footmaster

Yeah, I've heard Ludlow middle school girls' 6th, 7th and 8th grades are on a roll this year. Congrats to them, keep it up!

You too Grizzly... Time to put UK ahead of Duke in your heart! Lol,

PP, I can't give you props until you pull for UK over Duke and / or you admit that the NBA is watered down... Jk! Nice segment, keep it up!

Great to hear! Needs on overhaul for sure... Happy for the kids.

Wow, big win for the Tigers... Congrats!

Some thoughts and/or questions I have about the schools I mentioned... Newport- are they gonna have more of their "best" athletes play baseball this season? That would go a long way for that program IMO. Calvary - young team that needs experience. Good news is that the new coach has scheduled a lot more games than they've played in recent years. Not sure if they'll rack up a lot of wins, but they will be greatly improved by the end of the season. Ludlow - lead by Slone, Lyons and Durham... They have a good coach and a few solid players. Will they have enough pitching to make some noise this year? St. Henry - gotta agree with Show Stopper...they've lost a lot. Who might step up for them and have an awesome season? Bellevue - good coach... Also, Seiter and Hayes should be strong for them. How will they be at catcher and in the outfield? They've lost some good players too.

Anyone have some thoughts / predictions about some less talked about programs? Newport just hired a new coach... Calvary has a new coach... Ludlow entering second season with Coach Gray... St. Henry has yet another coach, been a carousel of coaching lately there... Bellevue lost some kids, but has the experienced Coach Sanders... Just a few off the top of my head... Feel free to throw other schools into the mix.

HHS is definitely a favorite on paper this season... But last season proved that teams can surpass expectations and teams certainly can fall short. Conner did better overall than I expected... And SK, regardless of tourney draw or whatever... Going as far as they did for sure exceeded expectations.. And I thought it was awesome! I spoke to several SK players after that run and they were themselves happily surprised. Like many have said, they got it done when it counted most and I hope it sets an example for future teams that are in a position to go on a run like that. Given a choice, I'd rather "over achieve" than "under achieve" any day. And I know SK lost a lot of seniors, but I believe their number 1 pitcher is back this season... So, you never know. Another run like last season may not be likely, but surely isn't impossible. I'd be psyched to see another NKY team get that far this season... Although I'm most familiar with the 9th region... If a team from the 8th or 10th can do it, fine by me.

I think Cameron Justice is going to get it... Lots of great players, but I think he will pull it out.

Yep, I've known Coach Ollier for decades and he is a great guy that knows the game. Newport's enrollment numbers are way down from when he and his brother played there... So he had a lot fewer athletes in the cupboard than in years past. Problem was, for whatever reason, Dennis couldn't convince a lot of Newport's best athletes to play baseball. And many that did play would not fully commit to it. Maybe Coach Hamilton can create enough excitement to get more of their athletes interested in baseball. Good luck to Coach Hamilton and good luck to Coach Ollier in the future.

Good looking schedule... A big part of improving a baseball program.... Play games!

I like these two players a lot... Ricky Raisor got some great varsity experience at the end of the season for HHS. His pitching has really developed. I agree that Evan Slone will have a great season provided that there are no set backs from his eye injury. That eye is the only thing that concerns me. But he plays the game hard and I know he's put on about 10 lbs of muscle during the off season too.

Good insight on Heppler. If he's that big and strong, then power should for sure naturally develop. I've heard of the Teegarden kid for a few years, but Goodrich is a new name for me to follow. Ryle always seems to have a few kids step up and play well, so it will be interesting to see what Goodrich does.

It will be interesting to see how they work Doty into the mix... Maybe they'll save him until later in the year as they did Raisor last season.

You hit a lot of key points... They're loaded.... Gotta expect a big year from HHS.

I have not yet seen Wilson... But I've heard and read great things about him! As you can probably tell from reading the thread, most of us that have commented thus far reside in the 9th region. So, those are the kids I'm most familiar with. I know Wilson has impressed at PBR for sure though.

Nussbaum could very well be the guy.... But I gotta agree with Uslessinfo that Booth was underrated. But yeah, I could see Nussbaum doing a good job there for sure.

MIF is a concern for them, but somebody may surprise us and do a great job for them. As a whole though, they still have a pretty strong core of players...no doubt they'll be really good again this year.

I think he's definitely on some college coaches' radar.

Does he only project as a first baseman? If he has some speed, he may be viewed as a potential outfielder... Does he pitch? The other thing with power: does it look like he's gonna add size to his frame? If he's lanky, most likely they'll project him to add power after getting into their strength and conditioning program at the college level.

Only two things set me off in these forums: people making "negative comments" that aren't constructive about high school kids.... And people that make negative comments about coaches or organizations that try to help kids. So when you said, "backyard video" and "question credibility"... That's where I took issue, because it came off snarky to me. If you do know about baseball recruiting, then you do know about NCSA. Now to your picks: I like them a lot. Raisor is a kid I mentioned last season on here and Heppler is a kid that I learned about on here. Both will have great seasons.

My answer: it's all relative. It's a move up for some coaches, a move down for some and a lateral move for others. I do think they'll have good candidates to choose from and CCH will ultimately hire a good coach.

Agreed... Well said.

I was thinking the same thing...

Good stuff. Playing one sport increases the chances of "over-use" injuries by a great margin. It also can and does "mentally burn out" many kids. Also, facts being that most people never play sports beyond high school... Why not enjoy the once in a lifetime experience of playing multiple high school sports? Again, it's up to the individual.. But I think most athletes benefit from playing at least 2 sports.