Prep Baseball Report

Inside The Illinois Rankings: 2019 Risers and Newcomers


By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

A couple of days ago, we officially updated and revised the Illinois Class of 2019 Rankings to reflect all of the news and notes we’ve been taking on the senior class since last update in the fall. Today, we’re going inside the rankings and looking at some of the biggest risers and a few newcomers who impacted the rankings.

We covered Kendal Ewell’s rise within the top-10 on the initial rankings release story. When looking outside the top-10, the senior who made the biggest statement within the top-30 was Marian Catholic, OF Pierce Jones. Jones, a Northern Illinois commit, has added quality muscle to his athletic, defined, 6-foot-1, 180-pound frame. At the recent Metro East Kickoff Classic, Jones made a lot of hard contact at the plate and showed a profile that could potentially stick in center field moving forward. Look for Jones, who moved up more than 30 spots, to continue his hot start to the spring.

 

A quartet of arms: LHP Cameron Edmonson (Rochester), Anthony Sterchele (Neuqua), Dawson Taylor(Edwardsville) and Jacob Karaba (Neuqua) have shown well as of late, in particular at the recent Kickoff Classic and bumped up a few spots as a result. Edmonson, an Indiana State commit, continues to see his velocity and stuff tick up, touching 89 mph over the weekend and now sits in the Top-45 of the rankings. Sterchele (Santa Fe JC commit) is a 6-foot-5, 210-pound, extra-large right-hander who looks like the ace of the Neuqua staff. 

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