GLENDALE, Ariz. – Being compared with some of the top high school-aged talent in the country is nothing new to Jack Little or, for that matter, most of his teammates on the Southern Nevada Baseball squad competing at this weekend’s 6th annual Perfect Game/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass).
Little and 13 of his Southern Nevada Baseball mates are juniors and sophomores (with one freshman) at national baseball power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High School and have already seen their school’s name listed among the country’s best in national high school rankings and polls.
And by assembling a roster with 14 of the 22 spots filled by players from one elite high school program, manager Chris Sheff is giving prospects like Little an opportunity to see how their high school team – minus the seniors – sizes up with some of the top underclass travel ball teams from 12 states, mostly California and Arizona.
“I just look forward to playing against some of the best competition in the country,” Little said Friday from the Dodgers side of the Camelback Ranch spring training complex. “I like seeing some of the guys I might see again somewhere down the road and making new relationships with people.”
Sheff is the general manager/manager/head coach of Southern Nevada Baseball, a Las Vegas-based organization that touches all the bases when it comes to developmental programs. The group puts together clubs of college players during the summer, high school-age travel ball/scout teams like this one during the fall and also fields two or three teams at various youth levels.
“For us it’s more of down from the top where a lot of these other programs come up with their young guys,” Sheff told PG on Friday. “We like dealing with a lot of the older guys, and dealing with the Vegas college guys during the summer is kind of a treat, too.”
He will bring an older team back to the Valley next week to participate in the PG/EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass) tournament; Little will play on that team, as well.
“For me, this is what it’s all about when you’re dealing with high school guys,” Sheff said. “You’re down here trying to get attention, get these guys seen and obviously you want to bring them someplace where they’re playing better baseball because it’s going to improve their (game) and start preparing them for college. … I’m excited to see some of these guys play down here.”
Southern Nevada gave up four first-inning runs and was held to three hits in a tournament-opening 5-2 loss to the Colton (Calif.) Nighthawks; it had a second pool-play game scheduled for later Friday afternoon. 2016 shortstop Bryson Stott, who attends Desert Oasis High School, had two of SNB's three hits.
With the history of success the Bishop Gorman baseball program has enjoyed through the years – seven straight Nevada Division I state championships from 2006-12 – it’s not unrealistic to expect this group to bounce back.
“It’s really good; I like it a lot,” Little said of playing in a PG national tournament with his high school teammates. “It’s fun building better relationships with them and it brings us closer together. This gives us even more practice for the regular high school season. (Playing at Gorman) has meant tons of exposure; we’re playing some of the best competition in the country.”
Sheff was the head coach at Bishop Gorman from 2004 through 2010, and led the Gaels to five straight Nevada state championships at the end of his seven-year tenure; Bishop Gorman also won the Perfect Game High School National Championship in 2009 with Sheff at the helm. He continues to maintain ties with the school, including an association with the school’s new head coach, Gino DiMaria.
“A lot of (the Southern Nevada Baseball) program was, obviously, based on a big group of Gorman kids but we’ve got other kids from other programs, as well,” Sheff said, pointing to prospects on the roster from Las Vegas area high schools like Desert Oasis, Sierra Vista, Centennial, Faith Lutheran, Cimmaron-Memorial, Rancho and Liberty. “I’m just trying to get out and basically get players that want to be seen and give them a chance to sign with colleges as soon as possible.”
Little is a 6-foot-4, 190-pound primary right-handed pitcher from Las Vegas who can play outfield, first base and designated hitter when not pitching, swinging from the left side of the plate. He is ranked 198th nationally in Perfect Game’s class of 2016 prospect rankings – No. 2 overall in Nevada and the state’s No. 1-ranked right-hander.
And, although he is still a junior in high school, he has verbally committed to prestigious athletic and academic powerhouse Stanford from the Pacific-12 Conference.
“Any guy that’s committed to Stanford starting his junior year is obviously a talent,” Sheff said. “He’s got composure, he throws the ball well, he mixes his speeds with his off-speed (pitches); he’s just a talented kid. “
Little was first brought to the attention of Stanford coaches by former Bishop Gorman head coach Nick Day, who played in a pair of College World Series with the Cardinal in the late 1990s. Stanford became even more interested after Little turned in an all-tournament team performance while playing for Marucci Elite at the 2013 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers, Fla.
“After Fort Myers, more (colleges) started talking to me,” Little said. “My high school coach (Day) kind of helped me out there and I took an unofficial (visit) and I just fell in love with it.”
He did not enjoy a particularly good sophomore season pitching for Bishop Gorman’s varsity in the spring, finishing 3-1 with a 5.44 ERA, giving up 22 earned runs on 43 hits in 28 1/3 innings with 27 strikeouts and nine walks (according to stats published at MaxPreps.com). The Gaels finished 25-5 and fell short of their annual goal of winning a Nevada state championship.
“Last year I had a little bit of rough patch during the high school season and I think that really helped me out a lot,” Little said. “It kind of humbled me a little bit, just to know that any point anyone can be better than me and I need to work harder than everyone else.”
Sheff was a three-year starter at Pepperdine University in the early 1990s and helped the Waves to the championship at the 1992 College World Series. He was a 10th-round pick of the Florida Marlins in 1992 and played 10 years in the minor leagues, including the final six at the Triple-A level.
“I like working with the high school and college guys because there are so many little things you can still help them with,” the 43-year-old Sheff said. “It’s more fine-tuning then it is with the youth (level) because you’re teaching them all new stuff and with these guys you just have to show them the little things that will make their game better.
“… I enjoy this, I like this in-between level where they’re fighting and scrapping to get to the next level and there’s nothing better than trying to help them get there.”
It’s not likely Southern Nevada Baseball was on anyone’s list as a pre-tournament favorite to win the PG/EvoShield National Championship (Underclass) title even before losing its first pool-play game Friday afternoon.
The players and coaches want to win, of course, but to Sheff’s way of thinking it is more important that every player on the roster gets an opportunity to showcase his skills within the confines of a three- or four-day tournament.
“For me … there are spots when we’re trying to win tournaments and then there are spots when there might be people around who need to see certain kids,” he said. “Anytime you come into a tournament like this you obviously want to play well; you want to represent your program well.
“If we get to the point where we win the tournament, that’s great, but the ultimate goal for me is getting some of the young guys’ feet wet, getting seen by some of the schools that are around and hopefully all the rest falls in place.”
With 14 of his 22 players also wearing the same uniform during the spring high school season, it might seem like Sheff has a built-in advantage, and perhaps he does. But he is also quick to point out that the most elite players performing with the most elite travel ball teams are also playing with a sense of familiarity with their teammates and are able to get along and communicate like they’ve played alongside of each other all their lives.
“Obviously, when you’ve got a big group of Gorman guys you should be able to get along pretty well, right?” Sheff said with a laugh. “They’re used to winning and you always like that because then they’re expecting to win every time you play. You want to teach them that style of play where they’re trying to win ballgames; there’s definitely that attitude. We expect to come out and play well and play with anybody, and you love that as a coach.”