HS Baseball

[ClancyDawg]

Hi all.

First time poster. With MSU now back to prominence my baseball itch is coming back. I used to make time to see lots of HS action but have not lately. Getting back into it here in a month or so. I assume the big games to see will be mostly around the Metro area, Hattie, and the Coast. Any insight as to how this year is expected to play out?

[Harrydawg]

Great topic! I'd love to hear what Todd says about Madison Central. From what I can see about Madison In general is that the current senior class is weak, and not deep. Odd how this happens but some classes area wide are super strong, like the Juniors and Sophmores for the most part across the county and maybe the whole state.

Prep is the team to beat as far as Private and Mag Heights has built a damn dynasty......

[It_Could_Happen]

If you wanna see one of the best to ever come out of MS you owe it to yourself to go watch Austin Riley from Desoto Central. The kid could easily be a top 10 draft pick. Would love to see him end up at state but I doubt he makes it to campus. He's a family friend of ours and the kid is a flat out stud.

[Todd4State]

In 6A, I think DeSoto Central is probably the favorite to win it. They have Austin Riley, Keegan James, and Dallas Woolfolk. New Hope out of Columbus is going to be good- they have Will Golshan and Taylor Stafford and they won 5A last year.

As far as MC- I think part of the reason that they are "young" is because of Germantown causing a little bit of a gap. I think they'll be a good team and they have some good pitching, but they also have had some turmoil with Rea having to resign and there is still some uncertainty there with the coaching staff. They'll probably make the playoffs, but I also think they will be down more than they usually are. I don't think they win 6A because DeSoto Central is loaded.

Jackson Prep is probably the best team in the Jackson metro area right now. They have Jake Mangum, Noah Hughes, and then Gene Wood is also a very good player. They beat Oak Grove last year and I would like to see them play MC, Clinton and NWR. Magnolia Heights is very good and might be the best small school baseball team in the state. They have Riley Self and Dalton Skelton who are both coming to MSU in a couple of years.

The coast is typically underrated- but there are some good teams down there like Harrison Central- they have Bobby Bradley who is probably the number two prospect in the state behind Ti'Quan Forbes. Gulfport should be good too.

The Pine Belt always has some good teams. I don't think they're as good as they used to be when you had Anthony Alford at Petal, Sumrall had a 3A team with 5-6 D-1 prospects on it, and etc. I think they also benefitted from the Gulf Coast teams recovering from Katrina and the DeSoto school system opening up a bunch of new schools which thinned out their baseball talent for a few years.

Oxford should be good- they have a couple of D-I prospects and I think Bianco's son plays for them, West Lauderdale and Tupelo are usually good as well.

[Harrydawg]

Bianco's oldest should not be more than 15 (freshman) years old. I have a good freshman player but cannot imagine a freshman being ready to play against 17-18 year olds.....I know we have played against those boys for years.

[Todd4State]

Bianco's oldest should not be more than 15 (freshman) years old. I have a good freshman player but cannot imagine a freshman being ready to play against 17-18 year olds.....I know we have played against those boys for years.

I think he's a sophomore if I am not mistaken. I'm not saying that he is SEC ready right now- just that he will be a prospect when is 18.

He has played on some pretty good teams like Marucci and Dulin's Dodgers.

[jgunn]

Desoto Central is going to be tuff to beat the next two years. I think they have 5 D1 commits, with Dallas Woolfolk uncommitted as of now. Riley is the real deal. Lewisburg and Hernando will be pretty solid this year also.

Does anyone know if Riley will be playing in the 2014 UA All American at Wrigley?

[Todd4State]

Desoto Central is going to be tuff to beat the next two years. I think they have 5 D1 commits, with Dallas Woolfolk uncommitted as of now. Riley is the real deal. Lewisburg and Hernando will be pretty solid this year also.

Does anyone know if Riley will be playing in the 2014 UA All American at Wrigley?

The UA All-American invitees won't be announced until after the season. So, sometime during the early summer. I think he has an excellent chance of making it.

[jgunn]

Ok good, I wasn't sure when it came out. I hope he makes it.

[ClancyDawg]

Bump for discussion. Northwest Rankin seems like the real deal this year. Madison moved to 0-4 in district tonight, with NWR coming up next week. Brandon and Clinton have played good ball too, the playoffs will be wide open it seems.

[Homedawg]

Bianco's oldest should not be more than 15 (freshman) years old. I have a good freshman player but cannot imagine a freshman being ready to play against 17-18 year olds.....I know we have played against those boys for years.

I don't know how old bianco's kids are bit his oldest played a good bit for oxford last year. I know he started when they played Starkville.

[shoeless joe]

Bianco is at least a 10th grader. He's decent but he's never struck me as a future prospect. His main calling card is who his dad is. Golsan at new hope is a studd defensively and can hit. Hate to say it cuz he's a state guy but stafford is over rated. He's a really good HS player and a natural ball player but I don't see his tools translating to SEC success. He's like a smaller CT.

Columbus is solid this year. As good as I remember them being. They have 3 good pitchers and swept Madison central in first week of district.

[bully99]

Woolfolk committed to tsun a few days ago.

[Coach34]

Bianco's kid played with a kid from Shreveport we are looking at in Justin Skeesick. Skeesick plays for Captain Shreve here in 5A and is a Soph. Ole Miss is recruiting him pretty hard and harder than us after them playing Summer ball together. Skeesick was HM All-State as a Freshman in 5A. So I'm guessing Bianco's kid is probably a Soph

[Todd4State]

Bump for discussion. Northwest Rankin seems like the real deal this year. Madison moved to 0-4 in district tonight, with NWR coming up next week. Brandon and Clinton have played good ball too, the playoffs will be wide open it seems.

0-4? MC might have a new coach next year then. Not too surprising since there was some turmoil ever since Rea had to leave.

[shoeless joe]

0-4? MC might have a new coach next year then. Not too surprising since there was some turmoil ever since Rea had to leave.

Bullet is a good coach...but I figured his style would clash some in the MC program. Which that may not have anything to do with their struggles this year. They may just not be very good...but somebody's gotta take the blame and it dang sure ain't gonna be somebody's baby!!!