Illinois 2019 Rankings Updated

September 7, 2016

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Back in April we released our inaugural 2019 class rankings, which included fifteen of the top 2019's in Illinois. Today that list extends to fifty prospects, as the spring and summer season allowed the Prep Baseball Report scouting staff to track down emerging talent at high school games, tournaments and showcases.

With three full high school seasons left, the rankings are sure to shuffle over the next several years as prospects separate themselves and physically mature.

The top of the class remains the same as left-handed hitting catcher Matt McCormick (St. Laurence HS) is once again the top prospect in Illinois. McCormick has continued to elevate his stock since April. In the spring, McCormick hit in the three-hole for No. 7 St. Laurence and was the team leader in batting average (.381), doubles (12), home runs (4) and RBI (39). He also scored 25 runs and walked more than he struck out. McCormick parlayed his stellar spring into an active summer, being selected to the PBR Future Games and the Underclass Area Code Games.

Coming in right behind McCormick at No. 2 once again is Cary Grove’s Quinn Priester. Priester is a hard throwing right-handed pitcher with polish and a lightning quick arm. Priester made it clear he is one of the top arms in the Midwest after taking home top prospect honor’s at the 2019 Top Prospect Games this summer. At the event Priester sat 87-89 mph and spun an advanced curveball with sharp, late action and depth.

Carmel Catholic’s Andrew Wiegman, an athletic, toolsy infielder with explosive bat speed, moves to No. 3 after an impressive summer. Wiegman became the first 2019 prospect from the state of Illinois to commit, when he verballed to Louisville earlier this summer. At 6-foot-3, 175-pounds, he fills out the uniform and was the top infielder at the 2019 Top Prospect Games.

Two right-handed pitchers, Zachary Lee (Effingham) and Grant Leader (Lyons Township) round out the top five. Lee was a relative unknown prospect until he burst onto the scene at the 2019 Top Prospect Games this summer. At 6-foot-4, 185-pounds, Lee showed off a loose, live arm from a ¾ slot and a fastball that jumped on hitters at 85-87, touching 88 mph. Leader, an undersized righty with a strong arm was selected for this summer’s Future Games. Leader was the lone 2019 arm on Team Illinois and had one of the better fastball velocities from a 2019 at the event. Leader sat 84-87, spun a breaking ball for a strike and struck out three in two innings of work.

Video of Zachary Lee

OF Kendall Pettis (Brother Rice), SS Jared Cushing (Joliet Catholic), RHP Kyle Wisch (Hinsdale Central), RHP Nathan Rintz (Schaumburg) and LHH SS Brody Harding (Moline) round out the rest of the top 10.

A look at the top 10 prospects:

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Matt McCormick	IL	St. Laurence	2019	C
2	Quinn Priester	IL	Cary Grove	2019	RHP
3	Andrew Wiegman	IL	Carmel Catholic	2019	SS	Louisville
4	Zachary Lee	IL	Effingham	2019	RHP
5	Grant Leader	IL	Lyons Township	2019	RHP
6	Kendall Pettis	IL	Brother Rice	2019	OF
7	Jared Cushing	IL	Joliet Catholic	2019	SS
8	Kyle Wisch	IL	Hinsdale Central	2019	RHP
9	Nathan Rintz	IL	Schaumburg	2019	RHP
10	Brody Harding	IL	Moline	2019	SS

Keep an eye out the rest of this week for a further breakdown of the updated 2019 rankings. We will take an in-depth look at some notable newcomers to the rankings. Also, 2019 state ranking updates are taking place around our coverage area and overall rankings will be updated in the near future. Stay tuned the next couple of weeks to find out how Illinois fits into the overall picture.

CLICK HERE for complete 2019 Illinois Rankings.