First, I'll congratulate Will Brown of the Virginia Cardinals! For Will to get this recognition after getting so few chances with Matoaca last spring indicates how many heads he turned on the travel circuit this past summer and fall. He went from off the RADAR to being pursued by Duke, Boston College and others before accepting with Georgetown.
But second: If this is a top 20 list, it has room for 2 more. And one of the additions would have to be Josh Gardiner.
Josh was AA first team all state as a junior at Eastern View (Culpeper) in 2010, where he led his team to the state tournament. He played with the Cardinals from June to October and was the heart and soul of our team. In addition to having all the tools, he plays pedal to the metal at all times and tacitly challenges all his teammates to play the same way. I don't know anyone who ever saw us play who didn't come away asking, who's THAT kid?
The boy hits for average, hits for power, hits in the clutch, has 6.7 speed, steals bases, is an outstanding fielder, and has enough arm to crank it up to 88 on the mound if needed. As for the "sixth tool", makeup, give me 9 Josh Gardiners and I will mop up any team you care to put on the field.
Since we have no players on the list west of Charlottesville, maybe we can fix that hole on the list as well.
I think this kid is going to hold a lot of Radford records before he's done, and will undoubtedly be a pro draft in 2014 if not this year.