Nick Hurtado, a lefthander for Santiago High in Corona, Calif., recently received news that he'll be out for the season after a cancerous tumor was found in his left knee. Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times originally reported the news.

"I've known the kid since he was 10," Santiago head coach Ty DeTrinidad said. "He's a phenomenal kid."

DeTrinidad said that Hurtado had complained about a sore knee before Christmas break. When the team returned to workouts the pain was still there so he went in for an x-ray. Doctors didn't like what they saw and ordered an MRI. That's when they discovered a tumor. Originally they said it was spreading quickly and they might have to amputate. Hurtado went to UCLA medical for further tests and the doctors feel there is a very good chance amputation won't be necessary, but baseball is obviously going to be put on hold for a while. DeTrinidad added that Hurtado has handled the situation very well and even said he knew baseball was out of the question and he just wanted to keep his leg. Hurtado will undergo chemotherapy for a few months and then doctors will likely cut into his femur and insert a rod. [...] Continue Reading »

As I pointed out in the Preseason Top 50, there are key matchups and tournaments every season that have ranking implications and pit top players against each other. In browsing some schedules while putting the high school preview together, I came up with a list of games and tournaments worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

Given the number of high school baseball teams in the country, this list is only a sample of potential headliner games, but they stood out to me and some of the staff at Baseball America. One of us might even make it to a couple of these and I'm sure more than a few scouts will as well. [...] Continue Reading »

Greetings high school baseball fans! All of us at Baseball America are excited to bring you a new blog dedicated to featuring news, notes, interviews and videos that keep you up to date in the world of prep baseball. We intend to use this forum to highlight any quick news items that come up as well as notes from games or tournaments we attend just as we do with our other blogs.

The High School Blog will not be limited to highlighting prep players that are prospects for the draft. We'll provide news on interesting games, coaching accomplishments and player feats. Anything we catch wind of that has to do with high school baseball, we'll pass it on.

As always, we encourage you to offer your comments on stories and ask questions. You can e-mail questions or even interesting tips and info to highschoolblog@baseballamerica.com.

Enjoy!