Anybody care to try to preview the 2011 season for the Virginia Prep League?
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The Prep league is going to be a race for 2nd place this year. St Annes is absolutely loaded and should run away with the prep league title. Spinosa is a solid ace and White is a monster in the middle of that order. Everyone on that team can hit and flat out move on the bases. St Chris lost a lot but still has some solid talent led by Casey Fox. ChristChurch has a great ace in Michael Taylor and very little else. Trinity lost a lot as well with Hawkins, Tarsovich, and Bradley all graduating, their young guys will have to step up. Collegiate will miss Bronson but had some solid young hitters last year. FUMA and Woodberry will most likely be at the bottom of the league unless they landed some new players from last yr. Neither seemed to have too much talent last yr and Woodberry graduated their one true stud Kronenfeld.
Outside of the Prep League the team to watch is going to be the defending champs Benedictine. They have a very solid one-two punch on the mound in Joseph and Woods. STAB-Benedictine is going to be a heck of a matchup this yr. Steward should be solid as well led by Hayden White and Gary LeClair
Outside of the Prep League the team to watch is going to be the defending champs Benedictine. They have a very solid one-two punch on the mound in Joseph and Woods. STAB-Benedictine is going to be a heck of a matchup this yr. Steward should be solid as well led by Hayden White and Gary LeClair
wahoo24 -- Thanks for the run down. You seem pretty well informed. SP_son is new to the VPL this year, so we really don't know much about the competitive level of the league.
I figured STAB to be strong, they usually are. Benedictine is usually srong as well, although I know they are not in the VPL. When it comes to VISAA Tournament time, I have to believe the boys at PVI will have a voice in the outcome, particularly if they can stay healthy this year.
I understand some of the VPL teams are VISAA Division 1 and others are VISAA Division 2 ... that was a bit of a surprise, but it does give the D2 guys the opportunity to compete against teams like STAB.
I figured STAB to be strong, they usually are. Benedictine is usually srong as well, although I know they are not in the VPL. When it comes to VISAA Tournament time, I have to believe the boys at PVI will have a voice in the outcome, particularly if they can stay healthy this year.
I understand some of the VPL teams are VISAA Division 1 and others are VISAA Division 2 ... that was a bit of a surprise, but it does give the D2 guys the opportunity to compete against teams like STAB.
I actually coach in the VPL so I know most of the teams as well as you can seeing them twice a year. PVI has a good squad but I think it probably comes down to STAB and Benedictine.
Steward should be solid as well led by Hayden White and Gary LeClair
-- I like Patrick Phillips as a pitcher for Steward as well. By this summer he should be mid/upper 80's, and his potential by the time he's a senior is very high.
-- I like Patrick Phillips as a pitcher for Steward as well. By this summer he should be mid/upper 80's, and his potential by the time he's a senior is very high.
Phillips is a good player, They have a great coach in Secrest and that is a solid program
Every year STAB is "loaded" yet StC has won or tied for the VPL Championship for each of the past four years and six of the past seven. HOWEVER,think I have to agree this year that STAB may be heads and shoulders above. White is good, real good (short fence at STAB helps but he is GOOD) BTW, he plays that LF very aggressively with the short fence. Reminds me of Yaz in Fenway years ago. Shiflett good also.
Have heard rumor that Taylor (at ChristChurch last year) has transferred to STAB. True?
StC will be young. Fox will hit well. Will pitch also. Loss of Henkel, Fleming, Wagner (catcher) and Bannard (SS). Pitching depth is down. Look out for Reinhart and Yorgen, only sophs, likely to be among best this year.
Trinity lost alot also. Bradley's arm injury last year means less of loss on the mound for this year but other pitchers--Sarlo, Sbertoli graduated also. Hawkins, Tarsovich will be hard to replace.
Collegiate was young last year and Slater did a nice coaching job. Will be better but may still be a year away.
Not VPL teams-- Secrest does great job at Steward although they are DII.
PVI always seems to be there at tourney time. Veeder returns as All_State pick.
Have to agree with Wahoo24 that Benedictine-STAB may be State Finalists.
Final Note-- Pay attention to what Marlin Ikenberry is doing at VMI. Kids mentioned in these notes-- Henkel, Hawkins, Tarsovich are there now. Shiflett (STAB), Woods (Benedictine) and LeClair (Steward) headed there next year. Check out the follwing article http://www2.timesdispatch.com/...al-region-ar-545882/
Have heard rumor that Taylor (at ChristChurch last year) has transferred to STAB. True?
StC will be young. Fox will hit well. Will pitch also. Loss of Henkel, Fleming, Wagner (catcher) and Bannard (SS). Pitching depth is down. Look out for Reinhart and Yorgen, only sophs, likely to be among best this year.
Trinity lost alot also. Bradley's arm injury last year means less of loss on the mound for this year but other pitchers--Sarlo, Sbertoli graduated also. Hawkins, Tarsovich will be hard to replace.
Collegiate was young last year and Slater did a nice coaching job. Will be better but may still be a year away.
Not VPL teams-- Secrest does great job at Steward although they are DII.
PVI always seems to be there at tourney time. Veeder returns as All_State pick.
Have to agree with Wahoo24 that Benedictine-STAB may be State Finalists.
Final Note-- Pay attention to what Marlin Ikenberry is doing at VMI. Kids mentioned in these notes-- Henkel, Hawkins, Tarsovich are there now. Shiflett (STAB), Woods (Benedictine) and LeClair (Steward) headed there next year. Check out the follwing article http://www2.timesdispatch.com/...al-region-ar-545882/
If Taylor transfered to STAB they will be unreal. I find it hard to believe b/c he is from Urbanna making him a non boarding kid at Christchurch but you never know. My only question about STAB would be their number 2 matching up with say a Joseph or Woods from Benedictine but their line-up is dirty and I love watching Kevin White play, he is rock solid.
Michael Taylor and Travis Myers are both at CCS. There is the makngs of a pretty good battery.
Taylor is from West Virginia.
All of this is good. STAB looks to be the team to beat. If VMI keeps corraling all the best private school kids in the state the sky will be the limit for them. It will be interesting to see the contributions from various quarters going forward.
"If VMI keeps corraling all the best private school kids in the state the sky will be the limit for them."
Coach Ikenberry is one of the hardest working coaches in the state/region/country. I've enjoyed watching his career since I played for him at WM. VMI is on the short list of almost every single kid I know. That says a lot for what Marlin and his staff are doing up there.
Rich Prado
www.playinschool.com
Coach Ikenberry is one of the hardest working coaches in the state/region/country. I've enjoyed watching his career since I played for him at WM. VMI is on the short list of almost every single kid I know. That says a lot for what Marlin and his staff are doing up there.
Rich Prado
www.playinschool.com
BTW you Prep League fans might be interested in knowing that the Orioles recently plucked STAB/UVA alum Casey Lambert away from the Cubs in the Rule 5 minor league draft. So maybe someday you'll be able to see him reasonably nearby.
Casey posts on thesabre.com baseball board very frequently under the screenname downward4, he seems to be very excited about this move
Taylor is not from Urbanna, I think someone already said Taylor was from W VA. He was at CCS because of friendship with Myers and family thru travel ball. Thought it sounded odd that he would have transferred to STAB, but stranger things have happened. CCS has a really good coach but Taylor is really all they have. Myers has tools and lots of potential but ..
quote:Originally posted by Prep Ballfan:
Final Note-- Pay attention to what Marlin Ikenberry is doing at VMI. Kids mentioned in these notes-- Henkel, Hawkins, Tarsovich are there now. Shiflett (STAB), Woods (Benedictine) and LeClair (Steward) headed there next year. Check out the follwing article http://www2.timesdispatch.com/...al-region-ar-545882/
The perception is that he's chasing off good quality coaches, IMO. I know of two quality young men that have left in the last few years.
2010: 33-22 / 13-14 Big South Conf.
2009: 18-35 / 10-15
2008: 29-26 / 14-7
2007: 34-21 / 10-11
2006: 30-25 / 9-15
2005: 27-28 / 11-13
2004: 23-32 / 7-20
Overall: 194-189 .507%
Big South: 71-95 .428%
The records speaks for themselves, but I'm surprised that a Big South title has not come to fruition yet with the multimillion dollar facility improvements. Wonder how much longer of basically .500 baseball and sub .500 conference ball is going to last?
quote:Originally posted by PIS:
"If VMI keeps corraling all the best private school kids in the state the sky will be the limit for them."
Coach Ikenberry is one of the hardest working coaches in the state/region/country. I've enjoyed watching his career since I played for him at WM. VMI is on the short list of almost every single kid I know. That says a lot for what Marlin and his staff are doing up there.
Rich Prado
www.playinschool.com
Does being seen everywhere mean your working hard?
I still would like to know what happened with Coach Shelton?
1989 Paul Maini 16-23 8-7
1990 Paul Maini 12-26 6-8
1991 Paul Maini 2-35-1 1-15
1992 Chris Finwood 11-39 4-15
1993 Chris Finwood 20-29 5-15
1994 Chris Finwood 21-29 10-13
1995 Scott Gines 19-28 10-14
1996 Scott Gines 17-29 7-16
1997 Scott Gines 13-35 6-13
1998 Scott Gines 14-35 7-17
1999 Scott Gines 22-27 13-16
2000 Scott Gines 19-30 11-19
2001 Tom Slater 15-32 8-19
2002 Tom Slater 10-41 1-27
2003 Tom Slater 25-27 16-14
The 15 years prior to Ikenberry getting there. Exactly ZERO winning seasons overall and only one winning season in conference.
That program was a dog with fleas before Marlon. He has turned it into a program that has poked its head into the top 25. It is a tremendous feat and he is a very solid coach on many levels.
Prado is spot on when he says he's as hard a recruiter and worker as anyone out there - I have seen it myself.
As for coaches leaving the program - much like the players who leave - VMI isn't for everyone.
1990 Paul Maini 12-26 6-8
1991 Paul Maini 2-35-1 1-15
1992 Chris Finwood 11-39 4-15
1993 Chris Finwood 20-29 5-15
1994 Chris Finwood 21-29 10-13
1995 Scott Gines 19-28 10-14
1996 Scott Gines 17-29 7-16
1997 Scott Gines 13-35 6-13
1998 Scott Gines 14-35 7-17
1999 Scott Gines 22-27 13-16
2000 Scott Gines 19-30 11-19
2001 Tom Slater 15-32 8-19
2002 Tom Slater 10-41 1-27
2003 Tom Slater 25-27 16-14
The 15 years prior to Ikenberry getting there. Exactly ZERO winning seasons overall and only one winning season in conference.
That program was a dog with fleas before Marlon. He has turned it into a program that has poked its head into the top 25. It is a tremendous feat and he is a very solid coach on many levels.
Prado is spot on when he says he's as hard a recruiter and worker as anyone out there - I have seen it myself.
As for coaches leaving the program - much like the players who leave - VMI isn't for everyone.
All of this is interesting but what does it have to do with the VA Prep (high school) League?
Perhaps a separate thread to discuss VMI (or any other college program) would serve the debate on recruiting success and player/asst.coaching retention better.
Perhaps a separate thread to discuss VMI (or any other college program) would serve the debate on recruiting success and player/asst.coaching retention better.
I am very interested in the Big South Conference also, but as the OP, I asked for thoughts on the VPL because I am very interested in hearing about the schools and kids in this HS league.
Southpaw....hope you get some feeback that's on topic.
I don't have any direct insight into the VPL teams in the Richmond, NOVA or C'ville areas. Norfolk Academy has a new coaching staff this year, lead by Chris Dotolo, former head coach at Hofstra.
While I can't comment on any of his returning players, I'm sure he will get the best out of what he has and will "coach up" the new and returning players. IMO he's the bset amateur baseball coach in Tidewater.
I don't have any direct insight into the VPL teams in the Richmond, NOVA or C'ville areas. Norfolk Academy has a new coaching staff this year, lead by Chris Dotolo, former head coach at Hofstra.
While I can't comment on any of his returning players, I'm sure he will get the best out of what he has and will "coach up" the new and returning players. IMO he's the bset amateur baseball coach in Tidewater.
Hey SouthPaw & birddog-- sorry Memorex took this forum to run off on Coach Ikenberry. My originial comments were only to point that he is grabbing some of the better VPL players over the past couple of years and my bet is the program will keep rising with those kids. The article link was to show what kind of college caliber players were coming out of the private schools in Virginia (not to mention others like WFS Kronefeld--Ga Tech 2010, STAB Brett Goodloe W & M 2009 as well as severall DIII players).
See complete list and follow VPL stats once the season begins at the following site.
http://www.ballcharts.com/vplbbto
See complete list and follow VPL stats once the season begins at the following site.
http://www.ballcharts.com/vplbbto
Throw Kurt Fleming into that mix too he was heading to Army if he hadn't been an 8th rd pick
Thanks for the link Prep. I look forward to watching how the VPL unfolds this season.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Prep Ballfan:
Hey SouthPaw & birddog-- sorry Memorex took this forum to run off on Coach Ikenberry. My originial comments were only to point that he is grabbing some of the better VPL players over the past couple of years and my bet is the program will keep rising with those kids......[QUOTE]
No worries ballfan...you are right about the privates....birddog jr. is one of them, but then I am a biased parent!
Ikenberry is a good coach and has it tougher than others on the recruiting front. Lots of subject matter experts know better though.
Hey SouthPaw & birddog-- sorry Memorex took this forum to run off on Coach Ikenberry. My originial comments were only to point that he is grabbing some of the better VPL players over the past couple of years and my bet is the program will keep rising with those kids......[QUOTE]
No worries ballfan...you are right about the privates....birddog jr. is one of them, but then I am a biased parent!
Ikenberry is a good coach and has it tougher than others on the recruiting front. Lots of subject matter experts know better though.