Who are the best 2009 pitchers from Cali?

Kevin Chambers (LHP) and Brooks Pounders (RHP) from Trombly Baseball are impressive.

Scott Griggs (RHP) from NorCal Baseball. 3 No-Hitters in 2006.

Griggs is going to be special. He also is very young. The top prospect on the west coast would be Tony Calhoun from Temecula Valley. He touches 93 and can hit.

The scary thing is that Pounders and Calhoun both are sophmores at the same school, Temecula Valley. They will be playing together for the next 3 years and should help TV win a lot of games. Both of them are also very good hitters and will have some impressive offensive numbers as well.

Tony Calhoun-and Brandon Van Dam 6'6 220

RHP/OF Temecula, CA

ABD Bulldogs

Tony is the ace of his varsity team as an 09, the ABD Bulldogs and almost any team he plays on. He starts in CF for almost every team and throws a near 95 MPH from CF and 91-93 on the hill! He compliments his FB with a sweeping slider that comes in at 83 mph. He has a major league swing and hit 450 and had 5 HR's in his HS season last year leading his team to the 3rd round of the CIF playoffs until a loss by #1 ranked in CA team, Quartz Hill. Tony has freaky power and great insincts.


Mike Massari-

RHP/UTILITY Palmdale, CA

AV Blacksox/SC Panthers

Mike Massari was a CIF champion in 2006 with Quartz Hill High School as a sophmore. this year as an 08 he is expected to prove again he is an all american. Mike can get up to 90mph from the left side of the infield or from CF or RF. He throws a steady mid-high 80's fastball on the mound and has had great success in the upper age levels. Just wild enough. Great insincts, balanced approach at plate. Drives ball to all fields. Great power for his size. Runs under 7.0 60yd dash ansd has an incredible 3.6-3.7 to first base. Emotional player and team leader. Teams who have Mike always seem to be on the winning edge of games. His biggest win came in the JO's by beating the All Star Baseball academy full of high caliber players. Mike had about 10 wins in 06.

Nolan Almodovar-(14u)

LHP/OF

Palmdale, CA

AV Blacksox

Nolan is an 09 from Palmdale, CA. Nolan has a 5'10"/145lb. He has had as much of success on the 15u level as any 15u player as a 14u player. He has unbelievable speed and is a highlight reel in the OF. Nolan has 6.8 speed and is a threat to steal any base. He has great hands and makes solid contact all the time. Nolan also pitches in the mid-80's and has a beautiful 11-5 CB. Nolan will be a sophmore at QH this season on the varsity squad and will definately be a force to be reckoned with for the Blacksox in the near future.

You list the last kid as a 14 year old. Seems like he has to be at least 15 if he's an 09.

Plenty of freshmen don't turn 15 until after May 1.

Yes, but most freshman are going to graduate in 2010 not 2009. And as the original post says, the kid is a sophomore.

It's not that unusual to see a league aged 15 year old who is a sophomore. If you doubt that, go to the Jr. Olympics in Arizona in June. There will be a whole bunch of 16 year old rising seniors playing, that is, kids between their junior and senior year, and they're still league age 16. Those kids were all 15 year old sophomores.

Catcher Dad is correct. Also remember that age and year in school vary for a variety of reasons, some parents hold back or start the kid early. Some are held back or promoted for academic reasons, some parents do have athletics in mind when they make these moves, yes sometimes by design, much more prevelant in football, however, it does happen. You just can't say a 16 must be a soph or Junior, you need to dig a little deeper to actually see what grade the kid is.

Apologies to NCBall and 3Finger, I'm still thinking a year behind. Yes, it would be unusual for a sophomore to be a 14u still. I wonder if the poster is thinking about last summer? Or maybe the kid is just really smart!

Who runs the Black Sox baseball program? I have not run across them before. What tournaments do they usually play in? Now if I got this right, Nolan is a 14U sophomore? I would be interested in seeing thse guys play sometime. Who did Mike go to the JO's with last year? and who is Nolan going with?

As far as I can tell Almodovar was 14u in 2006 as a freshman and will be 15u this season as a sophmore. 11 or 12 of our sophmores will be 15u this season. I doubt this would happen in Texas or Florida but out here even some of our football players don't get held back, although Clausen certainly was.

It is interesting to see how much of an advantage the kids who were held back or just have advantageous birthdays for HS baseball fare relative to the younger kids who are in their proper grade for their age.

I like seeing a kid who isn't significantly older than his peers getting attention. It gets annoying to see a 17yo early maturer sophmore with average ability getting attention and playing time ahead of more talented but younger players. However, as Danny Almonte has shown in the long run ability will tell.

besides for those names stated up top, are there any other sohpomores in CA, mainly SO-CAL area, that are great players and should be known?