Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 25 St. Rita

Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
David Gleaves	IL	St. Rita	2018	OF	South Suburban JC
Drew Komendant	IL	St. Rita	2018	OF	Wisconsin-Whitewater
Frank Napleton	IL	St. Rita	2018	C	St. Leo
Michael Rios	IL	St. Rita	2018	C	Calumet-St. Joseph’s
Mike Skoraczewski	IL	St. Rita	2018	INF	Calumet-St. Joseph’s
Jake Zylman	IL	St. Rita	2018	C	Heartland CC

Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
Jalen Greer	IL	St. Rita	2019	SS	Missouri
Brendan Carrane	IL	St. Rita	2019	2B/SS	St. Louis
Diego Koval	IL	St. Rita	2019	RHP	Loras College
Matt Callahan	IL	St. Rita	2019	RHP/UTIL
Marc Zavala	IL	St. Rita	2019	RHP/UTIL	Robert Morris
Luke Napleton	IL	St. Rita	2020	C
Winston Hill	IL	St. Rita	2020	OF	Eastern Kentucky
Sean McDevitt	IL	St. Rita	2020	SS/3B
Jason Reis	IL	St. Rita	2020	INF
Jimmy Moylan	IL	St. Rita	2020	RHP
Reed Ohlson	IL	St. Rita	2020	INF
Justin Valdez	IL	St. Rita	2020	LHP
Bobby Atkinson	IL	St. Rita	2021	1B/OF

OUTLOOK

To say that skipper John Nee had big shoes to fill in his first season at the helm of the Mustangs baseball program is a clear understatement. The torch was passed from Mike Zunica who ran the program quite successfully in his 21 year tenure. In the initial outlook, Nee put together a rather successful season getting the most out of his roster that regularly went head on with star studded squads from the CCL Blue.

The term ‘team guy’ gets tossed around quite regularly in regards to players that graduate from St. Rita and they lost a handful of them from the 2018 class. Spark plug Mike Skoraczewski was a staple at third base and at the top of the lineup for the Mustangs, while David Gleaves and Drew Komendant manned the outfield quite regularly. Frank Napleton and Jake Zylman, both power hitting run producers, will need to be replaced in the middle of the order as well. Dive into this season.

Nee will lean heavily on his returning seniors up the middle of the diamond in SS Jalen Greer (Missouri commit) and 2B Brendan Carrane (St. Louis commit). Greer manned the prime position nearly every game last season garnering confidence moving into his senior campaign. He stood out on all sides of the ball in this years star-studded Super 60 showing progress on his already impressive skill set. Carrane is a scrappy gamer that will rarely beat himself defensively or at the plate. The LHH gets on base any way he can and has more than capable hands and actions to stick up the middle in college.  

Senior right-handed hurlers Diego Koval (Loras commit) and Matt Callahan will head the Mustangs pitching staff as they did last spring. A 1st team all-conference selection in his Junior year, Koval is a bulldog on the bump. Nee will look his way in any situation in any game and he will be primed for the spotlight. Callahan was the 2-man behind Koval on the mound last season and his versatility will keep him in the lineup as an arm and a bat. Other than the aforementioned infielders, ‘21 Bobby Atkinson and ‘20 Luke Napleton will be the two main potential run producers at the heart of the St. Rita order. Atkinson received a handful of at-bats in that role last season and continues to prove he’s one of the top power threats in the 2021 class. Napleton filled in for an injured Zylman last season and never looked back. He demanded playing time last year for his defensive upside and should show plenty of power potential this spring.

St. Rita has plenty of up and coming talent that could get playing time under their belt this season. The grouping of 2020s in INF Sean McDevitt, INF Jason Reis OF Winston Hill (Eastern Kentucky commit) and INF Reed Ohlson will be four position players to keep an eye on moving into the 2019 campaign. LHP Justin Valdez, who recently showed well at the Chicago Preseason ID, could also see some innings on the mound for the Mustangs.

NEWCOMER TO WATCH

Perhaps the biggest sleeper for the Mustangs this spring will be 2020 RHP Jimmy Moylan. Moylan spent most of the 2018 season on the shelf due to injuries, but the compact, athletic righty has an opportunity to eat up major innings for Coach Nee. Sporting a short and quick arm action, Moylan sits his fastball in the mid 80s with promise of a velocity jump to come. He has shown the ability to spin a 12/6 breaker with signs of a progressing changeup.

X-FACTOR

The X-Factor for the Mustangs is clear-cut and simple, Super 60 standout and mainstay at the top of the order, Jalen Greer. Greer hopefully will become one of the Senior leaders of a potentially young St. Rita squad and the smooth swinging Mizzou commit has the baseball world at his fingertips. A 6.65 runner in the 60, Greer has the speed, the hit tool, the defensive prowess and now playing time under his belt, now lets see what he can put together in his final go at the historic St. Rita High School.

Jalen Greer (2.3.19)

BOTTOM LINE

St. Rita has the pieces of the puzzle to put together a fight against any CCL team this spring. It’s the second year under the tutelage of John Nee and the skipper will look for consistent production from his crop of senior leaders, per usual, to overcome some hurdlers throughout the grind of the school year. Koval and Callahan should be the two top inning getters for the Mustangs, but who else will step up and toe the rubber against one of the toughest conferences in the Midwest. Young and new new faces will be in big-time, bright light situations and we’ll be right there to see it all unfold throughout the year.

---

Make sure to follow @PBRIllinois on Twitter for the most up-to-date coverage throughout the 2019 season.

Find more information on the 2019 Mustangs below:

+ Full Schedule
+ Team Website
+ GameChanger
+ Team Twitter

PRESEASON POWER 25 COUNTDOWN