Jeremy Rhoades, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound RHP/C from Wheaton-Warrenville South HS, has committed to Illinois State University. Rhoades watched his status spike – as well as his velocity – as he showed tremendous upside over the summer. A physical, top-level athlete, Rhoades features a tight two-plane slider and a fastball that has climbed as high as 87 mph. He also opened eyes by running a 6.8 60.
Rhoades was a key member of the Top Tier 17U Americans last summer contributing both as a versatile position player and top pitcher. Perhaps his best performance came in the 2010 USA Baseball Labor Day Cup where he dominated the Carolina Lake Monsters in Cary, North Carolina. Rhoades is the 20th commitment in the Top Tier class of 2011, the second to sign with Illinois State (Paul Dejong).
Portions of this story were taken from Sean Duncan's article from prepbaseballreport.com.