The 2014 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches.
Players of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
Is 2014 the most athletically-gifted class to graduate from this state in recent years? Or ever?
Well, maybe.
It’s tough to find real perspective when it comes to recruiting, seeing as how real data has only been kept since about 2002 at the earliest. Even then, not many commitments and signings were reported at that time, and even fewer were reporting from sports like lacrosse, volleyball and even baseball.
So while the data from the 2014 class absolutely blows away anything that we’ve been able to dig up, we can’t say how it stacks up to, say, the class of 1995. Still, it’s astounding where this year’s crop of seniors will head.
A total of 905 athletes have signed to play their sport(s) in college.
Of those, 343 will head to Division I programs.
Baseball features an astounding 45 Division I players in this class. I was able to find data as far back as 2006. The next-highest output of D-I guys from Colorado came in 2008, when the state had 28. This year’s 45 Division I seniors, by the way, came from more than 20 different schools.
Boys basketball has 12 Division I guys this go-round. That, too, is the most since data was kept, going back to 2002.
Likewise, girls basketball has 18 Division I players. Again, it is a high-water mark, though I only found reliable data back to 2010.
Football will send 31 players to D-I FBS schools, which is the most since 2008 (33). Another 16 will head to D-I FCS programs.
Other sports, like boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse and volleyball were right at or above their average Division I outputs over recent years.
In every instance, these sports are reporting the most college signings across all levels. Now, that is undoubtedly because we’re getting more kids to report their college commitments and signings than ever before. (Additionally, our lists only include athletes who are arriving on campus as scholarship athletes. There are dozens of other walkons headed to colleges.)
Even so, the data backs up that the 2014 class will be one to remember.
Valor Christian offensive lineman Isaiah Holland, a senior, had committed to Army to play football, but was recently denied admission “due to a medical issue,” according to 9News. Instead, he has signed with Colorado. “I love this state and I love that I get to be one of the cool Colorado kids that gets to go,” Holland told 9News.
Another late college switch: Chaparral baseball’s Keenan Eaton tweeted that he will head to Wichita State instead of Vanderbilt. This season, the Shockers featured five Colorado products.
Arapahoe selected assistant Brad Jansen as its next boys basketball coach. He takes over for Dan Snyder, who was massively successful for the Warriors before stepping away from coaching this offseason. Snyder briefly accepted the job at Grandview before changing his mind. Grandview has since hired Michael Rogers, formerly of George Washington.
Grand Junction hired Isaac Madison as its boys basketball coach, the school announced on Tuesday. Madison was an assistant for the Tigers for the past 11 years. “We look forward to the leadership that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, and the contributions that he will make to the Tiger coaching staff,” athletic director Ned Pollert wrote in an email.
How epic was last week’s 2A baseball semifinal battle between Rye and Sedgwick County? The two pitchers accounted for a combined 32 strikeouts. Rye’s Trenton Hughes had 17, Sedgwick County’s Chase Dunker finished with 15. Sedwick County won 4-1 in eight innings, but then lost to Resurrection Christian in the title game.
Reagan Todd’s two-out, walkoff grand slam to beat Mountain Vista in the 5A baseball tournament last weekend is one of the craziest finishes to a game I’ve seen at any level.
The MLB Draft, set for June 5-7, should be interesting for locals. Thomas Jefferson graduate Kyle Freeland, now pitching at Evansville, is expected to be a top-10 pick, and others like Regis Jesuit’s David Peterson and ThunderRidge’s Brody Westmoreland figure to be selected early. Peterson drew a crowd of scouts while pitching last weekend.
Dr. James Andrews — who has performed countless Tommy John surgeries — and a colleague are releasing an app which seeks to lower the risk of arm injury to youth baseball players. It will be called Throw Like a Pro, and will suggest guidelines on how to manage pitching — such as number of rest days and maximum number of pitches — based on a player’s age.
Former Chaparral offensive lineman Shane Callahan will transfer from Auburn to one of the in-state schools, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. The paper cited a desire to play closer to home. Callahan will be a redshirt sophomore.
Cherry Creek is building a swimming pool. Here’s a pic from AD Jason Wilkins on Twitter.
Regis Jesuit is No. 1 in this week’s 5A baseball ranking. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
For the second consecutive week, there’s a new team atop CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A baseball ranking. This time, Regis Jesuit has ascended to the top.
The Raiders, now 14-3, went 3-0 last week — including a 7-5 win over then-No. 6 ThunderRidge. They are now 9-0 in the always tough Continental League, and are riding an 11-game winning streak.
Fairview actually received the same amount of first-place votes (six) that Regis Jesuit did, but remained at No. 2 with 125 overall points to the Raiders’ 137. The Knights are now 16-1 — 13-0 against in-state teams.
Arvada West jumped into the rankings at No. 6, just behind No. 5 Chatfield and No. 4 Mountain Vista.
ThunderRidge dropped to No. 7, Rocky Mountain is No. 8 and Chaparral is No. 9. Cherry Creek rejoined the poll at No. 10.
There are also new teams atop the 3A and 2A polls. In 3A, Eaton received nine of the 10 first-place votes to overtake Holy Family, which dropped to No. 2. In 2A, Resurrection Christian got five of the seven first-place votes and took over for Swink, which also fell to No. 2.
Windsor retained its spot atop the 4A ranking, and Stratton held firm atop 1A.
The 4A poll added Pueblo East at No. 9, and also saw Lewis-Palmer move from No. 5 to No. 3, and Evergreen go from No. 7 to No. 4.
3A added Bayfield (No. 8), while 2A added Limon (No. 9) and Lyons (No. 10).
With the regular season ending Tuesday, these rankings will serve as the final poll of the regular season.
