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 | 7/9/2009

Watching the WWBA: You've got to love it

MARIETTA, Ga. -- If you've ever run a baseball tournament with 16 teams, you know what a logistical nightmare it can be with fields, umpires, teams, rosters, concessions, gatekeepers, cleanup crews and unruly weather. Now imagine trying it with 192 teams.

That's how many teams are currently playing in the World Wood Bat Association 17U National Championships in Georgia, a massive event that began on Tuesday and will continue through Monday with the fianls. This comes on the heels of the 192 teams that entered the 18U National Championships here from June 30 through July 6, and it precedes the 174 clubs that are expected for the 16U tournament on July 14-20.

All told, Perfect Game USA anticipated having nearly 700 teams and approximately 10,000 players in the five age groups in the WWBA this year over a busy six-week period from June 18 through July 26, with competition in 14U, 15U, 16U, 17U and 18U.

It's mind-boggling.

The 17U tournament is being played at 25 fields in Georgia, with locations in Marietta, Alpharetta, Roswell, Smyrna, Canton, Woodstock, Kennesaw, Austell and Atlanta. The hub is the impressive East Cobb Baseball Complex in Marietta, with its three regulation diamonds that feature 15 games per day. There are a total of eight fields at the East Cobb Complex, including five fields for younger players, making East Cobb the envy of many.

It's hard to know exactly how many college coaches and pro scouts are attending the 17U tournament this week, because not everybody signs in, but there probably are more than 500 in attendance. Most of the top college programs in the country have people here, but so do a whole bunch of D-2, D-3, NAIA and junior college teams. Everybody is looking for players, and there are lots of good ones here -- along with many great ones. The Savannah College of Art and Design is here, along with Ivy League schools, the Air Force Academy and Army.

They could play a mini-Aflac All-American game in Georgia this week with all the Aflac stars in the tournament, but they aren't the only superior players. There are players from 37 states in the tournament, including an entire team from Hawaii, along with players from Canada, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Last week at the 18U tournament, a pitcher named Dalton Acord had an impressive outing and was immediately signed to a pro contract by the Atlanta Braves. He's now practicing with the Braves' Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League and expects to make his pro debut next week. One day, he's playing in an amateur 18U tournament. The next day, he's a professional baseball player.

If you're wondering about the logistics of a 192-team tournament, here's how it works: There are 32 pools with six teams apiece, and everybody plays five pool games with one game apiece on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The 32 pool champs will advance to the championship round on Saturday night, and there will be 16 teams in the picture when everyone wakes up Sunday. They'll play the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals on Sunday, followed by the semifinals and finals on Monday. The two teams that reach the championship game on Monday will have played 10 games in seven days, which puts a premium on a deep and talented pitching staff.

It's a lot of baseball, but it's more than that. The East Cobb Complex features an array of vendors with bats, caps, gloves, jerseys, T-shirts and many other baseball products for sale. There was even a jewelry stand today, featuring objects with a baseball theme.

You've got to love it.

Tournaments | Story | 5/24/2026

East Memorial Day Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Perfect Game Staff
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‘27 IF Braylon Sheffield (FL) with an absolute 🚀 here, launching high off the RCF wall for a 3B. Super polished LH stick; hit over .400 last year on the circuit. #GoHoos commit. #EastMemorial pic.twitter.com/mdehqpR5v5 — Perfect Game Florida (@Florida_PG) May 23, 2026 Braylon Sheffield (2027, Fort Myers, Fla.) got the event started with the loudest swing of the night on Friday at Terry Park, rocketing a triple off the wall in the stadium. Sheffield, ranked 121 and committed to Virginia, is a super polished left-handed hitter with left side of the infield projection long term. The swing is tension-free with loose wrists and he generates easy bat speed with already present power to the pull side. This blast came inches away from being a home run and hitting a ball that far at Terry Park stadium is a significant shot. Sheffield also tripled in his second game of the weekend at...
Tournaments | Story | 5/24/2026

West Memorial Day Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Tyler Henninger
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Colton Floyd (‘27,AZ) just misses a HR here. Can really impact the baseball & shows over the fence power potential. Took 3 QAB’s today. He’s the #1 ranked 3B in the state and #4 in the country. #MDWest https://t.co/ReMh7D0v4y pic.twitter.com/w1dzssSy8N — Perfect Game Four Corners (@PG_FourCorners) May 23, 2026 Colton Floyd, 3B, Chandler, AZ. Canes West National (2027) Floyd is a high-upside prospect with physical tools and burgeoning power. His combination of size, bat speed, and raw strength makes him one of the top power-hitting third basemen in the country. Currently ranked the #1 third baseman in Arizona and #4 nationally in his class. With continued refinement of his approach and defensive consistency, he has all the ingredients to be a middle-of-the-order bat at Texas A&M and a legitimate MLB Draft prospect JJ Utash (‘27,AZ) with a triple here....
Tournaments | Story | 5/21/2026

Memorial Day Classics Set to Kick Off

Perfect Game Staff
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Southeast Memorial Day East Cobb Baseball will welcome more than 100 teams spanning the 13-17u age groups this weekend as summer baseball gets underway with the highly anticipated PG Southeast Memorial Day Classic, commencing on Thursday, May 21st. This weekend’s annual premier event will feature 11 nationally ranked teams across the five age groups with the No. 9 16u East Cobb Astros headlining the 17u division alongside top prospects such as No. 11 ranked Bryan Johnson Jr. And No. 22 ranked Georgia Tech commit, Malachi Butler. The No. 34 17u ranked 643 DP Cougars will also be a squad to watch as they will look to challenge the Astros for the championship amongst the other 14 17u division teams. While the oldest division will draw lots of attention with highly touted prospects, the 16u field is stacked with 29 total teams including three nationally ranked clubs. Over 30 top 1000...
High School | General | 5/22/2026

Northeast High School Notebook: May 22

Anthony Gambardella
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‘26 RHP Hunter Brown (@NHLionsBaseball - NJ) struck out 1️⃣5️⃣ thru 6 IP w/ 0 BB & 2 H allowed. FB lived 90-92, T93 w/ ASR & late life. Froze bats with his 11/5 CB both early/late in counts (2600rpm). Mixed in fading CH & short/tight SL. #WeAre commit. @PG_Draft#PGHS @PG_Scouting pic.twitter.com/NbSSOmCyD0 — Perfect Game Mid-Atlantic (@PGMidAtlantic) April 23, 2026 Hunter Brown - 2026 RHP, North Hunterdon Reg (N.J.) was utterly dominant in his start against Franklin last month, tossing six shutout innings with 15 strikeouts, zero walks and just two hits allowed. The 6-foot-5 215-pound right-hander has pitched to a 0.97 ERA this spring with 78 punchouts over 36 innings of work. Brown has been one of the many northeast arms receiving increasingly more buzz ahead of the MLB Draft this July. Brown’s heater lived in the low-90s throughout the duration of his...
Press Release | Press Release | 5/22/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 65

Ron Wolforth
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The Insidious Lie That Hurts Pitchers Thep 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
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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
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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...
Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
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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...
College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
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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
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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...
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