Prep Baseball Report

Updated Illinois 2014 Player Rankings



By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

Illinois’ Class of 2014 continues to get deeper. Over the last two months, more and more seniors have emerged in what is turning out to be one of the state’s most talented classes in recent years.

What’s especially exciting about the 2014 class is it has good depth at all positions, which isn’t always the case, and it also features high-end depth. No doubt Midwest pro scouts will be spending a chunk of their time in Illinois this spring. Now let’s all collectively hope there will be games to be played in less than a month.

Nevertheless, if anyone reading or typing this article has the power to influence weather, you or I wouldn’t be reading or typing this article. We would be doing something more important, like solving debt crises, preventing world hunger, taming warring nations, or fixing the Power Ball numbers.

Alas, we can only do what we can do. In this instance, we will take a closer look at the updated 2014 Illinois player rankings.

Not much has changed at the top. RHPs Jake Godfrey (Providence Catholic HS) and Brad Bass (Lincoln-Way Central HS) still head the list. As we’ve said before, the crop of catchers are uncannily good, and that fact was reflected at the Super 60 and, ultimately, in the rankings. No. 3 Evan Skoug (Libertyville HS), No. 4 Simeon Lucas (Grant HS), No. 8 Mitch Trees (Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin HS), No. 9 Michael Papierski (Lemont HS) and No. 10 Chad Spanberger (Granite City HS) are all catchers ranked in the state’s top 10.

RHP Tanner Houck (Collinsville HS) jumps two spots after the 6-foot-5 Missouri recruit’s electric bullpen at the Super 60. Rounding out the top 10 include LHP Jake Latz (Lemont HS) and OF/LHP Darius Day (Simeon HS).

All the aforementioned names have been mentioned a lot over the last 12 months. Some lesser-mentioned prospects that have made significant leaps in the updated 250 rankings include: LHP Marko Boricich (Mount Carmel HS), OF Cody Carroll (Glenbrook South HS), MIF Luke Johnson (Lake Forest HS), MIF Nate Tholl (St. Laurence HS), RHP Max Novak (Geneva HS), and RHP Doug Van Dyke (Bartlett HS), to name a few.

See for yourself. 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 Evan Skoug IL Libertyville 2014 C Texas Christian
4 Simeon Lucas IL Grant Community 2014 C Illinois State
5 Tanner Houck IL Collinsville 2014 RHP Missouri
6 Jake Latz IL Lemont 2014 LHP LSU
7 Darius Day IL Simeon 2014 OF Arizona
8 Mitch Trees IL Sacred Heart Griffin 2014 C Louisville
9 Michael Papierski IL Lemont 2014 C LSU
10 Chad Spanberger IL Granite City 2014 C Arkansas


CLICK HERE to view Top 250 Illinois 2014 Player Rankings