Prep Baseball Report

FL JUCO: Conference Previews and Predictions


Doug Freeman & Phil Kerber
PBR Florida/JUCO Wire



The 2019 Junior College season is upon us. Earlier this week we released our Preseason Top 10. Today, we preview and predict the outcome for each conference. Keep reading to see who we picked to win.

Panhandle


With 14 players in the initial Florida JUCO Top 50 Prospects, the Panhandle is loaded with talent again this year. Led by back-to-back World Series Champions, Chipola College, the Panhandle feature three of the top five overall prospects in the State. Thomas Farr of Northwest Florida State, whose fastball has been upto 96 and shown a three above average pitches. Chad Bryant of Pensacola and Ivan Johnson of Chipola also crack the top five.

Northwest Florida State lead the way with five players in the top 50 Florida prospects. They will have to overcome the back-to-back champions, Chipola, who are as talented and deep as they were last year. Overall, the Panhandle may be the toughest and deepest conference in Florida Junior college this year.

Preseason Conference Finish Prediction:

1. Chipola

2. Northwest Florida State

3. Pensacola

4. Gulf Coast

5. Tallahassee


Mid-Florida


Mid-Florida has 13 players in the initial Florida JUCO Top 50 prospects and is led by the Seminole State RHP Haden Erbe. Erbe has a fastball that has been up to 96 mph and shown a plus breaking ball.  RHP Donovan Benoit comes in at No 9 and Jarrod Cande comes in at No 11 as the conference’s top prospects. The conference is deep and talented and really could be up for grabs in 2019 as last year, the top three spots were separated by just three games.


Preseason Conference Finish Prediction:

1. Santa Fe

2. College of Central Florida

3. St. John’s River

4. Seminole State

5. Daytona State

6. Lake-Sumter

7. Florida State College of Jacksonville
 

Suncoast


State College of Florida leads the way in the Suncoast conference, with six players ranked in the Florida JUCO Top 50 prospects. Overall, the conference has 12 players in the initial ranking. State College won the conference in 2018 and looked primed to make another run again. Hillsborough, who made it one game away from the World Series in 2018, has an equally talented and deep roster. Florida Southwestern, St Pete and Polk will also be very competitive in 2019. RHP Hunter Perdue and LHP Spence Bodanza are the conference’s top prospects and will have another competitive conference as four teams had 27 or more wins in 2018, the most in any conference.

Preseason Conference Finish Prediction:

1. State College of Florida

2. Hillsborough

3. Florida Southwestern

4. St Pete

5. Polk

 

Southern

 

Traditionally one of the toughest conferences in the state, the Southern conference may not have quite the same high end talent this year, but will feature the top junior college prospect Carter Stewart as well as eight others in the Florida JUCO Top 50 prospects. With three teams with over 30 wins in 2018 and all five with more than 20, you can expect it to be a close race again in 2018. Miami-Dade appears to have the most talent on both sides of the ball, with depth on the mound and a lot of athletic talent offensively. The addition of Carter Stewart will be fun to watch at Eastern Florida, but Broward will look to defend its back-to-back conference titles and Palm Beach and Indian River always talents.

Preseason Conference Finish Prediction:

1. Miami-Dade

2. Palm Beach

3. Eastern Florida State

4. Broward

5. Indian River