Inside the Numbers: Illinois 2017 Early Signing Period
November 18, 2016
By Drew Locascio & Chris Jelinek
Illinois Scouting Staff
The early signing period has now concluded for the 2017 class, a class in which we have seen most of these players since the start of their freshman year. The 2017 class currently has an astounding 82 Division I commits and 43 division II signees.
For sake of consistencies from year to year our numbers will only breakdown Division I and II commits (NCAA Division I and Division II prospects are the only ones to sign early NLI's at this point).
The high-end talent in this class is clear by the level of commitments, 10 of Illinois’ top prospects have committed to top 25 programs in the country (according to D1Baseball.com's 2016 final rankings).
No. 3 TCU (2) - LHP Ryan Eiermann (Naperville Central), OF Brad Czerniejewski (Lake Forest)
No. 4 Texas Tech (2) - 3B/OF KC Simonich (Lemont), RHP Ryan Sublette (Lemont)
No. 11 Louisville (4) - RHP Bobby Miller (McHenry) RHP Glenn Albanese (Batavia), LHP Reid Detmers (Chatham-Glenwood), SS Tom Josten (Fremd)
No. 13 South Carolina (1) - LHP Tyler Mettetal (St. Charles North)
No. 22 Vanderbilt (1) - RHP Erik Kaiser (Waterloo)
Also, all five of the NCAA power conferences have nabbed Illinois high school prospects this year. Here is a look at the conference breakdown of early commits.
Power 5 conferences: (33 Total)
*Big Ten - 14
*SEC - 6
*Big 12 - 6
*ACC - 5
*Pac 12 - 2
Other Division I conferences: (49 Total)
Missouri Valley - 14
MAC - 6
Big East - 5
Horizon - 5
Summit - 5
Ohio Valley - 4
Patriot - 3
Atlantic 10 - 2
Big West - 1
Mountain West - 1
American - 1
WAC - 1
Ivy - 1
D1 IN STATE: 31
D1 OUT OF STATE: 51
With Illinois being in the heart of Big 10 and Missouri Valley country it's no surprise to see the most commits within those two conferences, but one interesting trend is the amount of Division I programs outside of Illinois coming into the state to fill their rosters. Illinois schools lead the way by a large margin but 23 other states went into Illinois for players. Here's a look at the geographic breakdown of early Division I commits.
Illinois - 31
Kentucky - 6
Texas - 5
Indiana - 5
Missouri - 5
Pennsylvania - 4
Tennessee - 3
Michigan - 3
Ohio - 2
Arizona - 2
D.C. - 2
Wisconsin - 2
Colorado - 1
Arkansas- 1
New York - 1
California - 1
Iowa - 1
Kansas - 1
Maryland - 1
Minnesota - 1
Nebraska - 1
New Mexico - 1
South Carolina - 1
North Carolina - 1
Division I Early Commits
Name | School | Pos. | Commitment | Conference |
Nate Styles | Warren | RHP | Air Force | Mountain West |
Brady Corrigan | Plainfield North | RHP | Arizona State | Pac 12* |
Brendan Murphy | Mundelein | LHP | Arizona State | Pac 12* |
Chad Cwik | Oak Lawn | LHP | Arkansas | SEC* |
Jack McCullough | Warren | LHP | Army | Patriot |
Jaxon Herchenbach | Hinsdale South | RHP | Austin Peay | Ohio Valley |
Billy Mote | University | SS | Baylor | Big 12* |
Keaton Rice | Geneseo | C | Bradley | Missouri Valley |
Brooks Gosswein | Barrington | LHP | Bradley | Missouri Valley |
Austin Waeghe | Neuqua Valley | RHP | Butler | Big East |
James Gargano | Neuqua Valley | SS | Butler | Big East |
Connor Gurnik | Naperville Central | 2B | Cal Poly | Big West |
Wyell Woods | Marian Catholic | OF | Eastern Illinois | Ohio Valley |
Austin Ruesch | Edwardsville | RHP | Evansville | Missouri Valley |
Michael Stupinski | Fenwick | RHP | Georgetown | Big East |
Alex Gamache | Lake Forest Academy | C | Georgetown | Big East |
Ryan Kutt | Brother Rice | RHP | Illinois | Big Ten* |
Jimmy Burnette | St. Laurence | OF | Illinois | Big Ten* |
Kellen Sarver | Champaign Centennial | C | Illinois | Big Ten* |
Dylan Jones | Oswego East | OF | Illinois | Big Ten* |
Jake McCaw | Normal Community | 3B | Illinois State | Missouri Valley |
Connor Peplow | Plainfield North | RHP | Illinois State | Missouri Valley |
Johnny Ray | Quincy Notre Dame | RHP | Illinois State | Missouri Valley |
Donivan Williams | Richards | 3B | Illinois State | Missouri Valley |
Justin Diaz | Lake View | SS | Illinois State | Missouri Valley |
Jake Pomykalski | Lincoln-Way East | RHP | Illinois-Chicago | Horizon |
Ryan Lin-Peistrup | Loyola Academy | SS | Illinois-Chicago | Horizon |
Thomas Farrell | St. Laurence | OF | Illinois-Chicago | Horizon |
Jack Guzek | Brother Rice | RHP | Indiana State | Missouri Valley |
Zion Pettigrew | Mount Carmel | SS | Iowa | Big Ten* |
Steven Washilewski | St. Rita | LHP | Kansas | Big 12* |
Austin Marozas | Plainfield South | RHP | Kentucky | SEC* |
Michael Dunn | Benet | RHP | Lafayette | Patriot |
Matt Svanson | Lake Zurich | RHP | Lehigh | Patriot |
Bobby Miller | McHenry West | RHP | Louisville | ACC* |
Glenn Albanese | Batavia | RHP | Louisville | ACC* |
Tom Josten | Fremd | SS | Louisville | ACC* |
Reid Detmers | Chatham-Glenwood | LHP | Louisville | ACC* |
Mark DiLuia | Marian Catholic | RHP | Maryland | Big Ten* |
Zach Mettetal | St. Charles North | SS | Memphis | American |
Logan Schmitt | Plainfield East | RHP | Miami (OH) | MAC |
Joe Donovan | Westmont | C | Michigan | Big Ten* |
Angelo Smith | Richards | LHP | Michigan | Big Ten* |
Ryan King | Brother Rice | SS | Michigan State | Big Ten* |
Easton Bertrand | Manteno | OF | Minnesota | Big Ten* |
Gavin Lovesky | Lockport | 3B | Missouri | SEC* |
Konnor Ash | Plainfield South | RHP | Missouri | SEC* |
Sam Faith | St. Charles North | SS | Missouri State | Missouri Valley |
Jake Jones | Oak Forest | RHP | Murray State | Ohio Valley |
Mike Addante | Jacobs | OF | Nebraska | Big Ten* |
Jeffrey Zack | Romeoville | RHP | New Mexico State | WAC |
Tommy Washington | Harlan | SS | Northern Illinois | MAC |
Kyle Seebach | Rochelle | LHP | Northern Illinois | MAC |
Mike Fuentes | Bremen | RHP | Northern Illinois | MAC |
Matthew McCumber | Cary Grove | RHP | Northern Illinois | MAC |
Michael Lasiewicz | McHenry West | RHP | Northern Illinois | MAC |
Charlie Bourbon | Stevenson | RHP | Northwestern | Big Ten* |
Casey O'Laughlin | Fenwick | OF | Northwestern | Big Ten* |
Jackson Petersen | Libertyville | C | Pennsylvania | Ivy |
Bo Hofstra | Illiana Christian | RHP | Purdue | Big Ten* |
Brian Vance | Loyola | C | Loyola | Atlantic 10 |
Tyler Mettetal | St. Charles North | LHP | South Carolina | SEC* |
Gabe Schimpf | Zeigler-Royalton | OF | Southeast Missouri State | Ohio Valley |
Noah Farmer | Massac County | RHP | Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley |
JT Weber | Massac County | 3B | Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley |
Stephen Mogged | Lakes Community | OF | Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley |
Michael Bieterman | Aurora Central Catholic | C | Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley |
Zach Frieling | Chicago Christian | SS | St. Louis | A-10 |
Brad Czerniejewski | Lake Forest | OF | Texas Christian | Big 12* |
Ryan Eiermann | Naperville Central | LHP | Texas Christian | Big 12* |
Ryan Sublette | Lemont | RHP | Texas Tech | Big 12* |
KC Simonich | Lemont | 3B | Texas Tech | Big 12* |
Erik Kaiser | Waterloo | RHP | Vanderbilt | SEC* |
Bobby Seymour | Mount Carmel | 1B | Wake Forest | ACC* |
Jace Warkentien | Winnebago | LHP | Western Illinois | Summit |
Caleb Jacobs | Normal West | OF | Western Illinois | Summit |
Jack Carberry | Shepard | RHP | Western Illinois | Summit |
Jordan Mikel | Plainfield South | RHP | Western Illinois | Summit |
Justin Foy | Rockridge | RHP | Western Illinois | Summit |
Mike Edwards | Oak Forest | RHP | Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Horizon |
Kevin Lane | Sandburg | RHP | Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Horizon |
Ryan Altenberger | Morton | SS | Xavier | Big East |
Not to be left out, but Division II programs from outside states have come into Illinois for players as well, just not quite to the level of the Division I schools. Here's a look at the geographic breakdown of early Division II commits.
D2 IN STATE: 20
D2 OUT OF STATE: 23
Illinois – 20
Missouri – 11
Indiana – 4
Iowa – 3
Michigan – 2
Wisconsin – 2
Alabama – 1
Division II Early Commits
Kade Burns | Edwardsville | SS | Central Missouri |
Corey Price | Civic Memorial | OF | Central Missouri |
Mike Massaro | Providence Catholic | C | Hillsdale College |
Sonny Mentone | Antioch | LHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Carter Lawler | Hampshire | RHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Brandon Romero | Elmwood Park | LHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Jake Armstrong | Normal University | C | Illinois-Springfield |
Robert Archbold | Warren | OF | Illinois-Springfield |
Ken Brokop | Bradley-Bourbonnais | RHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Colton Hale | St. Joseph-Ogden | RHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Mason Coon | St. Joseph-Ogden | LHP | Illinois-Springfield |
Nick Mayerhofer | Plainfield South | SS | Illinois-Springfield |
Eddie Wilkins | Reed Custer | RHP | Illinois-Springfield |
John Carpinelli | Buffalo Grove | 3B | Indianapolis |
Anthony Cavalieri | Fenwick | SS | Lewis University |
Max Warren | Yorkville | OF | Lewis University |
Matt Verdun | St. Rita | SS | Lewis University |
Karson Aherin | Chatham-Glenwood | LHP | Lindenwood University (MO |
Dominic Connolly | Lemont | SS | Maryville University |
Joseph Vascik | St. Laurence | RHP | Maryville University |
Lane Belleville | Teutopolis | RHP | Maryville University |
Hayden Schaefer | O'Fallon | OF | McKendree University |
Connor McCormick | Manteno | C | McKendree University |
Connor Breyer | OFallon | 2B | McKendree University |
Ty Shylanski | Belleville West | 1B | McKendree University |
Cody McArthur | Tinley Park | C | Missouri Western State |
Nick Wolski | Crystal Lake South | 3B | Missouri-St. Louis |
A.J. Davis | Mount Zion | SS | Missouri-St. Louis |
Hunter Keim | Rock Island | RHP | Quincy University |
Joe Roscetti | Williamsville | SS | Quincy University |
Brady McAfee | Alton Marquette Catholic | LHP | Quincy University |
Daniel Marks | Libertyville | OF | Rockhurst |
Ian Taylor | Conant | 1B | Saginaw Valley State |
Jacob Hartline | Herrin | SS | Southern Indiana |
Pat Mayo | Brother Rice | 3B | Spring Hill College |
Andy Lopez | Brother Rice | C | St. Joseph's (IN) |
Scott Garrow | Lyons Township | OF | St. Joseph's (IN) |
Noah Schrader |
Hampshire | OF | Truman State |
Brenden Butler | Oak Lawn | SS | Upper Iowa |
Logan DeWulf | Huntley | RHP | Upper Iowa |
Breven Daugherity | Joliet West | RHP | Upper Iowa |
Tim Hasto | St. Charles North | SS | Wisconsin-Oshkosh |
Anthony Alvarez | Taft | C | Wisconsin-Parkside |
High school baseball, not only in Illinois but the Midwest, is alive and well at the moment. The number of commitments mentioned above only represents a portion of the overall commitments in the 2017 class in Illinois. Division III, NAIA and NJCAA commits were not mentioned above as they do not share the same signing period as Division I and Division II institutions.
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