THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,446 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,446 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Tournaments  | Story | 6/25/2019

St. Thomas to the Showdown

Photo: Tristan Moore (Perfect Game)

DUNWOODY, Ga. – The U.S. Virgin Islands own the title of  “America’s Caribbean Paradise.” Historically, well-to-do families have flocked there for relaxation on the sandy beaches and experience the vibrant culture. So when you think of St. Thomas or St. John, you probably don’t think of baseball. Tristan Moore is trying to change that, as the St. Thomas native has traveled to Georgia this week to compete with Team Elite Premier in the Perfect Game 18u Summer Showdown.

The rich history of baseball in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico is well documented. And any regular viewer of the Little League World Series knows that the small island of Curacao has an elite level of youth baseball, and has produced MLB talent in Andruw Jones and Jurickson Profar. The game is alive and thriving in the Caribbean and the Virgin Islands are no exception. The have been 14 big leaguers that have called the Virgin Islands home, and currently there is one active player in St. Thomas’s Jharel Cotton, who pitches for the Oakland A’s. That number is significant when taken in context that St. Thomas is a tiny island of just 40,000 people.

“Baseball is actually a pretty big sport back home,” said Moore. “People love playing and watching there. And growing up, the choice was either baseball or basketball. It was an easy choice, and I’ve been playing ever since.”

Moore’s passion for the game is evident. While most of his teammates from the Georgia-based Team Elite commuted to Brooke Run Park from around the Atlanta area, Moore trekked 1,600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to get his chance at playing some of the top teams in the Southeast. It’s an opportunity he relishes and does not take for granted.

“There aren’t a lot of baseball facilities down there,” said Moore. “I have to do a lot of practicing on my own. There also aren’t very many games, so I’ve had to travel to play as much as I would like to. But it’s been great. This competition is excellent, and I’ve been forced to adapt to better pitching and playing every day. It’s everything I could as for.”

Moore showed no signs of jet lag on Tuesday, as he was dominant in his four inning start against the Ninth Inning Royals 17u. Allowing just one run, Moore struck out seven and walking just one. The 6-foot-1 lefty used his mid-80s fastball to get ahead of hitters, and then flashed his breaking ball to put them away. Equally as impressive was his control of runners on the base paths and the mound presence he showed when in a slight jam in the third inning. With guys on second and third with no outs, Moore buckled down and got two strikeouts and a pop up to end the threat.

Moore pitches with a cerebral, efficient delivery. But his journey as a player has been anything but smooth. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged the Caribbean. And although that was almost two years ago, the devastation that the category five storm left in its wake remains. All throughout the Red Sox 2018 season and World Series run, manager and native Puerto Rican, Alex Cora spearheaded a baseball wide relief effort to help those still in need. Even today, residents of those islands still feel the effects of Maria in everyday life. But the experience of having everything taken away drives Moore to make the most of the gifts he has been given.

“There’s not much baseball going on right now because of what the storms did,” said Moore. “A lot of people actually had to move away. Luckily, one of my old coaches had a connection with Team Elite so he kind of helped me out to get here. I’m lucky I still get to play, and especially at such a high level. ”

A lot of times what separates good players from becoming truly great is about maturity. Success at high levels is about who is going to get caught up in distractions and those that stay the course. Considering all he’s been through with the storm and the sheer sacrifice it requires to travel to Georgia to play, Team Elite Coach Terry McClure believes Moore has what it takes to accomplish his dreams.

“It’s a major commitment that we really appreciate. Honestly, I can’t even imagine it,” said McClure. “Today he was very impressive, just pounding the zone and getting swings and misses. He has a great body and projectable frame, but he also has a good head on his shoulders. The mental side is over half the battle, and he already has that. I think the sky is the limit.”

Moore is ranked as a top 1000 overall player in Perfect Game’s high school class of 2020. While he has not made a college commitment yet, the No. 1 player in the Virgin Islands is sure to get plenty of looks as he continues his summer schedule with Team Elite. A two-way prospect, Moore is an interesting athlete with a variety of skills on a baseball field. And like so many before him, he is doing all he can to reach the ultimate stage.

“I want play professional baseball,” said Moore. “As a hitter or a pitcher, I love both equally. I just want a chance.”




Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
In simplistic terms, the Best of The Best tournament is an absolute gauntlet as seemingly every game brings a playoff game atmosphere. Coaches must strategically map out their pitching to ensure they can get through Pool Play while also making sure they have arms to make a deep playoff run. Each and every age group is loaded with the best teams, composed of some of the best players that travel baseball has to offer. The 9u & 10u age groups will respectively have 9 out of the Top 10 Teams within the latest PG National Team Rankings participating in the event. At 9U, LTP-Reign will look to hold on to their #1 ranking but will have plenty of competition with the likes of ZT National Prospects and HTX-Wildcatters 9U looking to take over that #1 spot. In the 10u age group, Elevate National will look to fend off plenty of talent with #2 ranked Kaos National, East Cobb Astros and ZT...
Press Release | Press Release | 5/22/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 65

Ron Wolforth
Article Image
The Insidious Lie That Hurts Pitchers The Most How many of you have ever had a terrible outing and afterward couldn’t really explain what went wrong? And how many of you have ever had a great outing and couldn’t explain what you did differently either? That gap between what is happening and your awareness of what is happening may be one of the most important gaps in player development. Closing that gap has a name. It is called metacognition. In simple terms, metacognition means thinking about your thinking. It is the ability to understand how you learn, how you perform, how you respond under pressure, and how you make adjustments when things are not going your way. For a pitcher, that matters because no matter how good your coach is, he cannot stand on the mound with you. Your coach cannot take the ball with the bases loaded, two outs, and the best hitter in the league...
College | Rankings | 5/20/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 20

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
There is a reason the preseason pick to win it all rarely does. College baseball's postseason is a gauntlet — double elimination, best-of-three’s, then a full World Series format — and the team that looks unbeatable in February has to prove it again in May against opponents who have had just as long to get ready. Plenty of programs have entered the tournament as the obvious favorite and gone home early. It happens every year. Nobody should be shocked when it does. Top-ranked teams flaming out in regional weekends happens so many times it has become its own genre of schadenfreude Which makes this particular moment worth noting. The Perfect Game preseason picks to win the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III national titles — Tennessee Wesleyan, UT Tyler, and the University of Lynchburg — are all still alive heading into the final rounds. All three...
College | Story | 5/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 21 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
Article Image
Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Co-Player of the Week: Carson Tinney – University of Texas  As a Notre Dame alumnus, it pained me to see Tinney transfer from the Golden Dome to the University of Texas after an All-American sophomore season for the Irish. He’s picked up in Austin right where he left off in South Bend and is currently hitting .321 AVG, 20 HR, .475 OBP / .695 SLG / 1.170 OPS on the 2026 season. It’s plus right-handed power and a plus arm; with the numbers I have found indicating that Tinney has erased more than half of attempted base stealers over the past two seasons of college baseball. Tinney threw...
College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
May 19th Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Carson Tinney, C, Texas  The Texas Longhorns just finished off another stellar regular season and are heading to Hoover for the SEC Conference Tournament as the No. 2 Seed this week.  To secure their 2nd place finish, they had to sweep Missouri at home last weekend and did so in large part to the power bat of Carson Tinney.  The 6-4/240 catcher from Castle Pines, CO transferred to Austin after two sensational seasons at Notre Dame and has thrived in his draft year.  In the 3-game set, Tinney collected 7 hits in 13 at-bats, scoring 5 runs, with a double, 3 home runs and he drove in 10 runs all told.  With some of the most prodigious power in the college game this year, Tinney is now slashing .321/.695/.473 with 10 doubles an incredible 20 home runs and 54 RBIs while playing in the most spacious ballpark in the...
College | Rankings | 5/18/2026

College Top 25: May 18

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The regular season is behind us, and it is now tournament time and wow, is there a lot to still be decided.  We are a week away from the Field of 64 being announced and hosting opportunities, at-large bids, as well as automatic bids are there for the taking.  The UCLA Bruins (48-6) continue their stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the land, finishing the regular season without losing a series all year.  ACC powers, UNC (43-10) and Georgia Tech (45-9) remain at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively and SEC regular season champs, the Georgia Bulldogs (43-12) stick at No. 4.  After that there was a small amount of shuffling within the Top 10 with No. 5 Texas (40-12), No. 6 West Virginia (37-13) and No. 7 FSU (38-16) moving ahead of now No. 8 Auburn (36-18) after they were the only team in this group to drop their weekend series.   No. 14 Florida (37-18) and No. 15...
High School | General | 5/18/2026

High School Notebook: May 18

Jordan Gates
Article Image
‘27 RHP Grant Slater (@BoydCoBaseball) gets his 1st start of the year (3rd appearance) as he works his way back. FB opened 89-92 w/ ride & was still up to 91 in the 5th (run rule), while touching 93 in the 3rd. CT worked in the mid 8s & breaking ball in mid 7s (sweep). Big summer… pic.twitter.com/w9EXl6Jmrx — Perfect Game Ohio Valley (@PG_OhioValley) May 8, 2026 Grant Slater, 2027, RHP, Boyd Co (KY) Slater made his full start of the year back on May 7th. He had appeared in a few games in relief roles prior as he has come back from a few injury bugs. The Alabama commit went five strong innings, in a complete game fashion (run rule), only allowed a couple hits, one walk, and struck out 13 batters. Slater is beginning to ramp up at the right time with postseason right around the corner. Slater’s fastball peaked at 93 mph a few times, held velocity in the...
High School | General | 5/14/2026

CPBL Showcase Scout Notes

Troy Sutherland
Article Image
Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Silky op with big arm speed and projection. Shaky FB command early, 91-93 T94. CH is present plus, weapon vs both LH & RH hitters at 83-84. Good arm side depth to it. SL has some length to the mostly lateral action @ 77. #KState commit.#CPBLShowcaseWknd pic.twitter.com/7TdJ2neOv6 — Perfect Game International (@pg_int1) May 8, 2026 Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Very intriguing athletic upside here, came out early a bit juiced up leading to inconsistent fastball command but settled in and started dotting. Ran the fastball up to 94 with running life. Changeup is ahead of the rest of the arsenal  in terms of quality, and has a parachuting arm side dive that gets frequent swings over the top. Slider is tight with varying length at its best it does have an extra gear to garner a late count whiff. Should fit nicely at Kansas State if he decides to...
College | Story | 5/14/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 14 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
Article Image
Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Player of the Week: Drew Burress – Georgia Tech  I love everything that Craig Cozart writes, and his piece on Burress is as good as it gets (link). Craig does a masterful job of showing us how Burress has (not arguably) the best career college performance of any current player. The body of work is consistent and impressive, and Burress has one of the highest floors in the 2026 MLB Draft with above average or better tools across the board.  I’m not going to do a deep dive on Burress’ numbers because there is no point: they are really good, everywhere. I would rather talk about...
College | Rankings | 5/13/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 13

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
The college baseball postseason has arrived for NCAA Division II, Division III, and the NAIA, bringing with it the most intense stretch of the season. Conference tournaments have wrapped up, national brackets are taking shape, and teams across the country are shifting from regular season positioning to survival mode, where one bad inning can abruptly end a year’s worth of work. The NAIA Opening Round is already underway, and some programs could begin packing for the national finals as early as tomorrow. Across all three divisions, the postseason field is loaded with experienced clubs, dominant pitching staffs, and lineups capable of changing a game with one swing. Now, the focus turns from building résumés to advancing through regional play and chasing national championships. These antepenultimate rankings provide a final snapshot of where the divisions stand entering...
Loading more articles...