11 June 2011

Cup of jO's: Brooks Robinson High School All-Star Game

The O's won their fourth straight last night, blanking Tampa 7-0. Guthrie and Price will lock horns today, as Baltimore looks to keep their momentum moving towards a plus-.500 record!

As part of this weekend series, Camden Yards will host (after Sunday's game) the Brooks Robinson High School All-Star Game. While it was not a strong year for the local high school crop, from a draft perspective, there are a number of interesting names to keep in mind for those taking in the showcase. First, here are the rosters:

Brooks Robinson North Team

1 Justin Fratantuono - Calvert Hall
2 Eric Upton - Dulaney High School
3 Patrick Rogers - Mount St. Joseph
4 TJ Pipik - Reservoir
5 Ryne Willard - Smithsburg High School
6 Andrew Clow - C. Milton Wright
7 Brendan Butler - John Carroll (Orioles, 50th Rd)
8 Shane Campbell - Kenwood
9 KJ Hockaday - John Carroll (Orioles, 14th Rd)
10 AJ Lardo - Loyola Blakefield
11 Bobby Ruse - C. Milton Wright
12 Cody Harman - Westminster HS
13 Kory Britton - Atholton
16 Ryan Redinger - Mountain Ridge High School
17 Matt Bosse -Calvert Hall College HS
Larry Sheets - Gilman
Steve Myers - North Hagerstown
Anthony Blackburn - C. Milton Wright

Brooks Robinson South Team

1 Buddy Elgin - Kent County High
2 Zachery Hawk - Meade Senior High School
3 Coty Mulder - St. Michaels
4 Ernest Baldwin - Bishop McNamara
5 Peter Bowles - Quince Orchard
6 Danny Breen - Northern High School
7 Chris Brown - Rockville
8 Alex Brown - Meade Senior High
9 Brent Jones - Severna Park
10 Kyle McKelvey - St. Michaels
11 Ryan Metzler - Archbishop Spalding High School
12 Zachary Sterling - JM Nennett
15 Matt Armour - Elkton High School
16 William Bouey - Sherwood
17 Zach Morris - DeMatha Catholic High School
Brain Femi - St. Michaels
Billy Goodman - Sherwood
Jim Simms - Chesapeake

**Bolded names selected in this week's MLB Draft

Draft fans will immediately recognize Kevin (K.J.) Hockaday, whom the Orioles tabbed with their 14th Round pick on Tuesday. Hockaday will be spending the summer with Youse's Orioles of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League (a wood bat league consisting primarily of college players). He is a strong kid with the potential to develop some true pro power as he continues to mature. Hockaday was just outside our Top 300 draft-eligible players, and will be scoped this summer to see if his skillset is far enough along that he can tackle Rookie ball in the Minors. If not, he'll ship off to College Park to join the Terps, and could emerge as a top 5 round talent in three years.

Two other names to note for Sunday's All-Star game include Shane Campbell and AJ Lardo. Campbell spun a one-hitter the last time I saw him, down in Jupiter for the WWBA World Championship. He was a member of the Royals Baseball Club, a prestigious tournament team that also boasted premium draft talent in Roman Quinn (Port St. Joe HS, Fla.), Derek Fisher (Cedar Crest HS, Penn.), Julius Gaines (Luella HS, Ga.), Daniel Norris (Science Hill HS, Tenn.) and Carlos Rodon (Holly Springs HS, N.C.). In the game, Campbell was 87-89 mph with his fastball out of a compact delivery with some deception. AJ Lardo has been a mainstay on the showcase circuit, and has just been caught as a "tweener" when it comes to Major League attention. He does everything well, just nothing spectacularly. As a bit undersized, he'll head to the University of Maryland along with Campbell, Hockaday, William Bouey, Bobby Ruse and Kory Britton (think the UMD staff will be in attendance?).

Congrats to all the players, their families and their high school teams -- the experience playing at Camden will be a wonderful one, and hopefully one that some of them are able to repeat several years from now wearing orange and black.

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