Prep Baseball Report

Top 10 Stories of 2017: No. 8 Top 2019s Hail From Webster HS


Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor - Wisconsin/Illinois

Our PBR Player Ranking lists are a collaboration of the top prospects in a state’s respective graduating class. In most cases you see a wide variety of schools and areas from around the state represented, from north to south, east to west, and Division 1 to Division 4, there is representation across the board. But rarely do we see a heavy representation at the top of the rankings from one particular school, and more specifically  

Occasionally we will see some talented years from some big schools with multiple players in the top ten. Take Arrowhead’s 2016 class with Nathan Brown, Dominic Clementi and Ryan Schmitt all spending time in the top ten. West Bend West turned a powerful 2017 class with top ten prospects Nate Burns and Anthony Schlass into a state title. The 2018 class has a pair of Janesville Craig Cougars in Jacob Campbell and Noah Berghammer who at one time were both in the top ten. But not since the 2015 class have we seen two prospects from the same high school sitting in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the same class, as we do with Webster RHP’s Jack Washburn and Hunter Rosenbaum.

In the spring of their sophomore year, 2015 Appleton North grads LHP Connor Wollersheim and SS Alex Henwood held on to the top two spots in the state rankings. In our recent update of the 2019 Rankings, Webster’s 1-2 punch on the mound of Washburn and Rosenbaum accomplished the same feat. The biggest difference, and why this is more of a story, Webster is a D4 program with an enrollment less than 200 students, and located in the far northwest corner of the state. Not where you would imagine the most fruitful area of the state for baseball talent. Whether it’s the impact of former MLB pitcher Jarrod Washburn at the helm of the Tigers, or just something in the water up there, Webster has clearly put themselves on the baseball map in Wisconsin.

Here’s a look at our 2019 Rankings update story:

WISCONSIN CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS UPDATED


Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor

Its that time again, another class rankings update and this time it's the 2019s. Our 2019 Overall Rankings were updated last week with a few shakeups at the top. Wisconsin’s 2019s saw a similar edit with the top three getting a shuffle and expanding the state rankings from 70 to 80.

CLICK HERE for complete Wisconsin 2019 Rankings.

This time around, RHP Jack Washburn (Webster) takes his turn at the top. Since the last update the high-ceiling right-hander has committed to one of the top college programs in the country in Oregon State and made a big jump in the Overall Rankings. Our National Crosscheckers Nathan Rode and Shooter Hunt had big things to say about him as well in this week’s edition of Coffee & Curveballs.

RANK   NAME STATE SCHOOL CLASS POS COMMITMENT
1 Jack Washburn WI Webster 2019 RHP Oregon State
2 Hunter Rosenbaum WI Webster 2019 RHP West Virginia
3 Nathan Stevens WI Waunakee 2019 C Arkansas
4 Connor Prielipp WI Tomah 2019 LHP  
5 Drake Baldwin WI Madison West 2019 C Missouri State
6 Xavier Watson WI South Milwaukee 2019 SS Illinois
7 Paul Toetz WI Greendale 2019 SS Indiana
8 Tanner Peterson WI Wilmot 2019 OF Illinois State
9 Steve Jamroziak WI Muskego 2019 OF Minnesota
10 Dan Blomgren WI Janesville Craig 2019 SS Michigan

RHP Hunter Rosenbaum (Webster) and C Nathan Stevens (Waunakee) round out the shuffled top three. Stevens had a whirlwind of a fall pulling double duty on the football field and the baseball field this fall. Stevens was busy winning a state title with the Warriors as one of the team’s kickers as well as making his rounds around the country with the Cincinnati Reds Scout Team this fall. His arm strength out of the crouch has been a separator along with his quick twitch hands at the plate.

Nathan Stevens 3.12.17

Outside of the top three, the rest of the top ten is status quo, but several intriguing prospects are knocking on the door of the top ten, including OF Jack Krumbach (Madison Memorial), SS Zach Lechnir (Kimberly), OF Drew Lechnir (Kimberly) and RHP Sean Barnard (Hudson), who is one of the top new additions to the rankings and we’ll touch on him more later in the week.