I was impressed with the Hilltop SSDMs at the IMLCA Summer Players Summit, and Pierce Brille was one of them. He is not the biggest or quickest player out there, but when I watch him, I see a competitor and a dawg. In one-on-one matchups, he plays his angles well and has a tough cross-check to get around. What stands out, though, is how disruptive he is. As a lefty, he has built an arsenal of moves to jar the ball loose from dodgers more accustomed to right-handed short sticks. He has hard slaps, wrap checks, V-holds, and, if a dodger gets lazy, a crowbar.

Defenses are eventually going to slide to shortsticks. When that happens with Brille, he stays on shooters, waiting for them to hang their stick so he can get one last trail check in. That creates a ton of turnovers. He also checks the other boxes of being an SSDM: he is great off the ground and has a good enough stick to make things happen in transition.