Prep Baseball Report

Updated Class of 2014 Player Rankings



By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

Much has happened over the last three months, which is why there have been some significant shakeups in the updated and expanded Class of 2014 rankings.

RHP Jake Godfrey (Providence Catholic HS) has continued to throw extremely well on the national circuit, especially at the Area Code Games and East Coast Pro, which has kept the Notre Dame recruit as the No. 1 prospect in Illinois’ extremely deep 2014 class. RHP Brad Bass (Lincoln-Way Central HS), another Notre Dame recruit, moves back to the No. 2 spot, followed by LHP Jake Latz (Lemont HS) and OF/LHP Darius Day.

Last week we wrote in Illinois Insider, the state’s 2014 catcher class is loaded. In fact, five of the top 10 prospects are backstops, headed by Evan Skoug (Libertyville HS), Simeon Lucas (Grant HS), Mitch Trees (Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin HS), Michael Papierski (Lemont HS) and Chad Spanberger (Granite City HS).

On a whole, 27 of the top 30 players are verbally committed, and 40 of the top 50. The top uncommitted players in the class are No. 12 RHP Hunter Hart (St. Joseph-Ogden HS), No. 15 RHP Ryan Nutof (South Elgin HS) and No. 30 RHP Josh Rahn (Schaumburg HS).

Rahn, a physical 6-foot-4, 210-pounder, is one of the biggest risers in the 2014 class after his performance at the PBR Unsigned Senior Showcase in August. That Unsigned Senior event, in fact, produced some of the class’s biggest climbers in the updated rankings, along with 6-foot-7 RHP Liam Carter (Highland Park HS), RHP Clay Shourd (Springfield HS) and SS D.J. Lee (Lincoln-Way North HS).

Other big risers include: SS Kevin Sullivan (Brother Rice HS), RHP/INF Tommy Bordignon (Loyola Academy HS), 3B/RHP Dylan Rosa (Providence HS), C/1B Ian Kristan (Carmel HS), RHP Noah Masa (Lockport HS), OF Kevin White (St. Laurence HS), and RHP Kolton Vermillion (Rantoul HS), to name a few.

A look at the top 10:

Rank Name State School Class Pos Commitment
1 Jake Godfrey IL Providence Catholic 2014 RHP Notre Dame
2 Brad Bass IL Lincoln-Way Central 2014 RHP Notre Dame
3 Jake Latz IL Lemont 2014 LHP LSU
4 Darius Day IL Simeon 2014 OF Arizona
5 Evan Skoug IL Libertyville 2014 C Texas Christian
6 Simeon Lucas IL Grant Community 2014 C Illinois State
7 Mitch Trees IL Sacred Heart Griffin 2014 C Louisville
8 Michael Papierski IL Lemont 2014 C LSU
9 Tanner Houck IL Collinsville 2014 RHP Missouri
10 Chad Spanberger IL Granite City 2014 C Arkansas

 

>> Illinois Class of 2014 Top 225 Rankings