By Allan Simpson

Tournament schedule

A virtual Who's Who of high school baseball will converge on Jupiter, Fla., from Oct. 27-30 for the Baseball America/Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championship.

The event will attract more than 1,000 high school players from all over the country, Puerto Rico and Canada, including several potential first-round picks in the 2001 and 2002 drafts. It is also expected to attract a large number of scouts and college recruiters.

Among those players scheduled to attend is catcher Landon Powell of Apex (N.C.) High, who created a national stir this summer when he earned his general equivalency diploma as a high school junior and successfully petitioned the commissioner's office to declare his eligibility for the draft. He slipped through the draft unnoticed and was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. He eventually elected to return to high school for his senior year but remains a top prospect for the 2001 draft.

Also participating are first baseman Casey Kotchman from Seminole (Fla.) High, first baseman-outfielder Billy Paganetti from Galena High in Reno; and shortstop Bryan Bass from Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale. All are among the elite prospects in the country at their positions.

Kotchman was the nation's top-rated junior entering the 2000 season but suffered through an injury-plagued spring and summer. His appearance in Jupiter will mark the first real opportunity scouts have had to watch him play in a competitive environment in several months.

In Kotchman's absence, Paganetti and Bass have stepped forward to rank as the nation's top-ranked high school position players.

Bass, the nation's top shortstop prospect, recently transferred from his home in Alabama to Westminster Academy, where he is being coached by Rich Hofman. Among Hofman's former pupils is Seattle Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

Bass is one of seven members of USA Baseball's junior national team that earned a silver medal at the 2000 World junior championships that will attend the four-day event. Other members of that team are outfielders Chris Carter from California, J.J. Hardy from Arizona and Michael Wilson from Oklahoma, pitchers Jeremy Bonderman from Washington and J.P. Howell from California, and two-way player Matt Chico from California.

Bonderman, only a junior, was named the outstanding righthander at the World junior tournament.

In all, there is a chance that 13 of the top 20 prospects in the Draft Class of 2001, as ranked by Baseball America/Perfect Game, will be in attendance.

Paganetti and Powell will play on an elite team sponsored by Baseball America. Also on that team will be California outfielder Delmon Young, the top-rated player in the Class of 2003.

Most of the other teams in the 50-team field are true club teams, such as the East Cobb (Ga.) Astros, who have won numerous national youth championships. The Astros roster contains a number of the top high school players from Georgia.

Team California will also be a loaded entry as it will include Carter, Chico, Hardy, Howell and several other top players from California. Other strong entrants are expected to be Team Florida, the Bayside (N.Y.) Yankees, the Dallas Tigers and Puerto Rico Raiders.

The four-day event will be held at Roger Dean Stadium, the joint spring training complex of the Montreal Expos and St. Louis Cardinals. That will provide enough fields for as many as 12 games to be played at one time. The event is a combination tournament and showcase.

Teams will be placed in five-team pools and are scheduled to play a minimum of four games. The top 16 teams from pool play will advance to a single-elimination tournament, with the championship game scheduled for Oct. 30.