By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

With the high school season concluding this weekend, so ends the prep careers of the senior class. We’ve had the pleasure of tracking Illinois’ Class of 2013 since they were freshmen in high school – several of whom earlier than that. It’s been fun watching the trajectories of players’ careers over the years.

Although this crop of seniors didn’t possess the highest end draft prospects of some previous classes, the 2013 class featured impressive depth across the state. Many more prospects emerged throughout the course of the high school season, which made the final Class of 2013 Illinois prospect rankings that much more difficult.

INF/RHP Ryne Roper (Harrisburg HS) ended his decorated prep career where he began it: as the No. 1 prospect in the state. The Gatorade Player of the Year proved to be a rock-solid two-way prospect since his freshman year, and finished his senior year going 11-0 with a 0.41 ERA while batting .468 with 10 homers, 11 doubles and 39 RBI.

Switch-hitting C Ryan Lidge (Barrington HS) jumps to the No. 2 spot, followed by OF Jake Ring (Grant HS, Missouri), OF Corey Ray (Simeon HS), RHP/3B Keith Lehmann (Lyons Township HS, Michigan), RHP Zack Burdi (Downers Grove South HS) and C Brent Gibbs (Alton HS).

No player in the state saw a more meteoric rise this spring than RHP/OF Matt Brill (Moline HS), who jumped up to No. 8 in the overall rankings. Other prospects who catapulted up the rankings – or made their first appearances – include: RHP Zach Lewis (St. Laurence HS), RHP Christian Taugner (Lake Park HS), RHP Ben Hecht (Effingham St. Anthony HS), RHP/OF Jared Waldhoff (Teutopolis HS), RHP Matt Starai (St. Charles East HS), LHP Kyle Pauly (Glenbrook South HS), RHP Mitch Schulewitz (Mundelein HS), RHP Colin Nowak (Bartlett HS), RHP Jackson Bubala (Latin HS), RHP Austin McPherson (Johnston City HS), and 1B Victor Garcia (Plainfield South HS, to name a few.

Thanks for the memories, Class of 2013. It’s been fun.

Rank	Name	State	School	Class	Pos	Commitment
1	Ryne Roper	IL	Harrisburg	2013	SS	Illinois
2	Ryan Lidge	IL	Barrington	2013	C	Notre Dame
3	Jake Ring	IL	Grant	2013	OF	Missouri
4	Corey Ray	IL	Simeon	2013	OF	Louisville
5	Keith Lehmann	IL	Lyons Township	2013	RHP	Michigan
6	Zack Burdi	IL	Downers Grove South	2013	RHP	Iowa
7	Brent Gibbs	IL	Alton	2013	C	Indiana
8	Matt Brill	IL	Moline	2013	OF	Appalachian State
9	Andy Honiotes	IL	Geneva	2013	RHP	University of Miami
10	Cody Sedlock	IL	Rock Island Alleman	2013	RHP	Illinois

Complete Top 230 Class of 2013 Player Rankings.