Perfect Game recently released their Mid-Summer travel baseball rankings. This was the 4th edition of their national travel baseball rankings in 2019 and had a number of changes in the 10u age group. 5 teams from North Carolina, two from Virginia, and two from South Carolina made the top 100. Here we review some of the highlights of the 10u top 100 national rankings, as well as offer our thoughts on these rankings.
North Carolina representation
5 teams from North Carolina made the national top 100 in Perfect Game's latest national rankings. This included our #1 team, the SBA Futures, NC #2 SBA Nationals, #3 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro, #4 Dirtbags Black, and #6 West Raleigh Blue. The Futures are the highest ranked team from North Carolina, coming in at #4 nationally. The SBA Nationals came in at #20, Park Sharon at #32, West Raleigh Blue at #68, and Dirtbags Black at #80. The Futures have posted an overall record of 53-7 as a 10u team, including a 33-5 record this spring. Along the way, they have scored titles at the Fall 2018 USSSA Beast of the East Super NIT and the Spring 2019 Atlanta Spring Super NIT. The SBA Nationals came in at #20 after posting an overall record 53-14-2 as a 10u team, including a 40-9-1 record this spring. Their spring was highlighted by a tournament win at the Spring 2019 USSSA Beast of the East Super NIT that included a win over the SBA Futures. Park Sharon came in at #32 after being unranked in prior Perfect Game rankings this spring. They earned their way into the top 100 by going 24-7-1 this spring and 41-8-1 overall as a 10u team. West Raleigh Blue was ranked #68 in the latest Perfect Game's rankings after posting a 22-6-1 record this spring and a 38-8-1 record overall as a 10u team. The final North Carolina team in the top 100 is Dirtbags Black, who came in at #80. The Dirtbags are 22-11-1 this spring and 35-19-1 overall, facing some of the top competition in the region as well as numerous games against 11u competition.
What Perfect Game got wrong
Choosing the best team in the nation at 10u is an exceedingly difficult task. It is very rare that these teams will play one another and thus direct comparisons between the top teams are tough. Nevertheless, we were a bit surprised to see the SBA Futures bumped from the top spot in the latest rankings, after they had been #1 since the pre-season rankings in February. Just this spring, the Futures have posted wins over #3 Banditos Black (TX), #5 Motor City Hit Dogs (MI) (x2), #10 Kennesaw Generals (GA), #11 Kangaroo Court Roos American (FL), #26 Knoxville Stars (TN), #32 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro (x2), and #45 Remix Rip City (GA) (x3). That's a total of 11 wins against teams in the top 50 of the national rankings, including 4 wins over other teams in the top 10. We reviewed the resumes of the 3 teams above them (#1 East Cobb Astros Navy, #2 FCA Blueclaws, and #3 Banditos Black). East Cobb has posted an impressive spring, including wins over #3 Banditos Black (TX), #22 CBA Wave (CA) #47 Rawlings SE Red (GA) (x2), #50 Carl Black Longhorns (GA), #66 Force Baseball Academy - Griffin (GA), #67 Ohio Nationals (x2), #69 East Cobb Astros Orange (GA), and #79 Smartense Angles (GA). However, that's 5 wins against top 50 teams, and only one against a top 10 team. Beyond that, the Astros have posted a 4-5-1 record against 10u teams in USSSA play since April, which does not seem indicative of a team that should have moved from #16 to #1 over the same time period.
It appears to us that because Astros won the Perfect Game 10u World Series, the FCA Blueclaws won the Perfect Game Super25 National Championship, and the Banditos finished 2nd at the 10u World Series, those teams were bumped in front of the Futures, who have not played Perfect Game events. While it might be reasonable for Perfect Game to reward the teams who are excelling in the Perfect Game events, we don't feel dropping the Futures to 4th appears justified. Fortunately, the Futures will get a shot to prove they should be #1 at the USSSA Demarini Elite World Series, as East Cobb, FCA Blueclaws, Banditos Black, and the Futures will all be in the field. In addition, #5 Motor City Hit Dogs, #7 Parkland Porkers (FL), #8 Banditos - Castillo (TX), #10 Kennesaw Generals, #12 Line Drive Black (GA), #13 FSBA WarHorses (AR), #14 Chino Hills Thunder (CA), #18 Oklahoma Fuel, #20 SBA Nationals, and multiple other top 100 will be in the Demarini field.