Preseason Thoughts and Predictions

[Stelley]

Practice finally begins and I figured I would go ahead and start the thread, and yes, I know this looks like a lot of info but if you are big into baseball this would 100% be worth your time. Baseball does not get much traction and attention in our region despite it being our area of expertise when it comes to sports. Abingdon, Lebanon, and John Battle are all blue blood programs and are all looking to make another run at the title. Below are my rankings and thoughts for the districts. (Some districts and teams I have next to no knowledge on so feel free to add your own info).

Mountain 7 District

1. Abingdon- This Abingdon team will probably be one of the most loaded teams to ever come through our area and they should be hungry for the state championship. They have multiple D1 Commits in Humphreys (William & Mary), Dotson (VMI), Turman (ECU), and Reed (Virginia Tech). They still have plenty of talent for college-level guys in Dillow, Smith, Fellhauer, and Parks. I look for this team to handle business and I would definitely say that they should be the favorites to go up against LCA in the 3A state championship.

2. John Battle- The Trojans lost a decent amount of talent in Odum and Sills, but they still return the bulk of their production from last year. Gobble (Walters State) will handle business on the mound and as long as they find someone else to help out, they should still look to make a run at 2A. Rector, Childress, and Sturgill are all possibly all-region guys.

3. Union- I know most people would think Union is a football school or maybe even a basketball school. Hate to break it to the Union fans out there but here in a year or two, y'all are going to be a baseball school. This team is DANGEROUS and could see them taking both games away from Battle. If they can figure out some defense and some timely hitting, they might even fool around and win the region this year. They pushed Lebanon to the edge last year in an excellent pitching duel. Neff showed his potential in that game and if he can pitch like that 70% of the time, they will be very difficult to beat. If I recall correctly, I do not think they had a single player graduate last year. To top it all off they will gain the pitching from Skeen who is the #1 ranked freshman in the state and is already topping at 88.

4. Central- The Warriors shocked the whole state last year when they upset Battle in the region semis, but I would not expect that to happen again this year. They did lose Hayes on the mound which will be difficult to replace. Wyatt, Kennedy, and Phillips will be their key contributors. They also have a talented freshman in Foster who can definitely make an impact.

5. Gate City- The Blue Devils got blown out of the water last year by Lebanon in the semis, so I look for them to come out a little bit more enthusiastic this year. They lost McMurray but still have other weapons such as Lane on the mound and their SS (can't remember his name just remember he looked pretty smooth at short). Definitely have the potential of beating out Central for the 3 seed.

6. Lee- This is about where my knowledge ends when it comes to the M7. Pretty sure in some of last season's threads I just remember everyone saying how bad RV was. 

7. Ridgeview

 

Southwest District

1. Lebanon- The Pioneers made a run for it all last year just coming up short in 10 innings in the championship game and I look for them to be poised to make another run at it. They will have to try and replace some weapons that were irreplaceable from last season in the pitching from Barton and the hitting both he and Parker contributed to the team. D1 Commit Phillips (Mount St. Mary's) should be his usual self at both the mound and the plate. Breeding (Alice Lloyd) was an all-state member last year and he should continue his slugging ways and possibly help out on the mound some. After that, the Pioneers are going to have to figure something out. The Battle-transfer Baldwin is a solid addition and should help alleviate some of the loss of Barton on the mound. 

2. Virginia High- The Bearcats are going to be down compared to prior years, but still nowhere near as bad off as the rest of the SWD. The loss of Meredith will be a huge blow to them. Foy is definitely their best player and one of their few weapons, along with Hucks. Expect them to be the 2 seed coming out of the SWD.

3. Tazewell- 3 through 5 are all definitely interchangeable. The loss of B. Patterson, Childress, and Blankenship to the Bulldogs will be heavy but they return a few decent weapons from last year's team in Hash, Moss, W. Patterson, and Compton. Could possibly take a game away from V High if they catch them without Foy on the mound.

4. Richlands- The losses of Hale, White, and Earls are all heavy for the Blue Tornado. The only notable returner that I can recollect is the Hylton kid who was a freshman and was decent.

5. Marion- Their losses include J.Pugh, Roberts, and Sayers. M. Pugh will have to have a huge season if the Scarlet Hurricanes want to have a shot at the postseason this year.

6. Graham- They still think it's football and basketball season in the spring. 

 

1D

(Not including the BDD)

Cumberland District

1. Eastside- The only team I have a decent amount of knowledge on in the Cumberland. The Spartans will have to try and replace Steele, Ward, and Perry If they want to try and not get beat out by a Hogo team before reaching the finals for the 4th year in a row. 

2. The rest of the teams I am just guessing on based on my knowledge from their recent seasons, they still have next to a 0% chance of making the state tourney. Rye Cove- They used to have two guys with the last name Kern who seemed to be decent for the CD, no idea if they graduated or not.

3. Thomas Walker- Had a lefty a couple of years ago that was decent for them but still don't know if he graduated either. 

4. Burton

5. Castlewood

6. Twin Springs

 

Hogoheegee District

1. Chilhowie- The Warriors made it to the championship last year and they have lost Booth, Kilbourne, and Smith. Still, return some of their guys from last year in Hill and Class 1 POTY Tuell (somehow). They will likely still win the region, but I do not look for them to have the same amount of success as last year. 

2. Honaker- I can promise that Honaker will definitely win more games this year on the diamond than they did on the hardwood. Nunley and Musick are both solid ballplayers and they have a solid freshman in Harris, but the Tigers will need to find more production if they wish to take the region from Chilhowie.

3. Rural Retreat- The Indians have lost their main weapons for the past couple of years in Fontaine and Bandrimer. Still have some talented players and look for them to take the last seed into region play.

4. Patrick Henry- They had a solid little freshman lefty last year that won some big games for them so they could very easily take the 3 seed away from RR.

5. Holston- Tweed will have to do the heavy lifting as he has for the last few years if they are going to win some games. Does anyone know where Holston will be playing their games at this year? I wouldn't imagine that Backer Park was able to survive the flooding in Damascus.

6. Northwood. Williams is in the same boat that Tweed will be in. 

 

Region D Top 10 Rankings

1. Abingdon

2. John Battle

3. Lebanon

4. Union

5. Central

6. Virginia High

7. Gate City

8. Tazewell

9. Chilhowie

10. Honaker

 

[1inStripes]

Both Kerns (Dawson and Jon) graduated at RC.  RC lost a lot of pitching off of last years team. RC has some good prospects coming but this year they will have to piece meal mound time, play great D and find some timely hitting. 

Grabeel graduated 2 years ago at TW.  Last year was a real struggle for the Pioneers and I expect more of the same.  

I would think the favorite behind Eastside this year will probably be Castlewood.  They were led by a lot of sophomores I believe last year.

Not sure what Burton has returning.

TS has some struggles last year that I don't believe were really expected.  I think maybe an injury and also some players deciding not to play that were a big hit to the Titans expectations.

[Stelley]

6 minutes ago, 1inStripes said:

Both Kerns (Dawson and Jon) graduated at RC.  RC lost a lot of pitching off of last years team. RC has some good prospects coming but this year they will have to piece meal mound time, play great D and find some timely hitting. 

Grabeel graduated 2 years ago at TW.  Last year was a real struggle for the Pioneers and I expect more of the same.  

I would think the favorite behind Eastside this year will probably be Castlewood.  They were led by a lot of sophomores I believe last year.

Not sure what Burton has returning.

TS has some struggles last year that I don't believe were really expected.  I think maybe an injury and also some players deciding not to play that were a big hit to the Titans expectations.

@1inStripes when I got to the Cumberland district you were just the guy I was hoping to chime in and help me out😂. Appreciate it man.

[1inStripes]

Glad to help.  Union is going to be really interesting to watch.  Im a big fan of Coach Wyrick.  He should have 3-4 high quality arms this year and all are still relatively young overall.  If they put it in play, they will be tough to beat with the pitching options they will have.

[BigWinners]

Speaking of Union, Skeen was hitting 90mph consistently at a camp this weekend I’ve heard. Slowest clocked throw was 88mph. 

[Stelley]

7 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Speaking of Union, Skeen was hitting 90mph consistently at a camp this weekend I’ve heard. Slowest clocked throw was 88mph. 

Yep ofc I seen that video the day after I made the initial post and I haven’t felt like going back and changing it yet. Definitely going to have to go watch him against Abingdon this year. 

[BigWinners]

2 minutes ago, Stelley said:

Yep ofc I seen that video the day after I made the initial post and I haven’t felt like going back and changing it yet. Definitely going to have to go watch him against Abingdon this year. 

Wyrick has been damn near a miracle worker at Union and the kids LOVE him. He knows the game inside and out and the kids see that plus the influx of elite young talent should make them a terror in the coming seasons. From what I’ve seen at the HS level, if you have a stud ace and another 2-3 very good pitchers, you can go a long way.   Gotta hit at least some but usually at the HS level your pitchers can hit well too. Thanks for the post, please keep us updated on the M7. 

[BigWinners]

Travel and/or AAU baseball has boomed over the last decade or so in BSG, that talent is starting to develop and show now. 

[Stelley]

4 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Wyrick has been damn near a miracle worker at Union and the kids LOVE him. He knows the game inside and out and the kids see that plus the influx of elite young talent should make them a terror in the coming seasons. From what I’ve seen at the HS level, if you have a stud ace and another 2-3 very good pitchers, you can go a long way.   Gotta hit at least some but usually at the HS level your pitchers can hit well too. Thanks for the post, please keep us updated on the M7. 

I feel like they are going to have to win games by scores of 2-0 and 1-0. Chandler is their real only threat at the plate. They do have a high caliber arm along with an upper caliber arm but other than those two guys I don’t know exactly how deep their staff is. Having 3 solid arms is enough to make a run so if they can develop another guy within a year or two they will probably be the best non-Abingdon team in our area due to how many senior laden teams there are this year

[Stelley]

7 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Travel and/or AAU baseball has boomed over the last decade or so in BSG, that talent is starting to develop and show now. 

I love how the spread of travel ball has worked. First it hit the Bristol area with Abingdon, V High, and Battle which ofc had Lebanon guys making the trek to those teams. Then Wise, Gate City, and Marion. And now I’m sure it’s nestled its way into just about every town in our area

[BigWinners]

1 minute ago, Stelley said:

I feel like they are going to have to win games by scores of 2-0 and 1-0. Chandler is their real only threat at the plate. They do have a high caliber arm along with an upper caliber arm but other than those two guys I don’t know exactly how deep their staff is. Having 3 solid arms is enough to make a run so if they can develop another guy within a year or two they will probably be the best non-Abingdon team in our area due to how many senior laden teams there are this year

Talked to someone in the know a few days ago and that was our biggest takeaway as well. Not a lot of quality strong bats so the Bears will play a ton of one run games. If they can average four runs per game they can hang with anyone outside of Abingdon and the talent is in the youngsters minus Chandler so the window is just now opening for Union to really become competitive at the state level. 

[BigWinners]

1 minute ago, Stelley said:

I love how the spread of travel ball has worked. First it hit the Bristol area with Abingdon, V High, and Battle which ofc had Lebanon guys making the trek to those teams. Then Wise, Gate City, and Marion. And now I’m sure it’s nestled its way into just about every town in our area

Ive been critical in the past of year round baseball, I’m afraid it burns kids out young and playing other sports develops the most well rounded athletes but the results speak for themselves.  The talent level in Region D is at a sky high overall level IMO. 

[1inStripes]

32 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

Ive been critical in the past of year round baseball, I’m afraid it burns kids out young and playing other sports develops the most well rounded athletes but the results speak for themselves.  The talent level in Region D is at a sky high overall level IMO. 

It's all about finding the right coaches who handle the kids workloads properly.  Skeen has been playing against some of the best in the US at his age level but also with the right type of people that isn't going to kill his arm.  That makes a huge difference in his long term success.  Being a fan of Coach Wyricks I look forward to keeping up with the Bears while he's there, especially knowing the talent they have.  Wyrick can teach them to put the ball in play I have no doubt about that.  He will find a way to manufacture some runs.

[CriticalNoise]

I'm not sure of any seniors other than Whitman on this years Union team, someone can pin that in for me as I haven't seen their roster

Union should have on the hill 

Whitman - Senior

Neff, Bishop & Pleasant - Sophmores

Skeen - Freshman

[BigWinners]

16 hours ago, 1inStripes said:

It's all about finding the right coaches who handle the kids workloads properly.  Skeen has been playing against some of the best in the US at his age level but also with the right type of people that isn't going to kill his arm.  That makes a huge difference in his long term success.  Being a fan of Coach Wyricks I look forward to keeping up with the Bears while he's there, especially knowing the talent they have.  Wyrick can teach them to put the ball in play I have no doubt about that.  He will find a way to manufacture some runs.

I hope so, I’d hate to see all that arm talent get destroyed by an injury at his age. He’s got a bright future, hitting that speed at that age is crazy. 
 

I know the kids love Wyrick and he’s got them to buy in and seems to really know baseball so I believe he will find a way to make the offense productive. 
 

Can you guys make another run in softball?

[Stelley]

9 minutes ago, BigWinners said:

I hope so, I’d hate to see all that arm talent get destroyed by an injury at his age. He’s got a bright future, hitting that speed at that age is crazy. 
 

I know the kids love Wyrick and he’s got them to buy in and seems to really know baseball so I believe he will find a way to make the offense productive. 
 

Can you guys make another run in softball?

I don’t really believe the whole “coaches is what makes a team great” mentality works when it comes to baseball. When you think of area coaches that are considered that are considered to be great like Doc Adams, Daniels, and Francisco, yes I’m sure they discipline their guys and made sure they are all held accountable and locked in but honestly they were all in the right place at the right time imo. Their studs weren’t studs because of those coaches, they were studs bc from an early age they played travel ball and had numerous lessons to make them the players they were. Now yes obviously there’s numerous of examples of there being tremendous talent on teams and they have zero success but I don’t think a coach has the ability to make a team that much greater in baseball.

[1inStripes]

5 hours ago, Stelley said:

I don’t really believe the whole “coaches is what makes a team great” mentality works when it comes to baseball. When you think of area coaches that are considered that are considered to be great like Doc Adams, Daniels, and Francisco, yes I’m sure they discipline their guys and made sure they are all held accountable and locked in but honestly they were all in the right place at the right time imo. Their studs weren’t studs because of those coaches, they were studs bc from an early age they played travel ball and had numerous lessons to make them the players they were. Now yes obviously there’s numerous of examples of there being tremendous talent on teams and they have zero success but I don’t think a coach has the ability to make a team that much greater in baseball.

While they may not have the impact always that certain sports coaches do, they can certainly make big differences in overall team success.   Take Wyricks first year at Kelly. That team was not good. But he got them playing their best at the end of the season and still took them to the state playoffs. It wasn’t your typical Kelly team. Wyrick knows the game as well as any baseball coach in the area. He can teach hitting very well. He can’t make Mendoza Ichiro but make players productive if they work and listen to what he asks of them. 

[1inStripes]

6 hours ago, BigWinners said:

 

Can you guys make another run in softball?

Lot to replace. Gonna work hard and try and put the best product on the field each time and see how it shakes out. 

[Elder statesman]

On 2/25/2025 at 9:36 PM, 1inStripes said:

While they may not have the impact always that certain sports coaches do, they can certainly make big differences in overall team success.   Take Wyricks first year at Kelly. That team was not good. But he got them playing their best at the end of the season and still took them to the state playoffs. It wasn’t your typical Kelly team. Wyrick knows the game as well as any baseball coach in the area. He can teach hitting very well. He can’t make Mendoza Ichiro but make players productive if they work and listen to what he asks of them. 

With Abingdon, the high school coaches are spoon fed talent from each sport's youth program coaches.  The volleyball program has had a large group playing on various travel teams for many seasons.  They travel all over the east coast to find tournaments.  The baseball and softball programs benefit from one of the top Little League programs in southwest Virginia in addition to multiple travel teams every summer.  In addition, the top players find elite teams to train and play against the top players in the country.  The basketball program, both girls and boys, has always had 8-10 players participating in travel ball every offseason.  You are starting to see that trend fall off in the boys' lackluster seasons the last 2 years. Current teams only have 1-2 boys that are basketball-first kids.   All of these programs have very little guidance from the high school coaches during the youth phase.  By the time they get to the varsity level, they have already practiced and played more for youth coaches than they ever will for a high school coach.  The basic roles for a varsity coach are to put all the separate talent together in the best fit to win, get them in proper condition to play, and give them some in game guidance.  IMO, it doesn't matter how great the coach is, if you don't have skilled talent by varsity level, you won't be very successful.  The biggest exception I see to this is in the track and field teams.  There's not as much opportunity for youth track.  They start training as soon as they commit to the program and probably put in more work than any other program.  

[1inStripes]

Im not disagreeing on the Jimmys and the Joes side of your statement.  If you dont have talent you arent going to compete very well period.  But getting the right kids in the right spot is what makes those coaches the best and shaping those players into positions they may not be as accustomed to, because they have been playing elsewhere for their travel teams and not understand the roles of those spots fully.  Abingdon softball this year may be a prime example of this.  They return a lot of talent but that freshman class has 2-3 kids who could push older kids out of spots.

[Elder statesman]

3 hours ago, 1inStripes said:

Im not disagreeing on the Jimmys and the Joes side of your statement.  If you dont have talent you arent going to compete very well period.  But getting the right kids in the right spot is what makes those coaches the best and shaping those players into positions they may not be as accustomed to, because they have been playing elsewhere for their travel teams and not understand the roles of those spots fully.  Abingdon softball this year may be a prime example of this.  They return a lot of talent but that freshman class has 2-3 kids who could push older kids out of spots.

That's kind of what I was saying by the varsity coach's role of putting them in the right combination to win and give guidance.  My point in all the sports except track and football is that there is very little in talent development at the varsity level.  

I would agree with the softball statement for most schools, but the political side of Abingdon doesn't always let that happen.  I am anxious to see how the season unfolds for them.  I feel like they underachieved greatly last season and not sure the pitching will be strong enough to make a deep run this season.

[swvavol]

1 hour ago, Elder statesman said:

That's kind of what I was saying by the varsity coach's role of putting them in the right combination to win and give guidance.  My point in all the sports except track and football is that there is very little in talent development at the varsity level.  

I would agree with the softball statement for most schools, but the political side of Abingdon doesn't always let that happen.  I am anxious to see how the season unfolds for them.  I feel like they underachieved greatly last season and not sure the pitching will be strong enough to make a deep run this season.

I don't know that they underachieved greatly last season.  They finished about where most expected.  They had decent pitching last season, but nothing that will help you make a deep run.  And it will be the same this season.

[Elder statesman]

1 hour ago, jwgarrett20 said:

I don't know that they underachieved greatly last season.  They finished about where most expected.  They had decent pitching last season, but nothing that will help you make a deep run.  And it will be the same this season.

It wasn't a bad season.  The thing is, that group of girls had been very successful all through little league, middle school, and even JV.  But when you go through 4 coaches in about 5 years it seriously damages a program.  Expectations were much higher leading up to now and with a few girls quitting, a couple injuries, and some transfers it just wasn't the same.

[Westisthebest]

Richlands softball is still very young this year with mainly sophomores starting in many positions, if not all but 1. Losing rife is huge, but fuller has been working hard in the off-season. Not sure if they could make a run this season with the young talent. But wouldn't surprise me if they did. They're a very talented group of girls with lots of success in travel ball over the past 8 or 9 years. So they've been together for a long time with good chemistry. We just need to hit the slow ball better this year. 

Weve gotta pretty strong schedule. As we play TN high, Eastside, GC, Wise, Lebanon, Union and Marion. Although not very familiar with union or GC, but GC usually has strong teams. Marion maybe fell off a little with losing Preston. But no doubt the best time of year 

[1inStripes]

GC lost Gillenwater this week who would have to shoulder a lot of the load for them offensively and on the mound with Monroe.  The rich get richer with her addition to the Falcons team.

Rife had a huge day yesterday at Alice Lloyd.  The issue at Richlands will be will it be drama free or not.  Good amount of talent.  A whole lot of personalities too.