Prep Baseball Report - Top Class of 2009

Before you "raise eyebrows" check to see if all the high school coaches filled our their paperwork on the kids who you believe are being shortchanged. Chances are they didn't.

This thread also gets so tiring every time a new issue of the magazine comes out.

DM, I am surprised you didn't mention Jason's WY team mate that wasn't mentioned. John Schreiber is a lefty power hitting first baseman. I have watched him a few out with the Blues this fall. Great power for a junior who hasn't filled out yet. He certainly is at least a "player to watch".

I have mentioned John Schreiber as a "Player to Watch" several times here on HSBBW. Most recently he is given recognition within the "Augustana Showcase Thread" as having hit a Grand Slam HR.

As of yet Schreiber is not included within the PBR rankings of 2010 Players to Watch. He is a standout player and definitely belongs.

Unless I missed him within the PBR Mag.

A lot of the PBR rankings are determined by the player going to PBR showcase. I see a number of players that should be higher, but are lower below guys that have attended there showcases. I wouldn't look into these rankings to hard after the top 50.

Every head coach in at least the northern part of Illinois gets a form from PBR to fill out before every season for their season preview. In the form is a section to mark top players in your program from freshmen year to senior year.

While rankings are subjective, and going to showcases can help, a kid has no chance to be mentioned in the magazine if he doesn't attend a showcase and his coach doesn't put him on the list.

CoachIU

What exactly is the bottom line in a nutshell as far as you are concerned ?

CoachIU26, the player has a much better chance if the coach recommends him or he attends a showcase, but I disagree that he has no chance if neither of these two happen. There are other ways to get noticed. Consider the Dan Rowe story this past week.

Fastball 09- i couldnt agree more, many of PBRs rankings are based mostly on what those kids do at the showcase. i am not bashing the hard work duncan and his staff do at all, i respect the hell out of them and a lot of their rankings are accurate, but for some i mean come on, a lot of people can look great fielding ground balls on turf, or throwing a 15 pitch bullpen, or taking a round of BP.there are many kids who could be ranked higher had they attended more showcases.

again not trying to bash PBR at all, just stating my opinion

I see alot of names of kids in the new magazine that didn't attend a PBR event. I think you guys might be thinking of Perfect Game. They don't comment or grade out any kid that doesn't attend one of their paid events. There's players that go to their tournaments that will get listed but not graded.

Sounds like sour grapes from parents whose kid isn't ranked or on something. Not that PBR is the be all end all to things but it has alot of good players in it. People are human, even college and pro guys miss out on guys but for the most part the better players in the area are in the booklet that I can tell.

Does anyone subscribe to the PBR website? I haven't been able to view any rankings or content on the site for a while now - wondered if anyone else is having the same issue?

I subscribe to the website and have had no problems.

Nails...are you my wife?, got to be....you sound just like her? I guess you got on here to see what I am doing all the time, LOL...I like your choice of a screen name.

ive had no problems either

I'm good too.

I'll get the ball rolling on this. Matt Nelsen of Cary was 8-0 as a pitcher with upper .300 batting average. He plays a solid thrd base and has very good speed. I believe that he definitely qualifies for the top 150 in the state. Sometimes three sport athletes get overlooked because they are too busy to get their name out there as much as others.

Wouldn't we all agree that PBR, or any other "ranking agency" can't possibly be the end all authority?

Even Perfect Game can't possibly see everyone.

it seems by some of the comments under the kids and their rankings they take into account HS stats, but in my opinion HS stats are meaningless. The competition you face on a daily basis is sub par at best in alot of schools. While other conferences are very very good. Take Gerardo Esquival, you look at his stats and you think he's terrible. He didn't win a game last year on the mound, but he's a top 20 pitcher. Going to a major D1 school and has a lot of talent. Maybe he was on a bad team, maybe he got bad breaks, maybe he didn't know how to pitch. Either way HS stats need to be looked at a little IMO because you can't control who you play so if you have great stats against bad teams, thats not your fault, your playing whose in front of you. But ultimately they really don't tell the entire story of a player.

My comment is not meant to be critical of any ranking service or publication. It is merely to get a conversation started regarding players who may be flying under the radar. I do agree that most rankngs for pitchers are based on the radar gun as opposed to high school stats. If that is what the colleges are looking for, I guess that is how they should be ranked.

The other reason to start this up is to possibly move the conversation to unheralded kids as opposed to about one parent on the other thread.

RRF8, your comment is critical of any ranking system or you would not have indicated his lack of recognition. I have said this before, I will say it again, I have failed to see anyone work as hard to get information out (biased or unbiased) as does PBR. There is no authority when it comes to ranking players, it is a subjective process. It will never be objective (because the player with the better statistics is not always the better player). From a coaches perspective there are a few objective statistics that count and the rest are for the parents.

Nails, it is continually difficult to hear you lament about the ineffectiveness of HS baseball. Your agenda is tiresome, move on. I think if you look you will see that there are plenty of players who lack the skills, look awful in a uniform and possess negative mannerisms, non of which can be attributed to HS baseball. There are some things in life that can't overcome bad genetics.

Playball2, as you said it is subjective. Because it is subjective, I can offer my opinion. My opinion does not demean the opinion of PBR. At no time did I say that they did not work hard. Do you ever watch a baseball game and wonder why the manger did not bunt in a certain situation? Second guessing that is part of the beauty of baseball. It does not mean that you hate the manager. It also doesn't mean I am right and they are wrong but we are entitled to our opinion. Also, you do realize that some high school coaches chose not to participate in PBR's survey. Should their player's lose the recognition if that is their personal choice?

I believe that he definitely qualifies for the top 150 in the state.

quote:

My comment is not meant to be critical of any ranking service or publication.

Because it is subjective, I can offer my opinion.

Which one is it, all criticism is opinion based. Don't excuse your opinion by prefacing your not be critical. That is what your doing. What are you concerned about? future ramifications?

What are the chances that the player just is not as good as you perceive him to be? If he is as good as you say he is he will not be unranked too long.

Are we debating sematics on this site now? All I am trying to do is have a friendly conversation with the High School baseball fans on this website. PBR came out with a list of their top 150 2009 grads. I respect their opinion and I am sure that they put significant time in creating their list. All I am saying is that Nelsen would be on my list of top 150 in the state. I am asking others if there would be someone who is currently under the radar that would be on their list. It is just meant to be a friendly baseball discussion.

If you would like to contribute to this light discussion, I would like to hear what you believe are the critical statistics that count from a coach's perspective.

Can someone please list all 150 rankings so we can review and comment.

I can't beleive that PBR gives much weight to any stats in ranking the kids.

quote:

I respect their opinion and I am sure that they put significant time in creating their list.

What a great way of saying things don't you think? As far as pertinent statistics, I keep a quality AB chart witch takes in account the amount of LD's, GB's, 0-2 to 3-2, Runner advancement, RBI's, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Tuzigoot:
Can someone please list all 150 rankings so we can review and comment.

Is that information available to the public or is it subscription only?

1-50

1 Ian Krol Neuqua Valley HS
2 Jerad Grundy Johnsburg HS
3 Scott Firth Stevenson HS
4 Nathan Dorris Marion HS
5 Blair Springfield Decatur MacArthur
6 Dan Sheppard Downers Grove North HS
7 Dane Opel Edwardsville
8 Matt Milroy Marmion Academy
9 Ryan Crowley Morton HS
10 Blake Brown Normal West
11 Justin Ringo Stagg HS
12 Seth Schwindenhammer Limestone HS
13 Kevin Johnson Mount Carmel HS
14 Tanner Bushue South Central HS
15 Mike Falsetti Fenwick
16 Tanner Witt Lake Zurich HS
17 Anthony Maldanado Oak Park-River Forest HS
18 Zach Hirsch St. Charles North HS
19 Gerardo Esquival De La Salle
20 Todd Dunham Fremd H.S.
21 Ian Gardeck Crystal Lake South HS
22 Cam Verbeke Fenwick HS
23 Eric Shannahan Collinsville HS
24 Brad Sorkin Stevenson HS
25 Davis Hendrickson Macomb
26 Brian Krolikowski Batavia
27 Alex Staehely Benet Academy
28 Mike McKinley Neuqua Valley HS
29 Jack Havey Loyola HS
30 Christian Cummins Harrisburg HS
31 Brandon Hohl Lincoln-Way East
32 Jon Carleson Rolling Meadows HS
33 Jack DeAno Wheaton North HS
34 Taylor Eikenberry Rock Falls
35 Chris Razo Illinois Valley Central HS
36 Angelo Burrage St. Rita HS
37 Justin Kopale St. Rita HS
38 Karch Kowalczyk LaSalle-Peru
39 Walter Wijas Conant
40 Clay Murphy Shawnee
41 Matt Robin Stevenson
42 Brett Kay St. Viator
43 Jordan Coffey Batavia
44 Mike Tauchman Fremd HS
45 Joe Begel Hinsdale South HS
46 Pat Gannon Brother Rice HS
47 Jake Naumann Naperville North HS
48 Bob Schuch Brother Rice HS
49 Troy Barton Libertyville HS
50 Jordan Parr Illinois Valley Central HS

I seriously think that PBR rankings are more about where they feel the kids may project at the next level. So more pertinent statistics to them would be: height, weight, 60, pop time, velocity across infield, hands, crow hop velocity from outfield, hitting, fastball velocity ave & max stuff like this. A kids W-L record, BA, OBP HRs etc IMO probably are not weighted very heavily at all in their rankings.

quote:

Is that information available to the public or is it subscription only?

Player rankings and videos are subscription only, you can view showcase results without a subscription.

Not so sure tuzi as at least in the past pbr listed many stats. I also am not sure if they spend enough time on this many players to project out all that much.

In my opinion.... these rankings are a joke. The only way to get a proper ranking is to have the top players all come to the same showcase and get evaluated. But, we all know that will not happen, unless Mr. PBR decides to offer a free showcase.LOL

Mr. PBR also needs to make sure he properly identifies the players in his photos and videos, I know of at least 2 errors. He also must realize that some players have the same name as others. i.e. there may be more than 1 Bob Smith. But, when your just trying to add photos and videos, to make your magazine and website look good who cares right?

here we go.........

These ranking are what they are. No top secret initiative to cure the common cold. If you don't like the rankings, don't subscribe to the publication. I have not known Sean to say that he is the end all/know all of baseball in Illinois. He does a good job and provides a nice service. One I might add, didn't exist in this form in this state prior to his publication.

I've got to tell you guys, I wonder what is in the water up there. I'm betting some member would ***** about the sun coming up.

My kid was listed as a player to watchbecause he attended a winter camp sponsored by PBR. We noticed that there were a number of kids listed in that category solely due to their attendance.

Another of my kids was NEVER listed, he had not attended any PBR sponsored activity, and was a much better player than the one who was. He should have been listed somewhere in the magazine.

We also noticed that there were a few players to watch who had quit the game by the time the magazine came out.

CoachB25, I do not subscribe to the subscrption nor will I ever. But, when college coaches look at the videos and they are incorrectly identified it does hurt the player. Granted most if not all colleges do not look at these videos and make their decision as to pursue the player or not. I'm just saying if Mr. PBR is going to charge for the publication he should at least proof read it first.

I haven’t been around here long enough to know who does or doesn’t belong on the ranked lists. But I can tell you that you should be proud of the players you are producing. This past Sunday I had the pleasure of watching a great game between two Chicago area teams at Iowa while visiting some family. One team was called PBR and the other was Cangellosi Grey. The PBR team was very impressive at the plate, my guess is they have a great batting coach and their pitching was outstanding. I would say they are one of the better high school teams I’ve seen. The Grey team was nowhere near the size of PBR physically but they sure had heart and talent. They battled every inning never giving up. I really thought they were going to come back and win the game. They had a smaller kid at 2nd base (does pedroia have a kid brother in Chicago?) that made some incredible plays. He made a bare handed play that I swear was as good as any I’ve ever seen on ESPN. Is he on the list? I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you is that what he and the other players showed on the field was much more impressive than any list. It was a great game , played by some great players. So take it from an outsider, the talent you are producing is much larger than your list.

Ok,
1 vote for better proof reading
1 vote for better investigation of players

That should pretty much cover it I think.

Amen to that CPLZ

This is funny stuff.

No one showcase will determine who should be ranked where, at least to the point where it matters. Pitching velocity, etc. can be different one day to the next. I'm sure anyone who matters would rather see you play in a game.

As CoachB said it is what it is. And that's what you want it to be. If you want to put a lot of importance on it, then it is important to you. If not, then it means nothing to you. Maybe it's just it's just Hot-Stove League stuff......and that's good too.

Any of you who have kids that either think being highly ranked guarantees they will get a great deal from a school are just as wrong as those who feel like they aren't ranked they can't get any interest.

Yes, there are inaccuracies....some kids listed no longer play, maybe one kid who is better than another kid at the same school isn't listed. Maybe a HS Coach didn't give any info. Maybe a HS Coach has his favorites. None of this means much if you don't want it to. There are other ways to promote a kid than saying what The PBR thinks of him. Perfect Game, though not perfect (pun intended) probably has about 100X more influence than does PBR. if you don't like PBR's ranking, get them ranked by PG.

I'd like to hear from just one Coach at a D-1 Program tell us just how much rankings like this matter to him/his prgram. I'll bet that various Travel Coaches like Copp and Fine have more influence with soem of these coaches than do any rankings.