FORT MYERS, Fla. – Before all is said and done, dynamic class of 2018 shortstop Luis Tuero might do enough to be known as one of the top prep prospects to ever come out of the state of Florida, and heaven only knows there have been plenty of those.
Over the past week at the 15u Perfect Game BCS Finals, Tuero put up numbers that will certainly place him in any conversation that addresses the top prospects to ever play in the 11-year history of the event, a very short list that includes current big-leaguers Albert Almora Jr., Delino DeShields Jr., Lance McCullers Jr. and Manny Machado.
Tuero singled three times, drove in two runs and scored twice to lead the ninth-seeded MVP Banditos past the No. 2 Florida Burn Platinum 2019, 5-2, in the championship game played Thursday afternoon at City of Palms Park. The victory enabled the Miami-based but nationally represented Banditos to complete their week-long stay in Southwest Florida with a 10-0-0 record; the Sarasota, Fla.-based Burn Platinum 2019 wrapped up their stay at 8-1-0.
“This tournament was a great competition,” the 15-year-old Tuero said just before getting fitted for his PG national championship ring. “We came here with one goal, to win a championship, and we came to get the job done. It was really hot weather during this tournament but we had to fight through it and just get the job done.”
MVP scored a single run in the top of the third inning, two in the fourth and two in the seventh to secure the victory, although the Burn certainly didn’t show any quit with single runs in each of the sixth and seventh.
Tuero, a left-handed hitter, lined a one-out single to right field and eventually scored on an error in the third, and then stroked a two-run single in the fourth. He led-off the seventh with his third single of the game, moved to second when Samuel Infante walked, and they both came around to score on a two-run single off the bat of Michael Machin to give the Banditos a 5-1 lead. Tuero finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored; Albert Hernandez was 3-for-4 with a run scored.
The Burn pushed across a run in the sixth on the strength of an RBI single from Kevin Dubrule and received an RBI double in the seventh from Kyle Machado, a blast that came just inches from clearing the left field wall at COP Park.
Banditos 2019 left-hander Parker Foss from Weston, Fla., worked five, two-hit shutout innings in picking up the win for MVP. It was Foss’s third appearance at the event and he finished having allowed only one earned run in 9 1/3 innings pitched (0.75 ERA) on six hits. His overall performance – but particularly against the sweet-swinging Burn in the championship game – earned him the tournament’s Most Valuable Pitcher Award ahead of several other deserving candidates.
“Parker has been a go-to guy for us for many years,” MVP Banditos head coach/general manager Mike Sagaro said of Foss, a Florida transplant originally from Connecticut. “He’s pitched in a lot of big games for us through the years, and while he’s not the hardest throwing lefty, he hits his spots; he’s consistent and he’s confusing.”
And then there was Tuero, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound University of Miami recruit from Miramar, Fla., a member of last year’s USA Baseball 15u National Team and a prospect that will be part of the USA Baseball 17u National Team Player Development Program later this month. Tuero suffered a torn ACL injury playing with the 15u National Team last summer, underwent eight months of physical therapy and is just now getting his feet back underneath him; PG ranks him the No. 95 prospect in the 2018 class.
“I missed baseball so much. Eight months, that’s a long time for me,” Tuero said Thursday. “To come in here and win this (tournament) is great. It’s always our goal for the summer to get two national championship rings, and this is the first one of the summer.”
Tuero was simply spectacular over the past seven days, posting a line perhaps never seen before at the 15u PG BCS Finals. He finished 16-for-30 with 15 singles, a triple, six walks and a slash-line of .533/.595/.600; he also stole six bases. It is perhaps needless to report, but Tuero was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
While leading the Banditos in almost every offensive category, Tuero got plenty of support from his teammates – they combined to hit .308 as a team with 18 extra-base hits among their 78 safeties. Machin hit .258 (8-for-31) but had two doubles, a home run and a team-high 12 RBI, along with seven runs scored.
On the pitching side, 2019 left-hander Yordani Carmona was Foss’s equal, throwing nine innings in three appearances without allowing an earned run on seven hits, striking out 11 and walking two.
The Burn used outstanding pitching – and a pretty potent offensive attack – to reach the championship game, and when the day was done, 10 pitchers had combined to allow only eight runs in 59 innings (0.95 ERA) on 38 hits with 62 strikeouts against 18 hits.
2019 right-handers Kyle Machado (10 2/3 IP, 1.45 ERA, 7 H, 10 K, 4 BB) and Kevin Conway (10 2/3 IP, 1.96 ERA, 5 H, 15 K, 1 BB) and 2019 lefty Nolan Hudi (8 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 H, 15 K, 2 BB) also boasted MV Pitcher-type credentials.
Five starters on this MVP team – 2019 Zane Keener and 2020s Hernandez, Infante, Joseph Cruz and M.C. Sagaro – were members of the Banditos Elite team the finished as runners-up at last week's 14u PG WWBA National Championship up in Cartersville, Ga. They played this week like they had a bone to pick.
“They came in and did their job,” Coach Sagaro said. “We came short at the (14u PG WWBA) championship game up there … and they came in here and wanted it really, really bad. I knew they were coming in focused, and even with the other guys, they were all just really locked-in; they had that eye of the tiger.
“It’s also a big win for whole Banditos organization and my partner Ray DeLeon. We have won championships every year and we needed this national championship to continue our Perfect Game streak; this is big for us.”
Both semifinal games were played at COP Park preceding the championship game. The Banditos needed to work a little overtime in getting past No. 5 Team Elite 15’s Prime (7-1-0) from Winder, Ga., 2-1 in eight innings in the first semi; the Burn Platinum 2019 went the other route, disposing of No. 3 Georgia Jackets National (7-1-0) out of Alpharetta, Ga., 11-3 in five innings.
The Banditos’ Carmona delivered a one-out, bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the top of eighth inning to push home what proved what to be the winning run in MVP’s semifinal win; the run was unearned because one of the base runners had reached on an error.
The Elite 15’s Prime had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Mason Land led-off with a single and eventually scored on a passed ball. MVP tied it in the top of the fifth when Infante stroked a lead-off double and eventually crossed on a wild pitch.
The whole of the game was actually a terrific pitchers’ battle between Carmona, a 2019 left-hander ranked No. 85 nationally, and the Elite 15’s Prime Nolan Crisp, a 2019 right-hander ranked No. 24.
Carmona threw 6 2/3 innings, and gave up just the one unearned run on five hits while striking out eight with no walks; Crisp also went 6 2/3 and yielded just the one run on four hits, striking out four and walking one. Foss picked up the win, needing only 16 pitches to get the final four outs before making the start in the championship game.
The Burn jumped on the Jackets for eight runs in the bottom of the third inning in their semifinal victory, allowed the Jackets to get within at five at 8-3 and then ended the game by run-rule with a three-run bottom of the fifth.
Hudi led off the prolific third with a single and the flood gates opened. He added a two-run single in his second at-bat of the frame to go along with an RBI triple from Steven Parker Farris, RBI singles from Josh Rivera and Conway and a run producing fielder’s choice groundout from Cameron Wademan; two runs also scored on a Jackets’ fielding error. The Burn scored their three fifth-inning runs on the strength of a single, a walk, a hit batter and two Jackets’ errors.
The Jackets scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth and two in the fifth on a double from Michael Wein. Only four of the Burn’s 11 runs were earned and none of the Jackets’ three were earned. Machado tossed a five-inning four-hitter without allowing an earned run, striking out three and walking four. The Burn were very good here all week, but just not quite good enough to catch MVP on Thursday.
“This has been a great experience,” Sagaro said. “Now we have my partner Ray up there in Atlanta who’s going to be taking care of business at the (16u PG WWBA National Championship), and that’s what we do in our organization, keep pushing them to the next level. With this group, we’ll be at the 15u WWBA and then the (15u) PG World Series, so hopefully this will be the first of quite a few titles.”
2016 15u BCS Finals runner-up: Florida Burn Platinum 2019
2016 15u BCS Finals MVP: Luis Tuero
2016 15u BCS Finals MV-Pitcher: Parker Foss
