By Mike Penn
Michigan Director of Scouting

We have a new No. 1 in the Class of 2014: Dazon Cole (West Bloomfield HS).  The Central Michigan commit has put on quite the show in the showcase circuit this fall.  The athletic middle infielder and right-handed pitcher has leapfrogged Grant Reuss (Cranbrook HS) to assume the top position.

Several deciding factors played into Cole's new status.  Chiefly Cole plays a premium position in the middle infield and is a legitimate two-way player at the next level.  He runs a 6.5 in the 60 and is 90+ mph on the mound.  So it isn't so much that Reuss dropped a spot and more that Cole proved that he deserves the top spot.

Other big risers in the class are De LaSalle outfielder Hosea Nelson, moving from No. 25 to No. 15.  Few players in Michigan are generating as much buzz as Nelson when it comes to the draft.  Could he be the 2014 version of Johnny Slater (Michigan), who was drafted by the Braves last June? Both are highly athletic, sweet-swinging, left-handed outfielders with high ceilings that were also particularly young compared to their classmates.

Oakland commit P.J. Piesko (Oxford HS) made a big jump in the rankings, moving up nearly 40 spots from No. 60 to No. 24. We recently saw Piesko sitting between 86-88mph.

Some new additions to the rankings include Northwood signee Sean Martens (Ortonville Brandon HS), Northern Kentucky signee Taylor Curtis (Utica Eisenhower HS), and Ball State signee Evan Marquardt (Bullock Creek HS). All three are considered premier, power arms in the state of Michigan.

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Dazon Cole	MI	West Bloomfield	2014	RHP	Central Michigan
2	Grant Reuss	MI	Cranbrook	2014	LHP	Michigan
3	Andrew Gonzalez	MI	Walled Lake Western	2014	RHP	Michigan State
4	Brad Schaenzer	MI	Lake Orion	2014	LHP	Kentucky
5	Jake Bivens	MI	Battle Creek Lakeview	2014	SS	Michigan
6	Matt Ruppenthal	MI	Brother Rice	2014	RHP	Vanderbilt
7	Nathan Morris	MI	Clarkston	2014	RHP	Michigan State
8	Kory Young	MI	Rockford	2014	SS	Michigan State
9	Keegan Baar	MI	Hudsonville	2014	LHP	Michigan State
10	Tanner Allison	MI	Portland	2014	OF	Western Michigan

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