SURPRISE, Ariz. – After taking a detour through Tomball, Texas, during the messed-up summer of 2020, the Perfect Game 17u World Series returns to its roots this week in Phoenix’s Valley of the Sun for its five-day run Tuesday through Saturday (July 27-31).
The 10th annual PG 17u World Series will play out this week at the Surprise Spring Training Complex, the MLB Cactus League spring training facility used by both the Rangers and Royals; everything about the complex and its practice fields screams “first class”.
The Arizona desert has experienced record-breaking heat throughout most of the summer but over this past weekend was treated to the much-anticipated and much-needed monsoon season, which brought rain (and even flooding) to the area.
The forecast for this week is what can be expected in the Valley this time of year, with plenty of sunshine and temps approaching triple-digits. In other words, just about perfect conditions for high-end, prep upperclass baseball teams to perform as the summer travel ball season comes to its close.
Thirty-five of the top 17u teams from 10 states will compete for the PG National Championship banner, with most calling Arizona, California and Texas home. There are, however, very capable entrants – this is an invitation-only PG national championship – from Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Virginia along with squads from Colorado, Utah and Washington.
Southern California-based BPA 17u, fresh off of an 8-1-0, quarterfinal round finish at the PG WWBA 17u National Championship in Marietta, Ga., two weeks ago, comes into the week as the defending champion.
Always strong and stout and always a championship threat, BPA is led by to top 2022s Oliver Santos (No. 65-ranked, Duke commit) and Gavin Turley (No. 110, Oregon State), and top 2023 Cooper Pratt (No. 110, Ole Miss).
The Twelve Baseball 2021 Maroon finished as runner-up while performing in their home state a year ago and the Texas Twelve 17u Maroon are back in this year’s field with a loaded roster.
Top-500 2022s crowd the roster, and Jace LaViolette (No. 39, LSU), Anthony Silva (No. 127, TCU), Justin Vossos (No. 156, Texas A&M) and Jax Traeger (No. 188, TCU) have the chops to be scene-stealers.
Another team coming into the tournament with a head of steam is SoCal-based CBA Marucci National, which finished 6-1-1 in Marietta after a 1-0, second-round playoff loss to BPA. This is another roster stacked with top-500 prospects from the ’22 class, including Justin Crawford (No. 73, uncommitted), Ryan Ward (No. 103, Arizona) and Xavier Cardenas III (No. 152, San Diego State), and ’23 Brady Reynolds (No. 165, Stanford).
And there’s more, a whole lot more in fact. California’s Alpha Prime 2022 boasts a roster on which every prospect is ranked at least a top-1000 with 18 top-500s are higher; all but three have already committed to D-I schools.
It’s a collection of talent that includes Malcolm Moore (No. 13, Stanford), Nick Dugan (No. 14, Stanford), Joe Brown (No. 128, California) and Jacob Krieg (No. 198, Oregon State).
NorCal Baseball 2022 Black counters with highly regarded 2022s like two-sport standout Robby Snelling (No. 25, LSU), Nic Bronzini (No. 105, uncommitted), Grant Selig (No. 144, uncommitted) and 2023 Sebastian David (No. 146, Stanford).
Cali’s Trosky National 2022 is another team with a roster stockpiled with top-300 to top-500 talent, led by Jackson Cox (No. 40, Oregon) and Jose Vargas (No. 197, uncommitted). Same can be said for the GBG Navy National out of SoCal with top 2022 Jacob Reimer (No. 109, uncommitted) and 2023 Jet Gilliam (No. 115, Long Beach State).
2022s Chase Shores (No. 30, Oklahoma State), Cade Climie (No. 132, Texas A&M) and Tracer Lopez (No. 201, Texas Tech) are part of another deep and talented roster for the Texas-based Banditos 17u Scout Team.
Stars Baseball 17u Carroll out of Haymarket, Va., will look to make some noise behind top 2022s like Jack O'Connor (No. 68, Virginia) and Kevin Jaxel (No. 95, Virginia) and 2023 Conner Bennett (No. 79, Vanderbilt).
Carrollton, Texas-based USA Prime National 17u will look to heat things up behind the efforts of a foursome of top-71 2022s including Calvert Clark (No. 54, Clemson), Nicolas Perez (No. 63, Florida State), Garrison Sumner (No. 71, Utah) and Wilburn Furniss (No. 87, Ole Miss).
Another top 2022 expected to be attendance is 3D Gold’s Demitri Diamant (No. 79 Georgia Tech). Other top 2023s include 3D Gold’s Owen Egan (No. 30, UCLA) and Duce Robinson (No. 83, uncommitted); the San Diego Show’s Dean West (No. 10, UCLA) and TB SoCal Easton’s Gavin Grahovac (No. 78, Arizona State); the Show’s roster also includes 2023 Duke Ekstrom (No. 125, Vanderbilt).
This is the 10th annual PG 17u World Series and already 64 of its alumni have made their debuts in Major League Baseball. The Dodgers' Cody Bellinger (2012 17u PGWS), the Cardinals' Jack Flaherty (2013), the Red Sox's Alex Verdugo (2013), the Reds' Jonathan India (2014) and the Blue Jays' Bo Bichette (2015) are among the most prominent to date.