A look inside Perfect Game’s mid-summer 11u rankings

 

Beyond North Carolina

Virginia was represented by three teams in the top 100, our #1 team in Virginia Stars Baseball - Camp, our #2 team VA Seminoles - Fletcher, and our #6 team Rip City. Stars - Camp came in at #22 nationally and are 34-8-1 this spring, and 61-8-1 overall this past year. Seminoles - Fletcher was ranked at #54 in the latest Perfect Game rankings after posting a 29-7 record this spring and a 40-14 record overall this past year. Rip City was ranked at #70 in the latest Perfect Game 11u top 100. Rip City's overall record is a bit hard to gather, but as best we can tell they have put together and overall record of 23-15-1 across multiple organizations and playing up in the 12u age group quite a bit. 3 teams from South Carolina were also represented in the top 100, including our #1 team in SC, Charleston Revolution - Whittle, our #4 team in SC, Predators Columbia NE, and our #5 team in SC, East Coast Snipers - Clark/Hill. The Revolution, who are 35-4 this spring and 54-8-1 overall as an 11u team, have gone from unranked in the preseason rankings up to 55th nationally. The East Coast Snipers came in at #71 in the latest rankings, posting a 36-12-2 overall record, including a 20-8-1 record this spring. The Predators, who were ranked 87th in the most recent Perfect Game rankings, have posted a 22-13 record this spring and a 36-17 record overall.

What Perfect Game got right

We think Perfect Game got the NC teams correct, although maybe an argument could be made for inclusion of NC #5 GRIT and/or the #6 NCDB Rivercats, who both have multiple wins over teams in the top 100 this past year (GRIT: #30 East Tennessee Crusaders, #78 Rawlings Prospects NC, and #96 Comanche Baseball (GA); NCDB: #63 Dirtbags Black, #70 Rip City, and #78 Rawlings Prospects). The Canes were initially ranked 8th in the pre-season Top 100, and have stayed in the top 10 all spring. They've done nothing to hurt that ranking, scoring wins over #22 Stars Baseball - Camp, #34 Scorpions Team Easton (TX), #45 Georgia Bandits, #55 Charleston Revolution, #61 Elite Squad (FL), #63 Dirtbags Black, #64 5 Star National (GA), #70 Rip City, and #73 Motor City Hit Dogs (MI) as well as 2 USSSA Super NIT tournament wins this spring. The SBA Futures have been in a similar spot as the Canes, starting the year at #22 in the pre-season rankings, and moving up to 18th in the latest top 100. The Futures have posted wins over #3 East Cobb Astros Orange (GA), #14 KC Crusaders (KS), #22 Stars Baseball - Camp, #30 East Tennessee Crusaders (x2), #63 Dirtbags Black (x2), #71 East Coast Snipers, #85 Inferno Black (FL), and #87 Predators Columbia NE. The Dirtbags were another worthy inclusion, and perhaps should have been considered for a higher ranking. They have wins over #18 SBA Futures, #30 East Tennessee Crusaders, #58 Showcase Baseball - Howze (GA), #75 Southern Nationals (GA), and #78 Rawlings Prospects NC (x4). Rawlings also has posted several wins over top 100 teams over the past year including #3 East Cobb Astros Orange, #63 Dirtbags Black, and #87 Predators Columbia NE.

 

 

What Perfect Game got wrong

As with the 10u rankings, picking the "best" team in the country at these young age groups is exceptionally difficult, especially when many of the top teams never play one another. It sure looks to us, however, like Perfect Game was as close to getting it right for #1 as possible. We assume the #2 Texas Raiders Elite is the same as Texas Canes Elite, who seem a worthy consideration near the top of the rankings. However, going through the next 20-25 teams, it appears to us that many of these teams could be ranked higher or lower without much argument being made as to why teams are moving up or down. To be more succinct, many of the resumes of the top 20 or so teams in the 11u top 100 appear to us to be very similar and difficult to stratify. As an example, #3 East Cobb Astros Orange have a record of 45-13-3 this spring, but are 1-2 against #6 East Cobb Astros Navy, who own a record of 39-10-1 this spring. By our count, this spring alone Astros Orange has 15 wins over other top 100 teams, while Astros Navy has 21 wins over other top 100 teams. Both are amazing totals and speak to how great these teams are. And although overall record, strength of schedule, and head-to-head performances are just a few of the ways to compare teams, it is easy to see how difficult a task it is to stratify teams like this at this level. Should a team such as #16 Louisville Sting, who have an amazing 37-4 record this spring but only 3 wins over other top 100 teams, be ranked ahead of #18 SBA Futures, who are 54-18 this year (36-12 this spring) with 10 wins over other top 100 teams? Hard to know what to do in those types of situations, and the 11u top 100 is littered with similar scenarios.