Baseball Recruiting Update: Two Nationally Ranked 2014 Commits from Illinois

Not a problem. I'm glad you and others find the posts useful.

Side note: 2013 Michigan baseball signee Jackson Lamb saw his high school basketball career end tonight when Temperance Bedford was upset by Milan in a district final, 67-60. Lamb scored 25 in the loss.

recent recruiting suggest an uptick in quality and promise of recruits being offered? I know it's still early days, but Is there a feeling this program is on the rise? 

I'm by no means an expert on baseball recruiting, but I'll give a somewhat educated answer to this. First, keep in mind that a fair number of the top-ranked prospects will end up being drafted and sign with a Major League team and never play in college. So if a prospect ranked #139 plays in college, then it might be the equivalent of getting a higher ranked football player (because none of the latter can turn pro out of high school).

In general, I think any time you get a player ranked in the top 500 nationally, you're getting an elite- or near-elite-level prospect. Bakich has been doing exceptionally well recruiting, but few of his commits have been nationally ranked, which is why these latest two are so significant. Ethan Cohen, part of Michigan's 2013 class, was ranked #448 by Perfect Game at the time of his commitment. PG also gave him a grade of 9.5, on their 10-point rating system. 9 is a "potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect," while a 10 is a "potential very high draft pick and/or elite level college prospect." (See the full rating system below.)

So maybe Cohen might be considered a 4 star, Pall a high 4 star, and Williams a 5 star?

Perfect Game USA’s Player Rating System

10 — Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect

9 — Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect

8 — Potential draft pick and/or excellent college prospect

7 — College prospect, possible future draft pick with development

6 — Potential college prospect

5 — Possible College prospect and/or possible HS varsity

4 — HS JV

3 — Possible HS JV

2 — No prospect at this time

1 — The game is too dangerous

Have you ever seen Rahman Williams play? I assume not, yet you're willing to baldly state that he's a "project."

For those interested in a detailed scouting report on Williams, from someone who has "watched Williams’ development since he attended an eighth-grade showcase three years ago," take a look at this from PBR:  Rahman Williams emerges as premier 2014 shortstop. Sean Duncan, a PBR executive director, calls Williams "a no-doubt, high-level Class of 2014 shortstop."

And I just don't understand the usefulness of making a blanket slam on all players from a particular state. Even if prep baseball in Illinois isn't as good as that played in California, for instance, that doesn't automatically mean that these two prospects in particular have "huge learning curves" ahead of them, as you say. Again, I don't think you've seen either of these prospects, so I just don't see how you have any basis for making such a statement.

To me, the bottom line on this is very positive: Two major scouting services—based on seeing them in action—agree that Williams and Pall are elite or near-elite prospects.