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Top-10 Stories of 2019: No. 8 PBR at The Rock tournament success in year one

December 18, 2019
By Andy Sroka
Staff Writer, Associate Scout

In 2019, for the first time, the PBR Wisconsin team hosted four tournaments at The Rock Sports Complex in Franklin, Wis., just south of Milwaukee. From May through July, our staff held separate tourneys at the 13/14U, 15U, 16U, and 17U levels. The PBR at The Rock Championships were a smashing success and provided our staff – as well as the college and pro scouting communities – an additional avenue to view some of the top programs in the Midwest.

The tournaments will return in 2020, but we thought we’d spend a little time today recapping the four Rock tournaments of 2019, which proved to be some of the most important opportunities for our staff to see the best talent in, not only Wisconsin, but Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana, too.

13/14U TOURNAMENTS

This tournament featured some of the top talent in the Midwest at the time, including OF/LHP Max Clark (Franklin, IN, 2023) who committed to Vanderbilt recently and is the No. 1-ranked prospect in Indiana’s 2023 class. His show-stopping performance at The Rock was one of the best moments of the summer, where he touched 85 and 86 mph on the mound and was one of the top bats in attendance, too.

Also in attendance was Cam Collier (Mount Paran, GA, 2023), a Louisville commit who moved from Illinois to Georgia over the summer and became the state’s No. 2-ranked prospect in a loaded 2023 class. He touched 83 mph from the mound in his start and also looks like a natural at shortstop.

From a more Wisconsin perspective, several of the state’s top 2023 prospects were in attendance, like INF Cal Fisher (Deerfield) who committed to Notre Dame recently and RHP/SS Adam Switalski (Westosha Central) who became the first prospect to commit in the state’s freshman class when he recently announced a verbal commitment to Indiana. Big RHP Evan Shapiro (Wauwatosa East, 2023) is another freshman arm to watch headed into the spring. He was up to 81 mph at The Rock.

15U TOURNAMENT

Wisconsin’s Class of 2022 has a chance to be very special, and this tournament certainly helped highlight that fact. Here, prospects like OF Michael Lippe (Whitefish Bay; Louisville commit) and C Will Vierling (Homestead; Louisville) continued to establish themselves as need-to-know sophomores in the state. We also got another look at Fisher, who was playing up a level with the GRB Rays, though he was more than comfortable in doing so.

LHP Luke Ross, from Waunakee, is proving himself to be one of the top left-handers in the state and he had a stellar outing at this tournament in June. He’s the No. 10-ranked prospect in the state, too.

Outside of Wisconsin, this tournament also shined a light on a number of high-level Illinois prospects, like South Carolina recruit Zander Buchan (Maine South). He had a huge tournament with four extra-base hits, including a long home run on the final day of action. Also, SS Estevan Moreno (Montini Catholic) was probably this event’s MVP. He’s a natural defender who also launched three home runs on championship Sunday, including two no-doubters in the title game.

16U TOURNAMENT

For our Wisconsin staff, this tournament helped us finalize some last-minute decisions to make to our 2019 PBR Future Games team that would be representing our state. INF/RHP Grant Ross (Pewaukee; Valparaiso), RHP Drew Stippich (Kettle Moraine; uncommitted), LHP Alex Hayes (Muskego; uncommitted), and RHP Tyler Hug (Waukesha West; uncommitted) were a handful of names on this championship STiKS squad that came away from the 16U tournament with a win and an invite to Georgia as representatives of Team Wisconsin. Ross and Stippich were integral to the team’s victory over Top Tier in the championship game, too, one that needed extra innings.

Fellow Team Wisconsin prospect RHP Isaac Engelbrecht (Oak Creek, 2021; uncommitted) also had a stellar start here where he K’d 11 in a complete game.

Out of state, Purdue commit RHP Carter Doorn (Lake Central, IN, 2021) also pitched really well in a start for the Morris Chiefs. He was tied atop the max fastball leaderboard with an 87 mph high and is currently the No. 5-ranked prospect in Indiana’s ‘21 class.

Illinois had a few eventual Future Games standouts at this tourney, too, including the speedy OF Nicky Giamarusti (Notre Dame, IL, 2021; Pittsburgh), who went on to break the 60-yard dash record (6.22) at the prestigious event, and OF/LHP Isaiah Thompson (Sacred Heart-Griffin, IL, 2021; Indiana State).

17U TOURNAMENT

There were 34 of the best teams in the Midwest in attendance at the summer’s final PBR at The Rock Championship tournament. The last featured prospects at the 17U age level, including the stacked Cangelosi Sparks roster filled with some of Illinois’ best, like SS Christian Knapczyk (Joliet Catholic, IL, 2020; Louisville) and C Jack Payton (Brother Rice, IL, 2020; Louisville). The Sparks actually took on GRB Academy over that weekend in an electric match-up that pinned Illinois commit RHP Jack Crowder (Plainfield East. 2020) against the top-ranked pitcher in Wisconsin’s 2020 class, RHP Tyler Chadwick (Marshall; West Virginia). The two tossed fuel in their respective first frames, Crowder topped 93 mph while Chadwick touched 94 in front of a big crowd. The flame-throwing duel was one of the highlights of the summer.

We also saw the top senior in Wisconsin, A.J. Vukovich (East Troy; Louisville), gently swat a grand slam the opposite way. The No. 14-ranked senior in Illinois, OF Connor Milton (Champaign Central; Illinois) had a huge tournament himself and is trending up headed into the new year.

It was another loaded tournament, so we implore you to take another look at our instant analysis that followed each day of the event in our Quick Hits, or check out the all-encompassing Scout Blog.

TOP-10 STORIES OF 2019