THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Sign in Create Account
Tournaments  | Story | 7/17/2019

Midland carries proud legacy

Photo: Aaron Blum (Perfect Game)

EMERSON, Ga.- What do MLB Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin have in common? Well, aside from being teammates on the Cincinnati Reds, both suited up for the Midland Redskins organization back in the 1980s. What binds current major leaguers Andrew Benintendi and Lance McCullers? You guessed it. The Midland Redskins.

Few, if any, programs can match the illustrious history of Midland. At this week’s WWBA 15u National Championship, they look win another piece of hardware to bring back to the Heartland. Starting Thursday morning, they will get their chance, as the Midland Tribe finished pool play on Wednesday afternoon with an immaculate 7-0 record.

“This is the first year for 15u that we have put together a premier team,” coach Ryan Douglas said. “This group was made for tournaments like this. It’s gratifying to see these kids show up when it matters most. We held an open tryout and had about 100 players come out. We selected the best of the best.”

The Tribe found themselves trailing 3-0 early in Wednesday’s contest with the Frederick Hustlers. That changed when Brayden York and Evan Whiteaker broke things open with RBI singles, followed by Riley Zink shooting a ball back up the middle to score two more. That five run fourth inning would prove to be the difference, as Aaron Blum, Ethan Malafa and Thomas Ryan pitched it well the rest of the way to escape with the 5-3 victory.

Midland did it with the bats and the arms this week. They sported a .305 team batting average and were led by Brayden York (.445), Dylan Thatcher (.385), and Wyatt Holt (.333). York was especially impressive at the dish, adding three doubles and 10 RBIs, both of which were top on the team.

On the hill, the staff had a combined ERA of just 2.45. Evan Whiteaker and Aaron Blum have stood out. Whiteaker has tossed eight innings, allowed only four hits, and allowed just one run. Blum got the ball on Wednesday and diced up the Frederick Hustlers, working four innings, allowing one earned run and striking out seven.

Wednesday’s contest was plagued by lightning delays, which culminated in a biblical thunderstorm that sent teams and parents running to their cars. Because of all the stopping and starting, sometimes players can lose focus on the task at hand. It can be especially difficult to keep kids locked in to the game during a rain delay, but Douglas said his team has been mostly unfazed by the distractions all week.

“The hardest thing with 15 year olds is to try to keep them focused,” Douglas said. “Sometimes they tend to worry about things that don’t really matter in terms of the game. I just told them that we need three hours of focus every day on nothing but baseball. And that is what they did, and that is why we were able to go 7-0.”

Midland is an Ohio baseball institution, and the list of names that have rolled through their complex in Amelia, Ohio is truly a laundry list of MLB all stars. Matt Harvey.  Zack Greinke. Eric Hosmer. Mark Mulder. Mike Matheny. But perhaps the most impressive stat is that 46 alums have become first round picks. And these stars return to their roots, giving back to the organization where they got their start.

“They stay involved, especially financially,” Douglas said. “We do a lot of fundraisers throughout the year and we have pro guys come back and speak. Scooter Gennett (Reds second basemen) is at our facility quite a bit, so the guys get to spend some time around him.”

“You can’t help but see all the names of the alumni when you pull into Midland,” he said. “That’s a prestigious legacy, and the kids understand the honor it is to wear this jersey because of the guys that have come before them.”

While Douglas is proud of the performance in pool play, he isn’t satisfied. No one is. This is Midland. They play for championships, not just playoff appearances. They have captured 14 Connie Mack National Championships, but no WWBA National Championships. This 15u Tribe team has the chance to do something unprecedented in a program that has seemingly done everything.

Bracket play in a tournament with 300-plus teams is a gauntlet. It’s a tall order, but Douglas believes his team is up for the task. It all begins by honing in on every pitch, every at bat, and every inning.

“We just have to continue what we’ve been doing,” he said. “But we can’t let the moment get too big for us, and we can’t be content with going 7-0 in pool play. We’re good enough to play with any team here. We may not have as many Division I commits, but if we play our game, we can compete with whoever we are matched up with.” 




Tournaments | Story | 1/27/2026

MLK East Scout Notes Recap

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
‘28 OF Jakob Groeschel (OH) continues to impress with the bat on the circuit, picked up 2 2Bs in the first game today. Really athletic, went 4.4 on turn; easy to dream on all the traits. #MLKEast @PG_OhioValley pic.twitter.com/wOIwnGKnkg — Perfect Game Florida (@Florida_PG) January 17, 2026 2028 OF Jakob Groeschel (Springfield, Ohio) broke out at this event last year hitting a casual .909, and although he didn’t turn in quite the same performance, he hit a strong .462 with 4 extra-base hits, 5 walks, 5 bags and only struck out once. He’s a pretty dynamic athlete who can do a lot of things well, but the bat is the calling card as he just lives on the barrel and has no problem handling all kinds of pitching. It’s a simple swing, but he’s got fast hands and he can really impact the ball without being overly physical yet.  2030 RHP Michael Vazquez...
Press Release | Press Release | 3/18/2026

PG Introduces Individual Player Entry

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME INTRODUCES INDIVIDUAL PLAYER ENTRY, EXPANDING ACCESS TO ELITE NATIONAL EVENTS   Athletes Can Now Compete in Select National Tournaments Through Structured ‘Team PG’ Rosters   Sanford, Florida (Wednesday, March 18, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced the launch of Individual Player Entry, a new initiative designed to provide athletes the opportunity to compete in select national events even if their primary team is not attending.   Through the program, players can now register individually and be placed on a structured “Team PG” roster, allowing them to participate fully in...
Juco | Rankings | 3/18/2026

JUCO Top 25: March 18

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
This week brings a new top team to the rankings as Johnson County (KS), on the strength of 10 consecutive wins and a 26-2 record, claims the overall number 1 spot. The Cavaliers have made 3 consecutive trips to the JUCO World Series and have the talent to make it back there again this spring. Florida Southwestern and Chipola have seemingly separated themselves as the most consistent teams in Florida. Welcome to the top 5 to the Gaston Rhinos who will be one of the first teams to 30 wins this spring. Pearl River stays as the top NJCAA D2 team and Fresno City stays as the top Juco team in California; both are coming off undefeated 2 week stretches. Welcome back to the top 25 to John A. Logan who is now 20-7 overall and have played one of the toughest schedules of anyone. And for the first time in several years welcome to the top 25 to the College of Southern Idaho, the Golden Eagles have...
High School | General | 3/18/2026

Class of 2026: Preseason HS All-Americans

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
College | Rankings | 3/18/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: March 18

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
In every major sport, the championship is decided in the postseason. You can lose games all year, get hot at the right time, and walk away with the hardware. The regular season is a rehearsal. The playoffs are the show.  The championship belt changes that. Borrowed from professional wrestling, boxing and ultimate fighting, the belt travels the moment the holder loses — no brackets, no seeding, no second chances. A random Tuesday non-conference game in Milledgeville, Georgia  becomes a title fight. A spring trip to Florida becomes a gauntlet. The defending national champion can lose the belt before February is over.  We’re tracking three belts this season — NCAA Division II, NAIA, and NCAA Division III — each starting with the defending national champion. The results have been exactly as chaotic as you’d expect.  Worth noting along the...
High School | Rankings | 3/17/2026

High School Top 50 Update: March 17

Tyler Russo
Article Image
We have another update to the National Top-50 after two weeks of even more games being played in the southern states along with seasons just starting to kick off across the country. We’re quickly approaching another stellar high school event, the NHSI in Cary, and with that will come even more movement in these rankings. St. John Bosco (CA) continues to hold firm at the No. 1 position after a 4-0 start to their season. Venice (FL) has been rolling throughout the early portion of the year and jumps up to No. 2 in the country. One of the biggest movers in this update is The Bennett School (TX) jumping from unranked to No. 8 in the country after beating a handful of top ranked programs to start the year. Some other big movers inside the top-10 are Barbe (LA), who jumps from No. 18 to No. 5 in this update as well as Aledo (TX) who jumps from No. 20 to No. 9. The rest of the top-10...
College | Story | 3/17/2026

College Players of the Week: March 17

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
March 17th Perfect Game/Player of the Week: Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (17-3) came into the season with the highest external expectations in decades based on the anticipation of their offensive potential. To this point they have not only met those lofty expectations, but twenty games in they may have exceeded them. While there are plenty of high-level prospects up and down the lineup, with all that star power Vahn Lackey has stood out. Sure to be one of the first catchers selected in this year’s MLB Draft with his comprehensive skillset, he projects well as an everyday backstop at the next level. However, his overall athleticism stands out as we saw this week when he had a game where he played every defensive position on the field except pitcher. At the plate over four games including a series victory at Clemson last week, he went 9 for 15, scoring...
College | Rankings | 3/16/2026

College Top 25: March 16

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
Collegiate Player Report Database As each week of the college baseball season passes, we continue to be entertained at an incredible level with high level drama at every turn.  Conference play is under way and the national landscape is starting to make a bit more sense.  The development and strength of individual players is on full-display and there continue to be upsets on occasion that sends the message no team can relax for one moment.  For the most part, the Top 10 remains unchanged with some reshuffling as No. 1 UCLA (17-2) holds on to the top spot with yet another perfect (4-0) week after sweeping Michigan.  The No. 2 Texas Longhorns (18-1) did drop their first game of the season in Game 1 of SEC play but won the series against Ole Miss and finished the week with a (3-1) record.  The Georgia Tech Yellowjackets (17-3) passed their first real road test of the...
Draft | Story | 3/13/2026

PG Draft: Under the Radar Preps

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
PG Draft: Under the Radar Preps As the spring season gets underway, the showcase circuit and early high-level tournaments have already provided our scouts with some intriguing first looks at this year’s crop of prospects. At the same time, we’ve been tracking the buzz among team evaluators, listening closely to the names that keep coming up in conversations and the players clubs are making sure they get eyes on this spring. Every year, a handful of prospects quietly slip beneath the radar during the fall and winter months, only to reemerge once the games start counting again. Sometimes it’s the result of a productive offseason in the weight room, a noticeable jump in velocity, or a step forward in skill development. Other times, it’s simply a player finally getting the opportunity and the stage to show what’s been building behind the scenes. The spring has a...
College | Rankings | 3/11/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: March 11

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
Allendale Doesn't Rhyme With Knoxville or Danville. The Baseball Does. Meet the Three Coaches Turning Small College Programs Into National Contenders. There's something happening in small college baseball right now that doesn't get nearly enough attention. Three programs — separated by hundreds of miles and spread across three different governing bodies — are in the middle of the kind of rebuilds that make you wonder why anyone ever counted them out in the first place. One is in a Michigan lakeside college town. Two are in places that end in 'ville. All three have coaches who looked at a program and saw something nobody else did. The Perfect Game small school rankings noticed. You should too. See where Grand Valley State, Johnson U, Centre and the rest of the schools are positioned in the latest Perfect Game Top 25 Small School Rankings. NCAA DII For a generation of DII...
High School | General | 3/12/2026

High School Notebook: March 12

Steve Fiorindo
Article Image
Trey Rangel (‘26 TX) with some early morning fuzz. Goes 3.2 IP on 7ks. Fastball 92-96 T97 (2508 RPM) late life ASR. Curve 79-83 (2900 RPM) sharp 10-4 shape; power curve. Cutter low-90s. Change flashed at 89 (1405 RPM); kick change. Elite arm talent. #PGHS @PG_Draft #HookEm… pic.twitter.com/Xn3WaTJoVH — Perfect Game Texas (@Texas_PG) February 19, 2026 Trey Rangel (2026, The Colony, Texas) worked through 3.2 quality innings while striking out 7 batters for his opening season look here. Fastball opened up 93-96 with heavy arm side run out the gate. He would proceed to settle into the mid-90s range beyond his first inning of work while topping out at 97 once in the second and then closed out his final inning of work with a strikeout swinging on 96. Velo range varied throughout his outing and command came and went but was still dominant for the most part. He forced a ton of...
Loading more articles...