My son is a junior in HS this year and will be playing on his Varsity team this spring and wanted to get the opinions of the posters on who are the best players, their positions, and year in school. Where are some of these kids going to college next year? Does the western suburbs have an abundant amount of Division I caliber players?

Something for me to look for when I attend his games this spring. Good Luck to all the players this spring.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

HSDad - There are a number of d-1 potential players in the western burbs, not sure if I'd say "abundant". You just don't hear of them often because many of their teams aren't strong enough to advance far in tournament. Good luck to your son this season!

Ryan Anetsberger of Glenbard West is going to Illinois State I believe. Very good SS. Plays with the Norwood Blues in summer/fall.

Todd Schultz, p/of, Hinsdale South.

Committed to the UIC Flames.

Didn't Jordan Baughman / RHP / LT commit to University of Indiana?

"You observe a lot by watching."

Western burbs kids only ???

West Suburban Conference"

C - Chad Biznette / 2005 Hins Cent
C - Brian Flannigan / 2004 LT
!B - Miles Kurgan / 2004 Leyden
2b - ??????
SS - Antesburger - / 2004 Glenbard West
Brewer - 2005 LT

3B - ??????
OF - Viscomi - 2004 Glenbard East
Laidlaw - 2004 Downers Grove South
Murray - 2004 Downers Grove North
Long - 2004 Hins South
P- Schutlz- 2004 Hins South , Baughman - 2004 LT, Reiglar- 2005 DG South,

AS usual, ive left some out.. so fill in the blanks, replace who you want, put in who you want.

hitNrun...

Good to hear from you again. How is the family, and how were the holidays?

"You observe a lot by watching."

my thoughts on some top players.
P Sagwich Glenbard West 05
p Schults Hinsdale South 04
p Dennahey OakPark 05
p Binder Hindsale Central 05

p Baughman Lyons 04
3b Mahler lyons 05
ss Brewer lyons 05
ss Anetsberger GBW 04
ss O'connor Oak park 05
2b Bromann GBW 04
1b Price Oak Park 04
1b Gawenda Lyons 05
cf Schults Hinsdale South 04
cf Chubikus GBW 04
cf Laidlaw Downers South 04
Cf Hart Oak Park 04 of Considine OakPark 04 of Mcfolling Oak Park 05
Of Ronosky Lyons Township 04
of Long Hinsdale SOuth 04 of Finn Glenbars South 04
of Viscome Glenbard East 04
of Farell Naperville Central 05
of McKay Willowbrook 05
ss Reimer Glenbard South 04
c Weis Naperville Central 04
of Finn Glenbard south 04
c Flanagan Lyons 04
c Bisnette Hinsdale Central 05
3b lee naperville central 05
sorry about the spelling,and i know i left some out.

A lot of OPRF's on that list. Looks like Lyons will be tough as usual and GBW seems to have a number of top guys. Anetsburger and Broman are O4's, think Sagwich is an 05.

pitchdoc24....

Isn't Broman an 05?

"You observe a lot by watching."

not sure...anywone know if broman from GBW is an O5 or 04? I thought he played with Norwood this fall as well.

Bromann is an '04 and yes he did play with Norwood this fall.

Talent has a good list...I would add our HC Catcher...the DGN Centerfielder..Tokarsi (sp)...the GW LF Webber and GW 3rd Baseman Angeli.....Pretty good league.

talent - what are your individual reasons for each of those guys? Im just wondering.

HCDad, Contrary to some posts,I believe that our West Sub. Silver is about as good as it gets in HS baseball. In Miami and Ft. Lauderdale the smaller schools (Private and expensive are ******* up a huge pile of talent.(Brito, The Westministers,Cardinal Gibbons,Monsignor Pace,Tampa Jesuit, St. Thomas) Along with them we still see a very powerful Gold Coast Conference which is scarily similar to our WSS. Many northern kids move to south Fla. to play at one of these schools.After that esteemed group there are few conferences that could compete w/ours. We are loaded as are the SW side guys because of 1)base talent2)high end travel teams like Upper Deck, Lombard Lightning, Arlinton Longshots and many more. Too many of us think it can't happen here because of weather but I noticed last year that the Florida and most southern boys play no more games than we do.(about 100-130)Credit coaches like OPRF,GW etc. who encurage travel ball and actively seek Fall oppurtunities.The weather won't change but oppurtunities can if the right coaches get put in place.By the way, places such as Strikes or the WSA would be making 3X the dough in South Florida. My understanding is that many coaches there run scared of losing talent to the next guy and lock their kids into specific programs.

Tar,Thats a great discussion all by itself. The great 12 year old coach Tom Matsie believes that although practice is very important, its what happens in games that brings out the answers a coach is looking for. If your kid can get 250 or more At Bats from age 11 - 12 then the games become the practice! This guy has won about 83% of the games he has coached w/ about 1 practice a month on avg. He does work them hard indoors from Jan - April. I believe our problem is the %$#@ weather we are forced to play in during March and April.That along with the lack of outdoor practices puts us behind early. But on the other hand our guys look pretty good around June-July.So there is another reason we get fewer big time ships. The high school season is not an equal playing field. The Midlands teams,The Ohio Warhawks,Indiana Yankee program and Norwood can compete with anyone once we can play everyday above 60 degrees!

...250 at bats from 11-12 year olds??? 75 games in the summer?

When do they have time to be kids?

Although some kids burn out along the way,most are in 7th heaven with a full schedule of games that gives them the experience they need at the higher levels. Additionally it can tell a parent whether to proceed w/baseball or move on to something else. My son and most of his baseball freinds feel like they are the members of a pretty cool private club. Not for everyone,certainly not, but its high time that people recognise why some kids are way behind others at the Pony and higher levels.The really good travel programs play 50 + games at a minimum.

...Our experience...There are only 3 or 4 competitive teams/programs at the 13-14 year old level, in the Chicagoland area, that you can play each summer.

The rest of the games are played against "daddyballers"...you know, the kind of team that have one or two good players plus the coaches son and the rest should have given up the game (to play s****r) by age 12.

We were 44-7 one year and our only losses were to teams at national tournaments. Many of the teams we played against locally resulted in scores of 27-2, 18-0, 29-4, 361-2. Definitely counter-productive.

Please...don't tell me that you play all 50 games against national-level competition!

no but we were out of town more than you guys and matsie had been at it for over 15 years.i think we played a wider variety of teams. plenty of daddyballers and credible competition too. buffalo grove,hoffman estates,rock island and rockford to mention a few.