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Tag: Rouse Raiders

Major League Baseball Draft Outlook: Rouse High School’s Jared Southard

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in MLB.

Jared Southard has been making most opposing high school batters look foolish for the past few years. It’s almost been like a Division I pitcher throwing to a high school’s junior varsity team. The stocky, six-foot-two-inch, 200-plus-pound pitcher, a senior at Rouse High School in Leander, has been surely dominating this season. He’s given up fewer than 10 hits, and just one earned run, in 40-something innings, and at the end of the regular season was nearing 100 strikeouts. He’s thrown several one-hitters and even one or two no-hitters this season.


Southard committed to play baseball at UT in the fall of 2016 when he had just turned 16 years old his sophomore year. Even then he was throwing in the upper 80s. Now, he throws a fastball that consistently hits 91-93 MPH, often topping out at 96. This fact, coupled with command and his sharp, hard-breaking curveball that routinely hits 77-80 MPH, makes Southard virtually unhittable at the high school level. When Southard signed with UT in 2016, he was ranked as the 135th overall player in the country in the graduating class of 2019, was considered the 15th best player in the state of Texas, and was ranked third for all right-handed pitchers in the state for the 2019 class. In 2016, following his sophomore year, he was named an Honorable Mention Underclass All-American. Now the young fireballer will surely get drafted this June, which could lead to him signing a contract to play professional baseball.

Southard didn’t start pitching seriously until the summer before his sophomore season; before that he’d been a catcher. And then really things took off for him: He was named to 17-5A’s All-District team after his sophomore and junior seasons. He has played club and travel baseball with the Houston Banditos, and even represented Texas at the States Play Tournament hosted by the Texas Rangers. University of Texas head coach David Pierce, speaking to the Longhorns’ official website, said he thinks of Southard as a “power right-hander.” He said the young pitcher “looks the part, and his arm is explosive. He continues to work hard to be the best he can be. Jared’s ceiling is tremendously high, and he has a chance to reach it because he is a grinder.”

“[Jared] has been really good,” Rouse head coach Chad Krempin said. “He is undefeated on the season, and he hasn’t given up an earned run on the season. He’s given up six hits, I believe, in 40-something innings.” Coach Krempin admitted that the Rouse coaching staff decided early on to limit Southard’s time on the mound. That way, he wouldn’t be overthrown, which could lead to injuries and an inability to use him down the road in the playoffs.

But since throwing Southard more frequently late in the regular season, coach Krempin said Southard has “been phenomenal; he’s thrown several one-hitters and one or two no-hitters. And just one run, unearned, has been scored against him. … I think he’s going to get drafted pretty high. There’s a chance that he could sign if he’s drafted high enough.” In other words, if Southard gets drafted high enough in the Major League Baseball June draft, whether in the first, second or third rounds, the money that is likely to come from a signing bonus (perhaps well into the seven figures) would certainly influence Southard’s decision to choose a career in professional baseball over playing at UT.

Georgetown Eagles Baseball

Written by Daniel Jones on . Posted in High School Baseball, TEXAS SPORTS.

The highly ranked team has proven experience, talent and mindset to make deep run in State Playoffs. (Editor Note. Article originally appeared Feb 19th 2019 Print Version. Updated edition for recent playoff activity)

BY DANIEL JONES

“Our main goal right now is really trying to build our team chemistry,” Georgetown High School’s head baseball coach Adam Foster said in early February, “and really focusing on energy and the process of trying to avoid getting wrapped up in being ranked fourth in the state” (as noted in txhighschoolbaseball.com’s preseason poll).

Nonetheless, he added that the program’s 2018 success garnered this ranking, when the Eagles went 32-11-1 overall (14-0 in District 18-5A) and made it to the fourth round of the playoffs, losing in the regional semi-finals. Nine players from that team graduated, but only six started. And building talented baseball players is a tradition at Georgetown High School: In the last 20 or so years, the program has developed several Division I and professional ballplayers, including Brewers closer Corey Knebel who played at UT.

In 2019, Georgetown has all the ingredients to brew up another fantastic season ‒ a lot of returning starters, experience, a lineup that has seen a lot of quality at-bats against some of the state’s best pitching, and a complete array of arms that comprise what coach Foster said is “probably the best pitching staff, top to bottom, in the state of Texas. No real superstars, but everybody’s got a role, and they’re really good at their role.” He said this year’s team still has to go out and prove their preseason ranking.

Coach Foster expects senior shortstop Cole Posey, who will play next year at Boise State, to be in the middle of the team’s lineup and have a “huge contribution.” A three-year starter at Georgetown, Posey last season hit .234. Senior catcher Wyatt Childress will be at the top of the lineup and should lead the team’s running game ‒ last year he had 30 stolen bases and two triples in 37 games while hitting .261. “He can really run,” coach Foster said. Of all returning players, senior third baseman Jeffrey David, expected to hit in the middle of the order, had the highest batting average at .322; he has committed to play next year at Texas A&M.

Coach Foster said if the Eagles’ offense can match its pitching, “it’s going to be a very special year.” Georgetown has a truly complete pitching staff returning for 2019, equipped with senior right-handed starters Grant Wood and Jack Brinley, both of whom throw in the upper 80s and have solid breaking balls, and also a stacked bullpen of guys capable of coming in at any time to get batters out. Wood, who will pitch next year at Blinn Junior College, went 6-2 last spring with a 2.38 ERA in 10 starts and 13 games pitched. Brinley was 5-1 with a 1.35 ERA in six starts. The bullpen consists of seniors Reese Grimes (18 games pitched, three saves and a 1.46 ERA), Brooks Hancock, lefties Jared Pierce and Noah Thompson (3-0, 3.15 ERA), Ryan Courtney and Jackson Sioson (2-1, 11 games pitched, 2.33 ERA), who is the team’s closer and lead the 2018 team with five saves.

After beginning the season with a series of scrimmages and competitive tournament games, Georgetown starts district play in mid-March. “Every year, at this time, everyone’s expectation is winning the last game of the season,” coach Foster said. “It’s completely obtainable and very possible right now. … This happens to be one of the best teams we’ve ever had. If we can get them to play for each other, I think the sky’s the limit with this bunch.”

NOTE: “I think the Georgetown and Williamson County area has some of the best ball players in all of Central Texas if you look at the teams making the state playoff’s right now ” Coach Foster told Texas Sports Monthly April 23rd 2019. Georgetown will face an old district rival in Rouse Raiders this Thursday at Leander Rouse. The Raiders are well coached by Chad Krempin and currently the 2019 District Champs at 19-8 and (12-0) district play.

The Eagles of Georgetown 28-2 (12-0) district will face the Raiders of Rouse this Thursday at 7pm for the first round of area High School playoffs!