Final 2017 High School Top 50 Rankings

The final high school rankings of the 2017 season are here.

It’s been a few weeks since our last top 25, when Shawnee (Okla.) High cemented itself as the No. 1 team in the country, becoming Baseball America’s 2017 High School Team of the Year in the process. The Wolves, led by coach Todd Boyer in his final year, won 52 straight games dating back to the 2016 season, and went 40-0 this spring en route to their third straight Oklahoma 5A State Championship.

Having already finished their season in the May 30 rankings, they were safe in the No. 1 spot as we expand to our final Top 50. That was also the case for the No. 2 through 5 teams.

Archbishop McCarthy High (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) flirted with the No. 1 spot all season, challenged themselves with an incredibly difficult schedule and won the Florida 6A State Championship, 5-1, over Jesuit High (Tampa) on June 3. While incredibly impressive, it wasn’t enough to remove an unblemished Shawnee squad that is currently at the peak of the program’s power.

Calvary Christian High (Clearwater, Fla.) wrapped up its perfect season almost a month ago, winning the Florida 4A State Championship on May 27 to give the Sunshine State strong representation among the top teams in the country, along with Archbishop McCarthy.

Rounding out the top five are Woodlawn High (Rison, Ark.) and La Cueva High (Albuquerque, N.M.), which each had just one loss and won the 1A Arkansas State Championship and the New Mexico 6A State Championship, respectively.

The biggest shakeup in the top half of the rankings comes at No. 6, with St. John Bosco High (Bellflower, Calif.) falling to No. 22 following a semifinal loss to Etiwanda (Calif.) High in California’s Division II Southern Sectional tournament. With the win–and Div. II Southern Sectional Championship–Etiwanda moves from outside the Top 25 to No. 11 in the expanded top 50.

The one glaring omission for those who have been following our high school rankings all season is Huntington Beach (Calif.) High. The Oilers have one of the most talented teams in the country–headlined by first-round pick Nick Pratto and second-rounder Hagen Danner–but chose the wrong time of the season to lose, in the quarterfinals of California’s Division I Southern Section tournament.

Huntington Beach sheds some light on the committee’s thought process in regards to the vote, as throughout the season it is wary of dropping an established team due to a single loss. In the playoffs, however, single losses mean more, as do state championships, which is the ultimate goal of any high school team. This thought process is reflected in the final team rankings, as many Southern California teams–which featured heavily in the rankings throughout the year–beat each other up in sectional tournaments and caused major shifts.

However, the increased scrutiny on playoff games works in the opposite direction as well, as is shown with the case of Etiwanda.

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