We’re headed into hibernation and the offseason is fully upon us. With that, comes a final look at each of the high school class rankings. We wrote about the seniors earlier in the month, in our 2020 update and look at the Newcomers, but the rest of this week is reserved for the state’s juniors.

We last looked at and expanded the state’s 2020 rankings at the end of August, following the long summer and PBR Future Games. That was a critical update that contained big shifts up and down the board. This time around, there’s just some fine-tuning we need to do before winter officially arrives.

So, today, these rankings will primarily reveal more names to know inside this class. Late pop-up prospects who have made a run onto the board with strong fall performances, like at the PBR Midwest Fall Championships, for example.

We have added 20 names overall to the 2020 board, bringing the grand total of ranked prospects to 100. Fall tourneys, camps, and events like the Southern Wisconsin Open helped create a need to update our 2021 class rankings one last time this year.

TOP OF THE CLASS

There hasn’t been too much information to divulge this late summer and fall so, thus, the top of the board remains mostly unchanged. Our findings from the fall came primarily from our trip to Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., for the PBR Midwest Fall Championships, as well as our last event of 2019, the Southern Wisconsin Open.

• At Grand Park, SS Noah Miller (Ozaukee; Alabama commit) reasserted himself as the top prospect in Wisconsin’s 2021 class. He’s developed a reputation – rather, he’s earned one – for his uber smooth hands and actions on defense. The game moves in slow motion around him and he’s miles ahead of his competition and his quick hands and transfers regularly help him make the seemingly impossible possible. At the plate, Miller’s a switch-hit type who’s added a little natural strength which has allowed him to enhance his quality of contact off the barrel. He’s a lead-off type with barrel feel on both sides of the plate.

• Notre Dame recruit Joey Spence (West Bend East) is the top catcher in the state and swings one of the best left-handed bats in the region. Typically a member of the STiKS Academy travel roster, he and STiKS teammates Q Phillips (Brookfield East; Michigan), Grant Ross (Pewaukee; Valparaiso), and Alex Hayes (Muskego; uncommitted) played for Midwest Prospects Cincinnati at the Fall Championships. Not much new news here. Phillips spent the weekend taking quality at-bats off a fluid, level bat path and has continued to ascend up the 2021 board, both in-state and nationally, ranked No. 4 in Wisconsin.

• The top-ranked pitcher in the state, and the No. 2 overall prospect, RHP Vincent Trapani (Eau Claire Memorial; Arkansas) logged a busy summer on the national scene and closed the season at the Underclass Area Code Games. He capped the year at the Fall Championships for the Reds Midwest Scout Team. Trapani regularly sits in the 88-92 mph range with an 11/5 breaking ball that he can drop for strikes at 75-78 mph. He’s still finding a consistent release, but his present stuff is among the best in the region.

• There were several significant verbal commitments made in the last couple months inside this 2021 class: No. 6-ranked 2B/RHP Owen Washburn (Webster) committed to South Carolina; No. 7 SS Ryan Taylor (Verona Area) committed to Central Florida; Nos. 9 and 10 Liam Moreno (Sun Prairie) and Liam Stumpf (Mineral Point) both committed to Missouri State. A little further down the board, No. 13 RHP Tyler Peck (Oak Creek) committed to Ohio. Sun Prairie’s C Josh Caron, ranked No. 16, committed to Nebraska. LHP Blake Read (Muskego), ranked No. 21, committed to Miami-Ohio. SS Bobby Ball (Brookfield Central) just recently committed to Central Michigan, ranked No. 22 in the state. At No. 26, Pewaukee’s Ross committed to Valpo. No. 28 OF Luke Nowak (Menomonee Falls) committed to East Carolina. Finally, C Kaden Kosobucki (West De Pere) announced his commitment to Northern Illinois as the No. 32-ranked player in this junior class. Each of the aforementioned were members of Team Wisconsin’s roster at the PBR Future Games.

• We’ve not seen RHP Drew Stippich (Kettle Moraine) since those Future Games, but the No. 8-ranked prospect in the state is now the incumbent top-ranked name who still remains uncommitted. He sat 86-88 mph back in Georgia with easy effort and a tight 11/5 breaking ball. He’s a physical and athletic 6-foot-1 with a quick arm that shouldn’t be on the market for much longer.

ON THE RISE

• No player in this 2021 class has climbed north up the board more substantially in this update than RHP Keagon Kauffmann (DeForest; uncommitted). Up 29 spots overall, Kauffmann is the new No. 20-ranked prospect in the state. He’s 6-foot, 205 pounds, with long levers and an arsenal we’ve gotten a couple of looks at late this year. At the Fall Championships, he sat in the mid-80s and was up to 87 mph a couple times with a heavy, sinking fastball while mixing in a sharp, aggressive slider and fading changeup. He utilizes this mix with feel and an acute ability to paint the corners, too. He closed the fall with a similarly strong look in a camp setting and touched multiple 88s in a bullpen.

• Bay Port’s Carl Cano is a premium athlete and long held two-way upside but, at the Southern Wisconsin Open, showed a renewed look at the mound that has pushed his future toward pitching. There, Cano sat 85-87 mph and touched 88 with a hard running fastball. He also mixed in a sharp 11/5 breaking ball and demonstrated enough feel for it to drop it in for strikes. He stands at an athletic and broad-shouldered 6-foot-1 and has a bright future on the bump.

• We were unable to get a good look at Markesan RHP Bryce Leedle in 2019 due to a leg injury, but we saw Leedle in a camp setting, too, and it was more than enough to boost him to No. 36 in the state. He has a live, loose arm that was up to multiple 88s in the fall. His offspeed is still a work in progress, but he a feel to spin it, so the makings of a go-to curveball are there.

We’re really only just scratching the surface of the Risers and Newcomers inside this 2021 update. Check back tomorrow when we dive deeper into the prospects making their debuts on this junior board, in addition to learning more about a few more of the prospects who’ve climbed up the rankings in this final update of the year.

WISCONSIN’S 2021 UPDATED RANKINGS

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