By Chris Fuller
PBR Kentucky

Our summer events afforded the PBR Kentucky staff the opportunity to evaluate some prospects in the 2019 class, and the time has come to release our initial player rankings.

With three years of high school baseball left for prospects that just began their sophomore year, one thing is certain. These rankings will change and expand significantly as players continue to develop and we continue to go through the process of scouting, evaluating, and gathering information on additional prospects around the state.  The rankings will be revisited again in late October for possible updates after several of the top prospects in this class will participate in the PBR Kentucky/Tennessee Border Battle at Western Kentucky University the weekend of October 15-16.

For now, we release out initial top 40 players in the 2019 class.

CLICK HERE to view the entire 2019 rankings.

RHP Ryan Hawks (Warren East HS) sits at the top of the class. He emerged at our Preseason All-State Showcase last February and then made a jump in velocity this summer. At 6-foot-2, 185-pounds, Hawks has big upside and began drawing significant interest from some of the top Division I programs in the country following his performance at the PBR Future Games where he showed an 85-87 mph fastball and good feel for his 72-73 mph curveball and 77 mph changeup. Hawks committed to Louisville a few weeks ago.

LHP/OF Lane Diuguid (Christian County HS) checks in at the No. 2 spot. The athletic two-way prospect was impressive at our 16U Invitational Tournament at the University of Kentucky at the end of July. His arm action is clean and produces an 80-83 mph fastball with additional velocity likely to come while mixing in a solid 68-69 mph curveball. Diuguid attacks the strike zone and knows how to pitch. He will participate in our Border Battle Games event against top 2019 prospects from Tennessee.

C Tyler Wood (Central Hardin HS) occupies the No. 3 spot. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound right-handed hitter collected two hits while also drawing a walk and being hit by a pitch as a member of Team Kentucky at the PBR Future Games. Wood also recorded the top exit velocity for Team Kentucky at 94 mph and has shown very good power at each event he has attended. He has registered pop times in the 1.95-2.00 range with good arm strength at 79 mph from the crouch. Wood will also participate in the Border Battle Games event against top 2019 prospects from Tennessee.

C Cameron Scheler (St. Xavier HS) checks in at No. 4. At 6-foot-1, 190-pounds, Scheler is strong and athletic behind the plate, and he acquitted himself well offensively collecting two hits and drawing a walk for Team Kentucky at the PBR Future Games. At 80 mph from the crouch, Scheler has shown the most arm strength of the highly-ranked 2019 catchers. He had thrown the ball extremely well at two summer events that produced 1.93-1.98 pop times before really having an off day in the Future Games workout. Despite his sub-par showing in that workout, Scheler can throw the baseball and will get the opportunity to show that at the Border Battle Games event.

C Wyatt Stevenson rounds out the top five. The first thing that stands out about Stevenson is his ability to hit from the left-side of the plate. Left-handed hitting catchers are always a commodity, and when all is said and done, Stevenson has a chance to move even further up the rankings than his current No. 5 spot. He has a smooth left-handed stroke with an advanced approach that allows him to make hard contact to all fields. Defensively, he has good arm strength at 78 mph from the crouch and will only continue to get better as he works to quicken up his release. Stevenson is also interesting on the mound with a fastball up to 85 mph with very effective late arm-side run.

Enough reading about it. Here is a look at the initial Class of 2019 top 10.

	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Ryan Hawks	KY	Warren East	2019	RHP	Louisville
2	Lane Diuguid	KY	Christian County	2019	LHP
3	Tyler Wood	KY	Central Hardin	2019	C
4	Cameron Scheler	KY	Saint Xavier	2019	C
5	Wyatt Stevenson	KY	Christian County	2019	C
6	Jackson Webb	KY	Elizabethown	2019	C
7	Noah Blythe	KY	Tates Creek	2019	2B
8	Jared Gadd	KY	Paul Laurence Dunbar	2019	SS
9	Gabe Ferrell	KY	Johnson Central	2019	RHP
10	Dallas Glass	KY	Pleasure Ridge Park	2019	OF