Jan. 18, 2005
Team One Baseball has ranked the Notre Dame baseball program’s recent signee group as the nation’s seventh-best class from the early recruiting period (Nov. ’04). The signees (as announced Nov. 16) include four righthanded pitchers – Jeremy Barnes (Garland, Texas), Brett Graffy (Joliet, Ill.), David Phelps (Hazelwood, Mo.) and Kyle Weiland (Albuquerque, N.M.) – plus lefthander Sam Elam (Mesquite, Texas), third baseman Eddy Mendiola (Miami, Fla.), lefthanded-hitting catcher David Hum (Little Rock, Ark.) and utility player Ryan Connolly (Binghamton, N.Y.). Barnes is a talented two-way player who also has starred at shortstop for South Garland High School.
The Team One early signing class rankings can be found at the following link: http://teamonebaseball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=370869.
See the following link for the earlier signee release, including quotes from Notre Dame head coach Paul Mainieri and each of the signees: und.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/111704aaa.html.
In describing Notre Dame’s class, Team One said the following: “The Fighting Irish signed six players ranked in our Top-200 ranking, including three in the Top-100. Similarly to Stanford, Notre Dame’s recruiting classes tend to end up in school and are from all over the nation. The two highest-ranked players are 3B Eduardo Mendiola (FL, #45), and C David Hum (AR, #67), who was a standout at Team One National. This ND class is heavy with pitchers, each of whom is among the best players in their respective states. Both players possess big time offensive abilities. The rest of the class was focused on pitching; RHP David Phelps (MO, #85), LHP Sam Elam (TX, #147), RHP Kyle Weiland (NM, #152), and RHP Brett Graffy (IL, #165), who was named the top prospect at Team One North. Expect this class to keep Notre Dame among the most successful programs in the nation, especially since the whole class is likely to end up in school.”
Top teams in the rankings also included (1-6): Texas, Arizona State, UCLA, Stanford, Miami and LSU.