By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

JUPITER, FL – LHP Bryan Hudson (Alton HS, IL) is the No. 46 overall prospect in the Prep Baseball Report rankings, so certainly he is no surprise to our scouting staff. But on Sunday at the WWBA World Wood Bat Championship, the 6-foot-7, 205-pound left-hander introduced himself to the national pro scouting community in a big way.

In a time when there are few secrets in the fall of a player’s senior year – and especially in Illinois – Hudson was somewhat of a unknown commodity despite being a two-year, two-way standout at Alton HS, which is located in the St. Louis-metro area on the Illinois side. In the summer, he played on an 18-U team, the Midwest Mules, which doesn’t compete in some of the higher exposure tournaments. The only pro scouts who had seen Hudson had stumbled into him while scouting RHP Tanner Houck (Collinsville HS, IL) last spring, or those who attended the Prep Baseball Report Labor Day Classic.

The word had seeped out about Hudson, but ultimately he was hard to track down. So when he was announced as the starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays Scout Team, a contingent of pro scouts – and a few college coaches (Hudson is still uncommitted) – packed behind the backstop ...