Eastlake High School’s baseball team continues to make history even after its history-making season has finally concluded.
Head coach Dave Gallegos will take the field on Sunday, Aug. 13, at Petco Park as head coach of the West team in the 15th annual Perfect Game All-American Classic.
The game matches 52 of the top underclassmen high school baseball players in the United States in a West versus East format. The West defeated the East, 13-0, in last year’s game at Petco Park.
Four San Diego natives — Francis Parker’s Nick Allen, Torrey Pines’ Kyle Hurt, Rancho Bernardo’s Calvin Mitchell and Eastlake’s Ben Ramirez — all played in last year’s event.
Allen, who lives in East County, received a $2 million signing bonus after being selected in the third round (81st player overall) in June’s MLB Amateur Draft by the Oakland A’s.
Mitchell was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates as the 50th overall pick and received a $1,357,000 signing bonus.
Ramirez (drafted by the Chicago Cubs) and Hurt (drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies) did not sign professional contracts and are instead headed to play collegiate baseball at the University of Southern California.
There’s little question that exposure in the Perfect Game All-American Classic helped these young men — 17- and 18-year-olds — gain a financial foothold in their unfolding careers.
Gallegos, who earned honors as the San Diego Section Coach of the Year after guiding the Titans to this spring’s Open Division championship, called it an honor to be selected to coach the West team in the upcoming All-American Classic.
“It’s a great honor to coach some of the best players in the country,” Gallegos said. “When these kids move on to being pro baseball players, I can look back and say I was coaching them.”
There are no San Diego region players on this year’s West team, though six players hail from California: right-handed pitcher Black Burzell (Laguna Beach), shortstop Branden Dieter (South Hills), outfielder Preston Hartsell (Corona Del Mark), shortstop Osiris Johnson (Encinal), outfielder Vinny Tosti (Cardinal Newman) and shortstop Brice Turang (Santiago).
Honor roll
Playing in the Perfect Game All-American Classic definitely commands respect on and off the playing field.
There are 187 Perfect Game All-American Classic alumni who were selected in the first round of Major League Baseball’s June Amateur Draft and 141 Perfect Game All-American Classic alumni on MLB Baseball teams.
Fifty-five former Perfect Game All-Americans were selected in June’s MLB first-year player draft. Of those 55 players selected, 42 elected to start their professional careers.
The collective signing bonuses of those 42 players amounted to a staggering $69 million.
Royce Lewis, the overall No. 1 pick in the draft by the Minnesota Twins, received a $6,725,000 signing bonus. The second pick, Hunter Greene, received an even more hefty $7,230,000 signing bonus from the Cincinnati Reds.
MacKenzie Gore, the third player overall in the draft taken by the Padres, received a $6,700,000 signing bonus.
Lewis, a 2017 graduate of JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, is the 14th former Perfect Game prospect in the last 15 years to be selected No. 1 overall. He went two-for-three with a triple, two runs scored and three stolen bases to earn MVP honors in last year’s All-American Classic at Petco Park.
Greene, a 6-foot-5, 195-pounder from Crawfordville, Fla., earned honors as the 2016 Jackie Robinson Award winner that is presented to the Perfect Game National High School Player of the Year. He was the starting pitcher for the West team in last year’s Classic and also won the Rawlings Home Run Challenge.
Of particular note, after the first day of the 2017 MLB Draft 34 of the 36 first and supplemental first-round picks, as well as 67 of the 75 players selected overall on the first day (top two rounds), had previously attended a Perfect Game event.
This year’s game will be telecast live on the MLB television network. Game time is 5 p.m.
For more information, visit the website at www.perfectgame.org.
