A Look Inside Perfect Game’s 11u Top 100

Next in our review of Perfect Game's top 100s in the 11u rankings. Much like the 10u age group, this region was well represented in the top 100 with 4 teams from North Carolina, 1 from South Carolina, and 3 teams from Virginia all finishing inside the top 100. In addition, 13 total teams including 3 from North Carolina, 4 from South Carolina, and 6 from Virginia showed up on the "Regional Teams to Watch" list.

North Carolina Representation
Canes Baseball NC - Gilchrist received the #8 ranking in Perfect Game's top 100.

4 North Carolina teams found themselves ranked in the Perfect Game top 100. Our #2 team in North Carolina, Canes Baseball NC - Gilchrist, came in at #8 after going 64-12 as a 10u team including a title at the USA Futures 10u Invitational last summer, and posted a 14-5 record this past fall. Our #1 team in North Carolina, SBA Futures, finished #22 after posting an overall record of 38-16-1 as a 10u team and an 18-6 record this past fall as an 11u team. Our #3 team, West Raleigh Blue, came in at #92 after going 22-4 in the spring of their 10u campaign and 15-5 in the fall of 2018. Our #4 team, Rawlings Prospects NC, went 24-11 this past fall and was ranked right behind West Raleigh at #93 in Perfect Game's top 100. 3 other North Carolina teams (#5 Dirtbags Black, #7 Dirtbags East, and #8 Carolina Havoc) found themselves on the "Regional Teams to Watch" list.

Beyond North Carolina

Our #1 team in Virginia, Stars Baseball - Camp, came in at #47 in the top 100. Rip City came in at #49 in the top 100 and our #4 team, VA Seminoles - Fletcher came in at #69 after going 33-8-2 as a 10u team and 11-4 this pat fall. 6 teams from Virginia landed in the "Regional Teams to Watch" list including our #2 team Invaders Baseball, our #3 Loudoun South Eagles, our #4 Stafford Warriors, as well as Team Vinci, and the Tidewater Horns, who we have no doubt will find themselves near the top of our Virginia rankings as the spring and summer wear on.

Only 1 team from South Carolina, our #1 East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill, ended up in Perfect Game's top 100, coming in at #61 after going 36-8-1 as a 10u team, and 16-4-1 this past fall. Our #2-5 South Carolina teams, PRO Select, Charleston Revolution, Predators NE, and Gameday Shockwave all ended up on the "Regional Teams to Watch" list.

 

 

What Perfect Game Got Right

From our perspective, it appears Perfect Game again did an excellent job. While the precise numerical ranking for each team in the top 100 is less important, we definitely would consider Canes - Gilchrist and SBA Futures among the top 25-30 teams in the country. While SBA's head-to-head record against the Canes gave them the edge in our North Carolina State ranking, we understand that the Canes had big tournament victories over national competition at the Atlanta Spring Select 30 Super NIT and USA Futures 10u championship which might vault them over SBA in these national rankings and into the top 10.

What Perfect Game Got Wrong

This is only nitpicking, but Kangaroo Court Roos American already has nearly the same number of losses as an 11u team as they did throughout the entirety of their 10u year (9 vs. 10). This includes a 2-3 showing at the USSSA Suncoast Fall State Championship in October). Coupled with a 2-2 showing this weekend at the President's Day Select 30 Super NIT, the Roos now have 5 losses against 11u competition in Florida. This doesn't mean they aren't the best team in the country, because the have as impressive a groups of wins as anybody and their losses have come against #12 Gulf Coast Monarchs, #53 Five Star Demarini (x2), and #58 Tampa Bay Legends (x2). Rather it just is further evidence for how difficult it is to stratify teams at this age.

North Carolina represented itself quite well in the PG 11u top 100. Virginia and South Carolina also placed several teams among the top 100 and this should give the teams in this region a good sense for who are the most talented teams around. So much changes from season to season with players at this age that there will no doubt be teams who fall off the list and more teams to spring up and challenge the currently ranked teams. We are excited to see some of the challengers this spring around this area.