Perfect Game recently updated their national youth travel team rankings, including the 11u age group. A total of 7 teams from North Carolina made the top 75 teams, making this the largest number of NC teams in any of Perfect Game's rankings. Leading the way was the SBA Futures at #5, followed closely by Dirtbags Black at #11. With our top 6 teams in North Carolina making an appearance in the top 75, this appears to be one of the most overall competitive age groups in the state.
North Carolina representation
7 teams from North Carolina made Perfect Game's national top 75. The North Carolina contingent was led by the SBA Futures at #5 followed by Dirtbags Black at #11, the SBA Nationals at #35, Rawlings Prospects NC -National at #49, the 5 Star Carolina Shockers at #54, Canes Baseball NC - Pirro at #71, and Area Stars - Zach at #72. The order of the North Carolina teams in these rankings follow our rankings pretty closely, with only the 5 Star Shockers being slightly higher in the order of North Carolina teams than we have them.
Beyond North Carolina
No teams from Virginia or South Carolina ended up in Perfect Game's updated 11u national rankings.
What Perfect Game got right
Overall, our assessment is that Perfect Game has done a nice job with their 11u rankings. 23 of our preseason national top 25 are present in Perfect Game's top 75 with the lowest of our top 25 coming in at #52 (Scorpions Team Easton). #1 ZT Elite National Prospects and #2 Hollywood Heat appear to be the top two teams in this age group. The SBA Futures look to be one of the top 5-10 teams in the country as well with Dirtbags Black just behind them. The SBA Nationals and Rawlings Prospects NC National have also proven to be among some of the top teams in the country as well and are worthy inclusions in the top 50 teams in the 11u national rankings. We think the top 6-7 teams in this age group are very competitive with one another, and this is reflected in Perfect Game's inclusion of 7 North Carolina teams in their national top 75.
What Perfect Game got wrong
This is probably nit-picking, but it sure feels like the Futures have earned a spot above the TG Dbacks (GA). At the recent ATLanta Spring Select Super NIT in March, the Futures defeated the Dbacks in the finals by the score of 9-6. Of note, the Dbacks had defeated the Futures in pool play by the score of 7-5, showing how close these two teams are. The Futures have 11 wins against other teams in Perfect Game's rankings, and their only other loss this year against an 11u team came at the hands of the Hollywood Heat, who are currently #2 in these rankings, and SBA Nationals, who are also probably a bit two low in these rankings. They'll get a chance to prove it at the Perfect Game World Series and 11u Invitational National Championship, TravelBall Select National Championship, and USSSA Demarini Elite World Series later this summer. We expect to seems like the SBA Nationals and Rawlings Prospects NC National to move up the national rankings as they compete against more national teams and at more Perfect Game events. While the 5 Star Shockers have had a good spring, 54th in the country is probably a bit too high for them.