This year, in addition to the Scout Day Showcases, we are also going to spotlighting programs as a whole with an interview with each participating teams head coach providing insight into their expectations for Spring 2021, key players, incoming players, players expected to have breakout seasons, how they have navigated the past year and much more. The Rawlings Tigers is a national powerhouse program that has just recently planted their flag in Las Vegas and now we highlight who they are and what they are all about as we head out to their Scout Day.

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Rawlings Tigers Las Vegas SPOTLIGHT
Coach, Josh Bravin

What are your expectations your program for the 2021 Spring Season?

I expect us to continue to have success at the 16u level. We have been playing extremely well lately in in a handful of different tournaments. We should continue to have success in local and out of state tournaments.  

Who are the top returning players you have coming back this Spring? Expectations of those players?

 The top players for us this year have been 2024 Nick Yu, 2024 John Ludyen, 2024 Drew Kaplan, 2023 Bryce Ferrer Leo & 2023 Jared Layfield.

I expect Bryce and Drew to continue to lead our pitching staff. Bryce has been dominant on the mound all year long with outstanding swing and miss stuff as well commanding the top of the order as our leadoff hitter. Drew has been a catalyst for us as well commanding the zone and pitching deep into important games. The 5 of them also hit at the top of the order for us paving the way to scoring a lot of runs. Nick holds down SS for us and projects as a very valuable 4-5 tool player. He has great awareness on the field and his skillset speaks for itself with his success. Jared handles duties behind the plate and supplies power and RBI’s in the middle of our order. John has been one of our most impressive bats as he handles the bat extremely well with a contact and power tool which is very rare for a player of his size. He is extremely hard to pitch to.  

Who on your roster do you expect to have a breakout season in 2021?

 I expect Nick Yu and John Ludyen to have breakout seasons for our freshman class of 2024

I also expect Bryce Ferrer-Leo & Jared Layfield to have breakout seasons in the class of 2023

How does your program differentiate from others? What does your program do in the Summer and Fall Seasons? 

We differentiate from other programs because we are a national brand. Our national headquarters are based in St Louis, Missouri and this has allowed us to introduce our Rawlings Tigers National Teams over the past few months. 

In the summer and fall seasons we like to travel to out of state national tourneys as well as play as much as possible here in Las Vegas. We are currently registered to take our Rawlings Tigers 16u West Coast Team to the 16u PG WWBA Memorial Day Classic as well as the 16u PG WWBA West National Championships. 

How are you preparing for the Spring?

We currently practice 3x per week with our guys and have been playing in local Saturday league tourneys every weekend. 

What has your program done to combat the restricted ability to play baseball over the past year? 

Luckily for us with the wonderful tournament directors we have here in Vegas we have still been able to play against local competition every weekend. Like I mentioned above, we have also been practicing 3x per week which has allowed us to stay active. 

Do you have any college commits within the program?

We currently do not have any college commits within the program as our 16u is our oldest group. We are hoping to have some commits by the end of 2021. 

Besides a State Championship, what do you try to accomplish within your program every year?

We are focused on helping our players improve mentally above all else. Baseball is said to be 90% mental so we focus on pre-pitch preparation a lot. If we can help our players to be prepared before the game starts then it makes it easier as a coach to allow them to play without needing to correct. 

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DIRECTOR NOTES
PBR Nevada Director of Scouting, Brett Harrison

The Rawlings Tigers is a national powerhouse program that has just recently planted their flag in Las Vegas. They have a handful of groups within the Las Vegas group, but possibly the most exciting team they have is the 2024 team that should have some players we could be seeing on the 2021 Future Games roster. Lead by former Cimarron-Memorial Spartan, Kody Gordon, this is a program we are excited to follow in the coming years with players like 2024 SS/C, Nick Yu, who could be player to keep an eye on as we announce the first round of the 2024 PBR Player Rankings soon. A 6-foot-2, lefty-lefty two-way player in Bryce Ferrer-Leo has projectable actions on both sides of the ball especially with the room he has to fill out his long frame in the 2023 class. 2024 two-way, Andrew Kaplan, is another interesting player with compact stroke at the plate and some looseness in the arm on the mound that we will be following closely over the next few years. 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

SHOWCASE	STATE	DATE	LOCATION
Las Vegas Aces Scout Day (Pitching Session)	NV	02/23	Heritage Park
Sierra Vista Scout Day	NV	02/25	Heritage Park
Bishop Manogue Scout Day	NV	02/27	Bishop Manogue High School
Reno Knights Scout Day	NV	02/27	Bishop Manogue High School
McQueen Lancers Scout Day	NV	02/28	Bishop Manogue High School
Northern Nevada Open Scout Day	NV	02/28	Bishop Manogue High School
Sparks Blue Sox Scout Day	NV	02/28	Bishop Manogue High School
Bases Loaded Elite Scout Day	NV	03/03	Doc Romeo Park
Bishop Gorman Scout Day	NV	03/04	Heritage Park
The Meadows Scout Day	NV	03/07	The Meadows
Southern Nevada Open Scout Day	NV	03/13	Faith Lutheran High School
Rising Stars of Southern Nevada (2025/2026)	NV	04/10	Faith Lutheran High School
Rising Stars of Northern Nevada (2025-2026)	NV	04/24	TBD

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