10-4a

I would expect more of a battle between Heath and Rockwall. HP lost some good ones. Heath has 8 starters back. Thompson now a senior. Hernandez now a senior. Heath will be very good. Rockwall has Edwards and Bean-both D1 signees. The difference will be on the mound. Thompson/Hernandez is an absolutely wicked combo on the bump. Their number 3, Baxter, would be most teams' ace. Boswell at SS, will also be a D1 signee next year. Heath has to be the favorite.

4 drafted players between two. The difference will be coaching the rest of the team. Who can get the most from everyone else?

When in doubt, go with the arms. Thompson - 2 time district MVP and first team Baseball America All American team. Hernandez, Pitcher of the year last year in 10-4A. Baxter won two series clinching playoff games last year. There cannot be a better 3 man rotation in 4A anywhere.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by throw'n bb's:
4 drafted players between two. The difference will be coaching the rest of the team. Who can get the most from everyone else?[/QUO

Heath has a very good coaching staff with Harvey
Randell and Arias I beleave those three can and will get it done.

All agree that Heath, Rockwall, and HP are going to all be at the top. Who is going to grab that 4th spot? Wylie doesn't have the D1's, but has a solid nucleas of players. Wylie East is another year older and will surprise some folks this year. Pearce has Renfro, Mckinney has Hermelyn, and McK North, not sure. Looking forward to some good baseball in this district.

HP will be lucky if they grab the 4th spot.

No doubt Heath is the class this year but I think people are underestimating the impact of the bat change. There will be no more pop fly home runs and doubles off the handle. Pitching and defense will be at a premium and I believe we'll see much more aggressive base running than years past. The cream will always rise to the top but I think we'll see some unexpected outcomes this year in several districts around the metroplex.

WOW!! Already REALLY!!!

quote:

All agree that Heath, Rockwall, and HP are going to all be at the top

Heath, I get it..but I'm not sold yet on Rockwall and HP this year. McKinney handled Rockwall last year with a Soph pitcher, and HP lost a lot of talent. Granted, it's a new year. But 2, D1's does not a team make. And I agree with Nuke..I think the new bats will put a premium on the fundamentals...that's the true wild card.

I think it will be Heath and Wakeland in the Region 2 final this year. Both teams have a lot of talent. Both teams probably learned something about themselves from those bu** kicking's that Poteet gave them last year.

You forgot to mention it was the umpires fault, are you originally from Forney? Yeah but you didn't win the magic prize for scoring the most run's at the end of the game in a series did ya? HEY, WHO WON THE SERIES IN 2011? Y'all would still blow a rematch with the same team from last year.

Yes let's hope they meet up again, I'll bring the popcorn.

quote:

Can a McKinney team make the playoffs or is there a sleeper pic?

This should be a very interesting year in 10-4a.

Sleeper possibilities:

I think Wylie East will be very tough, remember what they did last year with no seniors.

Pearce has what I believe is the best pitcher in the district. (No disrespect to the Heath duo, they are great pitchers) Renfro keeps hitters off balance with great control and location.

McKinney has some good young pitching that got a lot of innings last year and their defense should be very good.

How these three teams do against each other will go a long way in determining which make the playoffs.

Seems as if Rained Out is an avid Jake Thompson fan. . Also Renfro can be good without throwing 93-94. It's not all about velocity you know. Virtually every D1? Thats a lot of schools watching Jake. Prairie View was probably hoping to snag him.

I am Jake Thompson's dad. It must be about time for the season to start as (since I rarely look at this site anymore) I was informed that my kid's name is being tossed around on here. I want to let everyone know that I/we as a family want to distance from all of this. Please make comments positive or don't post them. The Renfro kid is a very good player and he and my kid will both suit up for Sam this summer. We want no part of any mudslinging. 10-4A is filled with good players and we wish them health and success. Also,"Rained out" can please refrain from posting items about Jake. We are very secure of his achievements and proud of where he is headed. Your comments are nice but they tend to alienate people. Again, good luck to everyone and a special shout out to one of our favorites in 10-4A, Anthony Hermelyn of Mckinney. I hope he tears it up this year and at OU. Hey Beast? How is Austin?

Save me a seat for the Rockwall and HP game.

Big Train has spoken...wow, thanks for the direction. I hope you mean it.

Back on task...so we all know the same players. But there are alot of other kids on these teams as well..who should we watch for?

That's where the coaching comment came in. Harvey seems to always develop the other players to go along with the two big guns (look at what he did with his number three pitcher)Rockwall seems to always underperform to the level of talent (they always are short on pitching at the end, they ride one guy every year) and HP looks weaker but they always seem to find a way to be in the hunt. After Heath this district is wide open.

Rockwall should have some quality pitching this season. I think they will be stronger than what this thread is giving them credit for.

Is there a website showing all the spring '12 varsity players for each team? I'm not sure how to rate these teams without knowing exactly who is on the 2012 squads. Maxpreps appears to be a few months behind real time.

Don't think rosters can be "official" before this Friday.

To Hptx, just out of curiosity, if you had the rosters how would you go about rating each team?

To Hptx. I should have been more clear. In other words would you look at PG rankings, ratings for each player or number of seniors on the teams, or post season honors or number of signees for D1, D2, D3 and JUCO per team. I have always been interested how folks do this. I myself would not have a clue how to start unless I knew something about most of the players on the various rosters.

If we are talking number of seniors on the roster we will have a new leader in the clubhouse.

Anyone able to beat 16?

Golden rule - for me, it all boils down to who is on a team. If the official roster of a team shows a bunch of sophs/jrs, verses the ratio of srs to sophs/jrs the last year, that's a red flag. That means the jrs from last year's team wern't as good as expected for their sr year (but maybe I'm wrong..its not a science, nor do I claim to know much about scouting). I'm with you on having to also know something about the players on various rosters, thus, my question of seeing the names on rosters before making a judgment call on who the best teams will be. Also, we all remember names of the stellar players from past years of select baseball opponents, thus, can make a judgment call on how good the team may be if those names start to show up as new members of varsity teams. But what do I know...I'm just an old guy wanting to talk baseball.

bbisfun, you say Rockwall will be stronger in pitching this year. Exactly who is returning from varsity last year that will contribute this year? I thought they graduated all their good varsity pitchers last year. I could be mistaken. Maybe you are speaking of jv pitchers last year who will be on varsity this year. Just curious that you didn't name them.

quote:

Originally posted by luvtxball:
Exactly who is returning from varsity last year that will contribute this year?

Just did a little research on Maxprep. Money, Colacecci(sp?), DeLoach, Terwillger(sp.) were all Jrs. last year. All pitched and seemed to do well. And, its JMO, but they seem to have some strong positional players as well.

Good discussion and can tell everyone is anxious for the season. Agree with some of the projections but McKinney will be very young team in one of the strongest districts across the state, let alone the country.

The Rock's teams will be very good, HP will be solid, Mckinney has the best player in the district, but I think they lack experience to contend for the title.

someone in Mckinney has a drinkin' buddy in Rockwall.

I do agree that both Rockwall teams will fight for first.
HP always has a great team and I know a few players that were on JV last year would have been Varsity starters in most other programs, so losing the starting seniors doesn't hurt them as much as it may other programs.
The last spot is up for grabs.

JV son played Rockwall tue night, they had a big kid throwing mid to upper 80's had 13 or 14 strikeouts in 5 innings. If he's not on varsity then they must have a lot of pitching. After seeing that I think they will be in the hunt.

I will take Rockwall's staff over Heath any day of the week. Depth, Depth and more Depth.

I don't think pitching depth is all that important during the HS season. After the tournaments are over, basically there are two games a week. Heath's top two will be better than all that depth at Rockwall. Heath's #3 is probably as good as anything Rockwall has.

quote:

Originally posted by Bballfan7:
JV son played Rockwall tue night, they had a big kid throwing mid to upper 80's had 13 or 14 strikeouts in 5 innings. If he's not on varsity then they must have a lot of pitching. After seeing that I think they will be in the hunt.

Probably, bu you never know especially in scrimmage season. Might be JV, a tweener, or a varsity player who needed rehab or just the work, a kid just coming out of basketball, etc.

That would be correct Rookies.

I have been a long time reader but not poster. Bballfan, rookies and rockwallball, The kid you are speaking about is my son (kind of odd seeing people talk about him) yes he is big 6'3 and throws mid 80's (85 -86) He is a soph. on JV coming back from a major injury that had him off 7 months (unable to run). During that time he was unable to run a 6 minute mile (a requirement at Rockwall for varsity)and thus is on JV for this season most likely. So you where partially right about the injury. We will see as the season progresses where he ends up but we know he just needs to keep working his way back to be ready for the summer. Thanks for the interest.

Its a shame that rockwall is not wanting a 6ft3 Soph on team just because he can not run a 6 minute mile. Makes you wonder what other talent they have thrown away due to 6 minute mile?

quote:

Originally posted by michelle33:
Its a shame that rockwall is not wanting a 6ft3 Soph on team just because he can not run a 6 minute mile. Makes you wonder what other talent they have thrown away due to 6 minute mile?

.

Michelle, I was not complaining about the 6 minute mile just saying he has not gotten back in top shape after the layoff. We're not sweating it just really glad to see him back on a mound anywhere right now.