2008 WWBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Plenty of Contenders For Top Prize
LINK: WWBA Schedule
LINK: WWBA Rosters
By David Rawnsley
JUPITER, Fla.--It’s a subjective opinion, but one that can be easily defended. The 2008 edition of the World Wood Bat Association Fall Championship, which gets underway
here Thursday, will feature more talent than any previous WWBA championship, dating
back to the first such event in 1999.
That assertion, of course, would mean that this year’s 80-team tournament will be
the single, most impressive gathering of draft-eligible talent ever assembled.
It’s fair to say that at least 80 percent of the top 250 prospects in this year’s high
school draft class will be in attendance.
If there is any doubt of the enormity of the event, consider that some major league
organizations will be sending as many as 20 scouts to Jupiter this week to cover
every possible field and every possible player. In all, there should be upwards
of 700-800 scouts and college recruiters in attendance.
The adjoining spring training complexes of the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals
will be put to maximum use and enable as many as 12 games to be played at a time.
The event begins Thursday and will wrap up Monday afternoon with the championship
game.
Three basic reasons stand out for the event’s growth, and the ever-increasing talent
supply that is spread out among the 80 participating teams, which will come from
every part of the U.S., plus Canada and Puerto Rico.
First, scouting departments for several major league clubs have realized the advantages to organizing their own teams to compete in the event, and Perfect Game has worked with these
teams to insure that the very best players from around the country are on the rosters of these teams, and in Jupiter.
In the early 2000s, Perfect Game would assemble its own version of an all-star team
of elite players and the high-profile PG team managed to win a few championships along the way. Then the Atlanta Braves took the lead and formed a high-profile team
of their own with players from all over the country, and that team went undefeated
in winning the 2007 WWBA championship.
This year, there are at least eight teams participating that have been organized
by major league teams or have been assembled with significant input from scouts,
including the Royals (two teams), Braves, White Sox, Orioles,
Rays, Twins and Rangers. That alone guarantees that top-level talent for the 2009 draft will be in Jupiter.
Secondly, there seems to be far more top underclass players at the event than in
the past. It used
to be that the WWBA fall championship would be rostered
primarily with talent from the current draft class, but a quick scan through the rosters for
this year’s event reveals that an impressive number of top 2010 prospects will be
playing—possibly even in the same, high proportion as
the 2009 prospects.
College recruiters, who have the 2009 draft class pretty much lined up in anticipation
of the Nov. 12 early signing deadline, know this and will bear down extensively
on the 2010 class.
Lastly, the sheer momentum of the event keeps it growing. Virtually every select
youth baseball
organization in the country knows about Jupiter and covets one of
the 80 spots in the field. PG staff members have said that the demand for Jupiter
is so strong that they would have no trouble fielding a 250-team tournament
if the time and fields were available (that isn’t logistically feasible, nor even desirable,
although Perfect Game hosted two WWBA tournaments this summer with more than 180
teams).
The top players are the same way. The best have expressed a strong desire to play in Jupiter
above everything else—knowing the exposure they’ll get and the superior
competition they’ll face will be unmatched.
SIZING UP THE 2008 FIELD
The 80-team WWBA field is organized into 16 five-team pools, with each team playing
the others in their pool in a round-robin format. Only the winner of each pool advances
to the playoffs, a 16-team single-elimination bracket that will begin on Sunday afternoon and conclude the following afternoon.
That format is pretty straight forward, but it also places huge pressure on the favored teams in each pool as one slip up could cost them
a chance at the championship.
Here’s a quick look at each of the 16 pools, and the team that (on paper) looks
like the favorite to advance (pre-tournament favorites are listed in boldface
type).
POOL A
The Dallas Tigers feature the talented Coppell (Texas) High trio of SS Chad Kettler,
OF Jacob Morris and C Jonathan Walsh. They rank as the Nos. 5-6-7 high
school prospects in the Texas 2009 class (per PG Crosschecker), and the latter two
are Aflac All-Americans, along with
1B/LHP Colton Cain, the No. 10-ranked player
in Texas. That kind of high-end talent on one team should be enough to overcome the pesky Puerto Rican Baseball Academy, which usually fields most of the elite
talent from Puerto Rico. Whether the Tigers have the pitching depth to advance deep
into bracket play may be determined
by how hard they have to compete to win in pool play.
POOL B
Has there ever been a WWBA national-level event when Georgia’s East Cobb Astros
didn’t advance out of pool play or weren’t a favorite to win it all? This doesn’t appear to be the year, as the presence
of sluggers such as C Austin Maddox (No.
2-ranked prospect in Florida) and 3B Miles Head (No. 8 in Georgia) will easily cover up for a
pitching staff that doesn’t have the dominant hurlers usually found on an East Cobb roster.
POOL C
Florida’s Orlando Scorpions have plenty of high-level pitching prospects,
including RHPs A.J. Cole and Brett Winger, both top 2010 prospects from Florida,
to move through pool play, although
their offense won’t frighten anyone initially. Washington’s Northwest Timberjacks could be
a surprise team and the St. Louis Pirates always field quality players, so this
could be a competitive pool.
POOL D
This is definitely a candidate for the “Pool of Death” designation. The KC Royals
Scout Team has three prominent members of the Draft Class of 2010
in Texas OF
Brian Ragira (No. 14 overall, per PG Crosschecker), Mississippi SS Jacoby Jones (No. 39 overall) and Texas SS Matt Lipka (No. 52 overall), along with athletic
OF Levon Washington (No. 7-ranked player in 2009 Florida class). But California’s
San Gabriel Arsenal and Virginia’s Hurricanes Baseball also have talent-packed rosters,
and New Jersey’s Farrah’s Builders has been a surprise team at past events.
POOL E
The2004 champion Houston Heat is a traditional title contender in any event
it enters, although the Heat is no longer a WWBA regular. That being said, it looks like a lot
of the top Houston-area talent has been siphoned off by rival teams. The Rays Scout
Team, ironically, features a roster of Arizona-based prospects led by some talented
pitching. The winner of the Heat-Rays match-up will be a heavy
favorite to advance out of this pool.
POOL F
This is definitely another “Pool of Death” nominee (“Pool of Death” is a World Cup soccer term,
for those unfamiliar with it). North Carolina’s Dirtbags, a
traditional power, have perhaps their strongest
team ever with OF Brian Goodwin, SS Levi Michael and 3B Wil Myers, three of the top five ranked players in the state,
joined by fast-rising Florida C Michael Ohlman,
leading a surprisingly strong offense. But the pool also features two teams assembled by scouts, the White Sox team with a roster full of 90-plus mph pitchers, and
the New Jersey Twins.
POOL G
Unless Bo Jackson himself suits up in uniform for Bo Jackson Midwest, a Chicago-based
team run by Jackson, this pool is a toss-up. The MSL All-Stars are an interesting combination of talented Dallas-area players, and the appearance of legendary Dallas-area
youth coach Sam Carpenter (his first-ever at a WWBA event?) on the All-Stars roster adds intrigue. Florida’s Diamond Vision Elite has been a high-performing team in the past, and their players have the hometown advantage
of driving from their homes to the park every day.
POOL H
California’s ABD Bulldogs, a traditional contender, have a roster that included five Aflac All-Americans: SS
Gio Mier, 3B Matt Davidson, RHP Chad Thompson, RHP/1B Brooks Pounders and 2B David Nick, plus some other top southern California talent
that isn’t far behind. Like the East Cobb Astros in Pool
B, it would be considered
a significant upset if a team other than ABD advances from this pool, although North
Carolina’s South Charlotte Panthers should provide some stiff competition.
POOL I
The presence of Chet Lemon’s Juice in a pool would usually inspire dread in the rest of
the pool, but the Florida-based Juice doesn’t appear to have assembled its
normal talent level. The Texas Scout Team, on the other hand, secured the
best of the available talent in southeast Texas, and has imported stud prospects
such as C Luke Bailey (No. 3-ranked prospect in Georgia), RHP Garrett Gould (No.
1 in Kansas), New Jersey SS Stephen
Bruno and California SS J.J. Altobelli. This
is definitely a title contender.
POOL J
This pool rates as a toss-up between Southwest Florida Baseball (“Swiffle” as they
are called) with their imposing mid-lineup sluggers row of SS Scooter Gennett,
3B Bobby Borchering and C Michael Zunino, all prominent Florida prospects for the
2009 draft, and the Orioles Scout Team, with their
own powerful lineup that has
been enhanced by the addition of OFs Jake Marisnick (No. 3-ranked prospect in California)
and Kellen Sweeney (No. 1 in Iowa). The advantage goes to SW Florida as it is scheduled
to throw dominating Florida LHP Patrick Schuster in its pool-play match-up with
the Orioles.
POOL K
The defending champion Braves Scout Team ranks as the early favorite to win
it all again and four pool-play games may be used as little more than an exercise in getting their unbelievably deep and talented pitching
staff a couple of innings of work apiece in front of a huge number of scouts. In one game alone, the Braves
are scheduled to pitch LHP Tyler Matzek (the top-ranked high school prospect in
California), RHP Shelby Miller (No. 2 in Texas) and LHP Chad James (No. 1 in Oklahoma).
That kind of potential domination doesn’t give the other teams in the pool much of a chance.
POOL L
Definitely a toss-up with the Louisiana All-Stars, Florida’s Winning Inning, LIDS Indiana
Bulls and Pennsylvania’s Mid-Atlantic Rookies all having a fair chance—depending
on how their pitching lines up. Winning Inning features two of the top prospects
in the entire tournament, though, in two-way standouts Mychal Givens (No. 1-ranked
2009 prospect in Florida) and Keyvius Sampson (No. 3 in Florida), and that
should tilt the pool in its favor.
POOL M
All-American Prospects have buffed up their roster from the one that won the 2008 WWBA Underclass championship in Fort Myers, Fla., two weeks ago. Some talented
2009 prospects have been added, but this event should still serve as the coming-out
party for immensely-talented Florida SS/RHP Yordy Cabrera, already projected as
a top draft pick in 2010. Team Connecticut fielded consistent high-quality teams
at WWBA events this summer and cannot be counted out, nor can Wisconsin’s
Midwest Blazers.
POOL N
The Royals Scout Team is a second team organized through the Kansas City
organization, but it features only players from the 2010 and 2011 draft classes. Despite
that, the wealth and depth of talent assembled should still make the Royals
the favorites to win the pool. Virginia’s Richmond Braves have a strong resume in
WWBA events and
will definitely be a challenger, as will New Jersey’s Tri-State Arsenal/Cust D-Jacks. This is a toss-up
pool where every run could count to determine
who advances through tie-breakers.
POOL O
A third “Pool of Death” nominee. The Ohio Warhawks are one of the original
“all-star” teams that combined talent from around the country in order to compete
at national events, and this year is no
exception. The strength of the club is from the western part of the country, with
1B Jeff Malm (No. 1-ranked prospect from Nevada
in 2009) and 3B Kris Bryant (No. 1 in Nevada in 2010), joined by
RHP James Dedrick (No. 1 in Utah in 2009) and SS Marcus Littlewood (No. 1 in Utah in 2010). But Florida’s
Team Worth features athletic OFs
Ronny Richardson (No. 5-ranked prospect in Florida)
and Ruben Sierra Jr. (No. 2 in Puerto Rico), and some top Puerto Rican talent. Tennessee’s
Dulin’s Dodgers
could also factor in.
POOL P
If history holds true, South Carolina’s unsuspecting Diamond Devils will
go a quiet 4-0 in pool-play
and pull down a top seed while everyone is looking in other directions. The Florida
Bombers, who dominate this age group during summer
competition, do not traditionally compete
at as high a level in the fall. The top “Perfect Game” stocked team, PG Black, is also in this
pool and could make things interesting.