THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,631 MLB PLAYERS | 16,402 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,631 MLB PLAYERS | 16,402 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Juco  | Rankings | 2/24/2015

JUCO Top 25 Teams: Feb. 24

Photo: St. Johns River

2015 Preseason Top 50 Junior College Teams | Top 200 Junior College Prospects


With 37 wins and a No. 5 national ranking a year ago as it entered state tournament play, St. Johns River seemed almost certain of eclipsing its school record of 38 victories, accomplished in 2013. That record run went up in smoke almost overnight, however, as the favored Vikings were bounced in two straight games in the highly-competitive Florida state junior-college tournament.

Fast forward to 2015, and St. Johns River seems like a lock to take care of unfinished business. With a 17-3 record through games of Feb. 22, the Vikings not only lead the nation’s junior colleges in wins but are nearly halfway to a school record for victories. And their fast start has propelled them to an unprecedented No. 1 ranking in Perfect Game’s first in-season ranking of the top jucos.

St. Johns River relied on the slugging exploits of third baseman Tyler Humphries and a deep, talented pitching staff to put the program on the map nationally in 2014, and are essentially relying on the same formula this season. Humphries finished just one home run off the national lead, with 18, on his way to becoming a seventh-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in last year’s draft, while freshmen righthanders Dustin Hersey (9-3, 3.05) and Trae Ratliff (6-0, 1.92) played pivotal roles on the pitching staff.

Hersey, a Florida State recruit, and the South Florida-bound Ratliff have combined to go 6-0 in the early going for the Vikings, while lefthanded-hitting sophomore first baseman Nate Lowe, who went only 3-for-31 and failed to go deep even once as a freshman at Mercer, has stepped in for Humphries and provided a powerful bat in the middle of a loaded Vikings lineup.

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Lowe leads the nation with eight homers and 29 RBIs, though his .339 average is only fourth on the team. Outfielder Myles Straw, a South Alabama recruit, leads the Vikings with a .451 average, while Oklahoma State-bound shortstop Kyle Hann, a transfer from Mississippi State, is next at .397.

“Neither Hersey or Ratliff has been particularly sharp yet,” said SJR coach Ross Jones, “but both are hard-throwing righthanders and our top prospects for the 2015 draft. They consistently pitch in the 90-93 mph range and possess hard, tight breaking balls. Ratliff has a bit more pitchability and command at this point, but Hersey has the better fastball life and long-term projection.”

Both pitchers are expected to be taken in the top 10 rounds this year, with the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Hersey, whose fastball often peaks in the mid-90s, projected to go as early as the second or third rounds, but the two most-effective arms to date for the Vikings have been a pair of freshmen righthanders—starter Hunter Jones, who is 4-0 and leads the Vikings with a 0.47 ERA, and closer Tyler Carr, who has racked up a team-best five saves.

No pitcher in the national junior college ranks has been as dominant in the first month of the season, though, as the College of Southern Nevada’s Phil Bickford, an unsigned first-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2013 and a projected first-rounder again in June.

Through four starts for the No. 5-ranked Coyotes, Bickford is 2-1, 1.77 with six walks and 40 strikeouts in 20 innings. In his most recent outing, against Southern Idaho, he threw five scoreless innings while striking out 13—mainly on the strength of a fastball that peaked at 96 mph.


Through games of February 22, 2015


Rk. Prev. Team ST Record
1 5 St. Johns River FL 17-3
2 7 San Joaquin Delta CA 10-0
3 3 Howard TX 9-4
4 6 Johnson County KS 7-0
5 8 Southern Nevada NV 11-5
6 9 Chipola FL 12-5
7 11 Florence-Darlington SC 10-1
8 4 Gulf Coast State FL 11-6
9 1 Iowa Western IA 3-3
10 2 San Jacinto TX 8-8
11 10 Grayson TX 7-5
12 12 Wabash Valley IL 6-1
13 13 State College of Florida-Manatee FL 12-4
14 15 Palm Beach State FL 13-4
15 16 Blinn TX 10-3
16 17 Spartanburg Methodist SC 9-3
17 19 Cochise AZ 12-4
18 23 Walters State TN 10-2
19 NR Riverside CA 11-1
20 NR Cypress CA 10-2
21 22 Seminole State OK 8-3
22 18 Chattahoochee Valley AL 8-5
23 25 LSU-Eunice LA 9-4
24 NR Palomar CA 10-3
25 24 Northwest Florida State FL 10-5


DROPPED OUT: No. 14 Georgia Perimeter (5-11), No. 20 Central Arizona (8-6), No. 21 Miami-Dade (7-8)


Juco | Rankings | 9/18/2026

JUCO Impact: Top 100 D1 Transfers

Troy Sutherland
Article Image
With the season upon us, let's take a minute to look at 100 of the biggest impact players who played at the JUCO level last year and have since transferred to a D1 program for the upcoming spring.  RK Name JUCO in 2025 DI in 2026 1 Ryan Bradford Johnson County TCU 2 Carson Bailey McLennan Texas Tech 3 Kameron Yearsley John A. Logan  Oklahoma 4 Holden Pantier Walters State Georgia Tech 5 Caden Davidson Gaston Florida 6 Anthony Quigley Northwest Florida Oklahoma 7 Walt Jones Weatherford Kansas 8 Colin Coonradt Johnson County West Virginia 9 Collin Smith Cochise Kansas 10 Ned Frutchey Sac City Arkansas 11 Hayden Blair Walters State Georgia 12 Parker Ishee Co-Lin Oklahoma 13 Coy Clements Pearl River Florida State 14 Griffin Rardin Shelton State Alabama 15 Jordan Martinez Gulf Coast State Florida State 16 Noah Bentley Weatherford Oklahoma 17 Kole Fenton Walters State North Carolina...
Tournaments | Story | 11/8/2026

14u National All State Scout Notes: Day 1

Tyler Russo
Article Image
2031 C/OF Jace Winston (Fuquay-Varina, N.C.) had a really nice day at the dish as he picked up a couple hits in his first game, both well-struck, and then launched a bomb in game 2. He’s one of the more physical players here who can really impact the baseball already, and the consistency in which he’s hitting this fall is a great sign going into 2027. 2031 SS/RHP Weston Stalls (Blackstock, S.C.) came in for a couple innings of relief on the day and showed off the arm talent running the fastball up to 87. It’s a fast arm and he generates real life to the fastball, while the breaking ball is a good pitch as well.   ‘31 SS Parker Smith (NC) went 3-for-3 to open the weekend, this a line drive single the other way. 6’2/140 & can accelerate the barrel already, intriguing projection. #NatAllState @PG_Coastal https://t.co/Z7C5kDGdIM — Perfect Game...
General | General | 11/6/2026

Class of 2028 Rankings Update

Article Image
Tournaments | Story | 11/6/2026

National All State Preview: Week 1

Hannah Jo Groves
Article Image
This weekend, teams from all around the country in the 10U, 12U and 14U divisions will converge on the Houston area for the 2026 PG National All-State Select Championships. The 10U division will have 22 teams, 12U will have 23 and 14U will have 22. All ages have many different states represented - from Hawaii, to the Pacific Northwest, to Arizona, to New England, to Carolina to Florida and many more. “National All-State brings together the best players in the country across Houston,” national crosschecker and northeast scouting director, John McAdams, said. “It’s a fun atmosphere for ultimate bragging rights amongst all the regions the PG platform reaches domestically while serving as a good litmus test for myself, Jheremy Brown and Tyler Russo to see the players. We get another glimpse at the end of the year as we start to formulate our initial thoughts on the...
Draft | Rankings | 11/6/2026

2027 MLB Draft Board Update: Top 200

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
PG Draft Content Hub With the fall season winding down and the winter months approaching, it is time for another draft board update.  After getting more live looks and gathering information from the fall action across the country, we have expanded the board to a Top-200. The class continues to feature an intriguing mix of arms from both the prep and college ranks, along with an enticing position player pool.  There is still plenty of time for new names to emerge and established prospects to continue to improve their draft stock, but here is where things stand as we head into the winter.  * denotes draft eligible sophomore Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State Commitment 1 Dylan Seward H SS S-R Norco Eastvale CA Tennessee 2 Brendan Lawson C SS L-R Florida Toronto ON 3 Dax Whitney C RHP R-R Oregon State Blackfoot ID 4 Tomas Valincius C LHP L-L Mississippi State...
College | Story | 11/6/2026

College Fall Notebook: November 6

Craig Cozart
Article Image
Virginia Cavaliers  2026 In Review:  Under the leadership of first year Head Coach Chris Pollard, the Cavaliers won 37 games which was the second most victories by a first-year coach in program history.  Virginia went (37-23) finishing tied for 8th in the ACC and earned an at-large bid to the Hattiesburg Regional.  They fielded a talented offense that averaged over 8-runs per game, highlighted by AJ Gracia and Eric Becker who were both selected on Day 1 of the 2026 MLB Draft.  While the defensive squad wasn’t quite as elite as usual, they were ultra-competitive on the mound with a strong rotation and lock down bullpen.  With plenty of talent returning for Pollard and his staff in ’27, they should be a force on a national level once again.  Impact Returners:    Senior Antonio Perrotta (.266/.459/.431, 5 HR, 6 2B, 24 RBI) experienced...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 70

Ron Wolforth
Article Image
That Off-Season Program Wasn't Built for Your Son. It Was Built for Nobody. The Harsh Reality of Skill Development · Part 2 of 5 Somewhere right now, a pitcher is starting a twelve-week off-season program. It came from his travel team. Or a trainer. Or a big leaguer's Instagram. It has phases and a logo, and every kid in the building got the same one. Here is the harsh reality. That program was written before anybody looked at your son. It doesn't know he exists. It was built for the average pitcher... and the average pitcher does not exist. A Template Fixes Somebody's Problem. Maybe Not His. Every pitcher who is stuck is stuck for a reason. We call that reason his constraint... the thing that is actually limiting him right now. For one kid it is strength. For the next it is mobility. For the next it is a mechanical inefficiency, or an arm that isn't recovering, or a body that...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 69

Ron Wolforth
Article Image
Your Son's April Arm Injury is Being Scheduled Right Now   The Harsh Reality of Skill Development - Part 1 of 5 Let me start this series with something most people in baseball won't say out loud. In my experience, a great many of the arm problems we will see next April are being set up right now... in October, November and December. Not necessarily because a young pitcher is throwing too much. Often it's because of what happens when he stops. Here is the pattern. I have watched it for more than thirty years. The fall season ends. The arm is tired, so the family does what seems like the responsible thing.  They shut it down. No throwing. For a lot of kids, no anything. Weeks go by. The holidays come and go. Then somebody looks at a calendar in January and realizes tryouts are three weeks away. Suddenly, an arm that has done nothing since October is asked to go from zero to game...
High School | Rankings | 11/4/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Risers

Kyler Peterson
Article Image
Complete Class of 2027 Rankings With the end of the summer and fall seasons behind us, it was time for a quick refresh of the 2027 class rankings. Below you'll be able to read about some of the biggest risers up the board, led by North Carolina outfielder John Hucko who jumped more than 110 spots to now sit at No. 20 overall.  John Hucko, OF, Charlotte, N.C. Previous Rank: 132 | Current Rank: 20 Hucko makes a huge leap into the top-20 players in the class after a dominating showing in Jupiter. It’s as good of a left-handed swing as you’ll come across with pretty easy impact to all parts. He’s a supreme athlete with all the tools to play center long term and is a present plus runner. Hucko is a name that cemented his prospect status in Jupiter and will be a name to follow for next year’s MLB Draft. Elyjah Mason, SS, Lake Forest, Calif. Previous Rank: 71 |...
General | General | 11/3/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Update

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Press Release | Press Release | 11/2/2026

PG Partners Up with Minority Prospects

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES MEDIA RIGHTS PARTNERSHIP WITH MINORITY PROSPECTS   Sanford, Florida (Monday, November 2, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a media rights partnership with Minority Prospects, the Atlanta-based organization that has become the largest platform in the world for minority baseball and softball prospects. The partnership kicked off last month at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., Perfect Game's premier fall event, where Minority Prospects produced content featuring some of the nation's top amateur players in front of college coaches, professional scouts and MLB legends. Under the agreement, Minority...
Loading more articles...