2022 Illinois Rankings: Newcomers
September 22, 2021
With the summer circuit officially coming to an end and the fall transition beginning, an overhaul to the 2022 rankings was overdue. The PBR Illinois staff recently updated the state’s Class of 2022 rankings by 75 players, expanding the class to a top-315 overall. We published stories on the prospects at the top of the class, as well as the players who rose up the board in this latest update.
Today, we’ll be breaking down the top prospects who are also making their Illinois rankings debut in this end-of-summer update.
We’ll discuss the remaining 'Newcomers' to this update below.
TOP-50 NEWCOMERS
+ One top newcomer in the rankings leapt out to a stellar start at the beginning of the IHSA season: OF Mason Baer (Lake Park; Illinois Chicago commit). Baer got off to a torrid start for Lake Park (the eventual Class 4A runners-up), and he began the spring by earning the first PBR Illinois Player of the Week honor of the season. During Lake Park’s 6-0 opening week of action, Baer went 10-for-10 at the plate, five of which went for extra bases; he also walked four times, drove in six runs, and touched home nine times in those six games. Additionally, he closed three of his team’s first six wins, earning three saves in the process, striking out four in three scoreless, hitless innings. Baer parlayed his hot start into a commitment to UIC, and he carried over his impressive play into the summer, which brings him to the present, ranked inside the top-40 in his debut.