Randy Smith
My, how high school sports is changing, and I'm not just talkin' football here. I'm also talking about basketball and yes, even baseball. I went to watch perhaps the two best baseball teams in the area play Wednesday at Baylor. The nationally ranked Red Raiders were hosting Boyd-Buchanan in the regular season finale for both teams as the TSSAA Playoffs begin later this week. A couple of years ago Baylor had nine D-I signees on one team and some are already playing professional baseball.
There are several more on the Baylor 2024 squad including Virginia commitment Tomas Valincius, a lefty pitcher and first baseman and for 2025, the Raiders have Tennessee commitment pitcher Jax Bishop who started the game with Boyd-Buchanan on Wednesday evening.
In addition to the players on the Baylor roster, there are also several in the Buccaneer lineup as well. Left handed pitcher Cooper Jones has committed to Lincoln Memorial and shortstop Brodie Johnston is committed to Vanderbilt in the SEC but could also be an early draft choice next month. By the way, Baylor won both contests with the Bucs this season but they had to come from behind in both victories.
In this day of the Transfer Portal and NIL Deals things are changing drastically not only in college sports but in high school sports also. Just a few years ago there were tough restrictions on athletes transferring to other schools. And while some of those restrictions are still in place, it's easier now to build super teams especially among private schools. In Bradenton Florida, the IMG Academy offers practically every sport but it's mainly for the ultra-elite athletes. Tuition costs are around $90,000 annually so it's not for every student athlete. By the way, the Baylor baseball team played IMG in a tournament this spring and beat them.
I've always thought that if an athlete is good enough, he'll be found. Building super teams with mega-athletes may be the thing of the future....making it much easier to find student athletes who are good enough to play at the next level. But for an old sports guy, it sure was a lot of fun watching that much talent on the field at once.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com.