footmaster

Yeah, the only home run hit this season was Slone's. It was to right center, so prob about 285 to fence... Was prob about a 300 ft shot and it was against a very good pitcher in Brian Dill from Bellevue. I believe there was only 1 hit out at Ludlow last season too. And I've never seen a multiple hr game there. Good teams like Dixie were there this season too. Telling you, it's not a deep fence in right, but a "routine" fly ball won't make it out as some have said.

Just an FYI... I measured the fences at Ludlow with a friend today... Yes there are fences for all fields. The left field fence line is 315 ft, deepest part of park is left center at 390 ft, and right field line fence is 270 ft. Original Yankee Stadium was 295 ft down left and 281 ft down right... Guess a lot of Ruth and Gehrig's home runs shouldn't count. I've been watching high school games at Ludlow for over 15 years and I've seen very few home runs... The field plays a lot bigger than it is (usually due to wind off the river)....And it is bigger than it looks.

Good stuff... Great opportunity!

Visiting the champs, nice!

Evan Slone (Ludlow) and Jake Ziegelmeyer (Ryle) both got solid, positive evaluations from the PBR Top Prospect Games at WKU. Congrats guys, keep up the good work! Also saw via friends on Facebook that Evan Slone was just invited by Under Armour to participate in the Baseball Factory National World Series this year.

Found some evaluation info from PBR on some of these kids: Jake Whitford, SS, L/R, Highlands HS, 2015 6-foot-3, 175-pound prospect with lanky build and room to add to his frame, shows soft hands and works through the baseball well, uses short arm action through high ¾ slot, some accuracy on throws across the infield, showed good body control. At the plate, hits from an open setup squares front side with a short stride, hands start high and drop, long swing path, gap to gap approach, hit several line drives in his round of batting practice, ran 4.57 down the first base line from the left side, 79 mph tee exit velocity, went 1-for-5 in game play, will need to improve arm strength to stay on the left side of the infield at the next level. Evan Slone, SS, L/R, Ludlow HS, 2016 5-foot-9, 150-pound prospect, shows capable hands defensively, good lateral movement to both sides, has a quick exchange and gets rid of the ball with short arm action through a high ¾ slot across the infield. At the plate, hits from a balanced and wide setup with a leg kick trigger and minimal stride, hands start high and trigger from shoulder level, line drive type hitter shows the ability to use all fields, ran 4.78 down the first base line, 78 mph tee exit velocity, went 2-for-5 in game play with two singles and a stolen base, present size and arm strength projects as second baseman in college, will benefit from added strength to frame. Jake Ziegelmeyer, RHP/1B, R/R, Ryle HS, 2016 6-foot-3, 180-pound prospect with strong/athletic frame and room to fill in, shows good feet around the first base bag with playable hands, starts the double play well. At the plate, hits from a balanced setup, loads up on back side, wraps some in load with long/uphill swing path, creates some lift and shows some pull side power, showed his ability to generate bat speed with 90 mph exit velocity off the tee, ran 4.82 down the first base line, went 2-for-4 with a double in game play with a pull approach, prospect to follow in 2016 class. Jake Schmidt, C, R/R, Beechwood HS, 2015 5-foot-10, 10-pound prospect with athletic frame, showed good arm strength from the crouch at 78 mph with pop times ranging from 1.98-2.09 with quick release and accurate throws on the second base bag, shows good athleticism behind the plate with good lateral movement and blocking skills. At the plate, hits from a slightly open setup with a short stride, maintains good balance, level swing path with line drive production, ran 4.53 down the first base line, 83 mph exit velocity off the tee, went 2-for-5 with two singles and a stolen base in game play, very solid 2015 catching prospect. Good stuff from PBR although I'm sure Jake Schmidt weighs more than 10 pounds... Lol!

So we know that the following kids did really well overall... Day one: Jake Schmidt - C (Beechwood) Jake Ziegelmeyer - 1B (Ryle) Evan Slone - SS (Ludlow) Jake Whitford - SS (Highlands) Day two: Todd Ramey - 1B (Highlands) Any word on? Mitchell Jones - RHP (Highlands) Blake Hamilton - 1B (Beechwood) Lou Bunning - LHP (Highlands)

Trame is good and so is Slone... So what's your point? That one player is better than the other? They are two different style ball players and both good at what they do. I say good for Trame and good for Slone... They both need to keep up the good work.

Sounds like Jake Ziegelmeyer (Ryle) and Evan Slone (Ludlow) both had solid showings at the PBR Top Prospect Games @ WKU. Good job guys!

Slone is from Ludlow and Ziegelmeyer is from Ryle.

If anyone is @ WKU for day two... Shoot us some updates.

Heard Ziegelmeyer had one of the top infield arms and exit velocities for day one. Also, Slone got another hit in game two...played solid SS for 4 innings. Didn't hear much on Whitford for game two...he did play SS for last 3 innings I was told.

Just got a text from a friend who is @ WKU watching the games... Says about NKY kids in first game... Jake Ziegelmeyer had 2 hits, played solid first base and pitched a great inning. Evan Slone got an opposite field single on a wicked curve ball and played 3 solid innings at SS. Jake Whitford got a nice single and played 4 solid innings at SS. Apparently they are all three on the same team too...

Yeah, Bunning will do well... Keep an eye on PBR's website and tell good players you know to contact them and ask for an invite.

This is for USELESSINFO: I know you have sent me a couple of private messages and I apologize for not responding...but I do not have a premium membership and BGP will not allow me to respond... Anyway, I'm not sure how PBR chooses kids for their events. I do believe a coach or someone has to contact PBR and ask for an invite. Then, if I'm correct, I think PBR will send a rep to scout the kid in games and/or talk to several coaches to decide if they'll extend an invitation. I think they have all their events on their website too.

That's really cool! I know the kids from NKY are all really good players and good kids. Nice to know there are folks like PBR that will help promote them to colleges.

Not sure how the kids get in, but I do know it's "invite only". It could be coach recommendations or something to that effect. Highlands is well represented so it would make sense. I also saw on PBR that a couple of kids have decommited from a school and joined this event... So I believe it is only for kids that they believe will play college ball somewhere but are currently uncommitted.

These are the kids I've seen this season and they are all very good players....good luck at WKU guys! Jake Schmidt - C (Beechwood) Jake Ziegelmeyer - 1B (Ryle) Evan Slone - SS (Ludlow) Jake Whitford - SS (Highlands) Mitchell Jones - RHP (Highlands) Blake Hamilton - 1B (Beechwood) Todd Ramey - 1B (Highlands) Lou Bunning - LHP (Highlands)

Just saw this on Preps Baseball Report... Congrats to all the kids that were invited to this event. http://www.prepbaseballreport.com/news/KY/Kentucky-Top-Prospect-Games-Team-Assignments-8903416257 I only know the kids from NKY, but looks like the whole state will be well represented in this one.

Judging from other threads... Sounds like some of these kids are keeping it rolling right through the summer season. Good luck to these kids and their summer teams.

The 9th region was really loaded this year... No doubt. Some very good teams and good players didn't even make it to regionals. Conner really had to run through the gauntlet this year. I'm interested to see which NKY teams get hot at the right time next year. Conner was more than solid all season though, just fell short in the end.

Funny story about a great kid. He comes from a good family... His younger brother Josh is a pretty good player too. I think he's a freshman or sophomore.

All good points! And as I asked earlier, are there no 2nd team honors? I know there is div I and div II... But I thought there would still be 1st and 2nd teams for both divisions. I'm positive I saw 1st and 2nd team lists for div II softball... Because I know kids on both lists. Maybe baseball is different?

Is there a 2nd team listed or even an honorable mention list? I am surprised that Highlands' SS isn't at least mentioned... I think he's the kid that was hitting over .600 right?

It will be interesting to see what Coach Gray can do with the Panthers after a full off season. They lose Thornsburg, Howard and Mahan who all started... But, they have Lyons and Durham back for another year... Slone goes into his jr year and Eads goes into his soph year. Those are solid players coming back... As well as, some JV kids moving up and maybe some good athletes joining the baseball program who opted not to play when the program was in disarray. I know Kevin will probably put together an even tougher schedule, but I still look for Ludlow to have an even better season next year.