Scouts from Don Reynolds Baseball Group to provide MLB-based perspective.

After using the 2021 baseball season to introduce the program, Top Prospects will give 14u and 15u players multiple chances to gather personalized scouting insight and analytic data thanks to nine camps that will run alongside Triple Crown and Pathway Baseball events in 2022.

Scouts from the Don Reynolds Baseball Group, who have extensive background in MLB settings and/or coaching histories, will be on hand to share their perspective on player strengths and weaknesses. Our partners at College Sports Evaluation will handle the hard-data collection, allowing athletes to proceed with a real command of where they are and how to advance in the game.

Here’s the Top Prospects Camp schedule for 2022

Feb. 19-21: Spring Training Instructional, Panama City, FL.
March 5: Texas Season Opener, Dallas Metroplex
March 18: Arizona Spring Championships, Scottsdale
June 4: Virginia State Championships, Hampton Roads
June 17: Omaha SlumpBuster #1
June 18: Top Prospects Arizona, Scottsdale
June 24: Omaha SlumpBuster #2
July 6: Summer Nationals (15u), Myrtle Beach, SC
July 21: Summer Nationals (14u), Myrtle Beach, SC

View Details On 2022 Top Prospects Camps

Selected 14u and 15u players get a chance at college exposure and challenging competition at the 2022 Pathway Arizona event in September.
View Details

CONTACT:
John Casale
(970) 672-0583
john@triplecrownsports.com

https://www.tctopprospects.com/

Name: Adam Kline
 
Job Title: Senior Accountant
 
Email: adam@triplecrownsports.com
 
Family: My wife, Vikki, and I moved to Fort Collins in 2015 and shortly after had our son, Dominic. My parents, Dominic and Gail, and siblings all currently live in Michigan. I have one older sister and two younger sisters, along with three brothers-in-law and two nieces and two nephews.
 
Hometown: Detroit, MI
 
College Attended/Year Graduated: Madonna University 2006 B.S. Sports Management; Wayne State University 2008 M.A. Sports Administration
 
Sports Background: Growing up, basketball and baseball were my primary sports. While in high school, I played two years of basketball and four years of baseball. I was fortunate enough to play in two state championship games in high school. My junior year our team was 38-1 and ranked in the top 15 nationally. I went on to pitch for four years (2-year closer and 2-year starter) at Madonna University in Livonia, MI. After my collegiate career was complete, I coached at the high school level before moving to Tennessee to work for a Minor League Baseball team.
 
Hobbies/Outside Interests: Golf, Friday night bonfires, coaching, spending time with friends and family, and I love watching my son participate in all of his activities.
 
Favorite trip: Family trip to Disneyland for my son's first birthday.
 
How did you become associated with Triple Crown? When working on my Master's degree I had to complete an internship, and I connected with the TCS Midwest franchise owner to complete my internship hours with him and learn more about the inter-workings of Triple Crown.
 
What intrigues you the most about Triple Crown?: The values that Triple Crown stands by are like that of no other organization that I have ever worked for. The staff here is tremendous with a common goal to create lasting memories.

Name: Jesse Pugh

Job Title/Primary Responsibilities: Baseball Director

Work email: jessepugh@triplecrownsports.com

Family: Sandy & Billy Pugh (mom & dad), Sara Reynolds (Older sister)

Hometown: Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Colleges Attended/Graduated: Concordia University, NE. graduated in 2019 with a degree in Business Marketing.

Sports Background (proudest moment and most humbling defeat): Growing up I participated in multiple sports. In high school was a part of the varsity baseball and football team while also competing for Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in freestyle skiing. Baseball and skiing have always been a passion of mine. While skiing I have been ranked nationally and during the winters would travel around the country competing in halfpipe and slopestyle. I did this through my Junior year of high school. After this focused on baseball and earned a scholarship to play at the Concordia University (NE). I played for three years and was a student coach my senior year.
My most proud moment in sports was earning my scholarship to play baseball.
One of my most humbling defeats was when I broke my collarbone skiing for the second time and going through PT to get back to skiing and baseball. It showed me that it is important to take care of your body and that I had to work to get back to where I was and be even better.

Hobbies/Outside Interests: A few of my hobbies and outside interests are skiing, fishing, baseball, slow pitch softball and spending time with friends and family.

How did you find or first become associated with Triple Crown Sports? I first became associated and familiar with Triple Crown Sports when I was younger and played in the Mountain Magic tournaments in Steamboat Springs. After my Senior year of college (2019) I was an intern for the Colorado Baseball Department. While helping coach the 16u team this previous year I learned of a possible opening. This past summer I was a seasonal and then applied for a full-time position.

What intrigues you the most about TCS? The thing that intrigues me most about TCS is the ability to help create memories through baseball tournaments. Growing up playing in TCS I made so many memories to last a lifetime, and now I have the ability to pass that on to the next generation.

by Daniel Villegas

Las Vegas, NV -- It was a beautiful Sunday for some championship baseball as NSA Baseball took down Baseball 101-Pagan in dominant fashion with a 9-1 victory, claiming the 18u division title at the Triple Crown Las Vegas Fall Nationals. 

NSA (out of Henderson, NV) started pool play Saturday with a record of 1-1, winning against Canes West Las Vegas 16 but dropping their second game to Golden Spikes Baseball. They needed to be perfect on championship Sunday and NSA was up for the challenge. 

They won their morning game against TKB with a nice 8-3 victory and were set up for a revenge game against the only team that beat them in the tournament. NSA showed that Saturday was not the final word as they won a close matchup, 9-6, against Golden Spikes to become championship-game bound, set to face a Baseball-Pagan team that won its first two Sunday games by big margins. 

NSA came out the gates firing as they put up a crooked number their very first at bats. Leadoff hitter Ty Phillips set the tempo with a quick single for the first hit of the game. Back-to-back bunts had NSA looking good as the first was a base hit while the other was able to move the runners over. A wild pitch put the first run on the board for NSA and the offense took off after that. 

Jase Pashales got a clutch RBI base hit to bring in the runner from third. Then followed a huge RBI triple from Kanon Welbourne to extend their lead. Gabe San Juan put the final touches of the inning with an RBI single to bring in Welbourne, and NSA had a fast 4-0 lead. 

“Tremendous,” said NSA’s starting pitcher Ryan David about the quick offensive production from his team. “Pitching with a lead, easiest thing to do. Whenever we have four runs, easy day, and just throw strikes." 

David settled in quickly as he had a one-run complete game to help his team win a championship. He only allowed six hits with three strikeouts through seven dominant innings. 

“He was pounding the zone” said Kanon Welbourne who was catching the dominant pitching performance. “Throwing strikes, curveball was working. Doing what he had to do (to get the win). He’s pretty consistent so I expect that." 

Their next runs did not come until the fourth inning when Derek Render hit an RBI single that brought in Welbourne who was hit by a pitch to start the inning. David seemed like he was doing it all with a two-run double in the same inning to push his lead to 7-0. 

The bottom of the fourth was the time Baseball 101 (Las Vegas) started to rattle the bats. As Levi Cook was walked with his teammate Dejion Mitchell smacking a double to put runners on second and third. Caleb Sturman hit a sacrifice fly the very next at bat to bring in their only run of the game. 

NSA was able to answer quickly with another run scored coming from an RBI single by Pashales in the top of the fifth. Their last run came in the seventh with Jake Morrison hitting a ball back to the pitcher with a runner scoring on the play. 

David only faced five batters in the bottom of the seventh to close things out to bring the Las Vegas Fall National title to the boys from Nevada. 

“It feels great, man,” said head coach Justin Grenier. “These boys work their butts off and they absolutely deserve it. Proud of them."

By Daniel Villegas 

HENDERSON, NV. - It is not about how you start the game, it's about how you finish it. That was the motto for the Naturals after a slow start. 

The Naturals, based out of Lehi, Utah, headed into game two of the Triple Crown Las Vegas Fall Nationals with hopes of a different outcome. They dropped game one of their tournament play to Canes West Las Vegas 10-4. 

They certainly got better results with an offensive explosion against the Sandlot Baseball Club, securing a 17-5 victory with all their runs coming in the fourth inning. This brings their tournament record to 1-1 as they sit in second of pool A in the 14u division. They are just behind Canes West Las Vegas (2-0) in the standings. 

“It is good, it felt good. We started really slow today and even through the second game, in the first three innings we couldn’t get the bats going.” said Head Coach Scott Brown when asked about his first win of the tournament. “We finally got a few hits we strung together. Yeah it felt good to get a win in that second game." 

There was a slow start to the Naturals' offense as they could not muster any runs through three innings of play. They only had one runner on base and that came via a throwing error off a ground ball to the shortstop of the Sandlot Baseball Club. 

It was a different story for the Sandlot as their offense was clicking early and seemed like they were going to run away with it. A strong second inning helped them build a lead of 3-0. This came from the catcher Wyatt Turely, as his RBI single drove in the first run of the game. A past ball brought in another run soon after. Gavin Grey capped the inning with an easy double to bring in another run. 

The momentum carried into the third as a quick single from Chase Renzo and then an error from the second baseman put two runners on base. Jordan Butcher was able to bring one of those runners home with a long RBI single in the left center gap. Then a passed ball in the inning brought another runner home and the Sandlot Baseball Club was sitting pretty with a 5-0 lead. 

But the beauty about baseball is it is never really over until every single out is recorded. The Naturals were down but they were not out. 

“Just one pitch at a time, get your pitch, be aggressive, and let’s put some pressure on the defense,” said Coach Brown about inspiring his players heading into the fourth inning. 

The inning started fast with a leadoff single from Miles Robinson. A passed ball brought him to second and while trying to pick him off he was able to advance to third by a throwing error. Dawson Brown hit a bullet in between short and third to tally the Naturals first run of the game.

The bases were loaded soon after an infield single from Hazen Elton and Keaton Nordick being hit by a pitch. A wild pitch brought one of those runners in with Devaughn Eka smacking a double to bring the score to 5-3. Another wild pitch made the score 5-4 with Tyler Zabriskie coming up with a big time at bat. He smoked a go ahead double with two runners scoring on the play to make it 6-5 Naturals.

“I was in the down count, I choked up, try to put the ball in play and see what happens,” said Zabriskie about his big at bat. “Just try to get on base and help my team out.” 

The offense did not stop there as they continued to pile on the runs in the inning. 

Four pitching mistakes led to four more runs for the Naturals. Plus, there was key hitting from players throughout the lineup. Bode Gaggero had a two run single and from there the Naturals never looked back. Clutch RBI singles from Maxon DeGroot, Hanks Jacobson, and Kannon Whiteley really stretched the lead. Zabriskie had another big time at bat with a nice RBI single that brought in two runs. He had four RBIs in that one inning alone. All this brought the score  to 17-5 through three and a half innings. 

The Naturals brought in Kannon Whiteley to shut things down and he did exactly that. He faced the minimum with two quick fly outs, a walk, and a ground out to finish the game. 

“I would rate (our performance) about an eight out of ten. We were solid, just a couple of errors but not bad” said Keaton Nordick, a player on the Naturals. “We will continue (to) improve and get better. We will be able to score more and just improve”. 

The Naturals look to continue their hot offense when they face the Grays at 8 am tomorrow morning. 

The Sandlot Baseball Club will look to grab their first win of the tournament when they play Future Prospects at 10:15 am.

The club baseball season is fast approaching the finish line, with two uniquely assembled teams ready to make another run at the twin goals of overall success and individual growth.
 
New in 2021, the Top Prospects program executed through Triple Crown Baseball spent the year using the Don Reynolds Baseball Group (manned by scouts with a deep background in professional baseball) to evaluate 14u and 15u athletes playing in selected TCS tournaments. More than 1,000 players were reviewed, and 150 earned invites to the upcoming Pathway Arizona tournament, set for Sept. 17-20 at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson.
 
Two Top Prospects teams are suiting up for the Pathway event, both coached by former scouts Sean Murphy and Danny Bates.  
 
Athletes had the option to get dedicated scouting reports and then benefit from the perspective of carefully selected individuals who had valuable expertise earned through years of playing, coaching and scouting in the sport.
 
“I thought it was pretty cool that scouts were there, and they were able to give reports back to us,” said Charlotte, NC, native Tyler Howe, 15, an outfielder/pitcher who plays for the Canes-Simpson club program and worked with Top Prospects at the TC Summer Nationals in July. “It gave me an idea about my strengths and the weaknesses I needed to work on. I can’t wait to get to Arizona. There are a lot of good teams in the tournament, and I have been able to meet some new people.”
 
“It was great to talk to the scouts, hearing the compliments and knowing that I can play with the best,” said Joey Senstock of Lincoln, NE., 15, infielder/catcher/pitcher with the Nebraska Prospects who worked out for Top Prospects at the TCS SlumpBuster in June. “I learned that the scouting report provided me with knowledge to help me prepare to get ready for the next level. The scouts were also very accurate with what I’ve been told by other coaches. I’m very excited about playing with players from all over the country as well as looking forward to being coached and evaluated by people with baseball history as scouts and former professional players.”
 
Getting good information into the heads of the players, and the hands of parents, is where Top Prospects can make serious impact on that part of the game where youth players are transitioning to high-school age athletes.
 
“You have real scouts writing real reports,” Bates said about the strengths of the program. “They’ve allowed us the freedom to grade the players through our eyes, our experience and knowledge – they didn’t put any restrictions on us with that. With that, it allows us to give players a true evaluation.”
 
Here are the rosters for the two Top Prospects teams playing this week in Arizona:

Head Coach: Danny Bates
Austin Finegan – California
Jo'sue Holloway-Brown – New Jersey
Fayz Baig – Connecticut
Ben Lindberg –Minnesota
Brock Budacki – Pennsylvania
Westin Thompson – Texas
Anderson Butner – California
Sean Selzer – Arizona
Jailen Watkins – Texas
Carlos Hernandez – California
Joey Senstock – Nebraska
Landon Majerus – Minnesota
Connor Burtch – Tennessee
Blake Burdine – Texas
 
Head Coach: Sean Murphy
Jeremiah Kirkwood – Washington
Ethan Benson – California
Jet Berry – Arizona
Elijah Bechtel – California
Mason Boyken – Minnesota
Talan Culberson – Texas
Colt Salgado – Texas
Deagan Rose – California
Tristian Jones – Texas
Jarrett Behrends – Nebraska
Tyler Howe – North Carolina
Juan Hernandez – Arizona
Andres Castro – Arizona
Dillon Brandt – Texas
Owen Meli – California
 
Championship bracket play will feature a doubleheader on Sunday, Sept. 19; the event closes with the semifinals on Monday at 8:00 a.m., and the final game at 10:30 a.m.
 
“The game isn’t played by numbers, it’s played by people. Scouting is about projection,” said Reynolds. “We talk about where we know a player is, to where they might be. (Other people) are not talking enough about how we get this player better, regardless about what the numbers say.”
 
Follow Pathway Arizona results HERE >> https://bit.ly/3lj0rFo

As we return to action in 2021 and starting with the weekend of March 13-14, Triple Crown Sports® (TCS) is renewing stricter enforcement towards respecting officials and allowing players a better event experience. 
 
Officials and TCS staff will have an expanded commitment to enforce good behavior through:

• Ejecting parents, coaches and possibly their respective players when parents demonstrate bad behavior (i.e. parents could cause coaches and/or players to be ejected).
• Forfeiting the game if the coach can’t help the parent(s) to demonstrate good behavior.
• Removing coaches or parents for the entire event for confrontations in-game or post-game.

 
Why is TCS doing this? Two main reasons:

1. To improve the player experience with respectful behavior in the stands.
2. Officials are in a major shortage, partly because of bad behavior by parents and coaches.

 
Can I still debate a call with the official?
Are you a head coach? Then yes, go for it. Do it in a positive manner and not to ridicule or belittle the official. If you’re a parent then please enjoy the game and don’t confront the official.  
 
What is considered bad behavior?

• Verbal or physical abuse
• Foul or profane language
• Relentless questioning and ridicule of the official

 
We know that you don’t always agree with the official and we acknowledge that they make mistakes. That said, sports officials rarely, if ever, determine the outcome of a game. Players and coaches dictate the true outcome of a game.
 
Triple Crown’s purpose is to “bring athletes and families together in competition and create experiences that embed lasting lifetime valued memories." Our “Respect of All” value says that there’s “no grunts, no servants and we’re all equal, real people.” These two guiding principles led us to the decision to crack down on poor treatment of officials, and we’re excited to improve the youth experience.
 
Thank you and enjoy the game,