Prep Baseball Report

Wisconsin Class of 2016 Rankings Updated



By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor – Wisconsin/Illinois

As the fall season has wrapped up for most of the states we cover, it’s that time of year when we update and expand our state and overall rankings. Last week we updated the 2015 overall rankings and prior to that the state specific Wisconsin rankings as nearly all of the 2015 overall ranked prospects will be signing their Letters of Intent this week.

Now it’s on to the 2016 class, where Wisconsin has shown the most strength, especially at the top. It’s been a back and forth affair for the No. 1 prospect in Wisconsin’s 2016 class between Justin Lavey (Tremper) and Gavin Lux (Indian Trail), and this time Lux takes the top honors as he had a bounce back fall since being sidelined defensively for most of the spring with arm issues. Lux is now back to form and has shown that at several high level events and most recently in Jupiter where our scouts came away impressed with his defensive abilities and sneaky pop from his left-handed bat.

Outside of the Lux and Lavey back and forth affair at No. 1 the top five has also had some consistency for quite a while now with Ben Rortvedt (Verona Area), Jack Eagan (Wautoma) and Cyrillo Watson (South Milwaukee). But since his break out performance at the PBR Future Games, RHP Nathan Brown (Arrowhead) has had a whirlwind of a fall commencing with his commitment to Florida. Brown has cracked the steady top five and pushed his way into the No. 2 spot in the state thanks to his 88-90 mph fastball and wipeout slider.

Jumping more than 20 spots and the most recent revelation of the 2016 class is RHP Alec Marsh (Reagan College Prep) who we’ve seen make steady climbs since March of this year. Marsh has always been a projectable arm that has shown command and an easy arm action, but now has added the velocity to go with it. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder sat 87 mph at the Southern Wisconsin Open touching 88 mph on his last pitch. The sky is the limit for Marsh as he moves his way into the top ten at No. 8.

OF Connor Kimple (Marquette University) has also jumped his way back up the rankings more than 30 spots. Kimple is looking very physical and scouts are taking notice. At 6-foot-2, 205-pounds Kimple is projecting himself as a middle of the lineup type hitter at a corner outfield spot and has now topped his previous high ranking of No. 18 from more than a year ago.

The 2016 state rankings has expanded to an even 100 and has added 11 new names. RHP Nathan Santos (Altoona) is the highest new prospect to grace the rankings after standing out at the Southern Wisconsin Open with an 80-83 mph sinking fastball from a ¾ slot.

CLICK HERE for complete 2016 Wisconsin Rankings.

Rank Name State School Class Pos Commitment
1 Gavin Lux WI Indian Trail 2016 SS Virginia Tech
2 Nathan Brown WI Arrowhead 2016 RHP Florida
3 Ben Rortvedt WI Verona Area 2016 C Arkansas
4 Justin Lavey WI Tremper 2016 3B Louisville
5 Jack Eagan WI Wautoma 2016 LHP Indiana
6 Cyrillo Watson WI South Milwaukee 2016 OF Illinois
7 Dominic Clementi WI Arrowhead 2016 OF Michigan
8 Alec Marsh WI Reagan College Prep 2016 RHP
9 Ryan Schmitt WI Arrowhead 2016 RHP
10 Adam LaRock WI Eau Claire North 2016 SS

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