Baseball Loaded for 2013

The 2012 GHSA baseball season was loaded with superstar talent like few we have ever seen before. Players such as Appling County’s Byron Buxton, Columbus’ Kyle Carter and J.T. Phillips and Brookwood’s Sims headlined a senior class that could have as many as six players taken in the first round of the MLB draft this June. Buxton, named the Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year, could be the first overall pick in the draft.

What will next year hold for high school baseball in the state of Georgia? Who will be the stars and the teams that warrant following? Grayson could be right back in the thick of the championship hunt as Austin Meadows enters his senior season. The outfielder stands 6-foot-3 and is ranked by ESPNHS as the top outfield prospect in the Class of 2013. He is No. 2 on the ESPN Super 60 and has committed to Clemson. Grayson had 14 juniors on this year’s team that reached the Class AAAAA semifinals. Taylor Burnett could also make some noise as a rising junior.

Parkview will lose Matt Olson, but the return of Ryan Blanton and Josh Hart could keep the Panthers in the conversation for a three-peat. Fellow Gwinnettian Logan Moseley is one to keep an eye on as well. The Mill Creek rising junior is a shortstop with plenty of potential.

Redan’s Wesley Jones is the No. 31 player on the ESPN Super 60 list, and the shortstop is one of three players committed to the University of Georgia, joining Loganville’s Frazier and Walton’s Stephen Wrenn, an outfielder. Alpharetta’s Connor Jones is also a part of the UGA signing class. Jones is ranked by ESPNHS as the No. 21 pitching prospect in the country.

Marist missed out on the Class AAAA crown this year, but could be in the hunt for another title next year with Anthony Sherlag behind the plate for the War Eagles. Sherlag stands 6-foot-3 and is listed as the No. 8 catcher in the country by ESPNHS.