the zone and get a flat vertical approach angle on his pitches, while throwing from a H3/4 arm slot.
His two pitches presently is a four seam fastball and a slider. The fastball is well below average presently due to his velocity, where he sits around 86-89, but gets excellent hop on the pitch due to the aforementioned release point. This pitch will always play up from what is expected given the velocity.
The slider is also below average presently due to the lack of velocity, but it's another pitch with good shape to it; a gyro breaker with some bite to it. It has the shape of a future strikeout pitch that he can lean on.
Enas's command is lacking right now, but the smoothness of the delivery makes me project for it to be average. When you lack velocity the way he currently does, it's pretty tough to not walk people.
In total, there's not much of a track record to go off here, but the delivery, frame, and shape have me interested in his future career. IPFW has a total of two draft picks in its history, Evan Miller (2016 22nd-Padres, currently in AAA) being the most recent, so this isn't a powerhouse program, but Hayden has enough raw traits to make him the third. Despite not having a present third pitch, there are definite starter traits, and I am interested in watching how his career plays out.
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