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The Outer Black: Top 5 Moments in 2017

January 3, 2018
Jared Carrier
Scouting Director

With 2017 officially in the books and our sights set on steamrolling through 2018, I would like to personally thank all of our showcase attendees, website subscribers and followers of Prep Baseball Report- New York. Without you we are nowhere near were we need to be to bring you unmatched coverage of the amateur baseball scene. Great things are happening on a national level with our partnerships with Adidas, D1baseball.com and the creating of the JUCO Wire; encompassing baseball from 7th grade to the 7th round picks. Needless to say, we can't wait for what 2018 has in store.

This past year was also my first full calendar year as Scouting Director here in New York, there were plenty of memories and moments that stuck with me. Here are the Top 5:

Top 5 Moments of 2017

5.  Getting to know the State: Montauk Point to Niagara Falls, the state is massive geography wise. We saw thousands of players from every crevice of the state. Although this may not be a singular moment it encompasses our mission to "shape the state".  Plenty of miles were logged, plenty of notes taken. This biggest thing for me is how you start to classify certain types of players from different pockets of the state. The physical left-handed hitting catchers/1B from Western New York, flashy middle infielders of NYC, the grinders from Rochester, the multi-sport talents of Albany, Syracuse and Binghamton, the fundamentals of the Long Islanders and the hidden gems in the Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and North Country. Having a pulse on the baseball in state was a great thrill. Now it's time to dig deeper.

4. The East - West Battle: Our 3rd installment of this event was by the far the best. After jumping back and forth geographically the first two years we made a decision to be more centralized. Enter Cortland St. and the surrounding area. We were able to put our feet up, have scouts lock in at each field and get a comprehensive look at so many players that we have seen at past events and all kinds of talented players that burst onto the scene. Like proud parents, we couldn't have been any happier to see the Tri-City Bombers and the the Southern Tier Sluggers face off in the title game. Two programs that have been supportive of the PBR-NY mission since day one, with nearly every roster member having attended at least one event. We can't wait to do it again. (Please visit Champions Events to register your squad this year).

3. The New York Games: Despite the rain, threat of rain and the constant thought of what rain might do to our schedule...this was a blast. Our talent pool was deeper, our facilities were outstanding (and closer together then in the past) and the turnout from local and regional coaches was once again impressive. This event is what we build all of our preseason events around and hope to keep making adjustments each year to make the best possible product for all.

2. The Future Games: My first time attending was a major eye opener in far the recruiting process has come over the last 20 years. Nearly every major Power 5 school was in the house...in the North-Central region of Indiana in early August. This was the place to be and we couldn't have been happier with our first all-New York team and how they showed. Nine Players have already made Division 1 commitments off of this team and we can not wait to return this coming summer.

1. Jason Pineda the Man, Myth and Legend: All of the aforementioned moments encompassed many different things and were mostly centered around our events. We cover each spring with a scout blog where we see thousands of players.  We see walk-offs, extra innings, diving catches, clutch performances along with booted grounders, dropped flyballs, blow outs and missed cuts. There is only one moment that I can talk about, perhaps the most dominating performance by single player that I have ever witnessed. The stage was Yankee Stadium, the results included two mammoth home runs and complete game victory on the mound. A short period later he was a 17th round pick of the San Diego Padres. Attendance that day may have been around 5,000...if Jason Pineda makes it to the show there will be at least 50,000 New Yorkers who claimed to be in the stadium that night when the legend was born.