Crack of the Bat
By Jim Zellmann
PG Jupiter Championship
Delmon Young joins several other former players who attended PG events with The Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There are well over 100 Major Leaguers who had attended PG events while in high school and that number is growing very fast. The D’Rays have a few of those players in addition to Young. OF Carl Crawford and LHP Scott Kazmir have both been MLB All Stars already. LHP JP Howell is on the active roster and BJ Upton is back up with the Big League team. Rocco Baldelli has star written all over him and we may see the first former PG MLB outfield shortly with Crawford, Baldelli and Young. The D’Rays have others who attended PG events on their 40 man roster.
Oddly enough it wasn’t that long ago that Delmon Young was a team mate of Scott Kazmir’s in the PG/WWBA championship played in Jupiter. Both played on the Baseball America team that was put together by Perfect Game and coached by Jim “The Rookie” Morris and Delmon’s brother Dmitri. Another team mate of theirs on that same team was Jeremy Sowers, who now pitches for the Indians. Sowers and Kazmir are two of the best young LHPs in the Big Leagues.
Perfect Game had a team that won the first few World Championships, but in 2000 Perfect Game decided they would no longer go all out to win the championship and started the Baseball America team. For several years PG staff members put together the Baseball America team, always with the intent of having a chance to win the rings!
The first Baseball America team in 2000 defeated Team California to win the title. That team coached by Jim Morris was the one that included Kazmir, Sowers and Delmon Young. Other top players on that team included Landon Powell, Mike Sweeney, Mickey Hall, Andy Gonzalez, Robert Harmon, Billy Paganetti, Luis Gonzalez, Kevin Guyette and several others. Delmon Young was only a sophomore at the time, Kazmir was entering his junior year in high school.
Then in 2002 the Baseball America team won it all again. The Miami team won the 2001 championship. The 2002 BA team was even more loaded than in 2000 with top prospects. A few names on the roster included future first round picks… followed by (MLB club now with)… Chad Billingsley (Dodgers MLB), Matt Bush (Padres), Jeff Allison (Marlins), Trevor Plouffe (Twins), Ian Stewart (Rockies), Chris Perez (Cardinals), Andrew Miller (Tigers), Lastings Milledge (Mets MLB), and Delmon Young (Devil Rays MLB). Ryan Sweeney (White Sox) became a second round pick who should be in the Big Leagues shortly with the White Sox. Other top players on that team were Jarod Hughes (Pirates), Anthony Whittington (Angels), Brennan Boesch (Tigers), Justin Brashear (Diamond Backs), Lance Zawadski (Cardinals), and some other top rated players.
The above Baseball America team selected by Perfect Game and comprised mostly of high school juniors just four years ago, has three players presently in the Big Leagues. At least two or more could get called up soon. When it is all said and done there could be a dozen or even more from that team who will play in the Major Leagues. This is arguably the most talented high school age team ever assembled.
Yes, the 2002 Baseball America team on paper is one of the best high school age teams ever assembled by Perfect Game. But there was another team that PG put together in the summer WWBA tournament in Marietta that included many players who would go on to be drafted in the first round. The outfield on that “Perfect Game Blue” might have been the best ever with Lastings Milledge, Ryan Harvey and Chris Lubanski. The pitching staff was also one of the best ever assembled with Chad Billingsley, Jeff Allison, Andrew Miller, among others. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was the catcher. Matt Antonelli was an infielder. Lance Zawadski ended up getting drafted with the 466th pick and Billy Muldowney went with the 239th pick. So with this kind of talent playing in a high school age tournament one would think they would win the tournament easily. This team finished with a 3-3 record and didn’t get out of the first round of that tournament.
There has been so much talent attending the Summer and Fall WWBA championships, that not any one team can dominate. The number of early draft picks and college stars that have competed on teams from coast to coast is astounding. It’s hard to find many early draft picks who have not played in the WWBA Championship. It is this writers belief that when the Jupiter Tournament takes place this year (or any year) there will be a very large number of future Major Leaguer’s out on the fields. Maybe that is why the hundreds of scouts and college recruiters always show up each year.
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.