Nationals Arm Race

Final HS Post of the 2017 year.

Here’s the rough schedule of posting and what we’ll cover:

• #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff.  Covers: MD regionals, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates.  Usually publishes the week before Memorial day tournament finals.
• #2: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA Regional Champs crowned.  Covers: MD state finals, VA regionals finals.  Usually publishes first week of June.
  #3: Virginia State Champions crowned .  Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results.  Publishes mid-June once the Va state tourney wraps up.
• #4: Players of the Year/All-State lists and final rankings (this post); publishes early July once all the all-state lists are published.

We have finally passed all the “All-Everything” lists start getting published.  Here’s my tracker of them.  I try to note the player of the year in each case.  If i’m missing something, please let me know.  I’ve put results in red that I either cannot find or are behind a paywall or seem to have been discontinued.  I realize this is kind of anti-climactic at this point; lots of these players mentioned were drafted weeks ago and may already be playing.  But it takes some of these orgs til late June/early July to announce.

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Individual Player Accolades Announced

In addition to being playoff-baseball time, this is also the time of the year that we start to see player awards.  I’ll put these in as they publish, but we won’t expect most of these until the end of June.

• Gatorade announced their player of the year awards on 5/29/17:
  • Maryland: Harold Cortijo, RHP/OF from Riverdale Baptist.  Committed to play at Seminole State, drafted in the 14th round by the New York Yankees; signed on 6/18/17.
  • Washington DC: Jack Roberts, RHP/SS from St. Johns.  Committed to play at Elon.  Undrafted.
  • Virginia: Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS.  Committed to play for UVA.  Drafted in 36th round by the New York Yankees; likely to go to school.

• Louisville Slugger All-Americans: not sure if being named any longer.
• National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) All Mid Atlantic Region: can’t find a link but has apparently been named as per MaxPreps bios on Cortijo and Abbott.
• MaxPreps High School All-Americans; named 7/3/17.  Jordon Adell  National player of the year.  Cortijo, Abbott
• Baseball America High School All-Americans: named 6/27/17.  Jordon Adell  National player of the year.   No DC/MD/VA players on any of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd team this year.
• USA Today/American Family All-USA teams.  named 6/13/17.   Jordon Adell  National player of the year.   Harold Cortijo named to 3rd team All-USA.
• American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings High School All Americans: named 6/22/17.  MacKenzie Gore POTY.  Danny Hosley from Langley and Kody Milton from Severna Park named to 3rd team.
• Collegiate Baseball High School All-Americans: named 6/16/17: Tanner Burns is POTY.  Jose Rivera, Harold Cortijo, and  Andrew Abbott named.
• Perfectgame.org/Rawlings All-Americans: Jordon Adell and MacKenzie Gore were their National Player and Pitcher of the year (both were upper 1st round picks)
  • Maryland: Harold Cortijo
  • Washington DC: none named.
  • Virginia:  Andrew Abbott
• Washington Post All-Met teams: Announced 6/9/17.   Harold Cortijo, RHP/OF from Riverdale Baptist is All Met player of the year.
• The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro Team: Announced 6/25/17.  Kody Milton a Jr. 3B from Severna Park, is POTY.  Early commit to UMaryland.
• Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Metro Team: announced 6/27/17. Evan Justice– Collegiate School, a LHP from Richmond committed to NC State.
• Virginian Pilot All-Tidewater team:  Hunter Gregory, DH/RHP from Hickory is the POTY.  Committed to ODU.
• Virginia All 6-A North Regional team: Langley’s Danny Hosley is player of the year (no PG profile/unknown college commit).  Madison’s Jake Nielsen pitcher of the year (a Junior w/o a current college commitment).
• Virginia All 6-A South Regional team: Austin Cabone from Cox and Hunter Vay  a Catcher from Thomas Vale co-players of the year.   Cabone is commited to George Mason, Vay to Virginia Commonwealth/VCU.
• Virginia All 5-A North Regional team: Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS player of the year.
• Virginia All 5-A South Regional team: certainly named, cannot find link.
• Virginia All 4A West Regional team: Will Merriken OF from Kettle Run player of the year.  Committed to Roanoke College.
• Virginia All 3A East Regional team: Daniel Brooks SS from Spotsylvania player of the year.   Committed to GMU.
• Other Virginia All-Regional teams: pending/unknown;
• Northern Virginia All-District teams: Available at this link at Novabaseballmagazine.com, thanks to Joey Kamide for all his hard work.
• NovaBaseballMagazine Nova-NINE: Michael Ludowig is the Northern Virginia player of the year; Wake Forest commit.
• PrepBaseballReport All Maryland Team: Harold Cortijo, RHP/OF from Riverdale Baptist is POTY.
• PrepBaseballReport All Virginia/DC Team:  Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS is POTY.
• VHSL All-State Teams:
  • 6-A: Austin Cabone RHP from Cox is player of the year.  GMU commit.
  • 5-A: Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS is Player of the Year, UVA commit.
  • 4-A: Will Merriken OF from Kettle Run is POTY.  Roanoke College
  • 3-A: Justin Showalter, RHP from Turner Ashby, is POTY.  JMU commit.
  • 2-A: Hunter Brown OF from John Battle HS is POTY.  ? commit.
  • 1-A: Austin Smallwood, RHP from Eastside HS is POTY.  ? commit
• VISAA’s All-State teams:
  • Division I All State Team with several Paul VI and Flint Hill players.  Player of the Year: Evan Justice– Collegiate School, a LHP from Richmond committed to NC State.
  • Division II All State Team.  Player of the year: Ethan Murray– Miller School, a Junior SS/RHP who sports a 4.0 and is an early commit to Duke.
  • Division III All State Team.   Player of the Year: Carter Davis– Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot, a C from Powhattan committed to St. Andrews Presbyterian College.
• Maryland All-MIAA All-State teams: behind a paywall that i’m tired of fighting 🙂
  • MIAA A division: behind a paywall
  • MIAA B division: behind a paywall
  • MIAA C division: behind a paywall
• Anne-Arundel County All-Baseball team: Kody Milton a Jr. 3B from Severna Park, is POTY.  Early commit to UMaryland
• All Baltimore-City 2017 Baseball team: behind a paywall
• All WCAC 2017: Jack Roberts, RHP/SS from St. Johns player of the year.
• All MAC 2017: no POTY named; if you asked me I’d probably go Carter Bosch, P/SS from the Potomac School, who was All-Met 1st team as a junior.
• All IAC 2017: Randy Bednar, SS from Landon is IAC POTY.  Committed to UMaryland.

If I missed an award, or if you know of something I don’t, don’t hesitate to post.

Draft Coverage so far for 2017:

• 2017 Draft coverage; Local draft-prospects to keep an eye in for the 2017 draft
• 2017 Draft coverage; Mock Draft mania plus my projected top-5 and Nats picks
• 2017 Draft coverage; Prospect ranks, important links and local players of note
• Nats first two 2017 draft picks reaction: Risk and Reward
• First Look: Quick overview of Nats top 10 Draft picks for 2017

Here’s a quick rundown of the DC-area kids who got drafted this year.  My definition of “DC Area” includes any draftee who went to HS in the DC area or who attends a DC-area college.  Thus this includes University of Maryland players, even inf most of them went to HS outside the area.  NovaBaseballMagazine.com has a version of this story, and AllMetSports.com also published one if you’re interested.

Round	Overall	State	Drafting Team	Name	Position	Col/HS	HS	College
1	15	VA	Houston	J.B. Bukauskas	RHP	Col Jr	Stone Bridge (Ashburn)	UNC
2-S	70	VA	Colorado	Tommy Doyle	RHP	Col Jr	Flint Hill (Vienna)	UVA
4	129	MD	Toronto	Kevin Smith	SS	Col Jr	Update NY	Umaryland
6	172	MD	Arizona	Brian Shaffer	RHP	Col Jr	N. Harford, Pylesville MD	Umaryland
10	294	VA	Milwaukee	Alec Bettinger	RHP	Col Jr	Hylton (Woodbridge)	UVA
14	422	MD	New York Yankees	Harold Cortijo	RHP	HS	Riverdale Baptist	Seminole State
17	515	VA	Detroit	Billy Lescher	RHP	Col Jr	West Potomac HS	Penn
17	524	VA	Texas	Tyler Ratliff	3B	Col Jr	TC Williams	Marshall U
18	527	VA	Cincinnati	John Ghyzel	RHP	Col Jr	Westfield (C'ville)	U Rochester
19	558	VA	San Diego	Nick Feight	1B	Col Sr	Battlefield	UNC-Wilmington
19	566	VA	Colorado	Joey Bartosic	CF	Col Sr	Oakton HS	George Washington
20	598	MD/VA	Pittsburgh	Will Reed	RHP	J2	Loudoun Valley (Purceville)	Harford CC
21	625	VA	Los Angeles Angels	Devon Perez	RHP	Col Jr	Stone Bridge (Ashburn)	Oklahoma
22	653	VA	Philadelphia	Brian Mims	2B	Col Jr	Forest Park HS (Woodbridge)	UNC-Wilmington
27	800	MD	Atlanta	Randy Bednar	CF	HS	Landon School	Umaryland
27	820	MD	Los Angeles Dodgers	Jeremy Arocho	SS	HS	Old Mill	Northwest Florida State College
31	921	VA	Oakland	Brandon Withers	RHP	Col Sr5	Osborn (Manassas)	JMU
31	937	MD	New York Mets	Ryan Selmer	RHP	Col Jr	Riverdale Baptist	Umaryland
32	946	VA	Minnesota	Nick Brown	RHP	Col Sr	Patriot (Bristow)	William & Mary
34	1023	MD	Seattle	David Hesslink	LHP	Col Sr	Bethesda-Chevy Chase	MIT
36	1071	VA	Oakland	Logan Farrar	OF/LHP	Col Jr	Woodbridge HS	VCU
37	1109	MD	Miami	Jared Price	RHP	Col Sr5	Pennsylvania HS	UMaryland

That’s not a bad collection of DC-area guys.  We all knew J.B. Bukauskas would go high; lots of the mock drafts I saw had him as high as 6th.  However two unsteady starts to close out his career (in the ACC tourney and then in the Regionals of the CWS) dropped him probably 10 spots from where he could have gone.  Rumor has it he was suffering from a blister.  Suffice it to say, Houston has to be ecstatic that they got him at 15.  I’m slightly surprised how high Tommy Doyle went honestly; I would have guessed him to go a bit lower based on his profile now at UVA (reliever).  But he’s now looking at an $800k+ bonus.  UMaryland infielder Kevin Smith went a bit lower than projections.  Maryland RHP Brian Shaffer also went a bit ahead of schedule, going in the 6th round after having some helium this spring.  The last DC-area top-10 pick with a guaranteed slot was also a surprise to me: another UVA arm in Alec Bettinger went in the 10th round.  Again a surprise given his profile as a reliever.  But certainly not on talent or reputation; Bettinger’s name has been known to local baseball followers for years.

Riverdale Baptist’s Harold Cortijo, the All-Met player of the year, went in the 14th round.  It should be interesting to see what he does.  It seemed to me from reading his interviews that he intended to go pro, but a 14th round pick somewhat limits the bonus dollars he can get.  I wonder if he goes to JuCo and tries again next year.

Three DC-area prep graduates who, frankly, I’d never heard of went in the 17th and 18th rounds.  All three were at lower-profile baseball colleges.

Two area guys who play for UNC-Wilmington and who got some pre-season All America mention went in the 19th and 22nd round respectively: Nick Feight and Brian Mims were surprises to me to go so low.

The only other DC-area prep guys to even get drafted this year were two of the leading prep players in the area: Landon’s Randy Bednar, who went in the 27th and seems likely to honor his commit to UMaryland.  Also Old Mill’s Jeremy Orocho, who  is a longtime Evoshield Canes member and who apparently gave up on his UMaryland commit to go to JuCo.  I’m guessing he plays a year of community college and re-applies for the draft.

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So here’s a short list of the higher profile DC-area kids who did NOT get drafted at all that i’ve been tracking for a while: These commits change constantly so apologies if I have one of them wrong.

• Kyle Whitten, RHP/1B from Osbourn Park in Manassas, VA.  Early commit to UVA.
• Tyler Solomon, C/1B from Battlefield HS in Haymarket, VA.  Early commit to Vanderbilt
• Anthony Simonelli RHP from Millbrook in Winchester, VA.  Early commit to Coastal Carolina
• Michael Ludowig, OF from Briar Woods.  Early commit to Wake Forest.
• Connor Hartigan, OF from Millbrook in Winchester, VA.  Was Early commit to Coastal Carolina, now committed to University of South Carolina-Sumter.

 

A far cry from 2016 with multiple prep kids from the area going in the top rounds.  I’ll do a similar post for the extended DC/MD/VA area next.

Update #2 for DC/MD/VA Prep baseball for 2017.

Here’s the rough schedule of posting and what we’ll cover:

• #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff.  Covers: MD regionals, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates.  Usually publishes the week before Memorial day tournament finals.
• #2: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA Regional Champs crowned (this post).  Covers: MD state finals, VA regionals finals.  Usually publishes first week of June.
  #3: Virginia State Champions crowned.  Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results.  Publishes mid-June once the Va state tourney wraps up.
• #4: Players of the Year/All-State lists and final rankings; publishes early July once all the all-state lists are published.

Lets see where we stand now with Virginia having completed their regional tournaments and setup state semi finals’ matchups.

Text in Red are pending results, which we’ll pick up in the next post in this series.

All Virginia regional finals were played on 6/2/17; here’s the scoreboard with all results.  Winner highlighted in bold red.

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Virginia

Here are the Virginia Conference champions, regular season and tournament.  All these playoff brackets, if they exist, are at this link at VHSL.  I won’t re-link all the playoff brackets per district/region below.

6-A North Regional  Conference Tournament Results: 

• 6-A Conference 5/Concorde: Oakton beat Westfield
• 6-A Conference 6/Liberty: Madison squeaked by Langley
• 6-A Conference 7/Potomac: West Springfield blanked South County
• 6-A Conference 8/ Cedar Run: Patriot cruised to the district title over Osborne Park

Regional Tournament Results: The four expected #1 seeds advanced easily in the first round of the Regional tournament; Oakton, Madison, West Springfield and Patriot.  In the regional quarters, all four #1 seeds advanced again; Madison advanced easily over Lake Braddock 6-0, Oakton advanced over Battlefield 5-3, West Springfield easily handled Westfield 9-2, and Patriot downed Robinson 1-0 on a walk-off homer.   The regional semi-finals on 5/30/17 were both interrupted by a massive storm that moved through and were completed on 5/31/17.  In those regional semis, Oakton walked-off with a Sac Fly in the bottom of the 7th to top Madison 3-2 while Patriot held off West Springfield 4-3 to punch their tickets to the State tourney.  The Madison/Oakton game was a rematch of an earlier game this season, easily won by Madison, so that result was surprising.  Patriot over West Springfield was more expected, given Patriot’s traditional strength.

Regional Final: Oakton got a n extra-innings, 2-run walk-off homer  from Junior Eric Lingenbach to take the 6A regional title from Patriot 3-2.

 

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6-A South Region: mostly covering Richmond, Roanoke and Virginia Beach area.  But there are just enough schools in Woodbridge proper to form a 6-A conference closer to DC with teams that are typically considered for All-Met rankings.   Unlike 6A-North, just the top two teams from each district make the Regional tournament.  Thus, the district tournaments here are lagging the district tournaments for the North region, which finished before theirs even began.

VHSL bracket link here.  Direct link to Tide-water area tourney schedules at Pilot Online.    Direct link to Richmond area tourney schedules at the Times-Dispatch.

• 6-A Conference 1/Coastal: Cox defeated Kellam in a battle of Va Beach heavy-weights.
  
• 6-A Conference 2/Monitor Merrimac: Western Branch beat Oscar Smith in an upset-filled district tourney where top-ranked Granby and Woodside were upset early.
  
• 6-A Conference 3: Manchester d Thomas Dale in a district tourney that went chalk.
  
• 6-A Conference 4: Woodbridge d Colonial Forge 12-11 in a barn burner.

Regional Results: all four district champs won their quarter final matchups, with Cox having the easiest time of it.   In the Semis, Cox beat Manchester 3-2 and Western Branch handled Woodbridge 5-3. 

Region Final:  Cox rallies to defeat Western Branch 4-3.

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5-A North Region:

Conference winners:

• 5-A Conference 13/Capitol: Marshall
• 5-A Conference 14: Briar Woods
• 5-A Conference 15: Potomac
• 5-A Conference 16: Halifax

Regional Results: (5-a Regional bracket): There were some small upsets in the play-in games in the first round of the 5A North regional; an under-seeded Stafford fell to Stone Bridge (despite finishing the regular season 19-2) and#3 Seed Atlee easily beat #2 seed Wakefield.  The other #2 seeds (Orange and North Stafford) advanced as expected to face the #1 seeds in the quarters.  Stone Bridge faces one of the best teams in the state in Halifax, whose #1 starter (Andrew Abbott) has a ridiculous 133/3 K/BB ratio this spring and is UVA bound (h/t NovaBaseballMagazine.com).  In the quarters, #1 seeds Briar Woods, Potomac and Halifax all advanced, while North Stafford blanked Marshall to advance to the semis.  In the Semis, Briar Woods thrashed Potomac 8-1 while Halifax held off the surprising North Stafford team 2-1 in 12 innings.

Region Final: Briar Woods destroyed top 5-A team Halifax 10-0 to continue a surprising run in the post-season (they weren’t even the #1 seed in their own district).

 

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5-A South Region

• 5-A Conference 9/Atlantic: Kempsville d Hickory.
  
• 5-A Conference 10/PenSouth: Menchville d Clouchester.
  
• 5-A Conference 11: Deep Run d Mills Goodwin.
  
• 5-A Conference 12: Prince George d Matoaca.
  

Quick predictions for 5-A south regional tourney: Prince George at 19-1 and Hickory are good bets to advance

Regional Results: as with the 6A-South tourney, all four district champs held serve in the quarter finals, mostly with ease.  In the Semis, Prince George and Menchville advanced, with the Menchville pitcher throwing a no-hitter to add insult to injury.

Region Final: Prince George continued 5A dominance, topping Menchville 13-5.

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Smaller Virginia Classifications

4-A West:

• 4-A Conference 21 East/A: Heritage upset #1 seed Loudoun Valley then #2 Seed Loudoun County to win the district.  Heritage and Loudoun County to regionals.
  
• 4-A Conference 21 West/B: Harrisonburg beat Sherando in a 2/1 seed upset to advance to regionals.
  
• 4-A Conference 22: Kettle Run easily won the region over Freedom to advance as the 4A North #1 seed with an unblemished 19-0 record.

4A Regionals preview: (bracket here): Kettle Run and Liberty Christian Academy look like they’re destined to meet in the 4A West regional final.  In the tournament though, Kettle Run was upset early by Lynchburg’s EC Glass.  Liberty Christian won on a walkoff, and they are joined by Harrisonburg and Freedom-South Riding (which recently dropped down from 5A).  The semis were a contrast in styles, as LCA won 1-0 over Freedom-South Riding while Harrisonburg topped EC Glass by a football-score of 14-13.

In the 4A regional final, Liberty Christian won another squeaker, topping Harrisonburg 1-0, validating their move to compete in the public schools VHSL.

4-A East (Bracket here)

Preview: I’d say that the two best teams here are Great Bridge (which has great baseball history as of late and just dropped down from 5A) and Hanover (which won the old AAA title just before reclassification and can easily compete with 5A and 6A schools).  In the 4A East quarters, Great Bridge, Dinwiddie, Hanover and Jamestown all advanced to the semis.  There, the expected wins for Hanover and Great Bridge occurred, setting up a great regional final (thought it took Hanover 13 innings to top Jamestown.

In the 4A East final, Hanover held on to top Great Bridge 4-3 in a battle of two of Virginia’s top high schools irrespective of division.  This matchup, coincidentally was the 2013 State Final just prior to going to 6 divisions.

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3A West: Turner Ashby blanked Brookville 4-0 in the Regional final.

3A East: Riverside beat Spotsylvania in the final 9-6.  Riverside is in Ashburn and is coached by the former Stone Bridge coach Sam Plank, fyi.

Lower Divisions 2A and 1A features teams from the smaller areas of Virginia and we won’t bother covering them this year.  IF you want to see their regional and state brackets, visit the VHSL site above.

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Maryland

Here’s the 2017 state finals results in Maryland, played over the 5/26/17 weekend.  Brackets here at the MPSAA website.

• Maryland 4-A: In the State Final, Northwest blanked Howard 8-0 to win the state title.
• Maryland 3-A: In the State Final, Poolesville outlasted Chesapeake-Anne Arundel 4-3.
• Maryland 2-A: In the State Final,  Middletown easily beat Fallston 8-0.
• Maryland 1-A: In the State Final, St. Michaels destroyed Boonsboro 12-1 to claim its 3rd 1-A title of the decade.

A quick list of past Maryland State champions by division:

• 4-A: 2016: Bel Air beat Quice Orchard 8-1.  2015: Gaithersburg beat Severna Park 5-3.  2014: Chesapeake beat Sherwood 2-0.  2013: South River defeated Catonsville 6-0.  2012: Northwest.  2011: Westminster.  2010: Sherwood
• 3-A: 2016: Huntington beat Chesapeake 4-3.  2015: Chopticon beat Mt. Hebron 1-0.  2014: Reservoir beat North Harford 2-0.  2013: Bel Air defeated La Plata 3-2.  2012: Bennett.  2011: Bennett.  2010: C. Milton Wright.
• 2-A: 2016: La Plata eased by Williamsport 4-1.  2015: Southern beat Eastern Tech 6-1.  2014: Southern beat Parkside 3-2.  2013 : Catoctin defeated North Caroline, 4-2.  2012: Williamsport.  2011: North Caroline.  2010: North Hagerstown.
• 1-A: 2016: Brunswick beat Patterson Mill 4-0.  2015: Brunswick beat McDonough 4-0.  2014: Smithsburg beat Sparrows Point 9-0.  2013: Cambridge/South Dorchester defeated Allegany, 15-0.  2012: Mountain Ridge.  2011:  St. Michaels.  2010: St. Michaels.

The Maryland public high school seasons are now complete.

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DC Public Schools/DCIAA:

• DCIAA: (2017 playoff bracket): Wilson defeated School Without Walls 7-4 to take the DCIAA title and continue its ridiculous winning streak within DC public school competition.
• DCSAA: (2017 Playoff Bracket): Gonzaga beat Wilson 9-1 to win the DCSAA baseball title (Wilson upset St. Albans to make the final).

DC public (and private) High school seasons are now complete.

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Private Leagues: WCAC/MAC/IAC and VISAA/Maryland Private

State-level Private School tourneys:

• MIAA: Regular Season: Calvert Hall, Spalding and Gilman were the class of the MIAA Class A all  year.  Boys Latin takes the Class B regular season title while St. Johns Catholic is again the Class C regular season title winner.   Loyola Blakefield came out of nowhere to beat Calvert Hall in the MIAA-A playoffs (their first title in 71 years), having just a .500 record during the season.  Boy’s Latin beat Severn to take the MIAA-B final.  St. Johns Catholic ended up beating Gerstell Academy 5-0 to win its 4th straight MIAA-C title.
• VISAA: The VISAA playoff brackets show the top 8 private schools in each Virginia division.  In Division I; DC local schools Paul VI and Potomac School were upset early, with #3 seed Benedictine taking the VISAA Division I title.  The Miller School took the Division II title with defending champ Greenbrier Christian getting upset in the first round.  Southampton Academy repeated as VISSA Division III titleists.
• Maryland Private School “Governor’s Flag” Tournament: tbd.  Draws are here. Only seems like there’s 4 teams for 2017: DeMatha, Spalding, McNamara and Avalon.  I’d guess this would be a cake-walk for Spalding.

DC-area Private School Leagues

• WCAC: St. Johns defeated DeMatha 6-1 to take its 4th straight WCAC title.  Paul VI and Our Lady Good Counsel were semi-finalists.
• MAC: Flint Hill defeated Maret to win the MAC 2017 baseball title, repeating as winners.
  
• IAC: St. Albans beat Georgetown Prep to win the IAC title.
• PVAC: no news yet on this smaller private DC-area conference.

Of note, Maryland baseball factory Riverdale Baptist won their 4th straight NACA National Championship, finished the year 30-1 and nationally ranked in every publication that attempts to rank national high schools.

All Area private schools’ seasons are now complete.

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Individual Player Accolades Announced

In addition to being playoff-baseball time, this is also the time of the year that we start to see player awards.  I’ll put these in as they publish, but we won’t expect most of these until the end of June.

Gatorade announced their player of the year awards on 5/29/17:

• Maryland: Harold Cortijo, RHP/OF from Riverdale Baptist.  Committed to play at Seminole State U.
• Washington DC: Jack Roberts, RHP/SS from St. Johns.  Committed to play at Elon.
• Virginia: Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS.  Committed to play for UVA.

Pending Awards to be announced/expected later this spring:

• Louisville Slugger All-Americans: pending
• Washington Post All-Met teams: pending
• The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro Team: pending
• Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Richmond team (if exists): pending
• Virginian Pilot All-tidewater team (if exists): pending
• Virginia All 6-A North Regional team: Langley’s Danny Hosley is player of the year (no PG profile/unknown college commit).  Madison’s Jake Nielsen pitcher of the year (a Junior w/o a current college commitment).
• Virginia All 5-A North Regional team: pending
• Other Virginia All-Regional teams: pending
• Northern Virginia All-District teams: Available at this link at Novabaseballmagazine.com, thanks to Joey Kamide for all his hard work.
• VHSL All-State Teams: pending
• VISAA’s All-State teams:
  • Division I All State Team with several Paul VI and Flint Hill players.  Player of the Year: Evan Justice– Collegiate School, a LHP from Richmond committed to NC State.
  • Division II All State Team.  Player of the year: Ethan Murray– Miller School, a Junior SS/RHP who sports a 4.0 and is an early commit to Duke.
  • Division III All State Team.   Player of the Year: Carter Davis– Blessed Sacrament-Huguenot, a C from Powhattan committed to St. Andrews Presbyterian College.
• Maryland MIAA All-State teams (if exists): pending
• All WCAC 2017: Jack Roberts, RHP/SS from St. Johns player of the year.
• All MAC 2017 and all IAC 2017 also at Novabaseballmagazine.com’s site.

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My master list of links used to cover HS Baseball:

Local and National High School Baseball Ranking Lists:

• Washington Post All Met Sports Area top-10 ranking: Riverdale Baptist has been in a class by themselves all year.  Madison and Spalding have been just below.
• NovaBaseballMagazine.com Rankings: Kettle Run and Madison have dominated the rankings all year.
• PrepBaseballReport maintains a VA State-Wide Power25 Rankings: they have Patriot over Madison, with 6A-south Woodside and Cox at the top.  In the private Ranks, Miller and Greenbrier Christian 1-2.
• Baltimore Sun Top-10 Poll Archives: Calvert Hall and Severna Park at the top, both upset victims in their playoffs.
• The Virginian Pilot Top-10 for Hampton Roads area: Hickory and Great Bridge at the top, with a gap below them.
• Richmond times-Dispatch Richmond-Area top-10:Mils Godwin, Glen Allen, Deep Run, Lee-Davis and Freeman.
• Baseball America’s National High School Rankings 5/16/17: Riverdale Baptist at #16.
• USA Today High School Experts top 25 for 5/25/17: Riverdale Baptist #9.  Calvert Hall previously ranked.
• MaxPreps “Excellent 50” ranking for 5/22/17: Riverdale Baptist #6.

These National rankings are dominated by teams in Texas, Florida and California, as you might expect.  These teams can play nearly 40 games and usually have at least 15-20 under their belts before DC/MD/VA teams even get going.  So its somewhat of an accomplishment just to have a local team get some recognition.  In fact, any cold-weather state team appearing in these lists is pretty special.

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Major Newspaper Links/Resources for following prep baseball around the state

• Washington Post’s AllMetSports section with standings and schedule results.
• The Baltimore Sun’s high school page has information on some of the programs outside the DC area mentioned in the Maryland section
• InsideNova.com‘s coverage of high school sports, but has put limits on the number of stories you can read.
• Richmond Times-Dispatch has a HS scoreboard.
• Hampton Roads Pilot (Hampton Roads) has scores for teams in the Chesapeake/Norfolk/Va Beach area.
• NovaBaseballMagazine: great coverage of Prep baseball in NorthernVirginia (thanks to Joe Antonellis for the heads up on this great new resource).

Local Newspaper Coverage, including links to many local papers covering smaller jurisdictions.

• The Connection family of newspapers has a sports section that is rarely updated, but it does do some coverage.
• Nvdaily.com (Strasburg) has some results for some of the teams in the smaller conferences/outskirts of DC, generally in the Strasburg area.
• WinchesterStar (Winchester) has results for Winchester teams but its pay-only.
• The Daily Progress (Culpeper local paper) also has some scores for schools in its areas.
• Fauquier Times (Fauquier) has some local sports news.
• VivaLoudoun tracks the Loudoun/Ashburn/Leesburg teams.
• The Loudoun Times also covers Leesburg-area teams.
• LoCosports blog, with tons of Loudoun county Coverage
• Fredericksburg.com has some local coverage of Fredericksburg and Woodbridge teams.
• The Lynchburg News & Advance for Lynchburg-based sports.
• The Virginia Gazette for Williamsburg local stuff.

Non-newspaper Links for Local and National Prep Baseball Coverage

• VHSL’s and MPSSAA home pages for updates on VA and MD respectively.
• DCIAA‘s website, which barely has a schedule but will eventually print results and playoff brackets
• PerfectGame: perfectgame.org is the best place to find HS prospect information.
• MaxPreps DC/VA specific coverage.
• Prep Baseball Report: DC/VA specific coverage (thanks again to Joe Antonellis for this link)
• Dynamic Baseball: good prep coverage on the east coast.
• BaltimoreBaseball.com does a great job covering Baltimore-area high school baseball.

Good Twitter accounts to follow:

• https://twitter.com/toddeboss/lists/prepbaseball: I maintain an open list at my twitter account via this link, which contains direct links to dozens of local resources (including all the below).  Way too many retweets from the travel team accounts especially, but its a good way to keep up with local ball.
• https://twitter.com/PBRVirginiaDC: Prep Baseball Report VA/DC coverage
• https://twitter.com/NVBaseballMag: NoVa Baseball Magazine
• https://twitter.com/NoVAHSBB
• https://twitter.com/DynamicBaseball

Hello all.  I’ve been slacking on local high school and college coverage this season, partly because there’s not nearly as exciting of a class as last year (when the DC area had two guys picked in the first three rounds in Joe Rizzo and Khalil Lee, in addition to a HS all-american in Zach Hess down at Liberty Christian).  But here’s a quick review of my 2017 Local Draft Prospect list.   By “local” I generally mean anyone from DC, MD or VA, with a focus on DC-Metro kids.

This list has essentially turned into a massive “Best players from the area” list, with mention given to nearly every kid who has shown up on an accolades list in the last couple of years.  Only a few of the prep kids are going to get drafted, but it is interesting to me to track where they’re going to school.  Lots of these college commitments may be out of date; an early commit often turns into a rejection once college coaches see how their recruiting classes gel.  So if I have a kid wrong, my apologies and let me know in the comments.

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Major Local College Draft Prospects for 2017

This list started with my 2014 Local High School draft coverage, listing guys who were HS seniors in 2014 who went to 3-year programs and who are now eligible.  Since we’ve augmented it with locally tied guys who have put themselves into draft positions by virtue of collegiate or summer league performances.  I separate “major prospects” from the lower list in that these guys have usually gotten some sort of national press, top-100 list type of press, and are good bets all to get drafted in the first 5-6 rounds this coming June.  The first few names are all being talked about as potential 1st rounders or 2nd rounders.

• “Jacob” J.B. Bukauskus, RHP from UNC by way of Stone Bridge HS in Ashburn.  A 2014 HS All American who chose to go to college.  Spent 2016 as UNC’s saturday starter and blew up to the tune of a 13 K/9 rate his sophomore year.  Projecting now as an upper 1st rounder.  2016 Collegiate National Team and briefly in the Cape.  Projecting as possible top-10 pick.  2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 2nd team.
• Pavin Smith is a big lefty 1B/OF at UVA; he has been a significant member of the UVA lineup during his career.  All-League Cape Cod league summer of 2016.  Projecting as possible end-of-1st rounder.  2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 2nd team, fantastic 2017 season now has him projecting as a possible top-10 pick.
• Adam Haseley, OF/RHP from UVA.  Great on the mound for UVA in 2016, worked solely in the field in Cape Cod League 2016.  Projecting now as 2nd rounder.  2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 2nd team.  Like his teammate, Haseley’s 2017 season has put him in the upper first round territory.

From the top 3 guys here, there’s a gap to the next group:

• Kevin Smith, INF From Maryland.  Cape Cod league summer standout of 2016, being named MVP of the final and All-League.  Projecting now as 2nd rounder.
• Tyler Johnson RHP from South Carolina by way of Trinity Episcopal, Richmond.  8th/9th inning reliever for SC as a sophomore.   2016 Collegiate National Team.  Projecting as 3rd/4th rounder.
• Ernie Clement, 2b/SS from UVA.  All League Cape Cod league summer of 2016.  Big Cape showing now pushing his draft stock way up; possible 3rd rounder.
• Hunter Williams LHP from UNC by way of Cosby HS in Chesterfield, VA.  A mid-week starter in 2016, may move into the weekend rotation for 2017.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016, where he posted a 1.10 era.  Cape showing pushing him into 4th round discussions.
• Tommy Doyle, RHP at UVA by way of Flint Hill HS (hometown: Vienna).  Began 2016 as UVA’s Sunday starter, converted to be their closer by season’s end.
• Brian Mims, 2B/SS UNC-Wilmington by way of Forest Park HS in Woodbridge: Multiple All-american honors as a sophomore in 2016.  2016 Collegiate National Team invitee
• Nick Feight, C UNC-Wilmington by way of Battlefield HS in Haymarket: Multiple All-american honors as a sophomore in 2016.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.  2016 Collegiate National Team invitee.  2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 1st team.

Lesser Local College draft eligibles w/ Local Ties

This list is defined as “lesser” prospects in that they’re not getting “first few rounds” publicity, but seem like in most cases draft candidates.  I don’t mean to imply that “lesser” means they’re any less of a player; they’re just not getting “J.B. Bukauskas” hype.  I’d guess most every name on this list will get called in June, some in the 6-8th round, perhaps others down in the 15-25th round range.  Some may opt to forgo the draft bonus they’re offered and return for their senior season.  Some are almost guaranteed to return thanks to injury or circumstance, but they’re all draft eligible this year.

• Sam Donko, RHP (closer) from VCU. 2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 1st team.
• Cullen Large, 2B from W&M.  2017 Pre-Season Collegiate Baseball All-American 3rd team.
• Keenan Bartlett, RHP from Richmond
• Packy Naughton, RHP Virginia Tech.  All League Cape Code 2016, giving him some helium as potential 5th rounder.
• Brian Shaffer, RHP at Maryland; on d1Bsaeball’s top 100 draft prospects lists, came out of nowhere.
• Zach Rutherford, 2b/SS from ODU by way of Western Branch HS in Chesapeake VA.  Undrafted as a junior in 2016.  All-League Cape Cod league summer of 2016, which put him into 4th-5th round discussions.
• Derek Casey, RHP from UVA by way of Hanover HS (Mechanicsville).  Underwent Tommy John surgery early in his sophomore year and never appeared his junior year, so likely returns to school to be a 4th year junior draftee in 2017.  However he’s draft eligible in 2017 and, if he has a great return season, he could put himself back in the conversation.
• Taylor Lane, a shortstop from Chesapeake, transferred to IMG academy for college, went to Florida, transferred to Northwest Florida State and having a good 2016 season leading off for them.
• Charlie Cody 3B from UVA by way of Great Bridge HS in Chesapeake.  Not starting as a sophomore; more of a super sub.
• Jeff “Junior” Harding went to Cambridge-South Dorchester here locally.  He went to South Carolina, transferred to Chipola College in Florida, got drafted by KC in the 20th round last year.  I’m not entirely sure if he signed; he may either be in KC’s system or be draft eligible again in 2016.  Update: he got drafted again in 2017, in the 17th round, so no he didn’t sign last year.
• Brodie Leftridge is an OF at U Tennessee by way of Highland MD/St. John’s HS in DC.  Part-time player at UT his sophomore year.
• Hunter Taylor, a C at South Carolina by way of Nandua HS in Olney, VA.  Has barely played in 2016.
• Bennett Sousa is a LHP from UVA; 2016 bullpen member, limited use.
• Zach Clinton is a RHP from Liberty U by way of Liberty Christian HS.  He’s not on their active stat sheet but still seems to be on the roster; I cannot tell where he is these days.
• Zack Hopeck, RHP from Coastal Carolina by way of Heritage HS in Leesburg.  Mid-week starter for CCU as a sophomore during their CWS run.
• Canaan Cropper RHP from South Carolina by way of Salisbury HS.  Minimal action as a sophomore.
• Nick Brown: RHP William & Mary by way of Patriot HS in Gainesville, VA.  Undrafted as a junior in 2016.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Logan Farrar: VCU by way of Woodbridge HS.  Undrafted as a junior in 2016. Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Ryan Selmer, RHP from Maryland by way of Riverdale Baptist HS (lives in Beltsville, MD).  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Robert Metz, 2b/SS from George Washington by way of Poolesville HS.  Undrafted as a junior in 2016. Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Gavin Sheets, 1B from Wake Forest by way of Gilman HS in Lutherville, MD.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Nicholas Dunn, INF from Maryland.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Kyle Adams, C from Richmond.  Undrafted as a junior in 2016. Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Joseph Freiday, C from Virginia Tech.   Undrafted as a junior in 2016. Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• D.J. Artis, OF from Liberty.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Chase Pinder, OF from Clemson by way of Poquoson HS.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.  Hit 11 homers playing CF in sophomore year; could be a draft board riser.
• Peter Soloman, RHP from Notre Dame by way of Mt. St. Josephs HS in Ellicott City, MD.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Jason Morgan, RHP from UNC by way of Chancellor HS in Fredericksburg, VA.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.
• Sam Sinnen, RHP from ODU by way of Kellam HS in Norfolk.  Cape Cod league summer of 2016.

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DC/MD/VA Local Prep players for 2017.  It seems like its a “down” year for local prep players, especially compared to 2016 w/ Rizzo/Lee, but there’s still some very good prep players in the area.  I’m sure we’ll see some draft fliers on some of the names towards the top of this list.  Its tough to keep track of college commitments and I depend mostly on perfectgame.org, so if I have something wrong here definitely pipe up in the comments.

• Kyle Whitten, RHP/1B from Osbourn Park in Manassas, VA. WWBA 2015 with Team Stars, 2016 Evoshield 17-U team.  At the USA Baseball 18U national trials in June 2016 (and made 40-man roster).  Early commit to UVA.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.
• Tyler Solomon, C/1B from Battlefield HS in Haymarket, VA.  2015 WWBA Team Evoshield 17-U, 2016 All 6-A North Region 2nd team.  2016 Evoshield 17-U team.  At PG National 2016.  At the USA Baseball 18U national trials in June 2016.  Early commit to Vanderbilt.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  Area Code Games 2016. WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.
• Austine Jeremy Arocho, SS from Old Mill HS in Glen Burnie, MD.  2015 WWBA Team Evoshield 17-U, 2016 Evoshield 17-U team.  At PG National 2016.   18U National team trials.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  Area Code Games 2016. WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.  Was early commit to Maryland, Now committed to Northwest Florida State College.
• Anthony Simonelli RHP from Millbrook in Winchester, VA.  WWBA 2015 with Team Stars.  All 4A West 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.  At PG National 2016.  Early commit to Coastal Carolina.  Stars 17u Reds at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  WWBA with Stars baseball 2017.
• Michael Ludowig, OF from Briar Woods.  2016 All-5A North Region as a junior.  Evoshield Canes 16-U team 2016, early commit to Wake Forest.  Evoshield Mid-Atlantic 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.
• Connor Hartigan, OF from Millbrook in Winchester, VA.  WWBA 2015 with Team Stars.   All 4A West 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.  At PG National 2016.  Stars 17u Reds at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  Was Early commit to Coastal Carolina, now committed to University of South Carolina-Sumter.
• Harold Cortijo, OF/RHP from Riverdale Baptist.  2016 all-Met as a junior.  2016 American Family All-Maryland 1st team as a junior.  No summer team.  Early commit to  Seminole State College of Florida.  Huge 2017 put him on the map as Maryland gatorade player of the year.

There’s a gap between the above and this next group:

• Antonio Menendez RHP Herndon HS.  2016 All 6-A North Region 2nd team.  Wake Forest early commit.  Team Dirtbags at WWBA 2016 (the champs)
• Randy Bednar LHP from Landon by way of Bethesda MD, early commit to Maryland.  2015 All-Met as a *sophomore*.
• Will Liverpool, RHP from Mclean HS in McLean, VA.  WWBA 2015 with Team Stars.  Early commit to West Virginia.
• Christian Pitura, SS/OF from Chantilly in Fairfax, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  No college commitment yet but looking at a slew of virginia schools.
• Brett Boggs, OF Battlefield HS from Haymarket, VA.  2016 All 6-A North Region and all 6-A State.  No summer team, early commit to VMI.
• Isaak Lyons Utility Player West Springfield HS.  2016 All 6-A North Region 2nd team.  Stars summer 2016, just committed to GMU.
• Ryan Miles, inf/RHP from Woodbridge,   Richmond Braves 2016 team, just committed to GMU.
• Jake Williams Pitcher West Springfield HS.  2016 All 6-A North Region 2nd team.  No summer team, no college commitment.
• James Price RHP Patriot HS in Bristow, VA.   2016 Stars.  Committed to GMU.
• Evan Antonellis, SS from Potomac HS in Woodbridge.  2016 All 5-A North region 1st team.  2016 All-5A State.  2nd-team All-Met 2016.  No perfectgame.org profile.
• Will Merriken, LHP from Kettle Run.  #1 Starter on 2016 state semifinalist team.
• Justin Pearson, LHP from Mountain View.  #3 starter on 2016 state semifinalist team.
• Raffy Baumgarner, Util from Bulliss.  2nd-team All-Met 2016.
• Sam Ewald, ? position Kettle Run.  All 4A West 2016 as a junior.
• Josh Simon, OF St. Johns in DC.  American Family 2016 1st team All-DC as a junior.
• Toma Shigaki-Than, RHP Oakton HS.  Stars Showcase Baseball 17U at PG nationals 2016.  Committed to Duke.  WWBA with Stars baseball 2017.

Extended DC/MD/VA Prep players (outside DC Area) on the radar.  Most of these players are south of here, from Richmond or the Tidewater area.  There’s good baseball down south.  🙂

• Matt Cooper, C/1B from Norfolk Academy.  2016 VISAA Division I all-state.  2016 Evoshield 17-U team.  At PG National 2016.  Early commit to Clemson.  2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.  American Family 2016 1st team All-Virginia as a junior.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.   PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  Area Code Games 2016.
• Tanner Morris, MIF from St Anne’s-Belfield HS/Miller School of Albemarle.  2015 WWBA Team Evoshield 17-U, VISAA A All-State 2016.  2016 VISAA Division II all-state.  2016 Evoshield 17-U team.   At PG National 2016.  Early commit to UVA.  American Family 2016 1st team All-Virginia as a junior.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.   PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  Area Code Games 2016.  WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.  BA Top 100 list #78 (only local player on list).
• Hunter “Will” Perdue, RHP/1B from Grassfield HS in  Chesapeake, VA.  2015 WWBA with Richmond Braves, early commit to UVA.  2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.  American Family 2016 1st team All-Virginia as a junior.  Richmond Braves 17u Jones at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.
• Andrew Abbott, LHP from Halifax County HS in Nathalie, VA .  2015 WWBA Team Evoshield.  2016 Evoshield 17-U team.   2016 All-5A North Region as a junior.  2016 All-5A State.  Early commit to UVA.   Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.
• Mikey Polansky, 1b/3B from Hickory HS.  2016 Evoshield 17-U team.  VHSL 2016 2nd team All-5A State as a junior.  Early commit to Virginia Tech.  2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.  Evoshield 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  WWBA 2016 with Evoshield.

Gap between the above guys and the rest:

• Eric Stock, SS from Greenbrier Christian.  PBR Class of 2017 top 10.  Early commit to ODU.
• Brandon Dorsey, 3B from Calvert Hall HS in Mount Airy, MD.  At PG National 2016.  Early commit to UNC.
• Ethan Gallagher, OF from Mount St. Josephs HS in Catonsville.   At PG National 2016.  Early commit to Wake Forest.
• Nolan Caler, MIF from Hanover  HS in Mechanicsville, VA.   2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.
• Hunter Cochrane RHP/1B from Glen Allen HS in Glen Allen, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.  Committed to Hampden-Sydney College.
• Eli Ottinger, RHP from Benedictine HS, Glen Allen, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  2016 VISAA Division I all-state.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.  2nd-team 2016 all Richmond metro as a junior.
• Josh Pittman, RHP/MIF from Highland School in Elkwood, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  2016 VISAA Division II all-state.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.
• Timmy Stephan, ? position from Highland School in Elkwood, VA.  2016 VISAA Division II all-state.
• Callaway Sigler, OF from Deep Run HS in Glen Allen, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.
• William “Will”  Simon, 1B/RHP from Benedictine HS, Richmond, VA.  2015 WWBA with Virginia Cardinals.  2016 VISAA Division I all-state.  Early commit to URichmond.
• Evan Justice, RHP from Collegiate School.  2016 VISAA Division I all-state.  2nd-team 2016 all Richmond metro as a junior.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.
• Daniel Brooks, RHP Spotsylvania.  3-A East all-region 1st team in 2016.
• RJ Payne, 1B William Monroe.  1st team 3-A Wast all-region and all-state in 2016.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.
• Cole Jackson, Util Poquoson.  3-A East all-region 1st team in 2016.
• Chin Moss, SS First Colonial.  All 6-A south region 2016.  All-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Eric Zimmerman, OF Colonial Forge.  All 6-A south region 2016
• Pearce Howard OF, Liberty Christian Academy. All 4A West 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.
• Noah Cook, MIF Liberty Christian Academy.  Starters on great 2016 team.  Early commit to VMI.
• Hunter Johnson, MIF Liberty Christian Academy.  All 4A West 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A all-state as a junior
• Junior Devine, RHP from Jamestown (Williamsburg).  #2 starter on great 2016 team.
• Michael Schmidt, ? position from Jamestown (Williamsburg).  #2 starter on great 2016 team.
• Jarrid Johnson, ? position from Nansemond River.  Starter on good 2016 team.
• Harrison Moncure, RHP for Mills Godwin.  Starter on good 2016 team.
• Cale Agee, 2B from Louisa.  4A East All-Region 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A all-state as a junior.
• Aaron Robinson, C from Monacan.  4A East All-Region 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.  Virginia Cardinals summer of 2016.  2nd-team 2016 all Richmond metro as a junior.
• Matthew Culbreath, 3B from Dinwiddie.  4A East All-Region 2016 as a junior.  VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.
• Matt Carter, Util from Caroline HS.  4A East All-Region 2016 as a junior.   VHSL 4A 2nd team all-state as a junior.
• Matt Pinson, RHP from Maggie Walker HS.  VHSL 2A player of the year as a junior.  2nd-team 2016 all Richmond metro as a junior.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.
• Hunter Gregory, RHP from Hickory HS.  VHSL 2016 2nd team All-5A State as a junior.  All-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Tyler Knapp, Util from Menchville HS.  VHSL 2016 2nd team All-5A State as a junior.
• Riley Clifford, 2b/SS from First Colonial HS.  All-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Rufus Hurdle, OF from Western Branch HS.  All-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.  All 6-A South Region and all 6-A State as a junior.
• Hogan Brown, OF from Cox.  2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Alec Giles, OF from First Colonial.  2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Dalton Jackson, 1B from Great Bridge. 2nd Team all-Tidewater 2016 as a junior.
• Logan Barker, 2B from Colonial Forge.  First team All 6-A south region 2016, 1st team All 6-A State as a junior.  Evoshield North 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  Early commit to Marshall U.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.
• Carson Stanley, util from Rustburg.   1st team 3-A Wast all-region and all-state in 2016.
• Grant Burleson, inf from Parkside HS in Salisbury.  2016 American Family All-Maryland 2nd team as a junior.  Evoshield Mid-Atlantic 17U team at 2016 Marietta/Cobb.  Early commit to Maryland.
• Austin Smallwood, ? from Eastside HS.  All PBR DC/VA team 2016.

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Sources used

• WP’s 2015 All-Met announcement, identifying sophomores making the list.
• All of the 2016 all-area team announcements (All-Met, all-state, all-american, etc), looking for juniors.
• Evoshield 17-U Roster for the 2015 WWBAs, looking at class of 2017 guys.
• Evoshield Canes main Roster for the 2015 WWBAs, looking at class of 2017 guys.
• Stars Baseball Marucci Prime roster for 2015 WWBAs, looking at class of 2017 guys.
• Virginia Cardinals Roster for 2015 WWBAs, looking at class of 2017 guys.
• Evoshield 17-U roster for 2016 Summer season, looking for juniors/class of 2017 guys.
• Evoshield Mid-Atlantic, North Rosters for 2016 Summer season, looking for juniors/class of 2017 guys.
• Stars Red 2016 Roster 
• Virginia Cardinals 2016 Roster
• Dirtbags 2016 Roster looking for southern Virginia guys.
• Mid-Atlantic Red Sox 2016 summer roster, looking for MD/VA guys
• PG National 2016 rosters.
• 18U USA Baseball National team Trials Rosters.
• 2016 Summer Cape Cod rosters.
• 2016 Collegiate National team roster alternate link here.
• 2016 WWBA Marietta/Cobb rosters for travel teams.
• PrepBaseballReport.com 2017 class top 10 list (behind a pay-wall)
• 2016 Area Code Games rosters
• D1Baseball’s Cape Cod prospect review 2016 season and All-League Cape Code 2016 teams.
• PG WWBA Worlds rosters Oct 2016.
• BA’s top 100 HS prospect for 2017 nationally
• D1Baseball top 100 College prospects for 2017 draft, and their top 350 list to boot.
• 2017 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper pre-season All American team
• 2017 NovaBaseball magazine preseason watch list

This is post #5 of High School Tourney coverage for 2016.  Here’s the schedule:

• #1: DC/MD/VA District High School Tournament Report: post-season kickoff.  Covers: MD regional kickoffs, VA district brackets, Private school tourney updates.
• #2: Maryland State Champs, Northern VA District Champs crowned   Covers: MD state finals, VA district tourneys, VA regional brackets, DC regular season results.
• #3: Virginia Regional Results.   Covers: VA regional results, State brackets, and summarizes DC and MD.
• #4: Virginia State Champions crowned.  Covers: VA state tourneys, recaps MD, DC, Private School results.
• #5: List of all the final Player of the Year links that I’ve been collecting plus all the final ranking of teams from both local and national outlets (this post).

In this post, we will publish all the various Teams of the Year, players of the year and other individual accolades.  I’ve been publishing these as i found them in prior posts, but here they’re all listed as best as I can find them.

Lists in Red are pending results; I’ll update this post as the results come in even post publishing.

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Individual Player Accolades 

Gatorade announced their player of the year awards on 5/24/16.  (Link to all Gatorade/USA Today players of the year per state)

• Maryland: Spalding’s Tyler Blohm won the Maryland award.  17th round pick by Baltimore, committed to Maryland.
• Washington DC: St. John’s Cam Remalia (by way of Waldorf, MD) won the DC award.  Committed to Coastal Carolina.
• Virginia: Flint Hill’s Khalil Lee won the Virginia award.  3rd round draft pick and Kansas City signee.

• Washington Post All-Met teams: Jake Agnos is the 2016 All-Met Player of the year.  In two seasons for Battlefield, he was 18-0 with a 0.60 ERA and 265 strikeouts in 134 1/3rds innings.
• (Also, here’s a fantastic list of all All-Met teams in all sports going back to 1991 that I’m spinning into a “where are they now” post to be done sometime in the future)
• Virginia All 6-A North Regional team: Jake Agnos, LHP Battlefield (ECU commit) is the Pitcher of the year, Jared DiCesare, Chantilly (George Mason commit) is the Player of the year.
• Virginia All 6-A South Regional team: Fox Semones, SS/RHP Hylton (James Madison commit) is the Player of the Year.
• Virginia All 5-A North Regional team: Alex Smith C from Mountain View (Navy commit) is Player of the year.
• Virginia All 5-A South Regional team: Michael Blanchard, RHP Nansemond River (Old Dominion) is player of the year
• Virginia All 4-A East Region team: Grey Lyttle, 3b/OF from Hanover (High Point) is 4A East player of the year.
• Virginia All 4-A West Region team: Brendon Doyle, OF from Kettle Run (VMI) is 4A West player of the year.
• Virginia All 3-A East Region team: Noah Murdock, RHP from Colonial Heights (Virginia commit) and Nationals 38th round draft pick,  is the player of the year
• Virginia All 3-A West Region team: Drew Calohan, RHP from Rustberg HS is 3A West Player of the year.   Ferrum commit.
• Virginia 2-A and 1-A All-Regional teams: pending; not sure if they’re even done.
• VHSL All-State Teams:
  • 6A VHSL All State Team: Jake Agnos, LHP Battlefield is the 6A Player of the Year.  Committed to East Carolina.
  • 5A VHSL All State Team: Michael Blanchard, RHP from Nansemond River, is the 5A player of the year.  Committed to ODU.
  • 4A VHSL All State Team: Grey Lyttle, 3b/OF from Hanover is 4A player of the year.  Committed to High Point.
  • 3A VHSL All State Team: Drew Calohan, RHP from Rustberg HS is 3A player of the year.   Committed to Ferrum.
  • 2A VHSL All State Team: Matt Pinson, RHP from Maggie Walker (Richmond) is the 2A player of the year as a *junior*.
  • 1A VHSL All State Team: Bryson Booher, RHP from Ft. Chiswell (SW of Roanoke) is the 1A player of the year.   Committed to Concord University.
• VISAA’s All-State teams, Division I, Division II and Division III.  Khalil Lee (Flint  Hill) is the Division 1 player of the year.  Harry Brown (Greenbrier Christian) is Division II player of the year.  Andrew Lowe (Southampton Academy) is Division III player of the year.
• VHSCA (Virginia High School Coaches Association) All-State Teams: all pending for 2016: I gave up waiting for them and published.
• Maryland MIAA All-State teams: No POTY’s announced.  The “A” team is dominated by players from Spalding and Calvert Hall, and includes Tyler Blohm.  The “B” team is dominated by the two best B teams: Boy’s Latin and Annapolis Area Christian.
• Prep Baseball Report VA/DC All-State Team; published 7/1/16: Jake Agnos is their player of the year.
• NovaBaseballMagazine’s “Nova Nine” for 2016:  Jake Agnos is their player of the year.
• NovaBaseballMagazine’s alternative “Nova Nine” lists.
• NovaBaseballMagazine’s selection panel (made of coaches and staff) has selected All conference teams for all the Northern Virginia-based conferences; click on the “Standings” link from their home page, navigate down to the division in question, and you’ll get the final 2016 conference standings, then the results of the conference tournament, and the all conference team.  I’m not sure if these are “official” all-district teams or if these are NBM’s staff selections.
• All Loudoun-County Team: announced 6/29/16.  Will Schroeder, RHP/SS for Loudoun County HS named POTY … as a sophomore.
• Free Lance Star All-Fredericksburg 2016: announced 6/30/16. Alex Smith C from Mountain View (Navy commit) is Player of the year.

• American Family Insurance All-USA Baseball Teams: Riley Pint, P from Kansas and 4th overall pick was POTY.   Tyler Blohm was 2nd team.  Nolan Jones (UVA commit) also 2nd teamer but likely signs after getting drafted in the 2nd round.
• American Family Insurance All-State Baseball Teams: released 6/30/16.
  • Virginia: Flint Hill’s Khalil Lee won the Virginia award.  3rd round draft pick and Kansas City signee.
  • Washington DC:  St. John’s Cam Remalia (by way of Waldorf, MD) is POTY.  Committed Coastal Carolina.
  • Maryland: Spalding’s Tyler Blohm won the Maryland award.  Committed to Maryland.
• Louisville Slugger High School All-Americans: announced on or about 6/17/16.  Zack Hess (Liberty Christian), Joe Rizzo (Oakton), Khalil Lee (Flint Hill) all first teamers.  Harold Cortijo (a junior!) from Riverdale Baptist 2nd team. 
• American Baseball Coaches Association/ABCA/Rawlings High School All-Americans: released 6/23/16.  Khalil Lee 2nd team all-american.
• ABCA/Rawlings High School 2016 All Region Team for the Mid-Atlantic: familiar names Khalil Lee, Joe Rizzo, and Tyler Blohm on the all-Region 2 team.
• USA Today All-Americans: not sure if they do their own or if the multiple “American Family Insurance” teams are the official USA Today Teams.
• Baseball America All-Americans: released 6/21/16.  No Local players named, to the chagrin of Jake Agnos proponents.
• The Baltimore Sun’s All-Metro Team released 6/17/16.  Tyler Blohm the player of the year.
• Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Metro team: Grey Lyttle, 3b/OF from Hanover POTY.
• (the 2016 Richmond Times-Dispatch All-Metro team link also has prior POTYs dating to 1993).
• Virginian Pilot All-Tidewater team: Michael Blanchard, RHP Nansemond River (Old Dominion) is player of the year.  Second Team link here.
• (and here’s a list of the All-Tidewater players of the year since 1993 for fun)

If you know of *any* all-anyone team in a publication or official site that i’m missing, please let me know.

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Local and National High School Baseball Ranking Lists: Updated for the final rankings.

• Washington Post All Met Sports Final Area top-10 ranking: Riverdale Baptist, Spalding, St. Johns DC, Chantilly, Battlefield top 5.  Madison, who was consensus #1 for practically the entire season, doesn’t even make the top 10 after its early Regional loss.
• NovaBaseballMagazine.com Final Rankings of all NoVA teams dated 6/13/16: Chantilly, Battlefield, Kettle Run, Mountain View, Hylton.
• PrepBaseballReport Final VA State-Wide Power25 Rankings: Hanover, Greenbrier Christian, Liberty Christian Academy, Chantilly, Nansemond River.
• Baltimore Sun Top-10 Poll Archives: Final 5/23/16 ranking.  Perennial power Spalding has been at the top for a good chunk of the season.  Spalding, Chesapeake AA, Severna Park 1-2-3.
• The Virginian Pilot Top-10 for Hampton Roads area: Final 5/31/16 poll: Private school powerhouse Greenbrier Christian, Grassfield and First Colonial 1-2-3.
• Richmond times-Dispatch Richmond-Area top-10: 6/14/16 Final poll: 4-A state champ Hanover, Collegiate, Mills Godwin 1-2-3.
• MaxPreps All-Virginia Rankings: 6/13/16 so basically Final Virginia rankings: Hanover, Grassfield, Liberty Christian Academy, Chantilly, Paul VI.
• USA Today’s National High School Super 25 (“Expert”) Rankings 6/22/16 Final rankings: Hanover rises to #8, Spalding rises to #13, and Chantilly gets in at #23.
• USA Today’s National “Computer” Rankings 6/22/16: Assuming Final at this point: Hanover at an astounding #4, no other local teams ranked.
• USA Today’s Super 25 North East & Mid Atlantic Regional Rankings 6/22/16 Final: Hanover & Spalding 1-2 in the region.  Also includes Chantilly at #5, Riverdale Baptist #7.
• Baseball America Top 50: dated 6/16/16: Chantilly finishes #28, Riverdale Baptist #39.  Final?
• MaxPreps “Excellent 25” ranking: 6/13/16: Hanover #21.  Final?
• MaxPreps “Excellent 50” rankings: 6/13/16: Hanover #21 and no other local teams mentioned.  Final?
• MaxPreps Computer Rankings 6/27/16: Hanover #5.  You have to scroll pages to find the next local teams (ranked in the 75-100 range). Final?

These National rankings are dominated by teams in Texas, Florida and California, as you might expect.  These teams can play nearly 40 games and usually have at least 15-20 under their belts before DC/MD/VA teams even get going.  So its somewhat of an accomplishment just to have a local team get some recognition.  In fact, any cold-weather state team appearing in these lists is pretty special.

Major Newspaper Links/Resources for following prep baseball around the state

• Washington Post’s AllMetSports section with standings and schedule results.
• NovaBaseballMagazine: great coverage of Prep baseball in NorthernVirginia, far better than what the WP does
• PrepBaseballReport.com: Great HS coverage for DC/VA.
• The Baltimore Sun’s high school page has information on some of the programs outside the DC area mentioned in the Maryland section
• InsideNova.com‘s coverage of high school sports, but has put limits on the number of stories you can read.
• Richmond Times-Dispatch has a HS scoreboard.
• Hampton Roads Pilot (Hampton Roads) has scores for teams in the Chesapeake/Norfolk/Va Beach area.

Local Newspaper Coverage, including links to many local papers covering smaller jurisdictions.

• The Connection family of newspapers has a sports section that is rarely updated, but it does do some coverage.
• Nvdaily.com (Strasburg) has some results for some of the teams in the smaller conferences/outskirts of DC, generally in the Strasburg area.
• WinchesterStar (Winchester) has results for Winchester teams but its pay-only.
• The Daily Progress (Culpeper local paper) also has some scores for schools in its areas.
• Fauquier Times (Fauquier) has some local sports news.
• VivaLoudoun tracks the Loudoun/Ashburn/Leesburg teams.
• The Loudoun Times also covers Leesburg-area teams.
• LoCosports blog, with tons of Loudoun county Coverage
• Fredericksburg.com has some local coverage of Fredericksburg and Woodbridge teams.
• The Lynchburg News & Advance for Lynchburg-based sports.
• The Virginia Gazette for Williamsburg local stuff.

Non-newspaper Links for Local and National Prep Baseball Coverage

• VHSL’s and MPSSAA home pages for updates on VA and MD respectively.
• DCIAA‘s website, which barely has a schedule but will eventually print results and playoff brackets
• PerfectGame: perfectgame.org is the best place to find HS prospect information.
• MaxPreps DC/VA specific coverage.
• Prep Baseball Report: DC/VA specific coverage
• Prep Baseball Report’s Database of College commitments for VA players (with pulldowns for other states and other grad  years).
• Dynamic Baseball: good prep coverage on the east coast.

Good Twitter accounts to follow:

• https://twitter.com/toddeboss/lists/prepbaseball: I maintain an open list at my twitter account via this link, which contains direct links to dozens of local resources (including all the below).  Way too many retweets from the travel team accounts especially, but its a good way to keep up with local ball.
• https://twitter.com/PBRVirginiaDC: Prep Baseball Report VA/DC coverage
• https://twitter.com/NVBaseballMag: NoVa Baseball Magazine
• https://twitter.com/NoVAHSBB
• https://twitter.com/DynamicBaseball