THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Sign in Create Account
Sign in Create Account
Tournaments  | Story | 6/3/2019

PG European Classic: Day 4

David Rawnsley
Photo: Ignas Pauliukevicius (Perfect Game)

PG European Classic: Day 1 Notes | Days 2-3 Notes
BRNO, CZE: The Lithuanian United Team 16u is a perfect example of where baseball is in Eastern Europe. The team came to the PG European Classic last year with mostly the same team and has improved significantly over the past 12 months. Their primary source of games at home is to play in the Lithuanian Adult League against much older players.

The manager/director of the Lithuanian team, in addition to youth baseball across the country, is Virmidas Neverauskas. If that last name sounds familiar, he is the father of Pittsburgh Pirates righthanded pitcher Dovydas Neverauskas, who might be the most unlikely Big League player ever considering his background growing up in Lithuania.

Virmidas Neverauskas was literally one of the first baseball players in Lithuania and helped start the first organized team in the country. For his son to climb the highest mountain in baseball so soon after the first seed of baseball was planted in the country is incredible in context.

A perfect example of the reality of where baseball in Lithuania and in Eastern Europe is at present can be captured in watching their outfielder Ignas Pauliukevicius (2021, Kaunas, LTU) play over a few games. Pauliukevicius is 16 years old and has an outstanding 6-foot-2, 175-pound athletic build. He performed extremely well in the PG Series testing all the athletes participated in here in Brno and recorded one of the strongest grip strengths ever recorded in PG Series participation. He’s the type of athlete who could be a three-sport standout right now at an American high school. The ball explodes off his bat when he squares it up, he runs well and he was 81 mph off the mound with very raw mechanics. But his present baseball skills are so young that he would have trouble at least initially competing with his age peers in the United States. On one play on Sunday, Pauliukevicius was on second base when a clean single was hit to left field. Neverauskas was coaching third base and had a clear stop sign out almost as soon as the ball landed in the outfield, but Pauliukevicius ran right through it head down. You could see Neverauskas’ head drop and his hand go to his forehead even before the play at the plate as if to say, “Yes, I will continue to work hard with these players and help them improve but we still have a long way to go.”

Top 16U Overall Prospect

Team National Cadets shortstop Merlin-Tyrus Bendlin has consistently impressed this scout throughout the European Classic with his high-level athleticism and skills at shortstop defensively. He’s a very live-bodied athlete with bounce in all his actions and can really work through a ball well at shortstop and get rid of it quickly. Based on his 30-yard time in testing (3.81) he is probably at 6.7-6.8 type runner in the 60 and it would be very easy to give him a PG 9 grade for his fielding. Bendlin’s swing is quick and twitchy and he showed power today with a double off the left field fence, so he’s not just a high-level defender. He’s 16 years, 10 months old and will receive his high school certificate next year, so he’s the equivalent of a 2020 player in the United States. Impressively, Bendlin is also the youngest player ever to play in the top division of the German Bundesliga after making the Mannheim Tornados team this year. Bendlin can certainly play middle infield at a mid-level D1 school and probably at many higher level D1 schools.

16U Final Standings

Czech Baseball Academy Red 5-0
Czech Baseball Academy Blue 4-1
National Team Cadets 4-1
KMC Ambassadors 3-2
Czech National Team 2-2-1
Lithuanian Baseball 1-4
Czech Baseball Academy White 2-3
Ukraine United Team 16U 1-3-1
Hrosi Brno 16U 2-3
Slovakia 15U 0-5


16U Most Valuable Player
Catcher Matej Vlach (2022, Hluboká Nad Vltavou, CZE) hit in the leadoff spot for the runner-up Czech Baseball Academy Blue team and executed his role perfectly, going 8-for-14 at the plate in addition to drawing four walks, stealing six bases and scoring eight runs in five games. In addition, his walk off single in Czech Blue’s 6-5 win over National Team Cadets enabled his team to reach the championship game.

16U Most Valuable Pitcher/Top 16U Pitching Prospect

Lefthander Tomas Hrbek (2020, Brno, CZE) started two games for the champion Czech Baseball Academy Red team, picking up two wins, including throwing five innings of three-hit baseball in the championship game. Hrbek has a strong and projectable 6-foot athletic build and a very smooth delivery and arm action that produced a fastball up to 83 mph to go with a nice low-70’s slider.  Hrbek is 16 years, 5 months old and there is no question that he’ll throw harder as he further matures physically and he already has the delivery, pitchability and arm action to build from.

12U Final Standings

Czech Baseball Academy Green 5-0
Czech National Team 12U 4-1
Technicka Brno 12U 4-1
Hrosi Brno 12U 3-2
Euro Baseball Tour 12U 3-2
Ukraine United Team 12U 2-3
KMC Ambassadors 2-3
Slovakia 12U 1-4
Czech Baseball Academy Orange 1-4
Lithuania Baseball 12U 0-5

12U Most Valuable Player
Benjamin O'Rourke was an offensive force for the champion Czech Baseball Academy Green team, going 10-for-13 at the plate with five doubles, a home run and 12 RBI in five games. Of course, Czech Green did hit .573 with 23 extra base hits while scoring 70 runs in five wins, so O’Rourke had plenty of help from his teammates. He also took a start on the mound and picked up a win.

12U Most Valuable Pitcher

Martin Senk of Technicka Brno 12U threw a six-inning complete game against the Ukraine United Team in a 5-1 Technicka win, striking out nine hitters and only allowing one hit. He also contributed offensively to Technicka’s overall 4-1 record, going 6-for-14 with two doubles and a home run while scoring 10 runs overall.

Reflections on Brno and Baseball

The differences between the Czech Republic, specifically the city of Brno (pop. 300,000 +/-), and the United States couldn’t be more stark in many ways.  Yes, a Marriott Courtyard in Brno is indistinguishable from anywhere else in the world and cars drive on the right side of the road and I didn’t hear a song on the ballpark speakers I hadn’t heard before.  Map apps work on your phone. And there are plenty of the ubiquitous American fast food restaurants, although why a Czech citizen would choose to eat at a Burger King or KFC is beyond me.

The food we ate over the course of almost a week was stunningly good and amazingly clean. There are numerous food preservatives and additives that are banned in Europe that are common in the United States and the impact of not using them is immediately obvious. The breads, pastries and meats leap out for their freshness and flavor and the Czech people certainly love their sweet pastries (don’t even ask about a dumpling stuffed with fresh strawberries). There are fresh fruit and vegetables with everything. Once one leaves the city center there are gardens everywhere. The fields along the highways are lush green with winter wheat ready for harvest and interspersed with vineyards.

And everything is mind numbingly inexpensive. One of our party had a steak one night that would have run $50 at least at home; it was the equivalent of $8.50 in Czech Koruna. The spaghetti with pancetta and anchovies I had at the same meal was simply the best pasta I’ve ever tasted; it was about $7. One can never get tired of spending $1.25 for a pour of Pilsner Urquell or Starobrno. Using the ample public transportation costs $2/day.

The picturesque city center, located about a mile from our hotel was beautiful, cultural and spotlessly clean. It was completely safe to walk back alone to the hotel after midnight. And, of course, everything in Brno, like most of Europe, is old and has a history. The spectacular St. Peter and Paul Cathedral was originally built on the same site late in the 11th century and has been updated many times since. Brno was the capital of Monrovia long before the United States existed. The Starobrno Brewery is a continuation of a brewery originally founded in 1325.

But baseball, as it often does, seems to transcend cultural and living conditions. The fields and facilities were excellent and tended to with meticulous care with the same type of equipment one would find at thousands of fields across the United States. The 16-year-old and younger athletes played hard and were happy at successes, both individual and team, and disappointed with failure. The rhythms of the game were instantly recognizable to any baseball fan, whether it be in the quick call for a time out after a stolen base or the flaps down rounding of first base by an excited player after a key RBI single.

The reality is that it is very unlikely that there was a future Major League player in Brno this week and probably not even a future minor league player. There will be another Dovydas Neverauskas from a smaller European baseball country someday and there will certainly be another Max Kepler from a Germany or Italy or even perhaps the Czech Republic as well. There were many young players here this week who could play at various college programs across the United States and it is important to get especially those players playing against as high level of competition as possible so that their skills can improve.

But moving beyond the top players here, the most important role of the PG European Classic now and into the future is to continue to plant the seeds of the future baseball coaches and leaders across the region. For there to be another Dovydas Neverauskas, you first have to have the coach with the motivation and knowledge to grow the player.

One of the coaches for the Ukraine United team was seen walking around the City Stadium field meticulously taking pictures of everything down to the most basic grounds crew tools.  When asked what he was doing, he responded in broken English, “We do not have baseball fields like this in the Ukraine. I want to build one. With my own hands. To do this I must know what I will need.”

Those are the baseball seeds that are being planted.
Give us your feedback
Tournaments | Story | 1/27/2026

MLK East Scout Notes Recap
Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
‘28 OF Jakob Groeschel (OH) continues to impress with the bat on the circuit, picked up 2 2Bs in the first game today. Really athletic, went 4.4 on turn; easy to dream on all the traits. #MLKEast @PG_OhioValley pic.twitter.com/wOIwnGKnkg — Perfect Game Florida (@Florida_PG) January 17, 2026 2028 OF Jakob Groeschel (Springfield, Ohio) broke out at this event last year hitting a casual .909, and although he didn’t turn in quite the same performance, he hit a strong .462 with 4 extra-base hits, 5 walks, 5 bags and only struck out once. He’s a pretty dynamic athlete who can do a lot of things well, but the bat is the calling card as he just lives on the barrel and has no problem handling all kinds of pitching. It’s a simple swing, but he’s got fast hands and he can really impact the ball without being overly physical yet.  2030 RHP Michael Vazquez...
Read More
Juco | Rankings | 3/25/2026

JUCO Top 25: March 25

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Another strong week of Juco baseball for teams in our Top 25, and as you may see, our field is the same from a week prior with each and every team handling business in their weekend sets to hold fast to their spots on the board. Some notable movement though inside the Top 5 with Gaston jumping up to number 2 after a 33-2 start to the 2026 season as well Cloud County cracking the Top 15 for the first time all year. Looking forward to watching conference play around the country as we approach the final stretch of the regular season. Rk. School Record 1 Johnson County (KS) 30-2 2 Gaston (NC) 33-2 3 Florida Southwestern (FL) 26-7 4 Walters State (TN) 26-6 5 Chipola (FL) 29-5 6 Florence-Darlington (SC) 29-6 7 Blinn (TX) 22-8 8 McLennan (TX) 20-7 9 Cochise (AZ) 28-6 10 Pearl River (MS) 25-7 11 Georgia Highlands (GA) 30-8 12 Southern Nevada (NV) 24-6 13 Northwest Florida (FL) 21-12 14 Cloud...
Read More
College | Rankings | 3/25/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: March 25

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
Every preseason, analysts and voters pour enormous effort into ranking the small college baseball landscape — poring over returning rosters, transfer additions, coaching changes, and historical trends to assemble the most accurate picture they can of who will be contending when the postseason arrives. And most years, they get it largely right. But the nature of college baseball, with its massive rosters, unpredictable development arcs, and ever-churning transfer portal, guarantees that a handful of genuinely elite programs will slip through the cracks every spring. A team loses too many seniors. A key transfer hasn’t yet suited up. A new coaching staff hasn’t had the chance to prove itself. The voters see the question marks and leave the blank space, and then the season begins and the blank space starts filling itself in — loudly. As the 2026 season heads into its...
Read More
College | Story | 3/24/2026

College Players of the Week: March 24

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
March 24th Perfect Game/Player of the Week: Quinton Coats, IF, Cincinnati The Cincinnati Bearcats (19-7) are on the cusp of the Top 25 and are playing their best ball of the season. The offense has been the driving force behind their success, and it has been incredibly consistent having averaged 8.5-runs per game. In the middle of it all, Quinton Coats, is on pace for a historic season both within the program and on a national level. The 6-3/225 infielder from Olathe, KS has been launching home runs at a record pace and opponents seem to be powerless to stop his onslaught. With incredible strength in his hands, Coats creates easy loft and in 5 road games last week he collected 9 hits in 20 at-bats, with 4 home runs, 9 runs scored, and he drove in a total of 9 runs as well. As for his pursuit of history, the modern day BBCOR bat standard single season home run record is 34, set back in...
Read More
College | Recruiting | 3/23/2026

Recruiting Notebook: March 23

Ryan Miller
Article Image
High speed look at the FF-SL from '27 SS/RHP Harry Chubb Jones Jr. (GA)... #BeastoftheEast @PG_Uncommitted @PG_Georgia https://t.co/zXWgDJjU0y pic.twitter.com/GUIUN4tWmw — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) June 25, 2025 Harry Chubb Jones Jr., RHP/SS, Class of 2027 Commitment: Alabama Jones recently flipped his commitment from Clemson to Alabama, landing Rob Vaughn and staff a high-end two-way talent in the ’27 class. The Georgia native possesses tremendous upside on the mound, working from a long and lean right-handed frame that displays projection and athleticism. Jones starts over the face before working to the belt and into a higher pronounced leg lift. He fires down the mound via a standard-length arm action and high three-quarters slot. Chubb’s fastball/slider combination and feel for the zone, with the heater showcasing run/ride traits and power into the high-90s....
Read More
College | Rankings | 3/22/2026

College Top 25: March 23

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Time flies when you are having fun and the fact that we are almost to the halfway point of the 2026 season, proves just how entertaining things have been to this point. In what was an ultra-impactful week on the national landscape, there are some clubs fading out of the limelight while others are emerging from the shadows and showing they are a force to be reconned with. Conference play always makes the big picture come into view and we are now getting a feel for who the true contenders may be as the grind begins. The UCLA Bruins (21-2) keep their stranglehold on the top spot in the land as they remain unchallenged since the start of Big Ten play and finished the week with a (4-0) record. The Texas Longhorns (20-3) did lose back-to-back games this week but showed their resilience by winning an intense road series against now No. 7 Auburn (19-4). Georgia Tech (19-5) also had a (2-2) week...
Read More
Draft | Rankings | 3/20/2026

2026 Draft Board: Top 300

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The 2026 MLB Draft class is shaping up to be one of the better in recent memory and, potentially, the best class in the last decade. It’s led by UCLA superstar shortstop Roch Cholowsky, a true five-tool prospect who’s the early favorite for 1:1. One of the most popular pieces of industry feedback when constructing this list was some variation of “Roch is too low” or “go up on Roch” and he’s the best college prospect since 2019 when Adley Rutschman (Oregon State, Orioles) was the consensus No. 1 prospect. Similarly to 2019, there’s a superstar Texas prep shortstop at No. 2, in 2019 it was Bobby Witt Jr. (Colleyville Heritage, Royals) and this year it’s Grady Emerson. Both Emerson and Alabama’s Justin Lebron would have been solid 1:1 candidates in years where Roch Cholowsky is not eligible and both have All-Star potential....
Read More
High School | General | 3/23/2026

High School Notebook: March 23

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Talon Brown (‘29 CA) showing some intriguing stuff over 2.1 IP running the FB up to 89, living 86-88 while mixing in a BB at 77. FB heavy on the day w/ a limited pitch count. 6-4, 205-lb w/ an athletic operation working down the bump #PGHS pic.twitter.com/HkLmJHrB1W — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) March 14, 2026 Talon Brown 2029 RHP, Christian Brown features an advanced 6-foot-4, 205-pound, athletic, projectable frame.  The freshman has made two appearances on the young season working four-innings without allowing a hit or run and has struck out seven opposing hitters.  It’s an easy, downhill operation and the ball jumps out of the hand, using the four-seam often that has ride through the zone, sitting 85-88 and topping out at 89.  The breaking ball showed 11-5 shape with depth spinning it at 1900 RPM+.  Brown features an athletic...
Read More
Press Release | Press Release | 3/19/2026

PG Teams Up with OZ Ball Tournaments PTY

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME NAMES OZ BALL TOURNAMENTS PTY AS OFFICIAL AREA DIRECTOR IN AUSTRALIA, EXPANDING GLOBAL FOOTPRINT   Sanford, Florida (Thursday, March 19, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced that it has entered into a new international partnership with Oz Ball Tournaments Pty, naming the organization as an official Perfect Game Area Director in Australia. The agreement establishes Perfect Game-licensed tournaments and showcases across major Australian markets, including Sydney, Brisbane/Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.     Australian events will operate under the Perfect Game brand, delivering the same...
Read More
Press Release | Press Release | 3/18/2026

PG Introduces Individual Player Entry

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME INTRODUCES INDIVIDUAL PLAYER ENTRY, EXPANDING ACCESS TO ELITE NATIONAL EVENTS   Athletes Can Now Compete in Select National Tournaments Through Structured ‘Team PG’ Rosters   Sanford, Florida (Wednesday, March 18, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced the launch of Individual Player Entry, a new initiative designed to provide athletes the opportunity to compete in select national events even if their primary team is not attending.   Through the program, players can now register individually and be placed on a structured “Team PG” roster, allowing them to participate fully in...
Read More
Juco | Rankings | 3/18/2026

JUCO Top 25: March 18

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
This week brings a new top team to the rankings as Johnson County (KS), on the strength of 10 consecutive wins and a 26-2 record, claims the overall number 1 spot. The Cavaliers have made 3 consecutive trips to the JUCO World Series and have the talent to make it back there again this spring. Florida Southwestern and Chipola have seemingly separated themselves as the most consistent teams in Florida. Welcome to the top 5 to the Gaston Rhinos who will be one of the first teams to 30 wins this spring. Pearl River stays as the top NJCAA D2 team and Fresno City stays as the top Juco team in California; both are coming off undefeated 2 week stretches. Welcome back to the top 25 to John A. Logan who is now 20-7 overall and have played one of the toughest schedules of anyone. And for the first time in several years welcome to the top 25 to the College of Southern Idaho, the Golden Eagles have...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.