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Tournaments  | Story | 9/21/2023

Redemption for 10 at 14u Festival

It’s a saying scouts, coaches, athletes, and parents alike have long said in regard to players: they continue to get better. And quite frankly, that holds true to anything you do in life. That jump from 12u baseball to the 13u diamond where the mound is further back and it can feel like an eternity running from base to base the first couple of times can be a tough transition for some while others adapt, whether it be natural skill or already having reps on the bigger field. 

Those transitions never stop as you continue to rise up the ranks as the ball starts coming in harder and spinning in different directions out of the hand from pitchers while, conversely, hitters are getting stronger and faster while refining their approach and pitch-to-pitch process in the box. While the 12 to 13u jump is a big one, so too is the 13u to the 14u level as players take a majority of their reps swinging wood bats in the summer and those premier fastballs (low-80s) a year prior are now mid- to upper-80s, with some peaking into the low-90s.



You could go through and tell endless stories of players who didn’t really take off until “late” in their high school career, or even college, ultimately hearing their names called in the first round or making that debut in the big leagues. 

To help keep things simple and somewhat constrained, we’re going to look at the 2023 14u Select Festival rosters and dive into just how many players attended the 13u National Showcase in 2022 and didn’t make the 13u Select Festival, but put in the work, came back to the 14u iteration this past July and received the call notifying them of their selection to the 14u Festival. 

Amongst the 52 players who received the Festival phone call this year, 10 might’ve had an extra chip on their shoulder when they arrived at the 14u National, prior to solidifying their spot on Labor Day. Those 10, Banks Addison (No. 31 in latest 2027 national rankings), Lucas Farrar (No. 35), Will Hayes (No. 39), Max Hemenway (No. 10), Matthew Kelley (No. 6), Blake Lundy (No. 19), Mac Morris (No. 21), Jose Partida (No. 11), Teagan Scott (No. 66 in 2026) and Sebastian Wilson (No. 17), all attended the 13u National a year prior and while some were on the cusp, they all left no doubt after their summer and National Showcase performances. 

Again, there are countless players who continue to put in the work, proving they belong at the top of the rankings and there WILL BE several players who didn’t make a single Festival that end up in the Perfect Game All-American Classic, just as we see every year. Of the 60 players to make it to Chase for this year’s iteration of the PGAAC, 43 of them didn’t play in either the 13u or 14u Festival, taking their games to the next level throughout the years and developing into high level prospects. 

Not only did all 10 of these players make the game and surge up the rankings, they also won some serious hardware amongst the group whether it was Hayes taking home the Pitcher of the Year award, Hemenway winning the Rawlings Gold Glove for his defensive play throughout the summer or Kelley who continued to be a model of consistency while earning the Launch Hydrate Impact Award. 

Despite throwing 10 more innings in 2023, Hayes walked one less batter, allowed 2 less hits and shaved his ERA down by nearly 3 runs all while seeing his velocity tick up into the 83-86/87 mph range with one of the better sliders in the class. Banks Addison and Teagan Scott joined Hayes on Team Elite this summer and were consistently in the mix as cornerstone pieces both in the top third of the order as well as at premium positions on defense with Addison at shortstop and Scott behind the plate. 

Both Hemenway and Sebastian Wilson are a pair of Tennessee commits (Wilson was actually the first player in the entire ’27 class to commit) and were teammates this past summer with Wow Factor, playing pivotal roles on both sides of the ball while a third Wow Factor player, Blake Lundy, did a bulk of the catching and possesses some of the best tools across the board. 

As you continue to sift through the 10 names, the improvements continue to shine as Partida soared to No. 11 in the class after seeing his fastball jump from bumping 81 mph in March to sitting in the mid- to upper-80s late in the summer and into the Festival. Kelley continued to add physical strength and it played throughout the summer at the top of the USA Prime lineup with gap-to-gap strength and budding over-the-fence power. Morris and Farrar are a pair of versatile shortstops who both possess some of the best arm strength across the diamond and have continued to elevate their overall games in a big way since 2022. 

While this quick hit article is meant to highlight the 10 players who accomplished their mission, it’s also meant to show how players continue to develop, improve and refine not only year to year, but seemingly month-to-month and even tournament-to-tournament. The hard work from players across the country certainly doesn’t go unnoticed and for this 2027 class, it’ll be fun to see who continues to take those next steps, elevate their game and end up receiving that phone call for the PG All-American Classic, whether they made a Festival or not. 
 

Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

13u Tourney All-American Team

Jheremy Brown
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What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
High School | General | 12/19/2025

Huntington Beach HS World Series Recap

Steve Fiorindo
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MVPitcher: Duncan McLeod The uncommitted junior toed the slab in three of the four games for Team Mick, tossing 3 2/3 innings.  Zero walks, zero hits and 6 punchouts for the lefty who was used both as a starter in the series clinching game 4 and he closed out game 3 on Friday in quick fashion.  McLeod was very efficient as well, needing just 42 pitches over all his outings.  In the game 4 start, over two innings he punched out 3, with one strikeout with all of his offerings.  The mid 80’s fastball regularly played up, set up with efficient use of the secondaries, with the breaking ball 73/74 and fading change-up 72-74.   Owen Bone (2026) at it again... Solo shot in the 5th to tie things up. Back to back days with a home run for Bone. #PGHS pic.twitter.com/2JC9qETI5h — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) December 13, 2025 MV Hitter: ...
Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

14u Tourney All-American Team

Tyler Russo
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Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
Draft | Story | 12/18/2025

PG Draft: Gut Feel Guys

Tyler Henninger
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While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
Tournaments | Story | 12/17/2025

15u Tourney All-American Team

Jason Phillips
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Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

16u Tourney All-American Team

AJ Denny
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Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
College | Recruiting | 12/15/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 15

John McAdams
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Tucker Rice (27 MS) bumping up to 91; living hi-80s from real fast arm. Good SL @ 77-79 w/ depth & sold w/ intent. Loads of traits & strikes. #WWBA @PG_Uncommitted @PG_DeepSouth pic.twitter.com/DEjFqRcsIY — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) July 6, 2025 Tucker Rice, RHP, Class of 2027 Commitment: Alabama Alabama has continued to stay red hot in the recruiting trail ever since August 1st rolled around on the calendar and have continued to stack major pieces in their ’27 class. They dip into Mississippi to land one of the premier arms and one that’s stood out on the circuit for quite some time. It’s a fast arm and the athleticism certainly shines working down the slope. The velocity has continued to tick up over the last calendar year and reached into the low-90s towards the end of the summer. He’s confident in his changeup and the breaking ball is...
Tournaments | Story | 12/15/2025

17u Tourney All-American Team

Vincent Cervino
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There’s a lot of talent throughout this 2026 class, filled with the big-name stars, to talent that spreads across the nation. It’s been a lot of fun seeing these prospects grow and develop over the years, from the days of watching some of these guys at the 13/14u days at events on the circuit, to now where they are all graduating seniors in 2026. There’s been new faces who have popped along the way over the years, even in 2026, where some players who were relatively undiscovered, have come out and made a name for themselves with a statement performance. Between the familiar and the new, there’s a lot of names on this list that are going to be quite regularly talked about on the circuit, and for good reason.  Whether it’s PG All-Americans or not, there’s a lot of names with superstar potential at the next level. We’ve got 14 PG All-Americans...
Tournaments | Story | 12/13/2025

Finest in the Field: Class of 2029

Tyler Russo
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Finest in the Field: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These guys might just be entering high school, but they've certainly already made a name for themselves on the national circuit, especially with their abilities on the defensive side of things.  C: Xavier Rodriguez (Logansville, GA) Rodriguez is a polished defender with real arm strength behind the dish, while showcasing the ability to impact the baseball with authority to all fields evident by thirty of his sixty-five hits going for extra-bases including seven bombs. He handles high-level pitching extremely well, commands his staff and his offensive prowess makes him a true two-way asset. 1B: Cooper Knight (Buda, TX) Knight is a smooth operator at first base with plenty of range, fluidity and agility in his footwork around the bag. Add-in a rocket for an arm, the ability to change slots and to...
Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

Scout Stories: Part 5

AJ Denny
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Best Game I Saw: The Dream NTL 18U vs. MBA Scout Team Murphy Jupiter always brings out the best, and we got fireworks from the jump. Turner Marshall gave The Dream an outstanding 4+ innings of work on the mound, holding a lethal MBA team at bay with Chance Dixon, Derrick Carter, and Ellis Appling providing an offensive spark out of the gate for the Georgia based boys. However, it was only a matter of time before the talent on the other side got going, as MBA erased a 3-run deficit in the 5th to take a 4-3 lead led by a Parker Loew HR. The Dream then took command again in the Top of the 6th, before MBA punched right back with a huge 5-run inning in the bottom half capped off by a clutch RBI single from Matthew Kerrigan, ending a wild sequence with tons of notable performances from two very competitive rosters. Best Tournament Performance I Saw: Surely someone has already brought this...
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