By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

Much has happened over the last three months, which is why there have been some significant shakeups in the updated and expanded Class of 2014 rankings.

RHP Jake Godfrey (Providence Catholic HS) has continued to throw extremely well on the national circuit, especially at the Area Code Games and East Coast Pro, which has kept the Notre Dame recruit as the No. 1 prospect in Illinois’ extremely deep 2014 class. RHP Brad Bass (Lincoln-Way Central HS), another Notre Dame recruit, moves back to the No. 2 spot, followed by LHP Jake Latz (Lemont HS) and OF/LHP Darius Day.

Last week we wrote in Illinois Insider, the state’s 2014 catcher class is loaded. In fact, five of the top 10 prospects are backstops, headed by Evan Skoug (Libertyville HS), Simeon Lucas (Grant HS), Mitch Trees (Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin HS), Michael Papierski (Lemont HS) and Chad Spanberger (Granite City HS).

On a whole, 27 of the top 30 players are verbally committed, and 40 of the top 50. The top uncommitted players in the class are No. 12 RHP Hunter Hart (St. Joseph-Ogden HS), No. 15 RHP Ryan Nutof (South Elgin HS) and No. 30 RHP Josh Rahn (Schaumburg HS).

Rahn, a physical 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, is one of the biggest risers in the 2014 class after his performance at the PBR Unsigned Senior Showcase in August. That Unsigned Senior event, in fact, produced some of the class’s biggest climbers in the updated rankings, along with 6-foot-7 RHP Liam Carter (Highland Park HS), RHP Clay Shourd (Springfield HS) and SS D.J. Lee (Lincoln-Way North HS).

Other big risers include: SS Kevin Sullivan (Brother Rice HS), RHP/INF Tommy Bordignon (Loyola Academy HS), 3B/RHP Dylan Rosa (Providence HS), C/1B Ian Kristan (Carmel HS), RHP Noah Masa (Lockport HS), OF Kevin White (St. Laurence HS), and RHP Kolton Vermillion (Rantoul HS), to name a few.

A look at the top 10:

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Jake Godfrey	IL	Providence Catholic	2014	RHP	Notre Dame
2	Brad Bass	IL	Lincoln-Way Central	2014	RHP	Notre Dame
3	Jake Latz	IL	Lemont	2014	LHP	LSU
4	Darius Day	IL	Simeon	2014	OF	Arizona
5	Evan Skoug	IL	Libertyville	2014	C	Texas Christian
6	Simeon Lucas	IL	Grant Community	2014	C	Illinois State
7	Mitch Trees	IL	Sacred Heart Griffin	2014	C	Louisville
8	Michael Papierski	IL	Lemont	2014	C	LSU
9	Tanner Houck	IL	Collinsville	2014	RHP	Missouri
10	Chad Spanberger	IL	Granite City	2014	C	Arkansas

 

>> Illinois Class of 2014 Top 225 Rankings