John Cackowski
State Director 

In the fall of 2014 PBR Colorado released their first 2015, 2016, and 2017 rankings. After scouting numerous games this spring and summer, and putting together two awesome events with the Preseason All-State Event on 3/1/15 and the Junior Sunbelt Classic Tryout where each event had over 80 of the best 2016 players in the state participating, we have jumped our 2016 rankings from 80 to 125.

Staying at No. 1 in the 2016 class, and No. 28 overall is Paul Tillotson of Lewis Palmer High School, and also plays for Slammers Baseball in the summer. Tillotson is committed to Nebraska, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound, right-handed pitcher was a one man wrecking crew in 2015. You could argue that Tillotson was one of the most dominating pitchers in the country in 2015. Posting an 8-1 record, in 78 innings pitched Tillotson only gave up 55 hits, and posted a 1.62 ERA. He struck out an impressive 145 batters while only walking 22. Tillotson displays a smooth tall and fall motion with level shoulders and square athletic landing throwing off two feet and repeats delivery time after time.  Arm is long and loose, lightning quick from an over the top slot.  Easy effort produces fastballs from 90-91 MPH with hard run late in the zone.  Command is excellent in the bottom half of the zone.  Has a 68-72 MPH curve with 11/5 action and sharp late movement down in the zone.  Split Change is 74-75 MPH with good sink down in the zone.  Tillotson has a live arm and is a very projectable pitcher. Offensively Tillotson hit .446 while always being pitched around (26 walks). Tilloston shows power at the plate and produced 6 homeruns, and 9 doubles while driving in 32. Tillotson was PBR Colorado's 4A player of the year.

Moving to No 2. in our Rankings is Jake Eissler of ThunderRidge and Texas Christian Commit. Eissler also plays for Slammers Baseball in the summer. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound right-handed hitting RHP/3B had a strong showing at the Junior Sunbelt Classic pitching for Team Colorado, with his fastball reaching 90 mph on multiple occasions. Eissler made the Junior Sunbelt All-Tournament Team. Eissler is a strong, solid prospect. During the tryouts for the team, Eissler registered a 7.21 60 time. At the plate, the right-handed hitter produces solid contact. He uses a smooth load, short stride, and explosive lower half.  90 MPH exit velocity, top 3 at the tryout.  Shows good pull power and good control to the opposite field gap. Not much movement in swing. Lets hands do the work. Did not pitch at the tryout. From third moves towards ball well, fields out in front. Had highest position velocity at the tryout at 93 mph which could be one of the top corner velos in the country. 

Coming in at No. 3 in our rankings is Maverick Handley of Mullen HS and Stanford commit. Handley also plays for Slammers Baseball in the summer. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounds, right-handed hitting catcher impressed us with very good skills at the Preseason All-State. In the spring Handley anchored the Mustangs lineup hitting 3 or 4 hole, showing explosive bat speed in the spring. We saw Handley at our Centennial Games Tournament and the senior moved well behind the plate and handles a high powered pitching staff on daily basis in the summer.  Handley displayed a 1.92 and 1.94 pop-time in each of the games we saw him.

Making the biggest jump in our rankings is Quin Cotton of Regis Jesuit High school moving from No. 12 to No. 5. Cotton is uncommitted at this time. The 5-foot-11, 175 pound OF bats and throws right. Impressive looking athlete. At the plate has no wasted movement from a balanced athletic stance. Load is smooth and stride is short. Bat speed and lower half are explosive. Has line drive gap to gap power that produced the 2nd fastest exit velocity at the tryout at 91 mph. Shows power potential. In the outfield displays confidence with good actions. Throws from a high 3/4 arm slot at 84 mph with good carry. Ran a 6.80 60 time. Was the most athletic looking player at the tryout. High 2016 player to follow in our state. Cotton led the Jesuits with a .457 batting average while supplying 6 doubles, 4 triples, and 4 homeruns. Cotton was recently nominated to the Junior Sunbelt Classic All-Tournment Team. 

Also jumping into the Top 10 for the first time from No. 16 is RHP Nate Sweeney of Cherry Creek HS. In our Preseason All-State Event Sweeney showed  a fastball that flashed a 90 MPH fastball with a live arm. In the spring Sweeney was having a hard time repeating that velocity for strikes, but this summer Sweeney has come on strong and ironed out some mechanics. Recently the 6-foot-3, 185-pound senior  impressed at the Centennial State Games in one inning of work, topping out a 91 mph and striking out 2. Sweeney is a potential high draft pick in the 2016 draft if he continues to show he can translate the velocity to strikes. Sweeney recently committed to Arizona.

Enough Reading about them to see the list click here. 

Here is a sneak peak at the top 10 

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Paul Tillotson	CO	Lewis Palmer	2016	RHP/OF	Nebraska
2	Jake Eissler	CO	ThunderRidge	2016	RHP	TCU
3	Maverick Handley	CO	Mullen	2016	C	Stanford
4	Bo Weiss	CO	North Carolina	2016	RHP	North Carolina
5	Quin Cotton	CO	Regis Jesuit	2016	OF
6	Preston Snavely	CO	Fort Collins	2016	RHP	Wichita State
7	Matt Burkart	CO	Eaton	2016	RHP/SS
8	Wyatt Featherston	CO	Green Mountain	2016	OF
9	Nate Sweeney	CO	Cherry Creek	2016	RHP	Arizona
10	Tommy Gillman	CO	Columbine	2016	SS	Texas AM

To see Prep Baseball Report Overall Rankings click here