We’re going to try and provide some rationale for our rankings each week. We can’t promise we’ll always have time to do this, but as people are interested in rankings like this, we want to maintain some level of transparency about how we think about these rankings and how we approach where to slot teams. We’ve also included other teams who we’ve considered. This is not an exhaustive list of all teams considered and is only meant to try and bring some notoriety to other teams who are doing a great job in the travel season but who might just fall outside our rankings. As always, if you see something you disagree with in our rankings or our rationale, let us know. We’re the first to admit we’re not the expert on every team at every age group and getting the coaches, players, and fans’ opinions on who the best teams you’ve seen or played is always helpful for us.
8u
Not much change in the 8u rankings. It’s hard to know what to do with #1 West Raleigh Blue. They won’t be playing travel baseball again until after their rec season near the summer. Can we still keep them #1 if they aren’t playing? We’ll keep debating this question weekly. They’ll stay in front of #2 Carolina Threshers for now, because of their head-to-head win at the Top Gun Winter World Series. The Threshers again look like one of the top teams in state, going 4-0 thus far in fairly dominating fashion. We moved Dirtbags Black down from #3 at the start of the spring to #6 currently after they lost an early season game to Greenville Athletics. The Dirtbags ended up winning that tournament, so we didn’t penalize them too much.The Lake Norman Vipers have moved up from #6 to #4 with their continued excellent play. They’ve won 16 Top Gun games in a row, dating back to last October. Their last loss came against the South Charlotte Cardinals (15-1), which is why we’ve kept them below the #4 Cardinals. The only other change to the rankings thus far this spring was to add Greenville Athletics, who are 4-2 this spring including a win over Dirtbags Black, as mentioned above. Some of the other teams considered this week were Dirtbags East, North Wake FUNGO, the Youngsville Phantoms, and the Carolina Stingers.
9u
The Park Sharon Nationals are the clear #1 in this age group, and it’s not particularly close right now. We’ve kept #2 and #3 the same with Dirtbags Black and West Raleigh Blue, respectively, as we’ve continued to give weight to the Dirtbags’ Top Gun WWS win over West Raleigh. The only major change in the top 10 was to drop the Piedmont Panthers from #4 to #8 currently, after an early season “scrimmage” loss to SBA Canes – Simmons and a loss to Park Sharon. We don’t feel particularly good about this, given the nature of the umpire training games, but it’s hard to ignore a 12-4 loss. We also don’t hold the Park Sharon loss against them too much, given how dominant Park Sharon has been at 9u. We hope that as the season wears on, the “real” Piedmont Panthers will prove themselves and they’ll climb the rankings again. Rock Solid Red has remained elevated in our rankings (currently #14), because we think they have a great team and have played tough competition early in the season, but their margin for error will be pretty low to remain up in the rankings. SBA Canes – Simmons has been a new addition to the top 20 this spring (currently #16), and they’ve been impressive. With their only loss to Park Sharon and a win over the Piedmont Panthers in their umpire training games, it will be interesting to see where they shake out in the rankings as the season progresses. Other teams considered for top 20 spots included the Wilson Reds, Carolina Combat, and LKN Hurricanes – Mann.
10u
#1 Canes Baseball NC – Gilchrist and #2 SBA Canes – Marconi are locked in at the top of the rankings and these two have separated themselves from the pack in the 10u age group. They appear to be on a collision course this spring as they both will be frequenting the USSSA Super NIT circuit to try and secure a bid and points for the Demarini USSSA World Series this summer. The Carolina Thunder have been the big mover this spring with two wins this past weekend over then #3 Dirtbags Platinum that vaulted the Thunder from 16th to 5th. The knock on the Thunder has been that there competition hasn’t always been the greatest, but they proved this past weekend that they can play with anyone. Dirtbags Platinum, meanwhile, dropped from #3 to #8 with the losses. We still think they’ll be great this spring, but the two losses to the Thunder were a bit of a surprise. The Alamance Patriots have steadily climbed to #9 this spring and we hope some enhanced competition this spring will allow them to sort their position in the top 20. Dirtbags East dropped an early season game to the Carolina Pilots which was a bit of a surprise, but again this was an umpire training game, so it’s hard to know how much weight to place on it. We’ve dropped them from #6 to start the spring to #11 currently. The Belmont Bandits have been a pleasant surprise this spring as well, going 10-0 thus far in 10u play including impressive wins over the SC Jets and the East Coast Snipers (SC). They have gone from unranked to #13 in our top 20 currently. The Fuquay Varina Wildcats have dropped from #8 to #18 currently after sustaining a loss to Dirtbags East. Rock Solid Red has also made in appearance in our rankings at #18 after some nice performances thus far this spring. Other teams considered for top 20 spots included the Richmond Rockies, LKN Hurricanes, West Raleigh Blue, and GRIT – Koonin.
11u
SBA Canes – Ross remains locked in at #1 and they’ve done nothing to suggest they should be moved down thus far. We await the spring debuts of the Canes Baseball NC teams (Hood and Simpson) and have kept the top 10 largely intact thus far with some small movements up (Team Ghost, Cleveland Wildcats Elite) for wins, and a big move down for the Carolina Blue Sox (7th to 14th) after some early season losses. The Carolina Pilots have moved up from #18 to #11 after some early season success and we’ll see where they sort themselves out as their competition improves. The CB Kings were added at #15 to the 11u top 20 after an early season tournament win. LKN Attack was added to the rankings this week at #18 after a tournament win including a victory over #13 Athlete’s Lab/Carolina Crushers. The Weddington Warriors have moved down to #20 and the Vision Bandits have fallen out of our top 20 after some early season losses for both teams. Other teams in consideration for top 20 spots included the Brunswick Core, Stanly County Titans, and North Wake Shockwave.
12u
The top three (East Rowan, Minion, and Legends Baseball) appear to have separated themselves. Although we haven’t seen East Rowan in action this spring, Minion and Legends have been nothing short of dominating. We still give East Rowan the edge here because of their 11-3 win over Minion and subsequent tournament victory at the Top Gun WWS. Legends was also in the semifinals of the WWS, but lost to a excellent Virginia Venom team, who East Rowan beat in the finals. We dropped Park Sharon only one spot from 4th to 5th after their loss last weekend to an excellent Team 24 Gamecocks (SC) team. Otherwise, not much change in the rankings as the 12u age group has not been particularly active as of yet, presumably because of middle school sports. Of note, we have added back Canes Baseball NC – Harland to our rankings at #20. This is a little disingenuous on our part as they did not play in the fall due to fall sports commitments. However, at 11u this may have been the top team in age group, and just like the Canes teams at other age groups, they have an absolutely loaded roster. Other teams we considered this week included the NSA Snipers, Copperheads – Sumner, and Five Star LKN.
13u
Really there hasn’t been much change in the 13u rankings as most of these teams have been inactive thus far, again presumably due to school sports/baseball. We did bump the Carolina Naturals up from #16 to #10 after an impressive showing playing 14u, including a win over an excellent Wilmington Sting team and a tournament victory at 14u.