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Prep Baseball Illinois: Preseason Event Preview

December 6, 2024
By: Gavin Smith
Content Manager, Scout

On November 7th, Prep Baseball launched its National Preseason ID Showcase Schedule, including 13 events from the state of Illinois. It all starts on January 29th with the Preseason ProCase in Shorewood, IL at the Rhino Sports Academy, and concludes with the Joliet Preseason ID on March 2nd at the same facility as our kickoff event. If you're curious to learn more the Prep Baseball's showcase structure, here's an idea of what you can expect while attending and following a Prep Baseball showcase.

WHAT IS A PRESEASON ID EVENT?

The Preseason ID series is unique in several ways. It serves as an identifier heading into the spring high school season, giving our scouts as well as college recruiters, a list of prospects to follow as they plan their spring coverage. We also tend to see prospects’ best performances in the Preseason, as most athletes are fresh and coming off of strict and targeted off-season training programs that have resulted in big gains, primed for updating their Prep Baseball profile. All of which lends the perfect opportunity to secure invitations to some of the summer's biggest invite-only events such as the Prep Baseball Future Games, Illinois State Games and more.

Our staff strategically hosts Preseason I.D. events throughout the state in search of players who have taken advantage of the offseason, identifying new prospects to add to our follow lists or players our staff is already familiar with who are on the rise.

All player information including tech metrics, stats, videos, scouting reports and more will be hosted to the Prep Baseball website, bolstering the player profile, which is subscribed to by more than 900 colleges across the country.

PRESEASON PROCASE

We're excited to kick our 2025 schedule off with the Preseason ProCase at Rhino Baseball Academy in Shorewood, IL. This event is invite-only and is designed to bring some of the area's potential draft talent to one place. This year’s event will be the third annual, and last year’s roster saw SS Jude Warwick (Downers Grove North; Michigan State) get selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 12th Round of last summer’s MLB Draft, and in the year prior, INF Jake Zitella (St. Charles East; Illinois) attended the event and was eventually drafted in the 16th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

+ To request an invite for the event, click HERE.

UNSIGNED SENIOR SHOWCASE

The Unsigned Senior Showcase is one of the most important events on the Prep Baseball Illinois showcase schedule, as we get an updated look at uncommitted talent from around the state. This also gives players a benchmark to see the gains they made over the off-season and to see where they're at before heading into the off-season. We hosted the same event this fall, and since the event concluded, 10 prospects have committed.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

KENOSHA PRESEASON ID

On February 8th, the Prep Baseball Wisconsin staff is hosting the Kenosha Preseason ID at the Puma Training Academy in Kenosha, WI. The event provides an opportunity for Illinois prospects in the northern part of the state to attend an event in their region. At last year’s event, over 30 prospects participated, including three names from Illinois, and we expect that number only to increase this year.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

O’HARE PRESEASON ID

We’re headed back to Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports in Bensenville, IL for the fifth annual O’Hare Preseason ID. This event always provides a great turnout of talented prospects with names like Zach Bava (Illinois State commit), Joe DuSell (Cincinnati commit), Alec Gunderson, Tucker King (Cincinnati commit), Mac McGarry (Western Kentucky commit), and countless others. We’re eager to continue to find more prospects at this upcoming year’s event.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

MCHENRY PRESEASON ID

We’re making our way to Pro Player Academy in McHenry, IL on February 15th for our 10th annual McHenry Preseason ID. This event always provides our staff with a look at some of the Northwest Suburbs best talent, including a ‘pen from RHP Brandon Shannon (McHenry) who later went on to commit to Louisville, and RHP Cole Kenyon (Belmont commit) whose ‘pen put him atop the nation’s leaderboards in spin rate. Names like Kaden Wasniewski (McHenry), Calen Scheider (Bradley commit), Charlie Taczy (Illinois-Chicago commit) also showed well at this event in 2024.

To register for the event, click HERE.

LOCKPORT PRESEASON ID

Returning for its ninth year, the Lockport Preseason ID will be held at Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports in Lockport, IL. Yet another event that always has an impressive turnout, last year’s roster saw plenty of names go on to receive invites to the Illinois State Games in August, and we expect to see plenty more talented names at the event in 2025.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

ST. LOUIS PRESEASON ID

The St. Louis Preseason ID is set to take place at the Bud Dome in St. Louis, MO for its sixth year in a row. Last year’s event saw a handful of Illinois prospects attend the event, including INF Deon Harrington (Alton, 2025; St. Charles CC) who went onto earn an invite to the Illinois State Games.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

PEORIA PRESEASON ID

The Peoria Preseason ID provides our staff with a look at some of Central Illinois’ top prospects, and will take place at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex on February 19th in Peoria, IL. Last year’s event saw both RJ Duncheon (East Peoria, 2026; Illinois State) and Kaeden Schatsiek (Brimfield; Northern Illinois) later earn invites to the Prep Baseball Future Games. We also saw one of the state’s top 2027 prospects in Kash VanHouten (Canton), and plenty of other names that impressed.

To register for the event, click HERE.

CHICAGO PRESEASON ID

Our staff is making their way to the Pullman Center in Chicago, IL on February 22nd for the seventh year in a row. This event has continually provided us with quality looks at prospects from the city, and we’re eager to see the prospects that make their way to this event in the upcoming year.

To register for the event, click HERE.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS PRESEASON ID

For the second year now, we are headed down to the Sports Barn in Wood River, IL on February 22nd. Last year’s event proved to be a success with nearly 70 prospects attending the event, many of which we had not seen before. Many prospects from this event went on to receive an invite to the Illinois State Games.

+ To register for the event, click HERE.

PRESEASON ALL-STATE: UNDERCLASS & UPPERCLASS

The Illinois Preseason All-State is an invite-only event on our 2024 schedule and it’s set for March 1st at The MAX in McCook, IL. This showcase is an annual event that allows our staff and scouts to see some of the top talent that the state has to offer in one setting throughout the 2026-2028 classes. Last year this event was filled with talent all around, including Future Gamers, ranked prospects, Division-I commits and much more. Expectations are high for this event and we're pumped to see the litter of talent set to attend in 2025.

Last year’s Upperclass roster features 99 commitments, while the Underclass roster has 26 commitments, and 17 members of Team Illinois at the 2024 Future Games.

+ To request an invite for Upperclass, click HERE.
+ To request an invite for Underclass, click HERE.

JOLIET PRESEASON ID

We’ll conclude our Preseason events on March 2nd at Rhino Sports Academy in Shorewood, IL for the fifth annual Joliet Preseason ID. We continued to see intriguing prospects at last year’s event that would receive an invite to the Illinois State Games, and we’re expecting to continue to be impressed by the talent at the event in 2025.

To register for the event, click HERE.

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