Preseason All Northern Region Nominations: Catcher

Donnie Heuptle - West Springfield Sr. A three year Varsity letter winner at positions other than catcher finally getting his turn behind the plate in H.S. ball. Started at catcher for the Canes North 2012 last year and for the Stars the two years prior.

Donnie is a stud, should have started last year at catcher.

I like Donnie but, just to be clear, he was not our starting catcher. Matt Reed, Clemson signee, was our top catcher on the North team.

Garrett Driscoll has got to one of, if not the best catcher in the region. He recieves the ball better than the majority of professional catchers(absolutely fantastic), an absolute cannon for an arm, and can rake. Also fast, that's right I said FAST. He may be a junior, but he's a big reason LB is as good as they are.

I will take Bobby San Martin 8 days a week. Not taking anything away from any of these other young men.

Papa27....WTF..comments like this is what turns a topic south real quick, cmon. Garrett is a very good catcher for a junior. He actually should be a senior but was held back one year. It will be fun to see how he ends up and he definitely will have choices on where to play at the next level.

playright, the right kid caught for West Springfield last year.

@novaball

Your response to papa is what gets the board off track. He is entitled to his opinion just like anybody else, we can read it and draw our own conclusions. The kid being held back has nothing to do with anything. Suffice it to say he is a good high school catcher and deserves to be recognized as such

quote:

Originally posted by Nxtpitch:
@novaball

Your response to papa is what gets the board off track. He is entitled to his opinion just like anybody else, we can read it and draw our own conclusions. The kid being held back has nothing to do with anything. Suffice it to say he is a good high school catcher and deserves to be recognized as such

nxtpitch: I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but statements like "He recieves the ball better than the majority of professional catchers" when referring to 99.9786% of all HS catchers is a bit outlandish. That said, what I have seen of Garrett is a very nice HS catcher. I too think he will have options to play at the next level.

Physical ages do mean a lot in talking about talent levels and projecting kids in the inexact science of evaluating talent for college ball.

There should be no negative implications of being held back, and some seniors are just 17, while some are as old as 18.5. You can find all kinds of examples, at both ends of the age spectrum of kids going on to play at the next level.

College coaches offering scholarships do look at this.