Wisconsin Mailbag: Top Questions Of The Week

October 3, 2014

By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor – Illinois/Wisconsin

The Mailbag is a feature which allows readers to ask our scouting directors any questions they wish about high school baseball in their state. Whether it’s about possible state title contenders, top prospects, recruiting, etc. your questions will get put into our “Mailbag” via the ask.fm app and our scouts will answer your questions through Twitter (@PBRWisconsin) and Facebook.

This week's top questions center around up and coming 2018 prospects and questions about recruiting.

To submit a question about Wisconsin high school baseball to the PBR scouting staff simply follow the link HERE. Also if you have a burning question about the national landscape of high school baseball or draft specific questions you can send them to National Supervisor Nathan Rode HERE.

Any interesting top 2018's?

Still too early for that. We've seen a few of them this fall at the Labor Day Challenge where we highlighted Stephen Lund, Jarred Kelenic and Alex Binelas. Noah Berghammer also looks to be an early favorite for one of the top prospects in the class. We should see more 2018 this fall at the Southern WI Open and again in the winter at our preseason events. Hopefully by the time the spring season starts we will have a good grasp on the class and will come out with our state rankings.

Does a player typically need to attend a PBR showcase or two to be included in your class rankings, or can guys sneak in just based on their spring/summer seasons?

Players do not need to attend PBR showcases to get into the rankings. Our goal is to have the top players ranked to the best of our ability regardless of whether or not they attend an event. However, attending an event assures that you will be seen by our scouting staff. We try to make it out as much as we can in the spring and summer but unfortunately we can't get to every team.

What are Janesville Parker’s chances of being the team they were last year?

Too early to tell, ask me again when we get closer to the season and start seeing more players at our Preseason events.

Any 2015 draft prospects?

There is no Jeren Kendall in the 2015 draft class for Wisconisn. Pete Schuler has the closest to a pro profile as anybody in the class as a projectable left handed hitting catcher. After that there are a few strong arms (Bryant Jordan, Ty Ramirez) but neither play spring high school baseball so that could hurt their availability to scouts.

If a player was offered say a 40% athletic scholarship and met all the academic criteria of being top 10% of the class, 25 ACT and 3.5 GPA. What total percentage could they possibly expect to receive?

That's going to depend on the college or university. Each university will have their own requirements for academic aid, obviously higher end institutions such as the Ivy League will have different academic requirements than the Big Ten.

What do coaches value more in a catcher: offensive of defensive ability?

Defensive abilities typically are a higher priority when recruiting the catching position. The hit tool is a bonus, and a left handed hitter is icing on the cake. The catching position is basically the coach on the field, and has to be able to take charge of the defense and handle his pitcher. Catchers have way more opportunities to effect the game defensively than they do offensively.

What's the best way to get on colleges radars, I'm on a good fall team and travel around the Midwest, will this help my chances?

Playing on a fall team that travels around the Midwest is one thing, but you have to make sure you are going to the right events and getting in front of college coaches. The summer is probably the most active time for this and getting out to tournaments and showcases in the summer is going to get you even more exposure. Keeping your PBR profile up to date is also important, anyone can create their own PBR profile through the Recommend a Prospect link HERE>> http://www.prepbaseballreport.com/request-showcase-invite/WI/WI-recommend-a-prospect

Wisconsin Mailbag: Top Questions Of The Week

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