Boras Classic Field Features Rutherford, Moniak

Likely 2016 first-round picks Blake Rutherford and Mickey Moniak are among the prospects who will take part in the Boras Classic as the 32-team field was unveiled Monday.

The event brings together 16 of the top high school baseball programs in Northern and Southern California, and allows teams to compete for a de facto California state championship.

This year’s tournament starts with the Northern section, hosted by Elk Grove (Calif.) High from March 21-24. The following high schools are slated to compete for NorCal supremacy: Elk Grove, Saint Francis, Oak Ridge, Yuba City, Davis, Clovis West, Stockdale, Junipero Serra, Turlock, Maria Carillo, Archbishop Mitty, Heritage, Saint Mary’s, Vintage, Los Gatos and Tracy.

Some of the top prospects in the northern bracket include righthander Jared Horn (Vintage), outfielder Jeremy Ydens (Saint Francis), Ryan Kreidler (Davis), Jarron Silva (Saint Mary’s) Hunter Bishop (Junipero Serra), Kevin Milam (Heritage) and Austin Manning (Heritage).

The southern section of the invitational, hosted by JSerra Catholic (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), runs from March 29 through April 1. The following high schools will compete for the southern crown: JSerra Catholic, Mater Dei, Notre Dame Sherman Oaks, Orange Lutheran, Huntington Beach, Corona Santiago, JW North, South Hills, El Camino Real, Vista Murrieta, Loyola, Mira Costa, Great Oak, Chaminade, Damien and La Costa Canyon.

Southern California high school baseball is among the most competitive of any region in the country, rivaling Florida, Texas and Georgia. While several of the teams competing in the southern bracket of the Boras Classic are likely to be in Baseball America’s preseason top 50, Huntington Beach is the clear favorite, thanks to a robust pitching staff that includes Logan Pouelsen, Nicholas Pratto, and Hagen Danner, a potential first-round pick for 2017.

Blake Rutherford (Chaminade) and Mickey Moniak (La Costa Canyon) are the nation’s top-ranked outfielders. Rutherford brings a combination of speed and power, while Moniak’s lefthanded bat is among the best in the class, high school or college. Other notable prospects slated to attend the event include: Josh Stephen (Mater Dei), Nick Kahle (Chaminade), Chase Strumpf (JSerra), Ryan Orr (La Costa Canyon), Will Proctor (Mira Costa), Christian Moya (South Hills), Holden Groff (Loyola), among others.

Chaminade and Huntington Beach are both slated to play in the National High School Invitational (NHSI) in Cary, N.C., in the week prior to the southern section of the Boras Classic, meaning that each team will have the challenge of competing against many of the top teams in the country.

“Being able to give back to the community through the Boras Baseball Classic for players to achieve their goal of taking their passion for baseball to the next level is what this is all about,” said noted MLB player agent Scott Boras, the director of the Boras Foundation. “Growing the Classic each year and watching the players grow into collegiate and professional athletes is why the Boras Foundation started the Classic.”