The start of 2020 brings a lot of excitement and goal setting for players, coaches, and scouts across the country.  As we begin to look forward, we also take a brief look back at 2019 and some of the exciting things that happened, along with some of the stories that drew a lot of attention in the state of North Carolina. 

In 2019, Prep Baseball Report saw 9 million views on stories published to the site.  We also saw over 8.9 million hits on player profiles hosted within PBR.  As part of our look back at 2019, we will countdown some of the top viewed profiles and top news stories from the year.  Today we open up the look at the Top Viewed Stories in NC from 2019 with No. 3 on our list.

 

Top Viewed Stories of 2019

No. 3 - PBR Power 25

Since its inception in North Carolina, PBR has been committed to providing the best coverage of high school baseball across the state.  Team rankings and polls always draw eyes and create conversation.  In the first two years of PBR North Carolina, the PBR staff teamed up with the North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association to provide a Coaches Poll for each of the four classifications in the NCHSAA.  These polls were very well received but they did not project a true Top 25 of the state, regardless of classification, and the polls left out the private school associations.

In 2019, the PBR staff in North Carolina built the PBR Power 25.  A Top 25 ranking of baseball teams in the state of North Carolina regardless of affiliation or classification.  Released every other week, to allow for more game play across the state to take affect on the rankings, the Power 25 quickly became a must read for high school baseball fans and followers.  PBR's staff defended and chastised their own rankings in a weekly podcast published during the high school season... often there was agreement with teams that should be in the Power 25 but who should be in the Top 5 vs. the Top 10 lead to a lot of discussion throughout the year.

After the State Champions were named the final PBR Power 25 of 2019 was released.  You can look back at each release of the PBR Power 25 from 2019 below.