By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

It is still extremely early, perhaps even premature, to be forecasting Class of 2017 prospects, especially since most of these rising sophomores haven’t even played a varsity game. Then again, with the recent acceleration of recruiting, high-level 2017 prospects are already on the radars of college coaches.

Over the course of the last year, we’ve seen an impressive amount of talented 2017 prospects, several of whom should become national prospects.

With that said, we have released our initial 2017 rankings, a modest list of 20 prospects who have stood out among their peers. Certainly this list will change and evolve in time, as we know many players will grow, develop and mature. We also know that we likely haven’t seen many other 2017 prospects who may be deserving of this list.

However, we are confident that the players included in the list have extremely bright futures, barring injuries, of course.

Heading the initial list is RHP Ryan Kutt (Brother Rice HS), who posted an impressive 5-2 record with a 1.51 ERA in the rugged Chicago Catholic Blue Conference. The 6-foot-1 Kutt features an advanced three-pitch repertoire, which he showcased at the PBR Future Games in two stellar innings. Kutt pitches in the mid-80s, but climbed his fastball up to 87. His upper-70s slider shows potential to become a true swing-and-miss pitch.

Following Kutt is C Joe Donovan (Westmont HS). The younger brother of Charlie Donovan, who’s the No. 1-ranked player in the 2015 class, Joe served as the starting catcher for Westmont, which finished third in Class 2A last spring. Joe plays with a level of maturity beyond most of his peers, and has the baseball skill to go along with it.

OF Brad Czerniejewski (Lake Forest HS) earned top prospect honors at the 2017 Top Prospect Games at UIC in July. The athletic 6-foot-1 Czerniejewski features elite bat speed for any age, and looks to be the premier right-handed hitting prospect in the class.

1B Bobby Seymour (Mount Carmel HS) is a physically advanced 6-foot-3, 210-pound left-handed hitter with elite power potential. Seymour did not play last spring after transferring from Brother Rice to Mount Carmel; nevertheless, he is already being heavily recruited due to his performance at the PBR Future Games in August.

Rounding out the top 5 is RHP Glenn Albanese (Batavia HS). The physically advanced 6-foot-4, 206-pounder works in the mid-80s already but shows the potential to throw significantly harder in the coming years.

Enough reading about it. See for yourself.

CLICK HERE to view Top 20 Illinois 2017 Rankings