WWBA Thread

Good to see some of the kids from the mountains having success down there too.

 

Caleb should really help West this year. He faced a Baseball America team that featured a couple of Aflac All Americans and he kept them completely off stride. He only gave up 1 hit (a slow roller to the SS) and a walk by mixing up his pitches very effectively. He spotted the fastball well and his curveball was his out pitch.

He's really worked hard to improve his game and it's paying off.

 

NC Teams Showings

Is anyone surprised at the success of the NC teams? If you are you are mislead greatly. This is the same group of guys from around the state that have dominated at the AAU national levels since the age of 11. The 08 class when they were 11 had 6 teams finish in the top 12 in the nation in AAU. My team was 11th. At the age of 12 there were 7 in the top 12 in the nation at the AAU nationals Division 1. We finished 4th that year. The 07 class was just as dominate at the national level. Ive said it before and I will say it again the 07 and 08 class of baseball talent in NC is the best it has been in a long long time. It is as good as anywhere in the nation period. People that means out of the two year period at the ages of 11 and 12 there were 24 teams that finished in the top 12. Thirteen of the 24 in that two year period were from the state of NC. Thats speaks for itself.

 

You are absolutely correct, Coach. But what makes the NC accomplishments so outstanding are the teams they are beating. Impact recruits for the most part, statewide. The O's recruit from one city in the state. Both teams had to play and beat teams that recruit Nationally and Internationally. They beat teams that have players that will be 1st round draft selections...not too bad.

Am I surprised! Nah..we've been doing it the past 4 years, but it was only 5 years ago that Charlotte only had 3 players sign D1 schollys. It shows you what exposure does for a player and there is no better exposure than Perfect Games.

The point I am trying to make is that we here in NC always knew what kind of talent we had here, but now, across the country, everyone knows.

It will be amazing how many players in NC will receive quite a bit of interest from schools like Stanford, Vandy, Pepperdine...etc. because of the way they played in Jupiter. Schools that would never had heard of them without playing there.

 

Have always said, say and will say, it takes

1. talent - the tools. not always all 5 but at least more than 3
2. coaching - someone who can help you get better as player and person
3. desire - the steady (not temporal) heart to get better (ie work ethic)
4. and exposure - sometimes right place, right time ; always being seen

Only the first is God given - the rest . . .. .

 

Hapi....I agree with you a 100%.

The first 3 help get the player to the next level. I think #4 is helping get NC the recognition they deserve...having more NC players/Teams get more showcase exposure, especially in places like Jupiter is making a huge difference. It was fun walking around Jupiter last weekend and hearing people talk about the Dirtbags and O's and not just about East Cobb, Houston Heat, Juice etc.

 

Pitching Velocity

Perfect game just posted the velocities for pitchers who threw 88 or higher in Jupiter based on Stalker readings.

Here are the NC guys who were in that group....pretty impressive. What sets this group apart is their feel for the game and ability to pitch rather than just throw.

Josh Thrailkill (06) - 94 (Midland)
Ryan Morris (06) - 93 (Dirtbags)
Jared Bard (06) - 92 (On Deck)
Greg Holt (07) - 91 (Dirtbags)
Derrick Lowery (06) - 90 (Dirtbags)
Rob Gilliam (06) - 89 (Dirtbags)
Blaine Howell (06) - 89 (Dirtbags)
Matt Layman (06) - 89 (On Deck)
Sam Runion (07) - 89 (Midland)
Matt Andress (06) - 88 (On Deck)
Brent Haynes (06) - 88 (Dirtbags)

I watched a lot of games over four days and saw most of the "elite" players in the tournament and the collection of talent from NC was second to none (including FL and CA).

 

WNCBB...I agree 100%. I was there as well, all of the NC players got a lot of attention from the scouts. Our NC guys didn't take a back seat to anybody.

 

Ryan Morris

Check out the fillm clip of Ryan Morris pitching in Jupiter on www.baseballwebtv.com. They partnered with Perfect Game to film every game and every player at the tournament.