Dean has gotten a rep for his pitching, as he was the ace on last year's IR team that went to the State Tournament.
Here is the bio from the IR website:
"Ali finished his sophomore season with a 3.36 ERA, 63 Ks in 60.1 IP, and a microscopic .198 opponents BA. Not only did he pitch the Braves to a victory over the 20-3 Peninsula District Champion Hampton Crabbers in the Eastern Regional & the SED regular season champion Western Branch Bruins in the SED Tournament, the highlight of his season was a dominating performance over Virginia Beach District Tournament Champion Ocean Lakes as he pitched a complete-game 2-hitter, allowing no earned runs and striking out 15 over those 7 innings!
As a batter, Ali earned his way into the lineup toward the end of the regular season. He took advantage of the chance as he finished .308 with 7 extra-base hits in just 39 at-bats, including 2 huge postseason home runs."
He pitches in the mid-80s and works hard at locating and mixing up his 4-pitches. He has drawn every tough opponent (GB twice, Hickory, WB, NR, GF) this 2009 season on the mound and is 5-2 with 2.42 ERA (corrected - didn't included GB game from Fri), however, it is his bat that has taken a tremendous leap this year as a Junior.
He is currently batting .490 with 24 runs, 5 HR, 28 RBI, 11 SB, and 10 BB:4 K ratio in 16 games (49 ABs).
As far as this topic goes... I have to say that I've seen GCA play a couple of times this year and it is clear they can match up with any AAA team in VA. They have 2 D-1 starting pitchers who pitch in the upper-80s and a lineup full of bats. They handled Bethel with ease, with Bethel's ace (Shively) on the mound, and 10-runned Kempsville and Princess Anne... two decent AAA teams in their own right.