The annual Preseason All-State once again put some of the top juniors in the state on display. One week after hosting the Super 60 in the same building, Illinois’ top 2019 graduates sought to put on a preview of next year’s draft class, and our staff walked away with some eye popping results. After a quick review of the day’s notes, here’s a look at some intriguing takeaways. 

90 mph Club

Its only mid February but several of the state’s top arms looked more than ready for the 2018 IHSA season. Seven of the 51 arms in attendance touched the coveted 90 mph mark.

• RHPs Griffin Holderfield (Oak Park-River Forest, Creighton), Grant Leader (Lyons Township, Illinois) and Bryce Barnett (Providence Catholic, Arizona State) all ran it up to 92 mph. For Barnett thats a five mph jump off of his previous best, while Holderfield saw a three mph uptick, and basically sat at 92 mph. Outside of the premium velocity, all three showed plus potential breaking balls as well.
  
  
• Hinsdale Central’s Kyle Wisch, an uncommitted junior, touched 91 mph and made it look easier than we’ve seen in the past, while Nathan Rintz (Schaumburg, Arkansas) looks back to his old self, touching 91 mph as well. 

• Tyler Schlaffer (Homewood-Flossmoor, Illinois-Chicago) and Tyler Statler (Hononegah, Southeast Missouri State) round out the 90 mph club, both showing similar stuff to what they showed at the PBR Future Games this past summer.

Uncommitted Arms

Pitching is always in demand, and luckily for those looking, the Preseason All-State provided plenty of names for your ScoutPLUS Dashboard.

• The obvious name at the top of this list is currently ranked No. 8 in Illinois, southpaw Cole Kirschsieper (Lincoln-Way East), who did what he always does, showing excellent feel for three well above average pitches.
  
  
• Leading the way of eye-openers for our staff is a handful of names residing south of I-80. RHP Nick Gilhaus (Normal Community) showed a super clean and easy arm that sits 86-88 mph, topping at 89 and coupled that with aggressive secondary stuff. Chatham-Glenwood’s Evan Rightnowar has a similar profile at 6-foot-2, 195-pounds  and reached 89 mph.
  
  
• RHP Dawson Taylor (Edwardsville) is about as convicted as it gets with his stuff. He’s uptempo and ultra aggressive throwing everything with a purpose and effort. His fastball sits 86-89 mph and throws a hard 79-82 mph slider.
  
  
• RHP Andrew Pogue was one of three Dunlap arms to show well. Pogue has a long and lean 6-foot-4, 175-pound frame with a live and easy arm sitting 84-87 mph.
  
  
• RHP Coby Moe (Grayslake Central) is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound arm with easy feel for all his pitches, and projects well as a starting arm at the next level.
  
  
• All at 6-foot or less, RHP’s Daniel Chausse (Mt. Zion), Logan Mueller (Lakes Community), Dylan Szajkovics (Plainfield North) and Justin Divelbiss (Plainfield Central) packed a ton of arm strength from their smaller stature. All four were in the mid to upper 80’s while Logan Mueller lead the group at 89 mph.
  
  
• Another central Illinois arm to keep and eye on is Ryan Rhoda (Prairie Central). It’s hard to separate the huge crop of mid-80’s right-handed arms, but Rhoda has a highly projectable frame at 6-foot-4, 180-pounds and has a exceptionally clean and easy arm while methodically moving through his repertoire with ease and confidence. Rhoda also threw a hard curveball at 73-76 mph with short sharp action.

SPEED, POWER AND PLUS FRAMES IN THE OUTFIELD

Some of the best offensive power of the event came from sub 7.0 runners with plus frames. Below is a handful of players who fit the description.

• Eastern Kentucky commit, OF Kendal Ewell (Marist) is physically impressive at 6-foot-3, 200-pounds, ran a 6.88 60, was 90 mph from the outfield and has easy, raw power in his right-handed bat.

• Uncommitted, OF/LHP Logan Bibb (Mascoutah) started the day sitting 85-86 mph on the mound. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound left-handed hitter then proceeded to run a 6.82 60, registered a 90 mph exit velocity and flashed pull-power during BP.
  
  
• 6-foot-2, 217-pound, LHH Nick Iannantone (Joliet Catholic) may have been the most impressive athlete in attendance. The uncommitted outfielder ran an event-best 6.41 laser-timed 60, registered a 92 mph exit velocity and flashed advanced bat speed and bat strength.
  
  
• The No. 5 prospect in the class is 6-foot-3, 190-pound, OF Jason Hodges (Marist) who recently came back on the market. Hodges ran a 6.92 60, was 98 mph from a tee and showed off explosive bat speed and big power potential in BP.

BEVY OF MIDDLE INFIELDERS

• Brody Harding (Moline), Jalen Greer (St. Rita) and Damon Gladney (Illiana Christian), three committed infielders, were some of the top position players in attendance. Harding, an Illinois commit, has a smooth left-handed swing, makes a lot of hard contact and is a confident defender. Greer, a Missouri commit, showed off an impressive combination of tools, 6.99 60, 90 mph infield arm and an 88 mph exit velocity. It remains to be seen where Gladney, an Eastern Kentucky commit, ends up defensively but the ball comes off his bat differently than most. Gladney routinely made loud contact and has natural lift in his swing.
  
  
• Nicholas Hofmann (Elk Grove), Tucker Cole (Dixon) and Brendan Carrane (St. Rita) are three uncommitted juniors that will be able to stick in the middle infield at the next level.

• Nick Kosmetatos (St. Francis) may have the strong physical make-up of a third-baseman, but his defensive prowess on the infield rivals any of the middle infielders in attendance. Kosmetatos shows exceptionally soft hands, and above average range with and athletic arm that plays plus across the diamond.
  
  
• Andrew Kim (Libertyville), and Illinois commit, has one of the sweeter left-handed swings in the infield group. About as easy and balanced as it  gets, Kim sprays line drives to all field and shows an occasional pop as well.  

CATCHERS

One of the strongest groups of the event was the crop of catchers. From receiving bullpens, to offense, to pop times, there was a lot to be intrigued by.

• Tyler Snep (Lake Zurich), Matt McCormick (St. Laurence) and Andrew McKenna (Nazareth) made noise with their strong left-handed bats.
  
  
• Brandon Green (Kenwood) has always been an advanced receiver and his arm has continued to take strides. Green’s pop times ranged between 1.98-2.09 on Sunday.

• Jacob Schroeder (Homewood-Flossmoor) was easily the biggest revelation at the position, and arguably the entire event. Last year at this time, Schroeder was a 6-foot-1, 180-pounds, threw a 2.05-2.12 pop at 74 mph and a 78 exit velocity. Add a year and 20 pounds of strength and Schroeder is now a sub-2.0 pop guy with a plus arm for his age (81 mph) and posted an 87 mph exit velocity from the tee.
  
  
• Max Malley (Marist), a recent Evansville commit, ultra-quick glove-to-hand skills with hyper-athletic directional footwork.
  
  
• Casey Kmet (St. Viator) continued to show he can flat out swing the bat. The Notre Dame commit, hits from a solid base with little wasted movement and barreled baseballs to both gaps.

SPEEDY OUTFIELDERS

The event featured plenty of high-level athletes. 26 players ran sub 7.0 60’s and eight sub 6.7 60’s. As one would expect, many of the top 60’s came from outfielders.

• Iannantone (mentioned above) ran a 6.41, Benji Brokemond (Walter Payton) was second with a 6.49 and Michael Bolton was third with a 6.54. Both Brokemond and Bolton, backed up their 60 times with some of the top BP rounds on the day. Brokemond, a recent Miami (OH) commit, has an easy fast bat and repeatable swing. Bolton, a Purdue commit, has quick twitch in his swing, a flat path and line drive approach.
  
  
• Elias Flowers (Yorkville), Gregory Ziegler (Joliet Catholic, Missouri State), Danny Doligale (Brother Rice) all ran sub 6.8’s and turned in impressive overall performances.

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