Brauny's Best: Highlighting top high school performances from Week 7
Friday night's exhibition baseball game against TCU means this will be the last week of Brauny's Best that includes what I saw on the diamond from the Aggies. Going forward, we are back to all things high school football. That said, there were a couple of performances on the gridiron last weekend that caught my attention and will be highlighted below.
Texas A&M's Class
Port Arthur Memorial LB Tank King
- 13 tackles, 5 tackles for loss
They don't call him “Tank King the Tackling Machine” for nothing. The Port Arthur Memorial linebacker continued to put his stamp on being the best defensive prospect in southeast Texas with another hugely productive win over Barbers Hill. He has lined up predominantly as an outside linebacker/edge player this season, as the coaching staff down there thought his twitch and burst would be more impactful at that spot for their team. King has taken to his new role well as the season has progressed. It's pretty clear that type of pop and punch he plays with, as he's consistently knocking heads back. I also believe he's seeing and feeling the game better, which has caused his play speed to make another jump in the right direction.
State of Texas
Mount Enterprise RB Kaegan Ash
- 28 rushes, 417 yards, 7 touchdowns
- 15 tackles, 2 tackles for loss
I remember watching this kid's tape last fall and thinking he was going to end up at a Big 12 school and, in a couple of years, have people wondering where he came from. Well, the program that looks like it will be reaping the benefits of that is Texas Tech. The Red Raiders made a push for the East Texas product as a linebacker, even with the impressive tape he put together as a running back. This kid just oozes football player. He never comes off the field and looks like he wouldn't have it any other way. The power and violence he runs with are impressive.
My Coverage
Texas A&M RHP Aiden Sims
- 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
I probably could have awarded this to the entire Aggie pitching staff, as Jason Kelly's crew was incredibly sharp on Friday night against a talented TCU ballclub. The Horned Frogs didn't score a run until the ninth inning as the A&M arms racked up strikeouts and weak contact for the vast majority of the night. The star of the show was Sims, who tossed a total of four perfect innings and punched out eight in these fall scrimmages. On Friday night, he displayed elite command of his full arsenal of pitches — the best of which was a much-improved slider that was taking hard left turns as it approached home plate with spin rates north of 3,000 revolutions per minute. He backed it up with a fastball that showed quality arm-side run that was particularly effective against right-handed hitters as they began to lean over the plate in an attempt to stay on that aforementioned slider. There are questions about who will emerge as the Aggies’ third starter, with the assumption that Weston Moss and Shane Sdao will occupy the first two spots. Well, nobody has gone further to answering that question than the Forney native this fall.
