Coach Dan Hartleb and his crew have been busy since the Orange and Blue World Series. FightingIllini.com reports today that three high school seniors and one JC sophomore have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Illinois baseball team.
All four will eligible to play in the 2017-2018 season.
A quick look at the prospects:
Jimmy Burnette
Chicago, IL – St. Laurence HS
OF/P 6’2” L-L
Notes: 321, 2 HR, 34 RBI, 35 R in 40 games as a junior along with a 3-1 record, 3.72 ERA and 45 SO, 2016 All-Catholic League second team
It looks like Jimmy is a Cubs fan so he can’t be all bad.
Today’s VIKING WARRIORS: Jimmy Burnette – 5 innings, 0 runs, 9 Ks & Zach Verta-3-3 QAB, big 2 out double WE CAN pic.twitter.com/cTGxwx1FNS
— St.Laurence Baseball (@stlbaseball1) April 10, 2016
Dylan Jones
Oswego, IL – Oswego East HS
OF/P 6’3” L-R
Notes: 373, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 18 SBs as a junior. Four-time Perfect Game all-tournament team. Team MVP as a freshman.
Dylan’s step brother is current Illini pitcher Zak Devermann (sibling rivalry in the making?)
Ryan Kutt
Orland Park, IL – Brother Rice HS
P/1B 6’2” R-R
Notes: 10-0, 0.88 ERA, 89 SO, 71.2 IP in high school. Also hit .403, with 9 HR, 50 RBI, 16 2B. Numerous awards including 2016 IHSA Baseball All-State first team and 2016 Louisville Slugger Baseball All-American first team.
Orland Park continues to be a source of talent for the Illini. Former Illini Dom Altobelli and current Illini Sean Leland are from there.
Ryan Kutt is our baseball POYhttps://t.co/3MYjteYtrp@Rice_Pride @BR_Baseball @VillageOrlandPk @IlliniAthletics pic.twitter.com/4bV4y8T6O9
— Jeff Vorva (@JeffVorva) June 29, 2016
Grant Van Scoy
Papillion, NE – Papillion La Vista HS
INF 5’10” R-R
Notes: 378/.438/.627, 10 HR, 18 2B, 2 3B, 50 RBI, 29 SB, 65 R, 55 G as a junior college freshman. 2016 junior college all-region selection.
Grant will have two years of eligibility left after transferring to Illinois.
.@DanHartleb talks about the four #Illini signees » https://t.co/HqmRWhuRoe
— Illini Baseball (@IlliniBaseball) November 11, 2016
Coach Hartleb had nothing but good things to say about his signees.
"We’re extremely excited about this 2016-17 recruiting class. It’s a little bit smaller than some of our classes of the past two years, that’s because the amount of scholarship money that we have open, but I really feel good about the things that we’ve done to help the program. We’ve tried to go out and good athletes, guys that are good baseball players, but these guys are all good student-athletes and good people. They are going to fit in very well with our Illini family."
Congratulations to the class of 2017! Welcome to the University of Illinois baseball team!