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High School  | General | 12/8/2023

Finest in the Field: Class of 2028

Jheremy Brown
This time of the year, every year, out staff looks back at some of the defensive standouts, from their showings both in a showcase setting and live action, and assemble the Finest in the Field beginning today with the Class of 2028.

P – Yariel "Lito" Diaz (Saint Cloud, Fla.)
Diaz, who’s currently listed as a primary outfielder, was one of the more dominant arms on the circuit last summer from the 13u group, despite playing mostly at the 14u level. Part of the reason for his dominance, aside from an advanced arsenal, is the athleticism that allows him to replicate his delivery and release, maintaining his slot while pounding the strike zone. Nearly eligible to be on the 12u circuit throughout 2023 due to age, Diaz shows some of the more fluid mechanics and the entire package is an enticing one for the southpaw out of Florida. 



C – Aaron Garcia (Pico Rivera, Calif.)
Given that he won the Rawlings Defensive Player of the Year at the 13u Select Festival, it wasn’t a matter of IF Garcia would make this team, but rather WHERE. A natural middle infielder who brings that type of twitch and athleticism behind the plate, Garcia is as refined a defender behind the plate as you’ll find at the 13u level. I put where in all caps above because of the actions he’s shown up the middle, as well as the arm strength (86 mph across at the 13u National), all of which makes him a standout defender in the dirt as well. 

1B – Luke Esquivel (Grapevine, Texas)
Time will tell where Esquivel ultimate calls home long term, as it will for many of the players in 2028, but the reigning PG Two-Way Player of the Year already stands out in all facets on the fields. An accomplished left-hander who has already been upwards of 86 mph on the mound, the future LSU Tiger moves around the first base bag with nimble footwork and solid body control, something we also see on the mound. The arm strength is an asset for the position and already being 6-foot-1, 180 pounds provides his fielders a big target, though he has the softness in his hands to scoop the low throw in the dirt should he need to. 

MIF – Lio Garcia (Suwanee, Ga.)
Garcia’s bat did a lot of the talking for him this summer but not so much that it was able to overshadow what he brings to the defensive side of things as well. A primary shortstop who can play on either side of the bag with poise and confidence, Garcia already shows refined footwork in the dirt as he maintains balance while ranging to either side or making the charge, never breaking stride while manipulating his slot to finish the play. The arm and actions both play in the outfield as well, but it’s up the middle where he calls home and should continue to moving forward. 

MIF – Bryan Mesa (Hialeah, Fla.)
In terms of pure actions and confidence, not many in the 2028 class can top what Mesa brings to the shortstop position. While there’s a sense of flair to his game, the actions are also extremely polished with very sound fundamentals, whether it’s picking the backhand cleanly or on the move where he needs to change his slot while still showing ample strength across. The overall ease in which he plays the premium position can’t be understated either, which again is something that stems from the advanced foundation of tools and confidence in the dirt. 

3B – Jacob Gray (Benicia, Calif.)
Gray making this team as a third baseman isn’t to say he’s not a shortstop, as he’s still one of the tops in the country, but given his broad shouldered frame and the room in which he’ll continue to fill on his frame, he could make the slide over to the hot corner. That said, the arm strength will continue to play on the left side of the diamond as he makes it look easy while moving well in the dirt with his feet, something that would only aid at third base. Ranked No. 12 in the country and the No. 2 overall shortstop, wherever Gray plays this summer and down the road defensively, he’s going to be an asset with game changing ability. 

OF – Dexter McCleon Jr. (Buford, Ga.)
McCleon Jr. has continued to prove there isn’t much he can’t do on the baseball diamond, regardless of where he’s play, whether on the mound or in the outfield. Manning left field this summer some, the arm strength possessed by the Georgia native is second to none and could easily move over to left field, but his 6.8 speed could also suggest center field long-term. Regardless of where he ends up, McCleon Jr is going to be a standout defender given the combination of speed, athleticism, and arm strength. 

OF – Dru Wilson (Porter Ranch, Calif.)
Wilson has been one of the more popular names in this group over the last couple years and rightfully so given the tools the 3-time Select Festival alum possesses. Despite the physicality of his frame Wilson is an extremely fluid mover in the outfield, making his fair share of fully extended catches over the past circuit season. He runs well at 7.2 and it plays nicely in his defensive actions, charging balls with authority while working through and showing quality arm strength as well. Given the arm, there’s no reason to think he won’t continue to be a weapon in right field as he’s only going to continue adding serious strength. 

OF – Rylan Jenkins (Tennile, Ga.)
If you think about center field, you one thing immediately comes to mind: speed. Well, look no further than Rylan Jenkins of Tennile, Georgia as the speedy outfield was one of the true breakout stars of this past summer. He earned his invite to the 13u National Showcase based off of his play in Hoover, Alabama and immediately stole everybody’s attention when he ran an event best 6.61 in the 60-yard. That single tool is a game changer for Jenkins as he can quickly shrink the gaps with outstanding closing speed and efficient routes.

UTL – Julian Martinez (New York, N.Y.)
Adding some Northeast into the mix, Martinez could’ve capture the catching spot or a middle infield spot like Aaron Garcia above, so utility is a fitting home given his versatility. Another long-time standout, Martinez shows lots of softness in his hands, picking the ball cleanly and with an air of confidence while showing a strong arm across the diamond. That same refinement plays behind the dish where the exchange is clean, actions are repeatable and arm is accurate down to second base. 
 
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High School | General | 12/24/2025

2025 Year In Review: High School
Cam McElwaney
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IMG Academy Takes Home the National Title Every year IMG Academy comes into the spring with top-to-bottom one of the top rosters in the country and every year have the expectation of winning the national championship. Well in 2025 they did just that after finishing the spring 24-1, winning the High School Showdown, and winning 15 straight games to end their season. Their high end offensive ability was on full display throughout the year and they will once again be one of the most talented teams in the country in ’26 as they look to go back-to-back. Two Top-10 Picks in the MLB Draft Headline National Players of the Year It was another loaded crop that took home the National Players of the Year as both Ethan Holliday, the National Player of the Year, and Seth Hernandez, National Pitcher of the Year, heard their names called within the first-10 picks in the MLB Draft. Another first...
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Draft | Rankings | 12/24/2025

Top 2027 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Isaiah Burrows
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With the 2025 cycle officially behind us and the calendar nearly flipping over to 2026, it is time to start looking ahead to the future. More importantly, start looking ahead to the next season of college baseball and what that may mean for draft-eligible players with big dreams of continuing their journey. While the 2026 MLB Draft is now on the horizon, we are looking ahead to the future even further – to see which players have already made impacts upon their arrival to college campuses. We have already dropped our 2028 Top 75 collegiate prospects board, but this one is our Top 100 college prospects who will be eligible for the 2027 class. These are the Top 100 players in our eyes for this group, and many of them have already shown up on campus and been impactful in many ways. Whether its our top-ranked player in Oregon State’s Dax Whitney or ninth-ranked William Schmidt...
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Draft | Rankings | 12/23/2025

Top 2028 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Vincent Cervino
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The college players in the 2028 draft class have yet to step on campus, but they're positioned to make an immediate impact. Several high end talents either turned down significant money last year or honored strong college commitments, resulting in their arrival on campus this fall. The class is currently led by a trio of high-upside arms in Jack Bauer, Angel Cervantes, and Cameron Appenzeller. They are followed by a deep group of bats that rounds out a strong, high end Top-10. Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State 1 Jack Bauer C LHP L-L Mississippi State Frankfort IL 2 Angel Cervantes C RHP R-R UCLA Lynwood CA 3 Cameron Appenzeller C LHP L-L Tennessee Springfield IL 4 Brayden Jaksa C C R-R Oregon Fremont  CA 5 JD Stein C SS R-R Wake Forest Carmel IN 6 Mason Ligenza C OF L-L Pittsburgh Brockton PA 7 Ty Peeples C OF L-R Georgia Lavonia GA 8 Lucas Franco C SS L-R TCU Katy TX 9...
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Juco | Story | 12/23/2025

2025 Year in Review: JUCO

Blaine Peterson
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Looking Back at the 2025 Top 10  Matt Barr (‘25 Niagara, ‘26 Minnesota Twins) Bursting onto the scene last winter, footage of an indoor bullpen rocketed Barr onto the radar of many. Explosive fastball reaches near triple digits with incredible spin numbers across the secondaries. Huge numbers at Niagara earned him the title of the first Juco player drafted in 2025. JC Vanek (‘25 Chipola, ‘26 Kansas City Royals) Just a professional hitter. Vanek for two years at Chipola was an impossible out. While there are questions if the power will ever reach what it takes to play first base at the big league level, the bat and quality defensive skillset at first base may carry. Donovan Becerra (‘25 New Mexico, ‘26 Texas Tech) One of the more high octane arms anywhere in the country last year. Can reach back for upper 90’s and has shown serious swing and...
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Draft | Story | 12/22/2025

2025 Year in Review: Draft

Isaiah Burrows
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2025 Year in Review: Draft We’ve reached the end of the 2025 calendar year, and while we’ve already jumped in on the 2026 cycle with some of the fall events and post-draft content we’ve had here at Perfect Game, there’s still one more piece on the docket, and that’s the 2025 Year-In-Review piece here from the PG Draft staff.  The 2025 MLB Draft took place in July, when many highly talented players heard their names called and continued their journey through the game to the next level. There’s already been some of those names making noise in the minors and guys who are moving up prospect lists and becoming names to know for MLB fans digging deep into the future of their organizations. While we are going to “close the book” on 2025 with this article, these players still have many years ahead of them, and many blank pages to continue...
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College | Recruiting | 12/22/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 22

Jheremy Brown
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Lucien Saint Cyr, INF, Class of 2026 Commitment: Bucknell Saint Cyr announced his pledge to Bucknell, giving the Bison an interesting blend of present tools and projection. Saint Cyr stands 6-foot-1 and offers room to fill in his medium frame, profiling in the middle infield defensively. The New York product starts wide at the base in the right-handed box, keeping his hands high behind the ear. He works into a subtle outward step load, firing through a compact barrel that showcases bat speed and gap-to-gap impact. For head coach Scott Heather and Bucknell, they land a high-quality Northeast infielder in the ’26 cycle, adding to a class that takes the quality over quantity approach. Patrick Diaz ('26, NY) 102 EV off the bat. Impact to the pull side. #PGNational @PGMidAtlantic @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/NN0L3FRdO9 — PG Showcases (@PGShowcases) July 9, 2025 Patrick Diaz,...
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High School | General | 12/19/2025

Huntington Beach HS World Series Recap

Steve Fiorindo
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MVPitcher: Duncan McLeod The uncommitted junior toed the slab in three of the four games for Team Mick, tossing 3 2/3 innings.  Zero walks, zero hits and 6 punchouts for the lefty who was used both as a starter in the series clinching game 4 and he closed out game 3 on Friday in quick fashion.  McLeod was very efficient as well, needing just 42 pitches over all his outings.  In the game 4 start, over two innings he punched out 3, with one strikeout with all of his offerings.  The mid 80’s fastball regularly played up, set up with efficient use of the secondaries, with the breaking ball 73/74 and fading change-up 72-74.   Owen Bone (2026) at it again... Solo shot in the 5th to tie things up. Back to back days with a home run for Bone. #PGHS pic.twitter.com/2JC9qETI5h — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) December 13, 2025 MV Hitter: ...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

13u Tourney All-American Team

Jheremy Brown
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What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

14u Tourney All-American Team

Tyler Russo
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Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
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Draft | Story | 12/18/2025

PG Draft: Gut Feel Guys

Tyler Henninger
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While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
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