A lot has changed since the fall in the 13u baseball scene in North Carolina and beyond, as those in the age group would probably attest. The 13u age group more than any other age groups is where the rankings get very difficult, but for a very different reason - national teams and "guest players." Here we provide some thoughts on Perfect Game's 13u national rankings.
North Carolina representation
4 teams from North Carolina made Perfect Game's national top 75. Canes Baseball NC - Eason lead the way, coming in at #7. They were followed by Mission Baseball Gold at #14, who are fresh off a win over Canes - Eason. Dirtbags Black came in at #16 after a strong performance in the fall of 2020, with the SBA FUtures rounding out the North Carolina contingent at #31. With 4 teams in the top 31 teams nationally, North Carolina was well represented in these rankings.
Beyond North Carolina
Virginia was represented by Stars Baseball - Camp at #13, while South Carolina had two teams in the top 75, including Canes Baseball SC - Staats at #25 and SC Dirtbags Prime at #62.
What Perfect Game got right
21 of the teams in our preseason national top 25 are in Perfect Game's April 13u national rankings update. While that alone is not justification for Perfect Game getting things right, it does suggest that reasonable minds can start to identify some of the best teams in the country, even if their precise rankings are debatable. Although this age group is a bit complicated to rank for reasons we discuss below, we do feel Perfect Game has done a reasonably good job at identifying the best teams. Currently, teams such as #1 ZT Elite Cali Prospects, #2 ZT Elite - Nava (TX), and the #3 Texas Canes Elite stand out as some of the very best teams in the country. Other programs such as #5 TBT National White look to be continuing to build off strong performances in the fall, while teams such as #4 Smartense Select (GA) and the Florida Burn teams/program are making names for themselves early this spring. Team Elite's National team should be another team to watch closely at the top of this age group as they impressed in their first event as a group this spring. Several North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia teams received some very high rankings, so we will look to see if these teams can justify those positions as the season progresses.
What Perfect Game got wrong
The 13u age group is, in our mind, perhaps the most difficult age group to rank appropriately for several reasons. The North Carolina teams are a good example of this. Dirtbags Black had one of the more impressive fall seasons of any 13u team, and yet a large portion of their roster changed from the fall season to the spring. They are not the same team they were in the fall. Are they the 16th best team in the country? Maybe, but they haven't played a game and have changed their name to Dirtbags Camo for the spring and summer. Canes - Eason was ranked 8th in the country by Perfect Game before ever playing a game. They have been impressive thus far, but have losses to both TPA Nationals Black, who are not ranked nationally by Perfect Game, and Mission Baseball Gold this spring. Are they the 7th best team in the country as they are currently ranked? They may actually be, but their performance, and not their reputation, should dictate their ranking. Canes - Staats is another example. Currently ranked #25, a good portion of their roster in the fall left to form the core of the Canes - Eason team. They have yet to play a game with the current iteration of their roster.
Beyond just these examples, the 13u rankings face a more difficult challenge nationally. How do you rank teams when several of the top teams have the same players playing for both teams? Take a look at the rosters for some of these teams and see how many of these players are playing for multiple teams in the top 10 or 20. There is nothing wrong with that, but it makes ranking these teams difficult. Which team is a given player's "actual team"? Which iteration of a team is the one that is currently ranked? Perhaps the most obvious example is team currently ranked #1. ZT Elite Cali Prospects. A big tournament win at the Perfect Game Super Regional in Houstion earlier this spring likely propelled them to the top of the rankings, but a review of their roster shows their kids have played for (or are rostered for) teams ranked #2, #4, #5, #6, #11, #14, #15, etc. From a player's perspective, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. But for ranking teams, this makes the process exceedingly difficult and in our opinion, makes it hard to figure out who some of the best teams are from week to week. Hopefully some of the bigger events this year will help clarify this as these teams all begin to face one another. We have already been able to see some of this at some of the larger events thus far (PG Super NIT in Houston, etc.).