Baseball Signees Brock Love, Chandler Taylor and Sam Finnerty
11/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Last week, Alabama baseball inked 11 recruits to add to the 2015-16 roster. Throughout the week all 11 players from this year's recruiting class have been featured on RollTide.com. Today's featured signees are the top-three recruits in the state of Alabama, right-handed pitcher Brock Love from Rainbow City, and a pair of outfielders, Chandler Taylor from Montgomery and Sam Finnerty from Pelham.
Brock Love
RHP
6-2, 195
Rainbow City, Ala. (Southside)
An all-around student-athlete, Brock Love signs with The University of Alabama from Southside High School in Gadsden. During his time at SHS, he has played two years of basketball on top of his three years of baseball while being a member of National Honor Society and maintaining a 3.6 grade point average. On the diamond, Love is ranked as the No. 1 player in the state by Perfect Game USA. Nationally, he is the 31st-ranked right-handed pitcher and has earned 2013 Underclass Honorable Mention and most recently 2014 Underclass First Team Honors from Perfect Game. Love also participated in the 2014 National Showcase and was named to the Top Prospect Team at the event for his play. As a freshman in 2012, he played an integral part in helping Southside advance to the state finals. His father, Greg, played basketball for Birmingham-Southern.
Coach Andy Phillips on Love:
"Brock Love is a right-hander from Southside-Gadsden. He is a guy we expect to come in and have an immediate impact. He has a 90-92 mph fastball with high-end pitchability. He has tremendous upside with a bright future here at Alabama."
Chandler Taylor
Outfielder
6-2, 200
Montgomery, Ala. (Alabama Christian Academy)
Ranked as the No. 2 player in the state, one spot behind fellow signee Brock Love, Chandler Taylor is the top-ranked outfielder in Alabama by Perfect Game USA. Taylor has twice been named first team all-state by the Alabama Sports Writers Association in 2013 and 2014, while also being named the 2014 All-Metro Player of the Year by the Montgomery Advertiser. The Advertiser has also named Taylor to its All-Metro First Team each of his three seasons. Taylor has improved on his stats every year of high school, batting .330, .340 and .400 as a freshman, sophomore and junior, respectively. Over the three years, Taylor also collected a career record 22 home runs with his senior season left to play. A multi-sport athlete, Taylor quarterbacked the Eagles for two years at ACA. During his time as the primary signal-caller, he set the school record for career passing yards and touchdowns with 5,300-plus yards and 40-plus touchdown passes.
Coach Dax Norris on Taylor:
"Chandler Taylor is a great outfielder, but he can also pitch. He is another typical what we call `Alabama player' - A blue-collar, hard-nosed player with a lot of upside. He fits our team well."
Sam Finnerty
Outfielder
6-1 200
Pelham, Ala. (Pelham HS)
Rounding out the top-three players in Alabama is Sam Finnerty of Pelham. The outfielder is ranked as the No. 3 recruit in the state, joining the top two in Love and Taylor at the Capstone. The standout outfielder earned 2013 Underclass Honorable Mention honors while being named to the 2014 Underclass Second Team by Perfect Game USA. He helped lead Pelham High School to an Alabama 6A State Championship in 2013. In the following year, Finnerty was named the Birmingham Metro Player of the Year as well as the Alabama State Hitter of the Year for his efforts on the diamond. He was also a standout basketball player for Pelham High School.
Coach Andy Phillips on Finnerty:
"Sam Finnerty is a two-way player, an outfielder as well as a pitcher. He's a very athletic kid. He's very athletic in everything he does. He can run well, but he also can pitch up to 90 miles an hour. I can see him doing a lot of things both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball once he gets here."
Coach Dax Norris on Finnerty:
"Sam Finnerty's ceiling is high. I think he will make an immediate impact on the mound. He's one of the best players in the state of Alabama. He can run, he can hit, he can come in and close out games; the kid can do everything we need from him."
