THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,479 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,479 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
College  | Story | 1/21/2020

Reloaded McLennan Tops in JUCO

Photo: Garrett Martin (McLennan Athletics)
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- If you have a Netflix account (who doesn’t at this point?), there is a show produced by the streaming company called ‘Last Chance U.’ It follows a junior college football program for a season, through all the trials and tribulations that a JUCO program has to go through.

It’s extremely dramatized. There’s tons of yelling, throwing things, outbursts. Who knows how much of that is real and how much is made for good television.

The real parts, though, come when the coaches talk about the difficulty of recruiting to a two-year school and the small window of developmental time they get with their players.

It’s tough to build a consistent winner with so much turnover.

McLennan Community College, in Waco, Texas, has found the right recipe for sustained success in junior college baseball. It has a lot to do with the man at the helm, head coach Mitch Thompson.

“It’s a tough thing to do to be consistent in a year-in, year-out basis, just due to the fact that you’re losing half your roster every year,” he said. “You’ve got to keep replenishing and the recruiting never ends.”

The replenishing part, he made sure to emphasize, lands on the shoulders of his coaching staff, who he speaks very highly of.

Those guys are on the road finding the right pieces in a subsection of the sport where recruiting really is king, having such a limited amount of time to mold the guys you get on campus.

“My coaching staff is as talented and hard-working as you can have,” Thompson said. “They really work hard on developing. These guys are all-in. They’re competitive, they work so hard, they can identify talent, and if we can get them here, we can really develop them.”

The Highlanders had a ton of talent last season. The team won 42 games and made it to a regional championship game for the fifth time in six years.

Thompson has this engine rolling, being in charge of one of only seven junior college programs to win 40 or more games in each of the past five years.

However, his 2020 team is his most talented yet. McLennan comes into the year returning its top-four position players, and the roster boasts eight of the top-150 junior college prospects according to Perfect Game, including three of the top-10 in righthanded pitcher Connor Phillips (No. 1 overall), shortstop Jalen Battles (No. 5 overall), and third baseman/outfielder Brett Squires (No. 10 overall).

| Top 150 JUCO PROSPECTS |

All that talent has earned McLennan the No. 1 spot in the Perfect Game preseason poll.

“It’s an interesting ball club, because we lost a lot of our pitching off of last year’s team,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of newcomers there. However, I think the strength of our ball club is on the mound. But at the same time, we returned our top-four position players. Battles, Squires, Garrett Martin, and Cole Moore are those four guys. They all hit in the middle of our lineup last year and played every day as freshmen, and they’ve all signed with major Division I programs.”

The pitching staff, which does welcome some new faces, has reloaded in a way that should more than replace what it lost.

Phillips is the headliner, the big name who has first-round talent. He was the No. 61 overall prospect in the 2019 class, and worked his fastball up to 94 mph when he attended the Perfect Game National Showcase in 2018.

“[Phillips] is an elite talent, for sure,” Thompson said. “He’s not a talent that everybody in the country has. We’re very excited that he’s here, and we just want to fully develop him and help him reach his goal and have him help us reach ours. He’s the kind of player that you just don’t see all the time. This is a high, high level kid.”

Dawson Sweatt is a redshirt freshman on McLennan’s staff, a lefthanded hurler ranked as the No. 21 overall JUCO prospect by PG. He is currently committed to Oklahoma.

Joey Martin is another top-75 JUCO prospect, a sophomore righthanded pitcher. The Comfort, Texas native is committed to Dallas Baptist.

Thompson said he feels good about the amount of talent he will carry with his staff.

“We’ve got 13 guys from this fall that threw at least 90 mph,” he said. “So we have talent to work with, there’s no doubt. I think the reason we can reload like that is because the guys see the success the program has had…Our staff is deep. I don’t ever want to say we’re too deep, because I don’t believe you can ever be too deep on the mound, but we have a lot of talented arms to work with.”

The new pitching staff will of course be backed by those four returning position players – Battles, Squires, Martin, and Moore – all of whom hit at least .286 last year. Battles, Martin, and Moore all hit .313 or better.

Each of the four knocked in at least 42 RBI in 57 team games, and each slugged at least .497 in the process. There are no easy outs among them.

James Crooks (he goes by Jimmy), a freshman from Euless, Texas, will handle that new pitching staff. Crooks is an Oklahoma commit along with Sweatt, and is ranked by PG as a top-100 JUCO prospect as well. Crooks was a member of the All-Tournament Team at the 2018 WWBA World Championship, hitting .400 for the Midland Redskins.

Thompson is well aware of the talent he has. It’s on display every day at practice, where he expects the very best out of his players.

He’s more likely to mention his team’s cumulative GPA (something he is very proud of) than the prospect rankings put on the middle of his lineup.

Beyond the classroom though, when he gets his guys in the baseball facility each day, he puts three goals in their heads.

“We want to get to the World Series and compete to win it all,” Thompson said. “We have three goals every year. We want to win our conference, we want to win the regional tournament, and we want to go to the World Series and win it. We don’t make any bones about that. We’re trying to prepare and get ready for that on a daily basis. The key for me is that you can’t waste days. Each day has to be a championship-level day.”

SEE ALSO: 2020 Preseason JUCO Top 25


College | Story | 6/11/2026

Collegiate Freshman All-Americans

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Collegiate Postseason Awards | Collegiate All Americans First Team Hitters Pos. Name School Class AVG OBP SLG R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB C Alonzo Alvarez Miami FR 0.341 0.439 0.551 40 57 13 2 6 32 3 1B Ethin Bingaman Auburn FR 0.330 0.415 0.581 60 71 9 0 15 50 4 2B Ethan Ball Virginia Tech FR 0.310 0.420 0.660 43 63 18 1 17 52 3 3B Nico Partida Texas A&M FR 0.306 0.408 0.550 45 55 8 0 12 43 4 SS Jett Kenady California FR 0.320 0.350 0.573 36 66 17 1 11 34 1 IF Linkin Garcia Texas Tech FR 0.338 0.387 0.489 53 78 21 1 4 59 1 OF Angel Laya Oregon FR 0.296 0.396 0.538 49 66 10 1 14 47 5 OF Anthony Pack Jr. Texas FR 0.359 0.485 0.597 58 74 16 0 11 52 20 OF Jacob Parker* Mississippi State FR 0.339 0.449 0.732 51 57 10 1 18 62 7 OF Teddy Tokheim Stanford FR 0.352 0.414 0.704 40 70 19 0 17 47 0 UT Drew Grego Nebraska FR 0.326 0.417 0.531 33 57 13 1 7 44 5 DH Enzo Infelise Cincinnati FR 0.374...
Tournaments | Story | 6/19/2026

Road to the 2026 17U BCS Title

Emily Hicks
Article Image
This weekend, 11 teams will take the field for the 2026 17U BCS Challenge, a three-day event that brings together programs from across the country for a full slate of pool play and bracket action. With games beginning Friday and a champion crowned Sunday, the format leaves little room for slow starts, making every inning important from the opening pitch. The field features a mix of established programs and rising teams. With so many evenly matched rosters, there’s not much separation heading into the weekend, which puts importance on pitching depth, defensive consistency, and timely hitting. Pool play will quickly determine seeding, and even one loss can shift a team’s path heading into bracket play. One of the teams expected to be in the mix is Hawaii Elite 2G 17U National, a group that is 6-3 overall and ranked as “Honorable Mention” on the Perfect Games...
Tournaments | Story | 6/18/2026

Big Talent on Display at City of Palms

Alyssa Golden
Article Image
The fifth annual PG City of Palms Championship is set to take place in Fort Myers, Florida, from June 19-22, featuring teams from the 15U-18U age divisions. The four-day event will showcase some of the top talent in the state, including several nationally ranked prospects who have already made their presence felt this summer season. Before tournament play begins, here’s a look at some of the highest-ranked players expected to compete this weekend. Leading the group is catcher Nico Ayars in the 16U division. Ayars enters the weekend as the No. 135 player nationally, the No. 3 catcher in Florida and the No. 20 catcher in the country. Through 22 games this summer with Turn 2 Garcia, the right-handed hitter owns a .887 OPS while batting .306 with a .438 OBP and a .449 SLG. Ayars has collected 15 hits while driving in 12 runs and scoring 13 times. Ayars’ teammate, right-handed...
Softball | Softball Tournament | 6/17/2026

Perfect Game Softball Route 66 Summer Showcase

Dave Durbala
Article Image
SPRINGFIELD, IL - Perfect Game Softball Route 66 Summer Showcase, June 13-14, 2026. Twenty-Seven teams, representing the 14u and High School Divisions, arrived at the newly opened all turfed Scheels Sports Park at Legacy Pointe, for the opportunity to showcase their talent in a five game guarantee format. As with anytime we bring a group of players together for competition, there will be those players that rise to the challenge and turn in performances that earn them a place on our Top Performers list.  Below are some of the players, from both divisions, that were recognized as top performers. 14U Division Kinley Abrams (2030 Bloomington, IL) is a RHH for Texas Glory IL-2030 (Wyatt). Setting up in a slightly wide parallel stance, into her back leg, Abrams gains separation with a  push back to transfer weight, and then utilizes a small stride to launch her swing. Abrams works a...
Tournaments | Story | 6/18/2026

150 Teams Set to Battle at SE Select

Will Dembo
Article Image
As summer travel season continues to ramp up, more than 150 teams from 13-17u from all over the nation will meet in East Cobb as they look to showcase their talents and compete for a trophy in the PG Southeast Select Championship. The tournament will kick off with pool play on Thursday, June 18th, and champions will be crowned following bracket play on Monday, June 22nd. The 13u division will host 23 teams from four different states in the major style tournament. The East Cobb Astros and Ninth Inning Royals will share the spotlight as the only nationally ranked teams in the field as the Astros enter the weekend as the No. 45 ranked squad and Ninth Inning falls at the No. 31 spot. 14u will also play as a major tournament for the weekend and contains 31 teams looking to compete for a trophy. Although there are currently no nationally recognized teams in the pool, PFA Regional will be a...
Tournaments | Story | 6/17/2026

UBC Midwest Scout Notes

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Braydon McMillen (2029, Downers Grove, IL) an athletic MIF with a top of the order skill set at the plate. Reached base in all 5 games played at UBC this week. Including a 3 hit game in bracket play. Shows a balanced and compact swing at the plate with quick wrists and the ability to get the barrel to the baseball regularly. A quick first step defensively with clean glove actions and a quick release from the shortstop position. Made several athletic plays defensively this past week. Lot of promising impact traits and a real skill set to build on.  Paris Head | IF/OF/RHP | 2029 | IL@WhitesoxAce FB: 86-90 | CB: 73-75 SL: 77-79 | CH: 78-82 One of the best pitching performances of the tournament so far. High level athlete with an advanced pitch mix for the age. #UBC @PG_Scouting | @WhitesoxAce https://t.co/V3leWaCBSM pic.twitter.com/EDBvjpgI3p — Perfect Game Illinois...
Tournaments | Story | 6/17/2026

Windy City Elite Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
28 LHP/OF Rex Johnson (CO) was impressive on the mound today. Quality FB/SL mix. FB(80-85) showed heavy arm side run, generating s/m. Good feel to spin, landing the low-70s SL for strikes, while keeping hitters off balance. 5.0IP, 9K, 3H #WCElite @PG_FourCorners pic.twitter.com/q459oPmXzW — Perfect Game Illinois (@PG_Illinois) June 14, 2026 Rex Johnson (2028, Highlands Ranch, Colo.) turned in one of the more impressive outings of the weekend for Canes Denver South 2028 Gold. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound left-hander worked 5.0 innings, striking out 9 while allowing just 3 hits and no earned runs. The fastball worked 80-85 with arm-side run and got on hitters quickly, generating both swing-and-miss and weak contact. He mixed in a slider with sharp action and showed feel to land it for strikes. Currently ranked the No. 5 outfielder and No. 8 overall prospect in Colorado, Johnson displayed...
Tournaments | Story | 6/17/2026

UBC South Scout Notes: Days 3-5

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Jonell Rodriguez (2027, Spring, Texas) continued his absolute tear this weekend with Banditos 2027 Scout. The Houston commit finished the weekend 7-12 with three triples and two doubles, reaching base a staggering eleven times over the course of the tournament. Super twitchy athlete who is starting to tap into more power this summer. Has always been extremely productive but seems to have leveled up. He has an argument for being the most dynamic player in the state with his 2026 performances. William Bishop (2028, San Antonio, Texas) was a breakout star this weekend for Texas Angels 2028 Lisbon. Was an impossible out this weekend, going 10-14 with five doubles, a triple, and a home run, while driving in eight runs. Uber physical lower half that rotates easily, not a ton of wasted movement in the swing process. Was such a tough matchup for every single arm he faced at UBC. Will Rainer...
Tournaments | Championship | 6/17/2026

Braves Capture WWBA East Title

Kinley Kitchens
Article Image
By the end of championship Monday, the Atlanta Braves Scout Team had done much more than win a title. They had validated everything they believed they could become. After an undefeated run through the 2026 PG East WWBA Championship, the Braves captured the 15U championship with an 8-2 victory, finishing off a dominant weekend that featured elite pitching, explosive offense, and contributions throughout the roster. For coach Jed Douglas, the championship represented the results of months of practice, preparation, and a vision that finally came together. “This is our first championship with this group,” Douglas said. “We finally brought it together and for the first time, everything seemed to work just as we designed it when we were building the team, and it was just beautiful this way.” The Braves backed up that vision with one of the most impressive offensive...
Tournaments | Story | 6/16/2026

PG Summer Showdown Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Mason Kennerly (2028, Decatur, Ga.) hit .429 with a .667 OBP, five walks and three RBI in four games last week. He’s already showing the tools to be a big-time power bat in his class, and standing at 6’2 with an athletic frame, he’s one of the more projectable players we saw this weekend. His mechanics play into his size well, creating good hand separation from body on his load, using a medium-high leg kick, and getting a wide base when going into his launch. He uses every bit of his size and natural strength to create a violent swing. He’s got the makings of a really solid prospect, and as he develops and his approach matures, he’ll become a guy that college coaches keep at the top of their radar.  ‘27 Grant Barden (GA) up to 90 mph on the hill. Loose on the mound, whippy arm action. Four pitch mix; FB 87-90, CB 71-72, SL 76-78, CH 79-81. Mixed...
General | Blog | 6/16/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 66

Ron Wolforth
Article Image
  The Number That Just Killed MLB Expansion: 1,217   USA Today's Bob Nightengale dropped a bomb shell recently that the baseball world is still digesting. Major League Baseball wants to expand to 32 teams. Team executives are quietly opposing it and the reason has nothing to do with cities or money.   They cannot find enough healthy pitchers.   Between 2020 and 2024, professional baseball performed 1,026 Tommy John surgeries at the minor-league level alone. Another 191 at the Major League level. More than twelve hundred elbow reconstructions in five years on the best young pitchers in the world.   That is not bad luck. That is a system reporting a verdict on itself.   For fifteen years, the youth-baseball industry has chased one number: velocity significantly more than projectability and arm care.    Recruiters scout by it.    Social...
Loading more articles...