Baseball in San Antonio

Very strong interest.

No AAU.

Many select teams.

A couple of good training facilities (e.g., Xtreme Speed & Strength is excellent). A few good private coaches. Some to avoid.

What age?

Thanks for the help. I do not have a specific age interest, son is 3. Better select teams are? Any info about Baseball School of San Antonio, Sandlot, or Lights Out? Who are the best high school programs in SA?

http://www.alamoelite.com/main.html

Our family has known the Tyson family for years. My dad and Jeremy Tyson's dad were basketball coaches and best friends. Quality people!

If we lived there I would look into his program.

Disclaimer -- this post is specifically for Robert S.

"Alamo Elite doesn’t look for the best players. We look for players that WANT to be the best."

Robert, the ideal AE team includes 15 #15 players. Sandy, another case in point?

When it comes to choosing where to buy a house, I would recommend placing top priority on the schools. In S.A. proper, the North East Independent School District has a couple of the best HS's academically. And one of these (Reagan HS) has the top baseball program in the S.A. area. But the NEISD HS's are huge. Some kids do much better in smaller schools.

Boerne has had a great baseball program, but I think they may have opened a second HS. This is good in terms of size, but will affect athletics.

If you want, send me a PM and I will give you more ideas on where to look and where to avoid.

I'm hoping that IF08 will jump in here and provide the latest info.

With your son being three, you have six years before you have to worry about baseball programs. With regard to select, etc., everything could change in those six years.

Good morning to all!

Balker, baseball interest in San Antonio is growing fairly rapidly these days, thanks in part to the emergence of several quality select teams and also the work of a couple of pro scouts in the area who are working diligently to make things happen for high school athletes aspiring to get college deals. Increasing numbers are taking private lessons, speed/agility training, etc., which is improving the overall quality of play here.

Like Texan said, there is no AAU baseball here. A number of elementary kids still play Little League. McAllister Park LL in North Central S.A. is regarded as the top Little League program in the area. Each Little League program has residential boundaries, so you'll need to check on that.

At this point, the top 2 select programs in town are:

The South Texas Sliders - age 12 and up
(For the past few years, the Sliders have had the most college commitments of any team in S.A.)
www.southtexassliders.com

Xtreme Speed - age 9 and up
(Xtreme Speed also maintains an excellent speed/agility training facility)
http://www.xtremespeedhpc.com/

Emerging programs include:

Alamo Elite - age 9 and up
(Rocky Thompson is an excellent hitting instructor)
http://www.alamoelite.com/main.html

Lights Out - age 13 and up
(Those I have talked with have great things to say about Cedrick Harris)
http://www.lightsoutbaseball.com/Welcome.htm

There is one other emerging program that I would avoid. I will send you a PM with the details.

I don't believe the Sandlot fields any teams, but they do provide lessons and training. Their instructors have quality credentials.
http://www.sandlotsa.com/

The Hack Shack has an excellent hitting instructor named Ken Pape.
http://www.sanantoniohackersbaseball.com/

I have not really heard much about the Baseball School of S.A., but they are on a completely different part of town than we live in.

Texan gives great info regarding schools. The North East ISD is considered best for academics -- apart from Alamo Heights ISD, which does have a good baseball program at 4A Alamo Heights HS. At this point, Reagan HS in North East ISD is tops for both academics and baseball. It currently has 3700 students, but numbers will drop to about 2400 next year when Johnson HS opens. Johnson also should have good academics and its newly-appointed head baseball coach is highly regarded, so hopefully their baseball program will be good. Other schools with good academics and baseball programs include Smithson Valley HS (in Comal ISD in far north San Antonio) and O'Connor HS (in Northside ISD in Helotes, which is a suburb in NW San Antonio). I think Boerne ISD (northwest of San Antonio) will be opening its second high school next year, which should dilute talent at both schools.

Please send me a PM if you have more questions.

Who will be coaching at Johnson?

Johnson's coach will be Coach Gesell, who is currently the head coach at Madison HS.

neighborhoods that feed into Reagan are nice down to earth areas - great place to live and raise a family

Baseball is growing very much in San Antonio.
There are several top tier programs that have been mentioned but there is a solid core of new faces when it comes to San Antonio high school baseball.

Stevens High School(Northside ISD) is only in it's second year of varsity play right now and they are as good as any other team in the area.

Brandeis High School(Northside ISD) will open this fall(2008) and will draw from a very strong talent pool. Their head coach is an asst. coach from Burbank HS here is San Antonio and Burbank is a program that competes with top 5A teams in the area.

There is a lot of growth on all sides of San Antonio but the NW & far westside is BOOMING.

Northside ISD is adding new high schools every two years. After Brandeis HS opens this fall Brennan HS will open in 2010 and the Northside district is only at it's halfway point.

I am topping this thread to pay tribute to a couple of San Antonio-based pro scouts who are working overtime to promote local players. They are Jimmy Gonzales, Midwest Supervisor for the Washington Nationals, and Rudy Vasquez, an L.A. Angels scout whose son pitches for USC.

Their most recent endeavor is the first annual San Antonio Junior/Senior All-Star Game, which will be held June 14 at Wolff Stadium, home of the S.A. Missions. 20-25 San Antonio area players were chosen for each team and about 15-20 professional organizations, as well as many colleges, will be in attendance. The organizers said their goal is to ensure that every participant ends up with a place to play in college.

Senior Selections

Pitchers:
Casey Selsor-Reagan (signed with UTSA)
Jason Williams-Churchill
Ethan Lutz-Bandera (signed with Univ. of Incarnate Word)
Kirk Jewasko-East Central (signed with Univ. of Incarnate Word)
Jonathan Perez-Stevens (signed with St. Mary's Univ.)
Brian Brademan-Boerne
Roy Branch-Jay (signed with Cisco JC)
Mundo Sanchez-Alamo Heights
Ory Kalenkosky-Marshall (signed with Cisco JC)

CATCHERS:
Tyler Ogle-NB Canyon (signed with McLennan CC)
Santiago Ruiz-Reagan (signed with Blinn JC)
Zach Russell-Smithson Valley (signed with Arkansas)

Infielders:
Matt James-NB Canyon (signed with San Jacinto JC)
Terry Salazar-O'Connor (signed with Cisco JC)
Matt Garza-Macarthur (signed with Stanford)
Esteban Raygoza-Burbank (signed with St. Mary's Univ.)
John Zule-Stevens (signed with Univ. of Incarnate Word)
Ben Woodchick-Smithson Valley (signed with Oklahoma)
Josh McElroy-O'connor (signed with St. Mary's Univ.)
Ben Mrachek-Reagan (signed with Dallas Baptist)

Outfielders:
J.P. Ramirez-NB Canyon (signed with Tulane)
Matt Moreno-Stevens (signed with Midland JC)
Tyler Migl-O'connor (signed with McLennan CC)
Ryan Grant-Taft
Andrew Marcum-Clemens

Junior Selections

Pitchers:
Cory Bafidis-Smithson Valley
Carter Hahn-Reagan
Caleb Miller-Home school
Brad Nasis-Smithson Valley
Matt Harrell-Macarthur
Josh Solis-South San
Nick Bolleter-Churchill
Blake Marino-Warren

Catchers:
Luke Boswell-Judson
Jeremiah Moeller-NB Canyon

Infielders:
Nick Smelser-Macarthur
Trey Catalini-San Antonio Christian
Cody Scott-O'connor
Alex Salaz-Burbank
Vincent Postert-Reagan
Josh Sepulveda-Boerne
Patrick Ramirez-Antonian

Outfielders:
Niko Gonzales-Boerne
Nick Lee-Madison
Zac Dodson-Medina Valley
Trent Jones-Alamo Heights

Last fall, Jimmy Gonzales organized the first annual South Texas Pro Scouts Showcase, which allowed about 200 high school participants to display their skills in front of dozens of pro and college scouts. Many participants received college offers as a result. In January, both pro scouts sponsored several hitting nights for local players, which helped prepare them for their high school seasons. Future plans include putting together a scout team for the San Antonio area.

Compared to Dallas and Houston, San Antonio has oftentimes gotten the short end of the stick regarding exposure and college/pro opportunities. That is understandable, given that DFW and Houston are much larger metropolitan areas. Regardless, it is wonderful that these two pro scouts have stepped up to lend assistance to the dozens of talented players in the San Antonio area who want to play at the next level.