Top 2011

Dylan Craig at Murphysboro will be great player if he keeps improving. 6'3 175 lefty who is already up to 83-84. I saw him yesterday and he flashed a nasty duece also.

Is it really a good idea to rate Freshmen? The good ones are usually the kids that had their growth spurts already. It is not fair to evaluate them against kids that haven't and it also doesn't usually project out to the varsity level anyway.

I'm sorry. I didn't intend for this to turn into a ratings session. I was merely interested in the young guys out there who may be fun to watch.

RRF8, it doesn't hurt to say who's showing signs of being a player as a freshman. I think that everyone understands that these kids have so far to go. This is merely a discussion topic and no one is putting any of these young men in MLB at this point. In fact, I enjoy reading about the younger kids that are doing well. It encourages me and, to be honest, gets me to a few games that I'd never consider.

RRF8, I think a portion of what you might have drawbacks with, although, I don't want to put words in your mouth, is the idea that someone might be saying that these kids are the "its" and no others will develop. I don't think that is the intent but rather to get some names out there. BTW, I know this certain player that is a freshman that no one thinks that much of. S(he) has a long way to go but the weightroom has already produced results. All of the practice etc. is going to pay off. I'm kind of waiting for people, in the future, to start mentioning the name. While it doesn't guarantee anything, being recognized for having ability is good.

Palatine has a freshman shortstop, he possesses some great tools all of which can and will continue to progress. RRF8 not a hair on his chin yet.

I'm fine with all of that then. I'm sure we all know of certain kids that were stars Freshman year and then rested on their laurels while other kids who were not quite as blessed passed them by.

By paying attention to these players at a young age, we have an opportunity to watch them develop throughout time, and that is a fun thing. It will also be fun to see a kid who works very hard and passes some of the more talented players by. For me recently moving to the area I don't have a lot of history for the upperclassmen to see their development. I would like to be able to follow some of these younger guys through their careers.

I was hoping for a better response than this. I heard there is a freshman outfielder playing on the varsity at Oak Forest, has anyone seen him play?

Two of the best freshman in the Peoria area are Dylan Reid (1B/P) at Oneida ROWVA and Joe Kelch (MIF) at East Peoria.

Dylan has already hit four homers in 11 games and Joe has six multi-hit games in 14 outings.

biggerpapi,

Wonderfully said.

How?

I don't care if it comes off as biased, if your kid can play, tell us.

Go ahead Papi, you've earned it. I might even join you (But probably not).

Just a few players that I have seen play who are now starting their HS careers.

Matt Anderson P/INF Hinsdale Central HS 2011

Josh Ferry P/INF Lemont HS 2011

Joey Filomeno P/INF St. Rita HS 2011

Kevin Colburn INF Warren Township HS 2011

Parker Asmann P/INF Lake Zurich HS 2011

Paul Warble P/OF Conant HS 2011

Joey Belmonte C/INF Conant HS 2011

Jose Godinez P/INF Immaculate Conception HS 2011

Zac Lewinski C Benet Academy 2011

John Dillon P/INF Downers Grove South HS 2011

Nick Tenerelli C Downers Grove South HS 2011

the big guy at St. Rita Fillomeno probably spelled it wrong but he is a big kid and brings it pretty good!

I also heard Fillimo can bring it, people were telling me he's throwing 88 mph as a freshman. I find that very hard to believe. Has anyone seen the kid throw to confirm this? I have no doubt he's probably solid but that velocity that early is scary. Heard he's had arm problems already as well, can anyone confirm any of this? There's also a kid at Benet that's a freshman and supposed to be the real deal. It's hard to rank and project freshman because so many things can happen from now until they are juniors.

From the Benet Varsity Roster
Andrew Jachna INF Benet Academy 2011

quote:

Originally posted by bystndr:
I also heard Fillimo can bring it, people were telling me he's throwing 88 mph as a freshman. I find that very hard to believe. Has anyone seen the kid throw to confirm this? I have no doubt he's probably solid but that velocity that early is scary. Heard he's had arm problems already as well, can anyone confirm any of this?

I can speak from personal experience having coached against Joe for a number of years. In my opinion, Joe is one of the toughest kids we've faced on the state, regional, and national levels. When on his game, he's as good as it comes with a fastball in the low-mid 80's and a buzzsaw of a curve...88 mph is a bit of a stretch though he'll undoubtedly get there in the near future. Good kid who I wish all the best to...just not against us.

Romeoville has 3 freshman playing on the varsity, I saw them last night and they looked pretty promising.

The 3 Freshman from Romeoville are:
inf Kyle Lenihan (sorry about the speling Kyle)
Catcher Matt Gillis
OF Brian Weber i've coached all 3 of these kids (hope i helped them some) in youth ball at one time or another great kids gifted baseball players

Is the purpose of this post to identify young players that you might not know of so you can then invite to your fall league or summer teams and to get them involved with those things?

If it is, that's fine but I will never understand why parents get critized and ridiculed on here for promoting their own kids or the HS their kids go to when there's organizations use this to promote their tryouts, teams, etc.........and there's guys promoting their speed camps, showcases, etc. Seems like most have an agenda either way.

If we relied completely on this site to identify the players to participate in the fall league we would have a pretty thin league. Certainly some of the promising young players that I see do get invited to play in the fall league, however I started the post due to a genuine interest in watching how freshman compete at the varsity level.

I have also contributed to not only this forum with additional players, but also to the top sophomores forum as well.

I understand there are many agendas that are the driving force behind some posters. I will not attempt to say that I haven't posted on this site with somewhat of a business-minded purpose, nor that I won't do it again. But in this instance I truly do want to get some direction towards where I should be heading to watch games. Nothing more, nothing less.

I understand that was the purpose, I am just expressing that there possibly was another purpose in mind as well. I can't blame you at all either because this is a great site to gather information on kids and whose doing well locally and you want to be involved and get good people into your organizations. I just see where people get ridiculed for promoting their own kids or HS their kids are on but for some reason organizations or instructors don't get criticized when they are trying to promote themselves. I guess I am trying to stick up for the parents or a particular mom that takes a beating on here and make things fair for everyone.

And I know you commented on the sophmore and reading other posts he's a kid that you give lessons to and I accept that you'd have the best criteria of him since you see him often. I guess i'd like to see a more well rounded discussion about players in general rather than organization just promoting and talking up their own guys. I'm sure there's players people see that aren't on their particular summer team or that they don't give lessons to that they think are good. I am not pointing you out either, there's plenty of people on here that JUST talk up their guys and nobody else. I find that just as biased as the Dad commenting about how good his schools team is or how good the conference is they are in. Usually the people that run summer teams or give lessons are knowledgable so it would be nice to see what they think of all the players mentioned not just the one's directly involved with them.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah blah,...



Dont step in the poopie

I just want to be clear that I have never given Andres a lesson. I have watched him throw, and even given him some FREE advice, because I do think he is a very talented player and had some advice that I felt would be helpful in his development, nut I have never given him a lesson. This is far from me pumping up guys that I work with or that are in our organization.

Also, I have given very positive recommendations to many college coaches regarding players that I do not coach, and are not in our organization. I have seen them play, feel they are good players and that they could help a college program. If anyone has further issue with my motives, please PM me and we can talk more in depth regarding exactly what my motives are.

My feeling is that ANY Freshman deemed good enough to play at the varsity level is a player that would be interesting to watch develop.
Anderson from Hinsdale and Fillimino from St. Rita are the only 2 I know or have seen from those listed. Both are very good. Fillimino reminds me of Matt Fulton, who is a Senior at Nazareth--he throws harder, but is not as poised. I don't see him getting much bigger or stronger (he's plenty of both now), but has the potential to develop into a dominating pitcher.

I dont have a mule in this race but isnt this site here to promote HS players?

I did not interpret the original post as a means of gleaning names but more a means to get these kids some name expsoure so they can be followed thru their HS career

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The money looks decent TR...




.

Here's a few to watch.. Parker Asmann Lake Zurich, playing Soph as a Fresh and leading LZ squad. Hard throwing righty with good breaking stuff. Joey Filimino, LHP, yes he is throwing mid to high 80's and currently on Varsity staff at St Rita. Ryan Kennedy playing Soph as a Fresh at Warren - 4 appearances, 4 complete games, 26 K, 6 BB, O.OO ERA. Expecting to join his brother on Varsity soon. Ryan and Joey both play summer ball for Dave Wabick and Upper Deck. Kevin Colburn, 3B, Warren, hits a ton.

I saw Josh Ferry throw for Lemont on the varsity and he was very impressive. I had him 75-78 with good, heavy arm side run and good rotation on his breaking ball. I can see him developing into an upper 80s sinker slider guy who ends up being a ground ball machine. Also, I saw Jeff Boehm play rightfield for Mt. Carmel's varsity. He swung very well. Has a chance to be a premier power hitter.

v
Tell me more about the kids in CSG's group-I live in the area nd would like to see them-DC1

Don't rule out the kids playing at the Freshman level and have not been moved up. Geneva has a Freshman capable of playing at most Varsity programs.

quote:

Originally posted by Hipper:
Don't rule out the kids playing at the Freshman level and have not been moved up. Geneva has a Freshman capable of playing at most Varsity programs.

Good point, Hipper. There's a whole bunch of kids in that category who are the victims of ignorant varsity coaches.

Geneva Freshman

Chris Hipchen
Mike Monaghan

We have the most ignorant coaches at our HS-they dont listen to anything anyone has to offer. Is this acroos the board? Very low self esteem-almost afraid of letting someone give them a good idea or good info about players..its their way or the highway..so sad..

Well, if you really were "dacoach" at some point in your son's life, I will GUARANTEE you that there were plenty of parents along the way who felt exactly the same way about you. It comes with the territory.

They may be ignorant people (in your estimation) but they were smart enough to do something that many did not - put themselves in a position where they have an opportunity to coach in high school. If you think you can do better, then go ahead and do what they did and get yourself a high school team so all the former youth baseball coaches can stand on the sidelines and critique your self-esteem.

And as bigger said - wrong thread!

Besides that, I don't want my kid's high school coach listening to parents who are trying to manipulate them. I want every kid on the team to earn what they get on their own. If it means that maybe the coach makes a mistake now and then, I can live with that. At least he is doing what he thinks is best for the team, not what someones else thinks is best.

I just want to say that occasionally, I have gotten a cold hot dog or warm beverage from the concession stand during a ballgame. OOPS. Sorry. Wrong thread.

that's another good point RRF8... we had a travel coach who made sure he got to the freshman coach first to let him know exactly who should play what position... gave him a batting line up and everything. After having him as a coach for 4 years, it was refreshing to see our son get evaluated based on his own ability, not on the fact that he wasn't the son of one of our coaches. Oddly enough, our son was one of only two still playing from that team by senior year... none of the coaches sons could hack it once they had to fend for themselves. When it's time for high school, it's time for dad to buy himself a comfy chair and learn to enjoy the game from a different perspective.

And JKennedy - not at OUR concession stand you didn't!