Good grief. Now for the real Best of Preps list. I realize some of y'all like to pat each other's back, name your friends, brothers or yourselves, and go by the inflated stats that some teams phone in...but I go by what I've seen, and how much difference a player makes to a winning team. My criteria is, how would a certain team fare without this player? In some cases, they don't miss a beat, but in other cases, one player makes a huge difference. I also include quality of opponents, attitude, leadership and behavior. Here goes...and I'm keeping it in Hamilton County, because those are the games I have seen the most.
Pitchers: Coty Green and Ryne Simpson of Baylor
Charles Williams of McCallie
Brandon Siltz of Red Bank
Nic Robinson and Justin Higdon of Ooltewah
Positions: Myles Ervin of Notre Dame...amazing shortstop, good bat
Bret Smalley & Josh Green of Hixson...lively bats
Nathan Long of CCS...major league potential
Ryan Jones, Zach Woods & Blake McDade of Ooltewah...
all-around players
Michael Brown of Baylor...team leader
Beau Geren of Red Bank...RBI man and best catcher
and Player of the Year: Reece Cofer of Red Bank....yes, Ooltewah had their number, but against everybody else, Red Bank is 22-6, and Cofer is directly responsible for many of those wins. For a team with only three seniors and low expectations, they're still alive. They've beaten most of the teams in the area, and Cofer is usually the rally-starter and playmaker.
Lots of guys came close, but you can't pick everybody. We all have our opinions, and I don't expect everyone to agree. But I think this would be an amazing team!