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Tournaments  | Story  | 10/3/2018

SWFL welcomes WWBA Under

Jeff Dahn     
Photo: Cayden Wallace (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Southwest Florida Gulf Coast counties of Lee and Charlotte are bracing for another invasion of elite ballplayers this weekend – and into next week – when the 17th Annual Perfect Game WWBA Underclass World Championship sets up shop for its five-day run from Thursday, Oct. 4 through Monday, Oct. 8.

Recognized as the most prestigious and most heavily scouted high school underclass amateur baseball tournament in the world, 198 teams – the overwhelming majority from states east of the Mississippi River and Puerto Rico – will play hundreds of games at 18 venues in the two-county area during its run.

The jetBlue Park Player Development Complex (Red Sox) and the CenturyLink Sports Complex (Twins) in Fort Myers, and the Charlotte Sports Park (Rays) in Port Charlotte, are current Major League Baseball spring training complexes that will host games. The Lee County Player Development Complex, Terry Park Complex and City of Palms Park in Fort Myers – all facilities formerly used for spring training – will also be hosting.

This PG WWBA tournament event has grown exponentially over its 16-year run and now rivals and even exceeds its big brother, the PG WWBA World Championship held two weeks later in Jupiter, Fla., as far as interest from major college coaches and recruiters (the WWBA World attracts hundreds of MLB scouts in addition to the colleges).

The Florida-based Elite Squad won last year’s championship and that program returns this year with another salty roster. Many of the most nationally prominent travel ball programs from the Southeast have also won here frequently, including the East Cobb Astros, the Orlando Scorpions and Marucci Elite. Just since 2012, however, equally prominent programs like the Florida Burn, Virginia Cardinals, FTB and the SF Giants Scout Team have won championships.

The teams competing this weekend include hundreds of the top prospects from the national classes of 2020 and 2021 – and a smattering of elite 2022s – with many clustered on the same rosters. Thirty-three of the top-98 2020 prospects are rostered for the event, as are 24 of the top-99 2021s.

The highest-ranked 2020 signed on as of early this week is outfielder Dylan Crews, the No. 2-ranked overall prospect in his class. Crews is a Louisiana State commit from Longwood, Fla., who will be suiting-up for the Scorpions 2020 Founders Club.

Cayden Wallace, a nationally No. 12-ranked third baseman and an Arkansas commit from Greenbrier, Ark., will be playing for the Rawlings Arkansas Prospects-Menard. Six of the next seven highest-ranked 2020s rostered will be wearing Team Elite Prime-Braves Scout Team uniforms. They are:

No. 15 right-hander Nate Wohlgemuth (Owasso, Okla., Arkansas commit); No. 21 first baseman Kellum Clark (Jackson, Miss., Mississippi State); No. 23 shortstop Robert Moore (Leawood, Kan., Arkansas); No. 27 catcher Jack Bulger (Bowie, Md., Vanderbilt); No. 28 right-hander Alex Edmondson (Simpsonville, S.C., Clemson) and No. 31 outfielder Josh Shuler (Suwanee, Ga., South Carolina). Banditos Scout Team No. 29 shortstop Yohandy Morales (Miami, U. of Miami) slides into the 2020 rankings between Edmondson and Shuler.

Chicago ACE 2020 No. 7-ranked shortstop Noah Smith, a Louisville commit from Chicago, is the highest-ranked 2021 appearing on a roster.

No. 11 MVP Beast 2020 shortstop Christian Moore (Brooklyn, N.Y., Tennessee), MLB Breakthrough Series No. 15 catcher Ian Moller (Dubuque, Iowa, LSU), 5 Star National Black 16u No. 23 catcher Jackson Baumeister (Jacksonville, Fla., Florida State) and Elite Squad No. 24 right-hander Nick Anello (Fort Lauderdale, U. Miami) are also among the top 2021s.

There are also some pretty darn good 2022s rostered with a couple of the top teams who will be looking to catch eyes and turn heads. East Cobb Astros 16u No. 2 right-hander Dylan Lesko (Burford, Ga.), Team Halo No. 5 middle-infielder Termarr Johnson (Atlanta), Baseball U Prospects No. 11 catcher Ethan Anderson (Virginia Beach, Va., Virginia) and Georgia Bombers No. 12 outfielder Riley Stanford (Gainesville, Ga.) lead the way.

After only 16 years, 2,063 alumni of the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship have been drafted and 199 have made their big-league debuts; well over 12,000 committed to colleges.
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