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When the baseball season was cancelled, the vast majority of teams were caught offguard when HS junior Nick Bitsko decided to graduate early with an eye to jumpstart his career.
Tabbed by Baseball America as 2021’s top prospect, Bitsko was a mystery to many, but not to the Rays who had followed the top prospect out of Pennsylvania closely, particularly last season.
Previously:
- Rays select RHP Nick Bitsko with the No. 24 pick
- Baseball world praises Rays selection of RHP Nick Bitsko
While the season might have been shipwrecked, Bitsko is a player who has been easy to find on social media, often sharing his eye-popping Rapsodo numbers to twitter and instagram.
I asked Bitsko if he thought his willingness to share those numbers helped his draft position:
That’s a good question, actually. I would say a little bit.
Even if we had a season, I don’t think anybody would have got those numbers. It’s an interesting point you make, because — obviously — I don’t think anybody is putting a trackman up at my highschool field or anything like that, putting a box on the field. So, I don’t think anybody would have seen those numbers before I got into pro-ball or went to Virginia.
So, I think, from that standpoint, yeah it might have helped me a little bit, and I think it’s good that I had advanced stuff other than just, ‘Oh, here’s velo,’ or ‘Here’s break on the ball,’ here’s actually — like — an analytic that proves that this is actually a good pitch.
Here are three examples of Bitsko putting that content online, one of which was shared by the team account after he was drafted:
17 years old
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 11, 2020
98.5 MPH pic.twitter.com/Zjv9RbeYOg
— Nick Bitsko (@NickBitsko14) May 29, 2020
#VideoDontLie pic.twitter.com/Ie7rghsIsi
— Rapsodo Baseball (@rapsodo) June 11, 2020
As there may not be an easy way to see much of Bitsko pitching online, we’ve collected various tweets and videos highlighting his stuff.
Beyond Rapsodo, here are a few more videos that show Bitsko in action:
#RaysUp select RHP Nick Bitsko with the 24th pick. pic.twitter.com/lNwYmspTK9
— DRaysBay (@draysbay) June 11, 2020
Nick Bitsko (2021 PA) sitting 90-94/95 today for @eastcoastbball. Ideal frame and ease to operation. Sharp DH showing a CB here that has really flashed tight spin at 76-80 mph. #UVA commit. #WWBA17u pic.twitter.com/3fRFafHXYH
— Gregory Gerard (@GGerardPG) June 30, 2019
^^^ My favorite video of the bunch
Nick Bitsko (2021 Doylestown, PA) sat 95-97 in the 1st. Easy velo, lots of arm speed. Riding life when down in the zone. 79-80 CB with depth. Has not gone under 93 through 3IP. #WWBA16u pic.twitter.com/Jw0tRqceeg
— Jered (@JeredGoodwin3) July 6, 2019
#1 in the PA 2021 Class @buckscobaseball RHP Nick Bitsko (Central Bucks East // Virginia) with easy 93 mph gas countered with an 84 mph CH with arm-side fade & a sharp 11/5, 76-78 mph CB. #FKSTournament @ShooterHunt @NathanRode pic.twitter.com/H6tOkZQFKv
— PBR Pennsylvania (@pbrpennsylvania) August 18, 2019
2021 Nick Bitsko (PA) looking like a future #MLB workhorse with an ideal pitchers frame running his fastball up to 95 mph today at #WWBA17u and throwing a very effective CB for strikes. 4 IP with 7 strikeouts today pic.twitter.com/ZNiczeg3uk
— Perfect Game USA (@PerfectGameUSA) June 30, 2019
As the No. 4 ranked player in the 2021 Class, Nick Bitsko (Virginia Commit) is lighting up the gun at the #WWBAWorldChampionship with his 93 MPH fastball that helped strikeout a pair in his first inning pic.twitter.com/Li978ahHPi
— Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) October 19, 2018
2021 RHP, Nick Bitsko, at 93mph today at Bucknell Invite. 2ip 23 pitches 4 K’s 0 hits 0 BB’s pic.twitter.com/Sp9ONYY2T3
— Generals Baseball (@buckscobaseball) June 10, 2018
#UVA commit Nick Bitsko (PA) had a strong showing on the bump today for the #EastSquad and ran his FB up to 90 mph! pic.twitter.com/f4Br8NEJnQ
— pgselectfest (@PGSelectFest) September 2, 2017
Oh, and like all good high school pitching prospects, he can hit too...
@NickBitsko14 HR Diamond Nation NJ 18u wood bat tournament 9/23/17. @JBrownPG @Kevin44McMullan @buckscobaseball pic.twitter.com/qpKiJCRgKN
— Nick Bitsko Sr. (@NickBitskoSr) September 24, 2017
Shoutout to 2021 graduate, @NickBitsko14 for setting a personal best in exit velocity at 97 Great workout Nick! @NickBitskoSr pic.twitter.com/ULNYGPZUOm
— Generals Baseball (@buckscobaseball) December 16, 2017
@NickBitsko14 Working on maintaining his social distancing by hitting lefty HRs with the boys. @cbebaseball @buckscobaseball @Kevin44McMullan @hit4Jesus pic.twitter.com/72VTVjEcnR
— Nick Bitsko Sr. (@NickBitskoSr) March 25, 2020
Those were just for fun...