Prospect Spotlight: Ace von Acesson

Ace von Acesson, 22, P Platypi



1.05 ERA. 139 K’s. 2 No-Hitters. Undefeated starter. SML champion and Super Mega Series MVP. There’s a long list of titles appended to Austin “Ace” von Acesson, and Ace is only 22. That means all of those titles were earned when he was only 21 in his first year in the SML. Of those who have earned their nickname (aside from “Hammer” Longballo), Ace is on the list.

Ace has been in a league of his own since his little league days where his team out of Phoenix, Arizona won the Miniature League Worldwide Championship when he was 15. In attendance of those games was Roberto Valdez, Athletic Director at Carson State University in Arizona. Within a week of their victory, Ace had a full-ride scholarship to a Tier I university. After claiming a pair of high school national championships during his junior and senior seasons and more scholarships from schools all over the nation, Ace stayed close to home and attended the school that wanted him first. After redshirting his freshman year, his journey almost wrote itself. In two years as a starter, Ace had a 0.74 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 300+ K’s. 7 No-hitters on top of 2 perfect games. During that redshirted year, he took 8 credit hours during the summer and 20 hours during the fall and spring semesters, garnering a 4.0. In just three years, Ace graduated from one of the top universities in the nation in academics and sports with a degree in Computer Science (and a Psychology minor thrown in to keep him at the school a full three years) with a cumulative 4.0. It appeared as if this man could do no wrong.

That sentiment carried into his rookie season with the Platypi as an instant SP 1 in a middling rotation and helped elevate them to the Super Mega Series Pennant, and as I mentioned above, Ace rose to the occasion. Looking at his arsenal, one wouldn’t expect his types of numbers: a mid-90s 4-seam and low-90s 2-seam combined with a slider, curveball, and changeup. His accuracy at the corners is far better than average, but he doesn’t snipe them like former Moonstar, now Heater, Elmo Slayer. Instead, every one of his pitches appears to break in some fashion. Hammer Longballo has even claimed that his 4-seamer rises a few centimeters close to the plate, “...Which is why all we get is nothing but air...with or without contact…”

Now comes the real test: sustaining this success. Pressure to continue this high level of performance is increasing exponentially, especially with someone with as illustrious track record as Ace. Whether he wanted it or not (likely the former), the magnifying glass is now on the Platypi as they are, yet again, in a position to make another run at the Pennant and beyond. The other 19 teams have film on him, and are no doubt praying for as long as possible to gameplan for him, find the heel of this young Achilles.