Class 7A Preview: Regions 7 & 8

Welcome to PBR Georgia’s 7A week!

This week marks the start of our high school coverage, now that we’re about 24 days out from the first pitch of the GHSA season. We’ll open our coverage by examining the 48 programs that make up the state’s 7A class, comprised of some of the most powerful and prestigious programs in the country, including last year’s 7A champs Parkview.

We previous covered regions 1, 2, and 3 here, regions 4 and 5 here, and Region 6 here.

Today, we’ll wrap up our 7A regional coverage by touching on notes and recaps on the 2018 season for the schools representing GHSA regions 7 and 8. These are two of the more talent-laden regions in Georgia.

REGION 7

A rivalry renewed, Parkview and Brookwood are set to duke it out once again over the Region 7 title. Parkview took the region’s title a season ago by a game, finishing 11-1 and 35-6 overall, en route to a 7A state title championship. The Panthers are as impressive as ever in their dugout headed into the spring, despite graduating a handful of difference makers.

In 2019, Parkview’s packing the punch in the middle of their order with the likes of backstop Jonathan French, a Clemson commit, OF Makenzie Pate, who’s headed to Coastal Carolina, and 2B Allan Del Castillo (uncommitted). These three seniors can lay the foundation for a program looking to repeat as state champs for the first time since the 2011-12 springs. French, specifically, was one of this team’s top bats as a junior a season ago and should be able to take over as the team’s primary run producer this year. He hit .355 and drove in 25 runs for the Panthers in 2018. Del Castillo has earned reputation as a hard-nosed competitor and played in 37 games for last season’s state-winning squad, hitting over .300, too.

On the mound, Parkview is set to aided by an increased role from RHP Miles Garrett, a junior, who’s committed to Vanderbilt. He’s the No. 30-ranked junior in the state, known for getting the most out of his undersized, athletic frame with a upper-80s fastball. The rotation is young and Garrett’s development will be paramount to a repeat run in state.

Another junior, OF Jonathan Ponder, looked good at the plate in limited looks last season and could become an impactful presence in this lineup this spring. He’s the No. 27-ranked junior in Georgia’s 2020 class.

Allan Del Castillo (4/25/18)

Brookwood split their games with the Panthers last April, winning the first contest 4-3 and dropping the second 9-6. The Broncos’ loss clinched Parkview’s regional title, after both teams went into that second game 10-1 in the region. Brookwood almost earned a chance at avenging that April loss in the state title series, earning a spot in the state semis against Mill Creek. They took the Hawks to a game three in the semifinals, ultimately dropping their chance to battle it out with Parkview once again, this time with a state title on the line.

But the Broncos are back in 2019. Seniors SS Will Mize, a Georgia State commit, and RHP Alex Flood are going to take on the senior leadership roles for what will be a young roster, but talented nonetheless. Junior middle infielder Wesley Franklin is a smooth and simple hitter with the frame that projects for power down the road.

It’s going to be interesting to watch and see which prospects pop up this spring for Brookwood, because there’s no doubt that they’ll be in the running for the Region 7 title once more – it’s just a wonder who’s going to emerge as the go-to guy on this team.

While Parkview and Brookwood dominate much of the conversation within this region, Norcross deserves attention here, too. We covered them more specifically on the site today, but it’s clear that they’re going to be a factor in this region. According to Head Coach Aaron Wilkens, the Blue Devils are going to look a lot different on the mound this season, after losing most of their innings-eaters to graduation, so they’ll be relying on their newcomers to fill that void.

Any slack lost on the bump should be made up on defense and in the lineup, though. Norcross’ Bryant Rhooms is a left/left athlete and one of the best athletes on the team. He and fellow senior Pierce Thomas, a two-way prospect, should be able to account for most of the offense this year, with the help of INF Nolan Scourtis, too, who was an all-region player as a junior. If there’s one junior to pay attention to on this Norcross team, it’s two-way utility prospect Daniel Haab – another athletic prospect who keeps sharpening his raw skillset.

Of the four other schools in the region, there are select prospects to take note of scattered among the programs. Lakeside (DeKalb) has a couple of their own: SS Levi Cloud (2020) and OF Guy Young (2019). Lakeside went 7-5 in this region in 2018 and should be competitive again this spring.

Senior Freddy Mathues-Parra started in the outfield for Central Gwinnett last spring and drove in 15 runs for the Black Knights. With a year of varsity ball under his belt he should be an even more reliable piece in Central Gwinnett’s lineup in 2019. J.T. Tate saw plenty of action for the Black Knights in 2018 as a sophomore, and should be ready take on a larger role for his team this year.

Berkmar and Meadowcreek are seeking bounceback campaigns in 2019 after a tough season against their own region.

REGION 8

The final region left to cover in class 7A is West Atlanta’s, spanning Lawrenceville and Covington, Region 8. Here, Grayson is expected to retain its regional title for the third-straight season. Junior infielder John Anderson is ranked No. 9 in the state’s 2020 class for his adept feel in the right-handed batter’s box. He’s simply among the best bats in the state, regardless of age. He hit .393 and totaled 19 extra-base hits, including seven homers, as a sophomore for the Rams last season. The Georgia Tech commit is slated to account for some of the premium talent that graduated last spring, namely second-round draft pick Parker Meadows (Detroit Tigers).

On the mound, Kennesaw State-bound senior arms Bradley Blalock and Riley Bishop should help Grayson limit the opposition while the likes of Anderson & Co. go to work on offense. Blalock actually hit over .400 as a junior last spring, too, so he should be able to provide his own staff some run support.

Also, keep an eye on sophomore two-way prospect Justin Bogard. He notched some playing time for the Rams as a freshman and could secure an even larger portion of playing time as a sophomore.

South Gwinnett, Archer, and Rockdale County are the three other teams that represented Region 8 in the state tournament last year. South Gwinnett and Archer are poised to do the same again in 2019, and Rockdale has the talent to improve on last year’s 6-9 regional finish The Comets of South Gwinnett finished 10-5 in the region last spring and won their first-round matchup with Norcross, out-scoring them 10-2 in their two-game sweep, before losing in the next round to state runners-up Mill Creek.

The Comets’ battery mates and sophomore twins Andrew and Andreaus Lewis are the prospects to watch in South Gwinnett, after the two committed to Eastern Kentucky in November. Andreaus, the catcher, is looking like an impact bat his varsity team can count upon this spring. His brother Andrew is a right-handed pitcher is slated to snag some more work for the Comets rotation this spring. The two will be participating in the MLB Dream Series this weekend in Tempe, Ariz.

Junior infielder Cory Lee (uncommitted) should help this offense assert itself, too, after he hit over .350 as a sophomore for South Gwinnett in 2018.

For Archer, seniors OF Mike Donnelly and SS Jordan Nathaniel should bounce back in 2019 to help jump-start Archer’s lineup. Junior two-way prospect Blake Bortak hit over .300 as a sophomore for the Tigers. The Samford-committed southpaw led his team in strikeouts last spring and should look even more comfortable this spring with last year’s experience gathered.

Rockdale senior OF Christian West was among the Bulldogs’ most productive bats in 2018 and should help the Conyers program build off its state tournament berth and 15-17 overall record last spring. Junior 1B Corbin Shaw was a phenom at the plate in his sophomore season. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound corner infielder has some of the best power potential in this region.

When it comes to Newton and Shiloh, there’s two senior prospects to note as of now: Newton OF Khalil West and Shiloh SS Greg Thornton. Both programs scuffled in 2018, but are striving to make some forward progress over the spring.

This concludes our region-by-region breakdown in class 7A but there’s still more to analyze and predict tomorrow, so stay tuned to see which teams our staff is forecasting to lift some hardware come May. Next week we’re onto 6A coverage, where some of the state’s best prospects and one of the state’s best programs reside.

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