Joe Blanton, Jon Hooker, Jeremy Brown, Jeremy Sowers, Paul Morse, Troy Trumbo, Heath Castle, Austin Kearns

 

All played against or with, All but one were DI players and 6 went on to play in the majors.

Joe Blanton, Jon Hooker, Jeremy Brown, Jeremy Sowers, Paul Morse, Troy Trumbo, Heath Castle, Austin Kearns

 

All played against or with, All but one were DI players and 6 went on to play in the majors.

Who played in the majors besides Blanton, Sowers, and Kearns?

From the late-'90s...

 

Daniel Carrender, Pulaski County

Daniel Rall, Boyle County

Jeremy Noel, Boyle County

I remember facing Noel; he was very good.

 

Carrender was the best competitor I've ever seen. I can remember he and Joe Blanton hooking up in a tournament at North Laurel. Carrender outpitched Blanton, threw a one hitter with 14 strikeouts, but got beat 1-0.

I played in the early eighties, a time when the number of good/great pitchers might have hit it's peak. My Junior/senior season I played with or faced no less then 15 pitchers who went on to pitch in college. Eight of those pitched at least at Division II or above.

 

I faced some very good ones Rob Williams from Campbell Co, Pelfry from Scott, Atkins & Stamm from Newport, Rogg from Highlands, Kunkel from Lloyd, Tarvin from Bellevue, Erpenbeck from Covcath etc.

 

The one who I hated seeing the most, the one with the best rising fastball short of Kirsten Allen was Pumphrey from Lloyd.

 

I swear he threw, what they now call mid-90's, and when he was on, his ball had more movement then anyone else I have ever seen.

I played against some these same players as well. Ron Peters from Campbell Co. was tough and so was Doug Pedicord from Scott.

Brandon Martin from Harrison Co.

I played some spring softball with Vic when he was 18. He almost killed a friend of mine after robbing a home run in left and cutting down the guy tagging at 3rd. Bounced off the fence and gave the football player no choice but to catch the rocket or take a laser to the middle of the chest... :lol:

 

Watched him throw a ton of pitches in one game as a youngster back in the early days of Central Park....

Jeremy Brown -South Laurel (????)

John Hooker - North Laurel (Drafted by White Sox)

Roger and Rodney Little- Perry County Central (Both Drafted by Rockies)

Craig Ratliff - Paintsville (Drafted by Orioles)

Brandon Webb - Ashland (D-Backs)

Joe Magrane was the best I ever saw. Willie Blair(Johnson Central/Detroit Tigers,et.al) was the best I ever faced, with Ron Mullins(Boyd Co./Cincinnati Reds) a close 2nd. Faced Drew Hall when I was in college, he'd come to Morehead and pitch to us before he went to spring training. He'd tell you what was coming, still struggled to hit it.

Mark Brandenberg Etown & Mark King Owensboro

 

I wondered when King's name would come up. I never played high school ball but my dad did at Daviess Co from '77-'80. And he still claims no body he ever faced threw as hard as Mark King. He was the stud for the Red Devil's two state titles in '76 and '77.

Mark Michael of Lexington Catholic was lights out prolly the best I've ever saw...

 

 

Faced: John Smith of Middlesboro back In the old senior league days his stuff was N A S T Y

Joe Magrane was the best I ever saw. Willie Blair(Johnson Central/Detroit Tigers,et.al) was the best I ever faced, with Ron Mullins(Boyd Co./Cincinnati Reds) a close 2nd. Faced Drew Hall when I was in college, he'd come to Morehead and pitch to us before he went to spring training. He'd tell you what was coming, still struggled to hit it.

 

Willie was a good one for sure.

Ricky Clelland from Buckeye North High School in eastern Ohio. He was drafted in the 5th round by the Expos in the late 80's. He threw in the 95-98 MPH range in high school and often had control problems. Talk about scary! A guy throwing that fast and being all over the place with his pitches!

Back in the mid 70's a pitcher named Mole Tanner had some pretty nasty stuff. He would throw righthanded and then during the same at bat he would throw a pitch lefthanded. Sweeperboy, do you remember him???

Who played in the majors besides Blanton, Sowers, and Kearns?

 

Let me rephrase then, All went on to play professional baseball.

 

Round Pick

1994 19 519 Paul Morse P Minnesota Twins

1994 Undrafted(i believe)Troy Trumbo P Colorado Rockies

1998 1 7 Austin Kearns OF Cincinnati Reds (P in HS though)

2001 Undrafted Jon Hooker P Chicago White Sox

2002 1 24 Joe Blanton P Oakland Athletics

2003 16 484 Heath Castle P New York Yankees

2004 1 6 Jeremy Sowers P Cleveland Indians

 

Trumbo died of an unknown infection following winter ball, never actually got to play. Hatz may be able to shine some more light on this than I can.

Toughest pitcher I faced was Pat Curtis from Scott, 1988.