FORT MYERS, Fla. – Just more than a week ago, on Tuesday, June 2, Joey Gallo hustled out onto the field at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Tex., and made his major league debut with the home-standing Texas Rangers. As MLB debuts go, it’s difficult to imagine a better one: Gallo had three hits, including a home run, and drove in four runs against the visiting Chicago White Sox.
What is also difficult to imagine is just five years earlier, in mid-June, 2010, Gallo hustled onto the playing surface at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. – the home of the Tampa Bay Rays – for what was then the 5th annual Perfect Game Junior National Showcase. In five years’ time, Gallo has gone from elite amateur prospect to elite MLB rookie.
The PG Jr. National, the country’s premier early summer showcase for high school underclassmen, has grown into an event where top underclass players might first get to experience performing on a national stage. And in the case of more than a dozen prospects in the past, including Gallo, the experience could be one of the first steps taken down a winding a path that leads to a big-league debut.
More than 185 underclassmen from New York to California, Washington to Florida, Minnesota to Texas and Ontario to Puerto Rico, will converge on the JetBlue Player Development Complex for the 9th annual PG Jr. National Showcase Sunday, June 14 through Tuesday, June 16. This year’s event features players from the classes of 2017 and 2018 (incoming juniors and sophomores).
Many of the nation’s best from each class will be here next week. Eleven of the top 30- and 24 of the top 50-ranked 2017 prospects will be in attendance, along with five of the top 25- and seven of the top 35-ranked 2018s. Dozens of these underclass prospects have already committed to NCAA Division-I college programs but dozens more are welcoming the opportunity to get in front of college recruiters.
Houston outfielder and Texas commit Ronald Washington is the No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2017 class and was expected to be in attendance, but was forced to withdraw due to a family emergency. Highly ranked 2017s that will be on hand are first baseman/outfielder/left-hander Alejandro Toral (No. 5; Davie, Fla.; uncommitted) and right-hander/first baseman Altoon Coleman (No. 6; Sanford, Fla.; Florida State).
Toral, who plays for Elite Squad 17u Prime, has been named to seven PG all-tournament teams – and earned one Most Valuable Player award – and was on the Top Prospect List at last year’s PG Jr. National. Coleman, a member of FTB Pride, has five PG all-tournament team selections.
Other top 2017s include outfielder Austin Beck (No. 12, Clemmons, N.C., North Carolina); shortstop/third baseman Mark Vientos (No. 13, Pembroke Pines, Fla., Miami); right-hander/outfielder Nicholas Storz (No. 17, Brooklyn, N.Y., uncommitted) and corner-infielder Joseph Perez (No. 20, Pembroke Pines, Fla., South Florida).
Right-hander Weston Bizzle (No. 21, Rossville, Tenn., Vanderbilt), has been named to 11 PG all-tournament teams, mostly with the Georgia Jackets, and was the Most Valuable Pitcher at the 2014 15u PG BCS Finals while playing with the Jackets.
2017s catcher/right-hander/third baseman Zach Jackson (No. 22, Haines City, Fla.); shortstop Greg Lewandoski (No. 25, Deland, Fla.); right-hander Brandon McCabe (No. 27, Boynton Beach, Fla.) and right-hander Tyler Ahearn (No. 28, Jupiter, Fla.) have committed to Central Florida, Florida, Miami and Florida State, respectively, and will also be on hand.
The top 2018s in attendance include shortstop Tim Borden (No. 9, Sellersburg, Ind., Louisville); third baseman/shortstop Alec Sanchez (No. 11, Jacksonville, Fla., Florida State); outfielder Grant Burton (No. 13, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., uncommitted); shortstop Xavier Edwards (No. 20, Wellington, Fla., uncommitted) and first baseman/left-hander Chase Sanguinetti (No. 24, Tampa, Florida State).
Gallo was ranked No. 7 in the class of 2012 when he was at the 2010 PG Jr. National. Among the players ranked ahead of him at the time were No. 1 Lance McCullers, No. 2 Addison Russell, No. 3 Courtney Hawkins and No. 5 Albert Almora, all of whom were also at the 2010 event. McCullers (Houston Astros) and Russell (Chicago Cubs) joined Gallo in making their major league debuts this spring.
Ten other PG Jr. National alumni have played in the big leagues, including Washington Nationals All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper, who was at the event in 2009. Brendan Rodgers (3rd overall), Josh Naylor (12th), Ke’Bryan Hayes (32nd) and Ryan Mountcastle (36th) were all first-round or first-round supplemental picks during the first day of the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft on Monday, just two years after performing at the 2013 PG Jr. National Showcase.