After a long winter full of events and a good chunk of the IHSA season now behind us, the Class of 2024 in Illinois was long overdue for an update. There were a ton of new names who entered into the fold, as well as a number of others who continue to elevate their game. 

Yesterday, our staff updated the state’s present junior class formally, expanding the list to feature 200 names with plenty of movement throughout. We detailed the new top-10 extensively inside our official release, which you can find HERE. 

Today we’re highlighting some names that are new within our updated rankings, with detailed scout notes from our winter events or live looks from the IHSA season. These prospects have been trending in the right direction for some time now, and there’s a plethora of them that remain uncommitted, too. 

Learn more about a handful of arrow-up 2024 graduates below. 

Newcomers 

Jake Ottensmeier OF / Highland, IL / 2024 Rankings  StateRank: 44 / POS: 7 From 5/1/23: “... Eastern Illinois commit, currently ranked No. 44 in the Illinois’ 2024 class. Athletic, well-proportioned frame with lean twitch and room to add strength with more physical development. Left/left prospect that started in center field and hit leadoff for the Bulldogs in a big conference win over Triad. Has a quiet, collected presence to him at the plate. Hands turn slightly at load, driving through the zone with quick twitch. Loose, fluid left-handed swing with some leverage out front and feel for the barrel. Squared up three balls in this look, two of them for hits and one a loud lineout to center field that would have been a hit without a spectacular diving grab. Roams around the outfield comfortably with natural actions to him, covered ground effortlessly in pre-game and showed above-average arm strength. A present impact player with upside to all facets of his game.”

Jack Olson RHP / OF / Antioch, IL / 2024 Rankings  StateRank: 49 / POS: 17 From 2/7/23: “... put together arguably the top performance of the day. At first glance, Olson looks to have gained some muscle mass to his athletic 6-foot-3, 190-pound frame, which seems to have helped him across many aspects of the game, starting offensively. Olson kicked off the event with a bang during the BP portion as he registered two 100+ mph EVs, with his hardest coming off at 101.6 mph and he averaged 92.8 mph. In the left-handed box, Olson works with rhythm, calmly toe-tapping into his load before delivering the barrel with controlled aggression. He then moved over to the outfield defense portion where his innate arm strength and athleticism were on full display as he topped at 89 mph on his hardest bullet from the outfield. This arm strength definitely transfers over to the mound as he recorded the highest fastball velocity of the event at 90.9 mph, which was roughly seven mph harder than he threw at this same event last year. On the mound, Olson is an athletic and clean mover, working downhill with tempo. As for his offspeeds, he was able to land all three secondaries for strikes, the first being a big two-plane breaking curveball for strikes. He also was able to spin in a handful of quality sliders that featured more horizontal movement than the curveball and with more velocity. His final offering to round out his four-pitch mix was a changeup that was sold well and featured late run/fade.”