Inside The Numbers: Wisconsin's 2016 Early Signing Period

November 19, 2015

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