Prep Baseball Report

Inside The Numbers: Wisconsin's 2016 Early Signing Period



By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor - Wisconsin/Illinois

The early signing period has come to an end for the 2016 class, a class in which we've been there from start to finish as we saw a lot of these prospects as freshman. Last year we tabbed the 2015 class as the most recruited class ever in Wisconsin high school baseball with 29 early Division I commits. This year the 2016 class surpassed that number with 38 Division I commits at the early signing period and 14 early commits to Division II programs. For sake of consistencies year to year our numbers will only breakdown Division I commits (NCAA Division I and Division II prospects are the only ones to sign early NLI's at this point).

Not much of a surprise to us as we've been tracking this class since 2012 and have always spoke highly of its talent across the board.  

The high end talent in this class is clear by the level of commitments, seven of Wisconsin's top prospects have committed to top 25 programs in the country (according to D1Baseball.com's 2015 final rankings).

No. 3 Florida - Nate Brown (Arrowhead)
No. 8 Louisville - Matt McCarty (South Milwaukee) and Justin Lavey (Tremper)
No. 9 Arkansas - Ben Rortvedt (Verona Area)
No. 11 Illinois - Ryan Schmitt (Arrowhead), Cyrillo Watson (South Milwaukee) and Ty Weber (Menomonee Falls)

Also four of the five NCAA power conferences have nabbed Wisconsin high school prospects this year. Here is a look at the conference breakdown of early commits.

*Big 10 - 8
Missouri Valley - 5
Mid-American - 4
Atlantic 10 - 3
Horizon - 3
Ohio Valley - 3
*ACC - 2
*Pac 12 - 2
*SEC - 2
West Coast - 2
American - 1
Ivy League - 1
Southern - 1
Summit - 1

*Denotes NCAA power conference.

In the heart of Big 10 country it's no surprise to see the most commits within that conference, but one interesting trend is the reach of schools outside the Midwest coming into the Badger State to fill their rosters. Outside of Wisconsin's "surrounding" states (Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa), 18 of the state's top prospects will be crossing multiple state lines to continue their baseball careers. Here's a look at the geographic breakdown of early Division I commits.

Illinois - 10
Indiana - 3
Michigan - 3
Arizona - 2
Florida - 2
Iowa - 2
Kentucky - 2
Missouri - 2
Ohio - 2
Tennessee - 2
Washington - 2
Wisconsin - 2
Arkansas - 1
Kansas - 1
Nebraska - 1
New Hampshire - 1

Not to be left out, but Division II programs have gotten more involved in recruiting Wisconsin this early signing period. 14 Wisconsin prospects have made early commits to Division II programs, 12 of which hailing from the state of Minnesota.

Winona State - 6
Southwest Minnesota State - 3
Grand Valley State - 1
Illinois-Springfield - 1
Minnesota-Duluth - 1
Minnesota State-Mankato - 1
St. Cloud State - 1

The state of high school baseball is alive and well in Wisconsin and it's great to see all of the doors opening for baseball prospects in a cold weather state such as Wisconsin. As this trend hopes to continue, I think in years to come the 2016 class in Wisconsin can always be looked back upon as one of top classes the state has seen.

Division I Early Commits

NAME STATE SCHOOL CLASS POS. COMMITMENT
Gavin Lux WI Indian Trail 2016 SS Arizona State
Alec Marsh WI Reagan College Prep 2016 RHP Arizona State
Ben Rortvedt WI Verona Area 2016 C Arkansas
Ryan Selner WI Milwaukee Lutheran 2016 RHP Austin Peay
Jim Jarecki WI Marquette University 2016 RHP Bradley
Zach Gilles WI McDonnell Central 2016 OF Central Michigan
Grant Frazer WI Oconto 2016 SS Central Michigan
Henry Eilen WI Eau Claire Memorial 2016 OF Dartmouth
Jeff Steuck WI Kenosha Tremper 2016 1B Dayton
Jake Sperry WI Chippewa Falls 2016 SS Evansville
Adam Lukas WI Grafton 2016 RHP Evansville
Nathan Brown WI Arrowhead 2016 RHP Florida
Keaton Knueppel WI Verona Area 2016 LHP Gonzaga
Taylor Borchers WI Appleton North 2016 RHP Gonzaga
Ryan Schmitt WI Arrowhead 2016 RHP Illinois
Cyrillo Watson WI South Milwaukee 2016 OF Illinois
Ty Weber WI Menomonee Falls 2016 RHP Illinois
Matt Hamilton WI Oak Creek 2016 RHP Illinois State
Jordan Krueger WI Mukwonago 2016 LHP Illinois-Chicago
Jack Eagan WI Wautoma 2016 LHP Indiana
Adam LaRock WI Eau Claire North 2016 SS Iowa
Jack Kinzer WI Port Washington 2016 C Iowa
TD Walker WI Milwaukee Lutheran 2016 OF Jacksonville
Ben Carew WI Kimberly 2016 OF Kent State
Justin Lavey WI Tremper 2016 3B Louisville
Matt McCarty WI South Milwaukee 2016 RHP Louisville
Takoda Metoxen WI Franklin 2016 RHP Memphis
Dominic Clementi WI Arrowhead 2016 OF Michigan
Joe Acker WI Marquette University 2016 OF Nebraska
Jacob DeLabio WI Tremper 2016 RHP Northern Illinois
Keith Kutzler WI Tremper 2016 RHP Saint Louis
Justin Stollberg WI Brookfield Central 2016 LHP Saint Louis
Jackson Hoang WI Pewaukee 2016 OF Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
Aaron Goecks WI Brookfield Academy 2016 OF Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
Austin Emanuel WI Mukwonago 2016 C Western Illinois
Nick Winter WI Milwaukee Lutheran 2016 LHP Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Matt DeYoung WI Xavier 2016 1B Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Drake Durham WI New Richmond 2016 LHP Witchita State


Division II Early Commits

NAME STATE SCHOOL CLASS POS. COMMITMENT
Hop Buran WI Lake Country Lutheran 2016 3B Grand Valley State
Aaron Steinhoff WI Horlick 2016 RHP Illinois-Springfield
Carter Elliott WI Hudson 2016 3B Minnesota State
Travis Berg WI Eau Claire Memorial 2016 RHP Minnesota-Duluth
Jeremy Stouffer WI Indian Trail 2016 RHP Southwest Minnesota State
Spencer Schroeder WI Ellsworth 2016 RHP Southwest Minnesota State
Christian Zamudio WI Tremper 2016 3B Southwest Minnesota State
DJ Ellifson WI Oak Creek 2016 OF St. Cloud State
Treyton Larson WI River Falls 2016 SS Winona State
Nathan Santos WI Altoona 2016 RHP Winona State
Jacob Huebsch WI Ithaca 2016 RHP Winona State
Tanner Haessly WI Kimberly 2016 RHP Winona State
Caleb Schoenholz WI Green Bay Preble 2016 LHP Winona State
Aaron Mutter WI Burlington 2016 RHP Winona State

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