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Tournaments  | Story  | 11/2/2023

National All-State Games Preview

Jheremy Brown     
For the third year in a row, the travel ball landscape will come together in early November to become the true epicenter of youth baseball as players ages 9u to 14u will descend upon Houston, Texas for the National All-State Games, providing two consecutive weekends of highly competitive baseball. Back in 2021, we saw 12 different states represented, a far cry from the 25 teams/regions the event has grown to represent at the 12 to 14u groups, a number that’s made up of players from 42 different states as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico. 

Week one, which will see the “evens” (10, 12, 14u) take the field, will have 71 teams vie for the title in their respective age division, a mark which leads the way as the “odds” (9, 11, 13u) will bring a collective of 63 teams week two. It’s a relatively short span of time as teams will be guaranteed four pool play games before breaking into single elimination in the bracket, meaning EVERY pool play game is important when it comes to not only making the playoffs, but also seeding to get that highly coveted first round bye. 



There’s no mistaking the talent that’s about to take the field in Houston either as 102 different Select Festival alum (45 13u alum, 31 12u, 26 11u) will be battling between the white lines and several of their stories overlap in how the All State Games put their names on the national map for the very first time. 

A quick look back at Tucker Long’s profile (a now top-25 player in the country, Iowa commit and 14u Select Festival alum) and we’ll see it was at the 2021 13u All-State Games where he broke out in a big way as the report below follows:

Tucker Long (2026, Ottumwa, Iowa) was impressive during his outing versus Team Texas, ultimately earning the win after going six full innings. The long-levered, uber-projectable right-hander ran his fastball up to 84 mph throughout his outing against the boys from Texas, flashing explosive life through the zone. He consistently pounded the bottom half of the zone with his fastball, while showing feel for spin and the ability to manipulate his breaking ball for both strikes and swings and misses along the way. Long punched out seven across his six innings of work and allowed just two runs (1 earned) against a tough lineup. The future is bright for the young Iowa native, as he stands to continue adding strength as he matures and will surely continue to gain velocity. -John McAdams


Long is just one of several players who used the platform to announce their presence across all the age groups as last year’s event proved to be Max Hemenway’s (14u) coming out party on the national stage, the same of which could be said for Russell Nelson, who like Hemenway, ultimately made a Select Festival roster. 

You might be wondering, how does a player make a roster and rep their region? Leading up to the grand finale event, Perfect Game staff and directors around the country host Regional All State events where they see the players go head-to-head. Along with the Regional events, players who put together big time performances across majors events during the spring and summer circuit were also considered for a spot on the club. 

Who is going to use their time at the All State Games to "Rep The Region, Leave Their Mark"?! Will anybody beat the 91 mph heater record set at last year's 14u by Landon Green?

As always you can follow along with all the action on social media under the @PG_Youth account on Twitter, as well as catching the 9-12u Championship games on the main channel while both the 13u and 14u games will be live streamed on PerfectGame.TV. 
 
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