A look inside Perfect Game’s 11u Preseason National Top 100

Perfect Game's 11u Preseason National Top 100 was another strong showing for teams in the region with 5 teams from North Carolina (Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro, SBA Futures, SBA Nationals, West Raleigh Blue, and Dirtbags Black), 1 from South Carolina (Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley), and 1 from Virginia (Stars Baseball - Colangelo) included. Park Sharon continues to be the fast riser in this age group, going from unranked nationally 1 year ago, to #36 in the End-of-Summer rankings in 2019, to #5 in the preseason rankings. Here we take a look at Perfect Game's Preseason Top 100 and how the teams in our region fit in.

 

North Carolina representation
Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro is up to #5 in Perfect Game's Preseason National Top 100 rankings.

5 total teams from North Carolina made the cut for Perfect Game's Preseason National Top 100. Our #2 team, Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro posted the highest national ranking, coming in at #5. This is up from #36 from their final spot in the 2019 End-of-Summer rankings. Our #1 team, the SBA Futures fell from #5 to #15 in the preseason rankings.Our #3 team, the SBA Nationals, came in at #29th, down slightly from #22 where they were at the end of Summer. Our 5 team, West Raleigh Blue, is 74th in the preseason rankings, down from 68th at the end of the Summer. Our #8 team, Dirtbags Black, is 96th in the preseason top 100, down from 87th at the end of Summer.

Beyond North Carolina

Our #1 team in South Carolina, Team 24 Gamecocks - Ashley are ranked 49th in the preseason. This is down slightly from #40 at the end of the Summer. Virginia Stars - Colangelo is up to 14th in the preseason top 100, from 24th in the end of Summer Rankings. VA Seminoles - Dowdy fell out of the preseason rankings after finishing at #71 at the end of Summer.

 

 

What Perfect Game got right

Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro have been one of the very best teams in North Carolina for some time, and Perfect Game appears to be catching on. The Nationals have moved up from #36 in the End-of-Summer rankings in 2019 to #5 in the preseason rankings. They were joined in the top 30 by the SBA Futures at #15 and the SBA Nationals at #29. This is a very impressive showing for North Carolina to have 3 teams in the top 30 nationally, and we think the performances of these groups in particular justifies this lofty rankings.

What Perfect Game got wrong

Perhaps not as egregious as our 12u #1 Rawlings Prospects coming in at #100, it is really difficult to defend the SBA Futures being ranked 15th in the preseason top 100. In 2019, the Futures lost 1 game to an in-state 11u opponent (against the SBA Nationals). In total, they only had 3 other losses against teams in their own age group with those losses coming in a 3-0 decision against national #1 MVP Hustle - Garcia (CA) in the finals of the USSSA Wilson Demarini Elite World Series, as well as 6-5 and 5-1 losses to national #27 I Am Baseball. In 2019, the Futures had wins over #3 FCA Blueclaws - Lucas (FL), #4 Texas Banditos Black, #5 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro, #12 Oklahoma Fuel, #16 Kennesaw Generals (GA) (x2), #19 Kangaroo Court Roos American, #36 Tallahassee Heat (FL), #45 MCBC Hit Dogs (MI) (x2), #48 Remix RipCity (GA) (x3), and #66 East Cobb Astros Elite. That's a 14-3 record against other top 100 teams with 13 wins over top 50 teams. These guys have earned a spot near the top of these rankings, and there really isn't a good explanation for why they aren't closer to the top given their performance against the best teams. We can't help but wonder if their lack of competing in Perfect Game events had something do with their drop, however we haven't spent the time looking at how many of the top teams have played in Perfect Game events to fully investigate this. Nevertheless, we think the Futures were sorely under-ranked in the preseason rankings, but they'll have all spring and summer to prove us right and Perfect Game wrong.