THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION

| 2,210 MLB PLAYERS | 15,135 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS

2,210 MLB PLAYERS | 15,135 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS

Create Account

PG Select Baseball Festival | General | 8/22/2024

13u Select Festival Preview

Jheremy Brown

13u Select Festival Roster Breakdown

With the 2024 13u Perfect Game Select Festival just on the horizon, 38 of the most talented 13u eligible players from across the country will descend upon the University of Virginia as they were chosen as the host sight for the 6th iteration of the event. It proved to be another long, arduous summer with lots of travel coast-to-coast between some of the marquee youth events in the country, whether the Beast of the East in Panama City, Florida, the PGI in Chesterfield, Missouri, the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, Florida or the quite literally the biggest of them all, the Houston Super NIT in Houston, Texas (just to name a few) with all roads eventually leading to the 13u National Showcase back in West Palm Beach where all of the 38 rostered players were in attendance.

Started three years after the inaugural 14u Festival back in 2016, the alum of the 13u game have already begun making their marks on the pro ranks of baseball as 8 players (Raffaele Velazquez, Slade Caldwell, Konnor Griffin, Cam Caminiti, Theo Gillen, Chase Mobley, Ty Southisene and Erik Parker) have already heard their names called in the MLB Draft, the first 5 of whom went in the first round. And if you include international signings like top prospect Ethan Salas, Jose Perdomo and Luis Ayden Almeyda amongst others, the collective signing bonus is north of $35,000,000. And while the number of draftees is currently at 8, you can expect that to climb into the double digits following the 2025 MLB Draft and there’s no doubt this year’s crop will eventually add to the tally come 2028 and 2029.

This year’s roster is composed of players from both the 2028 and 2029 graduating classes and truly span from coast-to-coast as 15 different states are represented with your traditional hot beds leading the way in California and Florida (6 players apiece) while both Arizona and Texas rostered 4 players. A deeper dive into the rosters show 21 of the players have experience in at least one Select Festival as a pair return after appearing in the 11u game back in 2022, 13 made the trip to East Cobb last summer for the 12u Select Festival and 6 are returning for their third trip in as many years and look to join an exclusive group in making a clean 4-year sweep next year.

Quick math shows 17 players will be making their Festival debut this upcoming weekend in Charlottesville and they come in all forms of talent, from power arms to impact bats, threats on the bases and some of the highest-end athleticism that’ll be on the field this weekend. And while the class of 2029 rankings haven’t yet been released, it’s safe to say some of the first timers have made an indelible impression and will fight their way to the top come release day.

There will be plenty of players to watch closely as the East possesses some of the bigger arms in the game with the likes of Greyson Bell, Alex Bello, Knox Myers and Trent O'Malley while the West will be able to punch right back with Russell Nelson, Adam Kramer and Noah Vrzal amongst others as all the aforementioned arms have already worked into at least the mid-80s.

Are you looking for juice? Jason Marll Jr, Jaden Freeze, Peyton Lopez, Colton Windham, Macgraw Vanwormer and Dylan Mercado all have double digit home runs this spring/summer and it’s Mercado who’s also leading the way in terms of total hits as he collected 95 on the year; he’s one of 8 players to rack up at least 60 knocks this season. Speed? Vanwormer (55) and Charlie Blalock (40) lead the rosters in bags and you can all but guarantee they’ll be on the move come Sunday should they reach base. Amongst all the offensive video game numbers, we can’t overlook Marll’s .636 average nor Easton O'Quinn’s .581 mark, which he put together amongst a slew of appearances at all the major circuit events.

As a whole, these 38 players have come together to help raise funds for the children at UVA Health and as of this writing are nearly at their $40,000 goal, collecting just north of $38,000, all of which goes to the hospital and the families of the patients within.

If you'd like to help and donate to the cause, you can do so here: https://getinvolved.uvahealth.org/team/595631

Check in day for the players is Thursday, August 22nd and you can experience the ins and outs of the Festival thanks to the social media presence on site who’ll take you behind the scenes throughout the weekend from the room reveals to inside the practices, home run derby, and of course, the game. Be sure to check it out Sunday, August 25th at 11 am EST as it’ll be broadcasted live on PerfectGame.TV as well as on the @PerfectGameUSA handles on both Instagram and X.

PERFECTGAME.TV

Give us your feedback

From East Teammates to HS Teammates
Both Isaias Torres and Aiden Kearney were teammates on the East during the 14u Select Festival and will be again come high school as both are attending Hagerty in Orlando, Florida.

NYC = New York Catchers
Though they play on three different travel-ball teams, the trio of catchers representing the East in the 2024 14U PG Select Festival all hail from New York. However, their journeys into this event are all very unique and personal to them.

Different Perspective In Year 2 for Vargas
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Vargas said. “It’s just a big friend group and we’re all friends, East and West. It’s the event that I always wanted to be at.”

All Business for Brunson at Select Fest
“I was very motivated to make PG Select Fest ever since I made it last year,” Brunson shares. “The experience here is awesome. You get surrounded by all these good people and all these people that will help you in the near future.”

PERFECTGAME.TV