Rivals.com division Rivals High released their first ever Top 100 High School Baseball Players this week.  The rankings (found here) are topped by Griffin, GA SS Tim Beckham (pictured left), a Southern Cal commit and probable top 5 pick in the upcoming draft.  Joining him at the top are Cooper City, FL 1B Eric Hosmer (Arizona State); Long Beach, CA OF Aaron Hicks (Southern Cal); Wentzville, MO P Tim Melville (uncommitted); and Santa Ana, CA P Gerrit Cole (UCLA).  The top five are widely speculated to all go pro after the 2008 MLB Draft. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, 2009 Recruits, MLB Draft, Perfect Game, Rivals

Perfect Game has put out their top Recruiting Classes for the 2009 season with Arizona State University ranked in the Top spot. The top recruit for the Sun Devils is Eric Hosmer as he is one of eleven players ranked in the Top 200 in the country to sign with Pat Murphy’s squad. The Georgia Bulldogs are listed in the runner’s up spot as they have signed 20 players with Michael Palazzone as the top recruit in the class. North Carolina comes in with another strong class after their second consecutive CWS championship series appearance. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Recruits, Arizona State, Pac 10, Perfect Game

Patrick Ebert of Perfect Game has written a great article previewing 13 players who he thinks will have breakout seasons in 2008. He breaks every player in depth with a small writeup. The list is loaded with Big Ten players as I believe Patrick is from Big Ten country as he also works for Brewerfan.net. We have included his team below Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, Perfect Game

Perfect Game Crosschecker has put out their annual rankings of the Top 100 programs for the 2008 campaign. Leading the way is the Arizona Wildcats and chief rival Arizona State comes in as the runner up. The rest of the Top 5 is filled out by Texas, Miami (FL), and Vanderbilt. The full article is available here.

Tags: Arizona, Arizona State, Big 12, Miami (FL), Perfect Game, Pre-Season Rankings, SEC, Texas, Vanderbilt

The University of Illinois infielders Joe Bonadonna and Brandon Wikoff were recognized for their summer accomplishments. Bonadonna played for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League where he received the Silver Glove Award (top defensive player) for second basemen. He was also named to the league’s post season All-Star team. Bonadonna also broke the Northwoods league record for stolen bases in a season with 45 in 56 attempts. Wikoff received accolades from Perfect Game Crosschecker as the 24th best prospect in the Northwoods League and picked up a spot on the post season All-Star team. The full release is available here.

Tags: Illinois, Northwoods League, Perfect Game

FROM VALLEY BASEBALL LEAGUE
Baseball website PGcrosschecker.com recently compiled its list of the top 20 players in the Valley Baseball League. The list was compiled by Allan Simpson with input from the league’s managers and scouts.

Similar to the recently released Baseball America list, PG Crosschecker identified Winchester’s Luke Greinke as the league’s top prospect. He was also the league MVP. He was followed by Covington outfielder Jason Kipnis, but then six of the next seven players listed were pitchers.

Simpson noted that league officials felt that the 2007 season saw a jump in overall talent around the league, in particular in the pitching department. The numbers appear to support that assertion. In 2007, league pitchers as a whole had a 3.70 earned run average while hitters had a .247 batting average as a league. In 2006, hitters posted a .258 average while pitchers compiled a 3.88 ERA, and the year before saw a .257 batting average and 3.97 ERA as a league.

While Waynesboro finished first in the regular season and won the Jim Lineweaver Cup as league champions, the Generals placed just three players in the top 20 and none higher than #11. In fact, many of the top prospects come from the lower half of the standings. Simpson noted that was a sign of the league’s improved depth.

PGCrosschecker.com Valley League Top 20 Prospects

1. Luke Greinke, UT, Winchester (Auburn)

2. Jason Kipnis, OF, Covington (Arizona State)

3. Zac Blakney, RHP, Fauquier (Montevallo)

4. Shayne Moody, SS, Woodstock (Charlotte)

5. Ashur Tolliver, LHP, Harrisonburg (Arkansas-Little Rock)

6. Donald Jordat, RHP, Luray (Miami-Dade C.C.)

7. Rob Gilliam, RHP, Luray (UNC Greensboro)

8. Tim Sexton, RHP, Staunton (Miami-Dade C.C.)

9. Josh Judy, RHP, Haymarket (Indiana Tech)

10. Tyler Kuhn, SS/2B, Luray (West Virginia)

11. Pat Irvine, C/OF, Waynesboro (Elon)

12. Garrett Parker, RHP, Harrisonburg (Oklahoma City)

13. Bobby Hernandez, RHP, Staunton (Barry)

14. Josh Eidell, RHP, Woodstock (Villanova)

15. Elih Villanueva, RHP, Luray (Florida State)

16. Jeremy Cruz, 1B, Luray (Stetson)

17. Chris Masters, LHP, New Market (Western Carolina)

18. Brandon Sizemore, 2B, Waynesboro (Charleston)

19. Kurt Davidson, C/1B, Waynesboro (Akron)

20. Dustin Umberger, RHP, Luray (Liberty)

Full scouting reports from the summer on each player are available here. A subscription is required to view the insider-level reports.

 

Tags: ACC, Akron, Auburn, Barry, Charlotte, College of Charleston, Elon, FSU, Liberty, Perfect Game, Stetson, UNC-Greensboro, Valley Baseball League, Villanova, West Virginia, Western Carolina

Perfect Game has released their weekly rankings of summer league teams which is led by the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League. They are joined by Bourne at number 6, Chatham at number 8, and Falmouth at 10. The only other league with more then one team in the top 16 is the Coastal Plain League which has two teams. The full listing is available here.

Tags: Cape Cod League, Coastal Plain League, Perfect Game

Perfect Game CrossChecker are posting a series of previews about the top 100 teams in the nation. The top team has been released with University of South Carolina ranked Number 1 but from 2-49 have not been released but will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. The listing of teams from 51-100 are available here.

Tags: Perfect Game, South Carolina, Top 100

Perfect Game has released a listing of the National Showcase players who have signed letter of intents to play college baseball next season. The full list is available here.

 

Tags: 2008 Recruits, Perfect Game