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PG Select Baseball Festival  | General | 8/29/2018

Select Festival rolls into Year 3

Photo: Maurice Hampton Jr. (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Two years ago this Labor Day weekend, while standing near a dugout on one of the back-practice fields at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex, Estero (Fla.) High School head coach Gary White took a look around while 40 of the top 14u age-eligible players from across the country went through a practice session; he was liking what he saw.

“I think, as usual, Perfect Game has knocked it out of the park. (PG) has done an incredible job in a short amount of time setting everything up,” White said. “It goes beyond the baseball game itself. I know they’ve raised a bunch of money for the children’s hospital, which really should be on the forefront, because it’s the most important thing.”

White was speaking a day before the inaugural Perfect Game 14u Select Baseball Festival was played on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, at jetBlue Park. That first Festival brought together top prospects from the classes of 2019 and 2020 to perform in the all-star game event that was televised live nationally.

The momentum generated by the inaugural Festival in 2016 carried over into last year’s Select Festival weekend and continues to build steam heading into this weekend’s 3rd annual PG 14u Select Baseball Festival.

Forty-four of the top players from the national classes of 2021 and 2022 will congregate at the jetBlue Park complex and at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs for a third straight year. The game itself will air on CBS Sports Network this Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 7:08 p.m. (EDT).

Proceeds from the event will once again benefit the Golisano Children’s Hospital, where the players will visit for two hours on Friday afternoon. They have been involved in fund-raising for the hospital since receiving their invitations to the Festival; past players raised more than $53,000 the first two years.

Rosters at the first two Festivals were divided geographically into an “East” team and a “West” team, but that changes this year. The two 22-man teams will be guided by former big-league pitchers Tom Gordon and Scott Erickson and will be named Team Gordon and Team Erickson, respectively.

The West won the 2016 Festival game, 3-1, with nine of their pitchers combining on a three-hitter with 15 strikeouts and four walks; eight East pitchers combined on a seven-hitter, striking out 13 but walking seven.

The West’s Calvin Harris, a 2020 left-handed hitting catcher from Peosta, Iowa, delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the second inning to give his team all the runs they ultimately would need, and he was named the inaugural Most Valuable Player.

“The atmosphere out here was something else,” Harris told PG postgame. “The talent of everyone out here was amazing and this has definitely been a great experience. It’s definitely something that I’ll never forget.”

Another prominent player on the West roster in 2016 was Maurice Hampton Jr., a 2019 outfielder and baseball/football Louisiana State commit from Arlington, Tenn. Hampton made history this summer when he became the first PG Select Baseball Festival alumnus to be invited to the PG All-American Classic in San Diego, and event he performed at on Aug. 12.

“Playing in the Select Festival in 2016 was a great experience because I got to play with and against the best players in my age group,” Hampton told PG this summer. “After that experience, whether or not I would play in the All-American game was always in the back of my head. Feeling what it was like to be an All-American at the 14u level really drove me to work hard over the next two or three years.”

2019 third baseman Liam Deegan from Richmond, Va., won the Festival’s inaugural Home Run Challenge.

The East team bounced back to win last year’s Festival, 5-1, a game that once again featured some standout pitching performances, especially from the members of the East staff. Those nine pitchers combined on a nine-inning, 14-strikeout one-hitter, with 2020 right-hander Alex Edmondson from Simpsonville, S.C., striking out the side in the fourth; nine West pitchers combined on a nine-strikeout five-hitter.

The East’s Joel Perez Jr., a dynamic 2020 infielder from Miramar, Fla., singled twice, drove in a run, scored a run, stole a base and made a highlight-reel defensive play while playing third base, and was named the Most Valuable Player.

“This experience was great,” Perez Jr. said postgame. “I was very happy when they selected me for (the PG Select Baseball Festival) because I usually don’t get picked for all this stuff, but now I’m getting (my name) out there. Playing with these boys, it was a great time. And I had a lot of fun going to the hospital and playing with the kids and making their day.”

Blaze Jordan, a 2021 first baseman from Southaven, Miss.,and the No. 1-ranked national prospect in his class, won the 2017 PG Select Baseball Festival Home Run Challenge.




PG Select Baseball Festival | General | 12/26/2025

2025 Year in Review: PGAAC, ASG, Festivals

Jheremy Brown
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All-Star Game Continues To Thrive We’re only a couple of years into having the PG All-Star Game around, an underclass event attached to the All-American weekend, this year played in Petco two days before the Classic. The talent that is a part of it continues to grow to significant levels, and this year was a mix of young guys and some newer names that left lasting impressions. The two hardest throwing guys in the game were the only 2028s in attendance, Striker Pence and Dexter McCleon Jr who both were upper-90s as guys who just started their sophomore year, while the loudest moment of the day came when Kinon Bastian obliterated a pitch into the top deck of the famous Western Supply building in left field, something that we’ll remember for a long time. Extra Swings In The All-American Derby One of the best events every All-American weekend is getting to see these guys with...
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Ron Wolforth
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Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 62, Part 1 | Part 2 Demystifying the Curveball, Pitch Counts, and Weighted Balls - Part 3  We've made it to Part 3…the final installment of our series on baseball's most misunderstood and debated topics.   In Part 1, we tackled the curveball. The takeaway: the pitch itself isn't what’s dangerous. Decades of awful and ineffective coaching cues, ”snap your wrist," "turn the doorknob”…exacerbated and even in many causes caused some of the problems. Teach it correctly, when the athlete is ready, and it's no riskier than a fastball.  In Part 2, we examined pitch counts. The takeaway: they're a useful tool, but a limited one. Treating a single number as a universal measure of safety ignores everything...
Softball | Softball Tournament | 2/20/2026

18U PG Winter Elite Showcase Indoor

Dave Durbala
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Softball | Softball Tournament | 2/19/2026

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Erica Beach
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PG Winter Elite Showcase Indoor 14U January 17-18, 2026 Springfield, IL   SPRINGFIELD, IL- It may be cold outside, but there was some hot competition going on at the PG Winter Elite Showcase Indoor tournament. Six team converged on the Scheels Sports Park at Legacy Pointe and the Texas Glory IL 29 walked away with the hardware after a close 7-6 ballgame. Below we highlight some of the impressive athletes who competed on the weekend.     Lila Rafferty (2029, Leroy, IL) of the Texas Glory IL 29 was an unstoppable force at the plate over the weekend. She showed great tenacity in the box, proving to be one of the most consistent hitters in the tournament. She finished her weekend batting an incredible .750, tallying nine hits and scoring five times. She flashed her speed on multiple occasions, stealing two bases and legging out two doubles and two triples. She came in clutch,...
High School | General | 2/19/2026

Pacific Northwest All Region & Top Tools

David Rawnsley
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NORTHWEST REGION (WA, OR, ID, WY, AK, MT, HI)    The biggest change in the Northwest Region for 2026 is the addition of Hawaii, which has always been overlooked due to being lumped with California in the former Pacific Region.  This also coincides with an increased Perfect Game presence in the islands in the form of additional events and scouting.  And Hawaii certainly contributed in it’s first year, placing four players on the All-Region team, including slugging 2026 outfielder Judah Ota. The powerhouse Puyallup HS team is the only Northwest Region team to be represented in the PG Pre-Season Top 50 National HS Rankings, beginning the year ranked 26th.  C – Teagan Scott (Sr., South Salem HS, Ore.) Scott has been on the prospect map since he played in the 2023 PG 14U Select Festival and is signed with Oregon State.  A right-handed hitter with lots...
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Jim Salisbury
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PG ID Camps Help Youngsters Build a Baseball Resume There was still snow on the ground in a lot of places last weekend, but that didn’t stop more than 200 young players from going indoors to participate in the first round of Perfect Game Select Fest ID Camps for the 2026 season. John McAdams, PG’s national crosschecker and Northeast scouting director, ran the event in Farmingdale, New Jersey, and was impressed with his group’s energy and desire to improve at the game. “We’re giving young players the opportunity to build their baseball resumes and chart their growth and progress over a span of years,” he said. In addition to New Jersey, Select Fest ID Camps were held in Lake St. Louis, Missouri; Rossford, Ohio; Marietta, Georgia; and Kent, Washington. The ID camps debuted in 2025. Twenty-two of them were held around the country with nearly 700 young...
Draft | Story | 2/19/2026

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Tyler Henninger
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One constant across our scouting staff is the volume of in-person looks we get at prospects during their high school years. With assignments at national tournaments and showcases throughout the calendar, we’ve built a deep library of reports and video on many of today’s top college prospects dating back to their prep days. This week, we took a step back to revisit what those players looked like as high school prospects. Which tools stood out? What was missing from the profile at the time? And what, if anything, did we overlook that ultimately helped shape the player they’ve become? Below, we break down 10 players in a “Then and Now” reflection. Justin Lebron (23 FL) finishes off the tournament getting in on the hit parade with a single to the pullside. #PGShowdown #Bama commit pic.twitter.com/C4Irym2ZTR — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) March 4, 2023...
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Cam McElwaney
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Grady Emerson (‘26 TX) laces this ball to right for a walk off single. Clean lefty stroke. Looks the part both sides of the ball. Checks all the boxes. Will be scouted heavily this Spring. #PGHS #HookEm commit. #PGDraft pic.twitter.com/wXvdHdgqME — Perfect Game Texas (@Texas_PG) February 6, 2026 Grady Emerson (2026, Argyle, Texas) had a strong showing throughout the opening week of high school baseball out here in Texas. Works good at-bats and is always a tough out in general. Makes all the plays at short and just has the look of a future big leaguer. He does all the little things right. Bat to ball will play at a high level and there is still a lot more power to project on here. There is a reason why Emerson is one of, if not the most highly coveted high school prospect in the 2026 class and it’s easy to see why. Currently committed to Texas, but has the potential to...
High School | Rankings | 2/18/2026

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Tyler Russo
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Dave Durbala
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DIII Rankings: February 18

Nick Herfordt
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Every spring, Division III baseball begins as a wide-open map. Cold mornings turn into long bus rides, non-conference gauntlets test resolve, and by the time the dust settles, only a few teams are still standing with a clear line to the NCAA Division III baseball tournament. The 2026 Perfect Game Division III Baseball Rankings capture that moment before the stretch run, highlighting the programs that have separated themselves through depth, durability, and an ability to win in a variety of ways. These eight teams are not simply piling up wins; they are shaping identities built to survive the grind and thrive when the margins narrow.  The destination is familiar, even if the journey never is. Once again, the final chapter will be written at Classic Park, where timing, composure, and roster balance matter as much as raw talent. The teams ranked here enter 2026 with more than ambition....
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