The New Balance Baseball Future Stars Series was on site that the World Amateur Baseball Association Ed Davis Kickoff Classic in Florida this past weekend, and had a significant interest in both sides of the event; there was both a high school and JUCO component, and it left no shortage of talent to either see for the first time or catch up with.
“It was great to be a small part of what we saw this weekend,” said FSS President and CEO Jeremy Booth. “We had our guys covering the WABA high school version and saw some talent that we can help get to college. That’s a win in our book. We were able to be part of something that assists in 40 year decisions, and the talent there deserves to have a place to play.
“While we weren’t part of the JUCO side, we saw Cameron Collier, Kenya Huggins, Peter Vazquez, Diego Guevara, and even Damian Goulart (National Combine) participate which was good to see. Our guys are hungry and they all performed well in front of about 150 scouts and a ton of my peers. It’s fun watching their path of growth and advancement, and personally when my peers are excited about what they see it just helps everyone else now and in the future. It was a very good kickoff to what’s going to be a great year for players who deserve it both personally and on the field.”
Huggins, Collier and Vazquez are all on the extremely-heavily scouted Chipola squad, and have had a big presence at the jewel events of the Future Stars Series in the past.
Huggins first debuted at the 2020 National Combine with a solid two-way performance, and earned an invite to International Week primarily as a pitcher, where he actually faced Vazquez several times. He also later appeared at the inaugural Pre-Draft Combine on the high school side.
Collier has a rich history at Future Stars Series events, homering at both the 2020 National Combine and 2021 National Combine. He also was invited to International Week at just 15 years old for the 2020 event, and made a much more significant impact at what’s now called the Main Event a year later at Citi Field.
Like Collier, Vazquez is one of only a handful of players to appear at International Week on multiple occasions; a disappointing showing in the 2019 event was followed by a standout performance a year later at Fenway Park, one in which he reached base six times, including an RBI single off of Huggins.
Guevara, now at Northwest Florida State College, smacked a memorable three-run triple at the most recent Main Event at Citi Field, while Goulart, a 2020 National Combine attendee, is playing for Dyersburg State.
In addition to a heavy presence by the Future Stars Series scouting staff, the social media team was there as well, and was able to provide a significant boost to the players in attendance with video from the event, some of which you can see below from the @ftrstarsseries Twitter account.
Freshman @Chipola_BSB INF/RHP @Cam_Collier16 & @NB_Baseball @P15Sports @ftrstarsseries veteran smokes this pitch into right field driving in a run at the @WABAFlorida Classic. #𝚆𝚎𝙶𝚘𝚝𝙽𝚘𝚠 pic.twitter.com/vmt9ehZUsu
— Future Stars Series Tournaments (@fss_tournaments) January 29, 2022
Florida 2023 outfielder Jey Aponte (@Apontej5530) making a spectacular sliding catch and finishing off the double play at @NB_Baseball @P15Sports @ftrstarsseries @WABAFlorida Classic. #UNCOMMITTED pic.twitter.com/Y5hLaZ0ndy
— Future Stars Series Tournaments (@fss_tournaments) January 30, 2022
Florida 2024 OF/INF Connor Cantillo (@CantilloConnor) cranks this double to the left center gap driving in a run at @WABAFlorida Classic. #UNCOMMITTED pic.twitter.com/AnMYWe65DV
— Future Stars Series Tournaments (@fss_tournaments) January 30, 2022
Former @NB_Baseball @P15Sports @ftrstarsseries Main Event standout Diego Guevara smokes this pitch down the left field line for a double at @WABAFlorida Spring Classic. @CanesBaseball commit pic.twitter.com/FvGKTfXqzl
— Future Stars Series Southeast (@fss_southeast) January 28, 2022
