Who are the Best Programs of 2020

The return of our annual ranking of the top programs in North Carolina is here. Every year we try and produce a ranking of the programs involved in travel baseball. This ranking is based off performance across all of the youth age groups (8u-13u) and is meant to be a cumulative assessment of a program's overall performance. These rankings say NOTHING about the quality of instruction, cost/value of a program, or the quality of the players and families involved with these and other organizations. Congratulations to all the programs who made our rankings.

1. Showcase Baseball Academy

Showcase Baseball Academy (SBA) is based out of Matthews and has been one of the top performing youth programs in North Carolina for years. They have several of their own facilities, and teams are based out of these facilities and are largely (although not completely) ordered in a tiered structure. They draw kids and families from well beyond the Charlotte area and top our list of the best youth baseball program in North Carolina for the 2nd year in a row. In the 2019-2020 seasons, SBA finished with 15 teams ranked across the 6 age groups. This included 3 teams who finished the year #1 (9u, 10u, and 11u) as well as 11 total teams who finished in the top 10 of their respective age groups. The fall 2020 season was no different, as SBA finished with 14 ranked teams including 4 teams who finished #1 in their age group (9u, 10u, 11u, and 12u), 2 teams who finished #2 (10u and 13u), 3 teams who finished #3 (8u, 10u, and 11u), and two more who finished #4 (9u and 12u). Even more impressive, SBA finished with a total of 11 teams in the top 5 teams of our 8u-13u age groups, including the #1, 2 and 3 teams in the 10u age group. SBA also finished with 7 teams ranked in Perfect Game's national top 50 from 10u-13u this fall. This included 10u #7 SBA Futures and #18 SBA Rowan, 11u #3 SBA Futures and #28 SBA Nationals, 12u #14 SBA Futures and #30 SBA Nationals, and 13u #30 SBA Futures. No other program can match that level of success in North Carolina this past year.

2. Five Star Carolina

#2 on our list this year is, by far, the fastest growing program in North Carolina - Five Star Carolina. Five Star National, based out of Warner Robbins, Georgia, made a big move into the state of North Carolina over the past 3-4 years, and have made a huge mark on the youth travel baseball scene in just a short time. The program now incorporates the Five Star Vipers, Five Star Heat, Five Star Carolina, and Five Star Copperheads within its program with dozens of teams across these programs. This rapid growth has helped lead the development of some of the best teams in North Carolina in multiple age groups. Five Star Carolina finished the 2019-2020 seasons with 11 teams ranked from 8u-13u, including 8 teams in the top 10 in their respective age group. This included teams who finished #4, 5, 7, and 9 in the 13u age group at the end of the summer. Five Star Carolina also had a total of 12 teams ranked at the end of the fall 2020 season. 6 of those 12 teams are in the top 10 in their age group. They also finished with one team ranked in Perfect Game's national top 50 with 11u #48 Five Star Shockers.

3. Dirtbags

The Dirtbags have perhaps the longest and most impressive track record of any program in North Carolina, extending from their youth teams all the way to the number of players they put into college and the pros. Although their primary facility is located in Burlington, the North Carolina Dirtbags teams are scattered throughout the state extending from the coast to the mountains. This means at the youth levels teams are only loosely affiliated and not tiered or ordered 1-2-3/A-B-C in any way. At the end of the 2019-2020 seasons, the Dirtbags had 10 total teams ranked in our final rankings. Among these 10 teams, 5 were ranked in the top 10 of their age group, highlighted by the 10u Dirtbags Black team who finished 2nd in their age group at the end of the 2019-2020 seasons. The Dirtbags finished the fall 2020 season with 9 ranked teams, including the #1 team in 13u age group and the #2 teams in the 8u and 11u age groups. They had a total of 6 teams in the top 10 of their age group. The Dirtbags also finished with two teams ranked in Perfect Game's national top 50 with 11u #31 Dirtbags Black and 13u #14 Dirtbags Black.

4. West Raleigh

West Raleigh is run a bit different from the vast majority of the top programs in North Carolina. The program centers around a competitive recreation program with seasons taking place in the spring and fall. At the end of the spring recreation season, all-star teams (blue, red, white, etc.) are formed and compete in all-star circuits (Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth, Pony, etc.) as well as travel baseball events. These all-star teams generally continue to play together in travel baseball events concurrently with recreation baseball in the fall. As a development-focused organization, they have routinely produced some of the best teams in North Carolina, particularly at the younger ages. Previously this continued to the 13u age group, but this appears to be in some flux heading into the future. This fall, West Raleigh finished with 5 ranked teams, all 5 of which finished in the top 10 of their respective age groups. This included the #1 8u team, as well as 9u #7, 10u #5, 11u #10, and 12u #5. At the end of the 2019-2020 seasons, West Raleigh finished with 5 total teams ranked in our North Carolina Rankings.

5. Canes Baseball

The Canes were formed in 2006 and are one of the best programs in the United States at the showcase/high school ages. At the youth level, the Canes are organized similarly to the Dirtbags with loose affiliated teams scattered across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. And like other organizations, they have begun rapidly expanding to the West Coast, Florida, Midwest, Northeast, and other areas. They ended the fall with 4 teams ranked from 8u-13u. This included 10u #6, 11u #25, and teams ranked #2 and #11 in our 12u rankings. In addition, the Canes placed two teams in Perfect Game's national top 50s, with 10u #14 Canes Baseball NC - Tyson and 12u #8 Canes Baseball NC - Pirro. The Canes finished the 2019-2020 seasons with 5 total ranked teams including the #2 teams in both the 11u and 13u age groups. We would expect the Canes to move up our program rankings next year, as they have begun adding more teams, particularly in the Charlotte area, including the current #4 in our 11u rankings.