What new young and up-and-comers do I need to look at?

What teams do I need to go watch?

Bump

Drew Boehmer Grapevine Jr. SS was approached by a Texas Ranger scout following a game at Terry Morris Classic this Fall. He is a 2 year starter at SS with good range and quick transfer...

Wow, pretty slow.

What about teams that had great seasons last year? Plano West? Forney? Did they lose a lot of talent? Who are the preseason favorites in their districts?

Can't speak for D-FW teams, but San Antonio Reagan should be a shoe-in for the District 26-5A championship. (Last year it went 16-0 in district play and was a regional finalist.) It has returning starters at 1B, 2B, SS, and 2 of 3 OF positions. Its pitching staff includes Matt Harrell, a fall transfer from San Antonio MacArthur who has signed with D1 Northwestern State in LA, and 6'4", 208-lb. Carter Hahn, who scored a "9" at a PG showcase and is expected to sign with a D1 this year. The only glaring gap is catcher. For the first time in many years, Reagan has no catcher with varsity experience.

How do you think the San Antonio Angels select team will be this summer.

quote:

How do you think the San Antonio Angels select team will be this summer.

To be honest, I have never heard of them. Currently, the top select teams for high school players in San Antonio are the South Texas Sliders and Lights Out, and to a lesser degree the San Antonio Wranglers, Hackers, and Xtreme Speed, which I've heard is merging with the Wranglers.

The coach of the Angels is Rudy Vasquez he was with the extreme speed before he formed the Angels.

I am friends with Rudy Vasquez and he is an outstanding individual, coach, and pro scout for the L.A. Angels. He has one son who played for the Air Force Academy and another son who currently pitches for USC.

He is currently putting together a select team called the San Antonio Rays for younger players (I believe it's 10U but it could be 12U). I would highly recommend him and his team for younger players desiring to further their skills.

Coppell should be one of the top teams in the state and District 6-5A should be one of the toughest around this area...the Flower Mound schools are always good (I heard one of them has a bright new coach this year )...Hebron, SLC and Lewisville...just no easy games.

On paper, District 5-5A looks a little down this year. Grapevine probably has the most returners across the board and should be the district favorite. Colleyville Heritage has good pitching back, but lost a bunch of offense...still they seem to find guys every year. L.D. Bell seems to always have a good team. Rob Stramp lost many starters at Keller as well, but will find a way to put a competitive team on the field. Keller Central may be the dark horse of the bunch as they are returning several key guys. Northwest has solid pitching back, so if the kids hit, they might be decent. I really don't know much about Euless Trinity and Fossil Ridge this year.

quote:

Originally posted by tigerbalm:
What new young and up-and-comers do I need to look at?

What teams do I need to go watch?

The Houston area has 2 National Championship teams with the majority of their players as 2012 Freshmen. The Houston Heat and Houston Banditos Black. Look for many of the players from these teams to be the rising stars in the coming years.

Now that Klien ISD and Cy-Fair ISD are in Region 2, the DFW guys may get a chance to see some of these players in a year or 2.

Heat

• Ben Carl - Memorial
  
• Kevin Pister - Memorial
  
• Boomer White - Memorial
  
• Aaron Rusinzky - Memorial
  
• Beau Rathjen - Memorial
  
• Drew Tolson - Memorial
  
• Hayden Jones - Cy-Fair Langham Creek
  
• Jacob Fowler - Klien Oak(2011)
  
• Jonathan Bravo - Houston Christian
  
• Kirby Holt - Houston Christian (2011)
  
• Anthony DeJesus - FT. Bend (2011)
  

Banditos

• Cory Geisler - Klien Collins
  
• CJ Hinojosa - Klien Collins
  
• Reese Jefferies - Klien
  
• Dustin Theiss - Klien Oak
  
• Hunter Kopycinski - St. Thomas
  

Look for Holt, Jones, White, Geisler, and Hinojosa to be 3 year lettermen.

Are we really discussing summer teams?

The point is that players from 2 of the top youth teams in the Nation are feeding into Houston's high school baseball scene. The talent on these teams is exceptional and the boys have proven themselves at the highest level. Since the original post asked about young, up and coming talent, it's reasonable to mention them as they are the most accomplished group of incoming freshmen that Texas has produced in recent years. It's going to be fun watching these boys play and develop over the next 4 years.

Bless their heart in Houston.

Junkball,

All that young talent didn't help Houston area last year...not one Houston team played in the State Championship game!

quote:

Originally posted by kirk:
Junkball,

All that young talent didn't help Houston area last year...not one Houston team played in the State Championship game!

Thanks for the recognition Kirk. It's a far stretch for me but if you think our Houston 8th grade boys could have competed in the State playoffs, I'll take it as a complement.

How's the Freshman talent look in the Plano area? The area has always produced great players.

quote:

Look for many of the players from these teams to be the rising stars in the coming years.

Now that Klien ISD and Cy-Fair ISD are in Region 2, the DFW guys may get a chance to see some of these players in a year or 2.

What Junkball had to say was perfectly reasonable... take it easy on him, he's just trying to contribute some info on up and coming players in the Houston area. Happy New Year... baseball season is almost here!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tychco:
Coppell should be one of the top teams in the state and District 6-5A should be one of the toughest around this area...the Flower Mound schools are always good (I heard one of them has a bright new coach this year )...Hebron, SLC and Lewisville...just no easy games......QUOTE]

Flower Mound looks to be getting even better by adding an All Area Football player back onto their baseball roster...this young man has a tremendous amount of talent and even more desire.

This was in the DMN this morning:

Collin Ashley, Flower Mound, Sr.
Position: Utility - Height, weight: 5-11, 170
About Ashley: One of the area's top cornerbacks moved to receiver in 2008 and became one of the area's top all-around offensive threats. Caught 17 passes for 955 yards and 17 TDs. Averaged 36 yards per kickoff return, including one for a score, and 16 yards per punt return.
Did you know? Ashley started in center field as a sophomore. He took a year off from baseball but expects to play again.

Ok tigerbalm, go watch JV baseball in Houston.

I'm just being grumpy junkball -- no offense to you. And it seems you've caught Natural in a good mood.

It looks like kirk will be the local expert on last year's state playoffs for another 6 months.

Good morning to ya!

The heat is on...everyone's ready for another year of baseball...you can feel the anticipation!