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2,446 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
High School  | General | 3/5/2023

IMG Claims Showdown 3-Peat

Photo: IMG Ascenders (Perfect Game)




Hoover feels like home for IMG: Ascenders Capture Back-to-Back-to-Back Titles
 
Hoover, Ala. -- A really anticipated matchup between two titanic programs, IMG Ascenders and Houston County, finally came together in the Blue Championship Game. After a close game through three innings IMG would put up eleven in the 4th inning to put the game away and bring home the hardware.
 
The 1st inning started off hot with Houston County getting a single from Drew Burress, followed by a loud double off the bat of three-hole hitter Andrew Dunford. Dunford’s double coming off a 90 mph fastball. Troy Carpenter would hit a ground ball to drive in Burress. IMG would respond in the bottom half after they worked a couple walks and then got a single from TayShaun Walton to drive in the first run. Stone Russell followed Walton with a sacrifice fly to take the lead 2-to-1, a lead they would not surrender.
 
IMG Starter Noah Franco and Houston County starter Brooks Willis would exchange a couple of zero frames before IMG’s enormous 4th inning.
 
The scoring started with a one out triple by Andre Modugno that rattled off the rightfield wall. Dean Moss and Zion Ross had a single in the inning with Jackson LaLima notching two singles in the inning. The biggest blow was Walton though. He unloaded on an opposite field triple to score three runs and put a cap in the monstrous eleven run inning.
 
Franco settled down after the 1st inning and dominated the next three innings giving up just a single hit in his final three innings. He finished the day throwing four innings and striking out five batters.
 
IMG scored 38 runs during the Championship run before knocking off Nationally ranked Houston County.
 
Houston County knocked off Nationally ranked North Broward Prep and returning champion Central on the way to the championship game.
 
MVP-Player – TayShaun Walton
MV-Pitcher – Cameron Johnson
 
Other Notables From Day 3


Hunter Baynes, RHP, 2023; IMG Academy (Fla.)
Baynes only got an inning of work, but it was a really good one as he came out throwing strikes with pretty easy gas. It was 90-92, bumping 93, and his longer arm stroke/extended release gives it really good carry up in the zone. He showed a hard-diving changeup and he can spin it a bit, but the ability to miss bats like he did with the fastball is notable and there’s great upside.
 
Lawson Williams, 1B, 2024; Hartselle (Ala.)
Williams stood out a bit with the bat in a Hartselle lineup that is chalked full of talented left-handed hitters. He’s physical and there’s obvious strength in the swing, which he showed with multiple extra-base hits over the course of the weekend and he added a bomb on the final day. Given the consistency of the bat over the course of facing solid arms and the impact he has, he could be an interesting follow as a still uncommitted junior.

Grant Breaux, RHP, 2024; Catholic BR (La.)
Breaux didn’t have overly great results against a loaded Parkview lineup, but he looks the part of one of the better underclass arms in the region. It’s a long and projectable body with a loose and fast arm, with the arm speed to project much more velocity, and he’s already pitching in the 87-90 range with good life to the fastball. He gets over the front side well on the breaking ball and gets late snap off the fastball plane and overall, the components give him pretty huge upside as everything really clicks over the next year.

 
Eli Tidwell, SS, 2023; Hartselle (Ala.)
Tidwell is one of those established guys in this lineup that really makes it go and he was pretty impressive over the course of the event, hitting up over .400 including a monster bomb that cleared the right-center wall at the Met by a good margin. It’s an athletic profile and the feel to hit stands out while he can make some impressive moves with the lower half to get the barrel out with big intent and let the strength/bat speed go to work on impacting the ball pull side.
 
Josh Hanson, OF, 2024; IMG Academy (Fla.)
Hanson is obviously very established given he’s committed to USC and is ranked in the top 300 in the country, but I think he’s got the components to pop a bit more. He took some really good swings in the late game on the final day and it’s super well-rounded in terms of boxes checked. He’s physical now but has good athleticism, albeit probably in a corner long-term, and it’s a good swing with the bat speed and overall feel to hit that bodes well for the future.
 

High School | General | 5/22/2026

Northeast High School Notebook: May 22

Anthony Gambardella
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‘26 RHP Hunter Brown (@NHLionsBaseball - NJ) struck out 1️⃣5️⃣ thru 6 IP w/ 0 BB & 2 H allowed. FB lived 90-92, T93 w/ ASR & late life. Froze bats with his 11/5 CB both early/late in counts (2600rpm). Mixed in fading CH & short/tight SL. #WeAre commit. @PG_Draft#PGHS @PG_Scouting pic.twitter.com/NbSSOmCyD0 — Perfect Game Mid-Atlantic (@PGMidAtlantic) April 23, 2026 Hunter Brown - 2026 RHP, North Hunterdon Reg (N.J.) was utterly dominant in his start against Franklin last month, tossing six shutout innings with 15 strikeouts, zero walks and just two hits allowed. The 6-foot-5 215-pound right-hander has pitched to a 0.97 ERA this spring with 78 punchouts over 36 innings of work. Brown has been one of the many northeast arms receiving increasingly more buzz ahead of the MLB Draft this July. Brown’s heater lived in the low-90s throughout the duration of his...
Press Release | Press Release | 5/22/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 65

Ron Wolforth
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The Insidious Lie That Hurts Pitchers Thep Most How many of you have ever had a terrible outing and afterward couldn’t really explain what went wrong? And how many of you have ever had a great outing and couldn’t explain what you did differently either? That gap between what is happening and your awareness of what is happening may be one of the most important gaps in player development. Closing that gap has a name. It is called metacognition. In simple terms, metacognition means thinking about your thinking. It is the ability to understand how you learn, how you perform, how you respond under pressure, and how you make adjustments when things are not going your way. For a pitcher, that matters because no matter how good your coach is, he cannot stand on the mound with you. Your coach cannot take the ball with the bases loaded, two outs, and the best hitter in the league...
College | Rankings | 5/20/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 20

Nick Herfordt
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There is a reason the preseason pick to win it all rarely does. College baseball's postseason is a gauntlet — double elimination, best-of-three’s, then a full World Series format — and the team that looks unbeatable in February has to prove it again in May against opponents who have had just as long to get ready. Plenty of programs have entered the tournament as the obvious favorite and gone home early. It happens every year. Nobody should be shocked when it does. Top-ranked teams flaming out in regional weekends happens so many times it has become its own genre of schadenfreude Which makes this particular moment worth noting. The Perfect Game preseason picks to win the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III national titles — Tennessee Wesleyan, UT Tyler, and the University of Lynchburg — are all still alive heading into the final rounds. All three...
College | Story | 5/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 21 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
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Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Co-Player of the Week: Carson Tinney – University of Texas  As a Notre Dame alumnus, it pained me to see Tinney transfer from the Golden Dome to the University of Texas after an All-American sophomore season for the Irish. He’s picked up in Austin right where he left off in South Bend and is currently hitting .321 AVG, 20 HR, .475 OBP / .695 SLG / 1.170 OPS on the 2026 season. It’s plus right-handed power and a plus arm; with the numbers I have found indicating that Tinney has erased more than half of attempted base stealers over the past two seasons of college baseball. Tinney threw...
Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
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In simplistic terms, the Best of The Best tournament is an absolute gauntlet as seemingly every game brings a playoff game atmosphere. Coaches must strategically map out their pitching to ensure they can get through Pool Play while also making sure they have arms to make a deep playoff run. Each and every age group is loaded with the best teams, composed of some of the best players that travel baseball has to offer. The 9u & 10u age groups will respectively have 9 out of the Top 10 Teams within the latest PG National Team Rankings participating in the event. At 9U, LTP-Reign will look to hold on to their #1 ranking but will have plenty of competition with the likes of ZT National Prospects and HTX-Wildcatters 9U looking to take over that #1 spot. In the 10u age group, Elevate National will look to fend off plenty of talent with #2 ranked Kaos National, East Cobb Astros and ZT...
College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
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May 19th Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Carson Tinney, C, Texas  The Texas Longhorns just finished off another stellar regular season and are heading to Hoover for the SEC Conference Tournament as the No. 2 Seed this week.  To secure their 2nd place finish, they had to sweep Missouri at home last weekend and did so in large part to the power bat of Carson Tinney.  The 6-4/240 catcher from Castle Pines, CO transferred to Austin after two sensational seasons at Notre Dame and has thrived in his draft year.  In the 3-game set, Tinney collected 7 hits in 13 at-bats, scoring 5 runs, with a double, 3 home runs and he drove in 10 runs all told.  With some of the most prodigious power in the college game this year, Tinney is now slashing .321/.695/.473 with 10 doubles an incredible 20 home runs and 54 RBIs while playing in the most spacious ballpark in the...
College | Rankings | 5/18/2026

College Top 25: May 18

Vincent Cervino
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The regular season is behind us, and it is now tournament time and wow, is there a lot to still be decided.  We are a week away from the Field of 64 being announced and hosting opportunities, at-large bids, as well as automatic bids are there for the taking.  The UCLA Bruins (48-6) continue their stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the land, finishing the regular season without losing a series all year.  ACC powers, UNC (43-10) and Georgia Tech (45-9) remain at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively and SEC regular season champs, the Georgia Bulldogs (43-12) stick at No. 4.  After that there was a small amount of shuffling within the Top 10 with No. 5 Texas (40-12), No. 6 West Virginia (37-13) and No. 7 FSU (38-16) moving ahead of now No. 8 Auburn (36-18) after they were the only team in this group to drop their weekend series.   No. 14 Florida (37-18) and No. 15...
High School | General | 5/18/2026

High School Notebook: May 18

Jordan Gates
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‘27 RHP Grant Slater (@BoydCoBaseball) gets his 1st start of the year (3rd appearance) as he works his way back. FB opened 89-92 w/ ride & was still up to 91 in the 5th (run rule), while touching 93 in the 3rd. CT worked in the mid 8s & breaking ball in mid 7s (sweep). Big summer… pic.twitter.com/w9EXl6Jmrx — Perfect Game Ohio Valley (@PG_OhioValley) May 8, 2026 Grant Slater, 2027, RHP, Boyd Co (KY) Slater made his full start of the year back on May 7th. He had appeared in a few games in relief roles prior as he has come back from a few injury bugs. The Alabama commit went five strong innings, in a complete game fashion (run rule), only allowed a couple hits, one walk, and struck out 13 batters. Slater is beginning to ramp up at the right time with postseason right around the corner. Slater’s fastball peaked at 93 mph a few times, held velocity in the...
High School | General | 5/14/2026

CPBL Showcase Scout Notes

Troy Sutherland
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Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Silky op with big arm speed and projection. Shaky FB command early, 91-93 T94. CH is present plus, weapon vs both LH & RH hitters at 83-84. Good arm side depth to it. SL has some length to the mostly lateral action @ 77. #KState commit.#CPBLShowcaseWknd pic.twitter.com/7TdJ2neOv6 — Perfect Game International (@pg_int1) May 8, 2026 Logan Cummins (‘26 ON) Very intriguing athletic upside here, came out early a bit juiced up leading to inconsistent fastball command but settled in and started dotting. Ran the fastball up to 94 with running life. Changeup is ahead of the rest of the arsenal  in terms of quality, and has a parachuting arm side dive that gets frequent swings over the top. Slider is tight with varying length at its best it does have an extra gear to garner a late count whiff. Should fit nicely at Kansas State if he decides to...
College | Story | 5/14/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 14 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
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Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Player of the Week: Drew Burress – Georgia Tech  I love everything that Craig Cozart writes, and his piece on Burress is as good as it gets (link). Craig does a masterful job of showing us how Burress has (not arguably) the best career college performance of any current player. The body of work is consistent and impressive, and Burress has one of the highest floors in the 2026 MLB Draft with above average or better tools across the board.  I’m not going to do a deep dive on Burress’ numbers because there is no point: they are really good, everywhere. I would rather talk about...
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