Top High School Baseball Talent Set for BAWS at Islanders Field

In the first major event at new Islanders Field in Lathrop, top high school baseball players from throughout Northern California will take part in the 16th annual Bay Area World Series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (May 31-June 2). The showcase is an officially scouted California Prep Baseball Report (PBR) event.

The BAWS will feature 145 to 150 players divided among six “teams,” with each squad playing three games. Players will also showcase their skills in batting-practice rounds, 60-yard dashes and position workouts, all with the purpose of being seen by college coaches for possible recruitment.

Baseball fans can expect to see these players in Division I, Division II, Division III or junior college play in the years ahead.

“They’re all uncommitted for colleges and open to recruitment by whoever sees them,” said Blaine Clemmens, NorCal scouting director with PBR and a former scout for the Atlanta Braves. “We’ll have a number of colleges show up all weekend long; they come in, they come out. They pop around to other things they’re doing in the region.”
Clemmens, who has already had a small showcase for 40 players at Islanders Field, is highly impressed with the glistening new ballpark nestled by the San Joaquin River. He was approached by field director Don Johns, a longtime friend, about bringing BAWS to Lathrop.

“It’s really spectacular,” Clemmens said. “It’s super unique in the sense that it’s privately owned and a baseball guy is organizing who comes in and who comes out and he wants to service as many different quality groups as he can to benefit the different demographics of the Bay Area, whether it’s younger players, older players, tournament, showcases.”

BAWS action at Islanders Field will begin at 5:20 p.m. Friday with player showcases, followed by East Bay taking on Valley at 7 p.m.
Clearly, Islanders Field has quickly become a major player in Northern California baseball.

BAWS has been formerly held at places such as Santa Clara University, Saint Mary's College, UOP, and Cal Poly.

“Just having something like this in Northern California, it’s obviously unique,” Clemmens said of River Islands. “There are some places in Southern California that are kind of like this, but we’ve really had nothing here; we’ve had to go through the universities or the minor league clubs, so this is certainly, instantly a standout site. The kids that showed up on Monday were like ‘Whoa, this is awesome. When can we come back here?’ They really dug it.”

There will be five BAWS games on Saturday (Peninsula & North Bay, 11:15 a.m.; South Bay & Peninsula, 1:45 p.m.; North Bay & South Bay, 4:15 p.m.; East Bay & Contra Costa, 6:30 p.m.; and Valley & Contra Costa, 8:45 p.m.), with three games on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.
For player profiles and stats, including running times and videos, visit the PBR California page at https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/california.
For a complete schedule of BAWS events and general information, visit https://www.bayareaworldseries.com/baws2019schedule.

To follow the event on Twitter, check out @BayAreaWS and @Clemmens_PBR.