Established: 2002


Program Director:
Paul Brownlee

Tallmadge High School Hall of Fame
Fairmont State College Hall of Fame
Summit County Baseball Hall of Fame
Summit County All Sports Hall of Fame


General Manager:
Craig Opalich

Mission Statement

To provide a select group of highly talented young men an environment to cultivate and develop their baseball skills, to learn the great game of baseball and to apply the lessons learned, that will prepare them both on and off the field, at the highest level of competition that we can provide them.

Choosing a Summer Baseball Program

There are many quality baseball programs in Northeast Ohio these days. The Brownlee Lookout program is CERTAINLY one of them! As parents and players are trying to choose one baseball program over another, we believe a number of factors should be considered:

1. Summer League Competition

There are a number of summer baseball leagues in the marketplace today, the Diamond League (www.diamondleague.org) being the most widely recognized, competitive league in Northeast Ohio. There are (4) divisions in the Diamond League and the Lookouts have been in good standing with the Diamond League since 2002. These divisions are:
14U Sandy Koufax Division
15U Little Mickey Mantle Division
16U Mickey Mantle Division
18U Connie Mack Division

We are, by no means, implying that other leagues do not offer features and benefits that are helpful to players, parents, and coaches; in fact, our 12U and 13U Brownlee Lookout teams play and support these leagues as well.

If choosing a program in the Diamond League, when your son is approaching the 14U level, take a good look at the overall structure of the Diamond League. For 2010, there are (20) 14U teams, (12) 15U teams, (12) 16U teams, and (15) 18U teams. The philosophy of the Diamond League is to try and make the league stronger and stronger as the divisions get older. A program like the Brownlee Lookouts with teams at 14U through 18U would be a wise choice.

2. Continuity over the years

One of the things we recommend to parents is to find a comprehensive organization where you can stay in ONE and not hop from one team to another from year to year.

We recommend you find a program that has a wide variety of experienced and quality coaches that your son can learn from both during winter off-season training programs, as well as coaching and mentoring during the baseball season itself.

Try to make sure that the program has a good reputation with League Directors, regional Tournament Directors, umpires, and college coaching staffs and recruiters. Simple, quick phone calls and/or questions of people around the playing fields can answer these questions. We can provide a complete list of contacts in each category if necessary.

3. Tournament Selection

There are as many tournaments these days as stars in the sky!! There are, however, many top level tournaments in the region and around the country that are much better than others that maximize your sons exposure to college coaches and are preparatory for your child’s baseball development.

Ask prospective coaches for their proposed tournament schedule, particularly at 16U and 18U.

The Brownlee Lookouts play an aggressive tournament schedule, from 14U through 18U, and will be more than glad to discuss with you our tournament game plan and tournament philosophy!

4. Programs Name Recognition

This is a very important factor in your decision of a summer baseball product!! Do not underestimate the value of the name on the front of the jersey. College scouts know the reputation of a program and which teams traditionally produce college players, and routinely evaluate and scout players from these programs.)

At 14U and 15U, the program’s name on the uniform is important but usually because of the pride a player and parent takes in making a particular team and playing baseball for THAT team! We, in the Brownlee Lookouts program appreciate that as much as anyone. The reality is that at 16U and 18U, players and parents, in our opinion, need to be very selfish and play for the program that will help that player gain maximum exposure in front of college coaches. The Brownlee Lookouts provided that opportunity to players every year and because we place a tremendous value on exposing our players abilities will continue to do so. The Lookout program has consistently done this for our players.

For better or worse, like it or not, the Brownlee Lookouts program evokes a love/hate relationship in the baseball community on a local, regional, and national level!! We believe this is a significant advantage for players on a number of levels.

What can hardly be argued is the fact that teams and players throughout the Diamond League, at regional and national tournaments, recognize that the Brownlee Lookouts are a program to be reckoned with!

This statement is not meant to be arrogant or conceited! It is meant as a strong statement that lets you know as a player or a parent that MOST of the time, the other team facing the Lookouts on a day to day basis will be throwing one of their best pitchers because of the Lookouts reputation in an attempt to win a high intensity game!

We believe this prepares our hitters to face the best of pitching on a regular basis and helps prepare them for varsity level pitching in high school and possibly collegiate pitching as well.

Our hitters have to be much more technically sound and much more mentally tough because of the top level pitching we face on a game to game basis, particularly starting pitchers.

Other programs you are considering may or may not provide this pressure and intensity on a regular basis!!

5. Winning and Losing

As a top level program, we want to win every single game and tournament! There are a lot of expectations and pressure that comes with our name recognition along the way!

Winning is important, but it is not the most important aspect of our program! What is important to us is providing our players and ENVIRONMENT TO SUCCEED AND WIN! This means we work our hardest during the winter in our off-season training program. This also means that we provide the best coaching and mentoring during the season that we can and that our teams have the access to top tournaments and league competition.

6. Marketing and Exposure

Eventually this will be one of the MOST IMPORTANT factors in your travel team decision, if not the most important factor at 16U and 18U!

If your son is still playing at a Diamond League level of competition as a junior and/or a senior, he obviously is a very good baseball player!

At the Connie Mack Level (17 & 18U), almost every team in the Diamond League is a quality team level, but there are big differences between the programs and placement of players at the next level.

Marketing and exposure to the collegiate level is our program’s strength and should be a strong consideration in your selection of a travel program, as well as a key factor in your short/long term program decision.

There have been a lot of claims by many coaches/trainers of teams at the 17U and 18U levels are made that their players get collegiate baseball scholarships.

Lots of people have biased opinions of one program or another, on blogs like Cleveland.com or yappi.com for example. Those opinions are just that, OPINIONS! You can’t change those opinions because it’s human nature for folks to support their friends, teams, etc.

So we are going to stick to just the facts on what players in the Brownlee Lookouts program have moved on to the collegiate level. Please keep in mind, the Lookouts program started as a 14U program in 2003. Many of the players who were pioneers in our program in 8th grade stayed with the Lookouts program throughout.

Many players went by the wayside over the years and were replaced with other talented players; bottom line, all players we list below were vital Lookout players who contributed heavily to our success in the early years whether for one year or five years. Additional players will sign this fall or early spring. Those names will be added as they sign!

HERE IS A LIST OF OUR PROGRAMS RECENT SUCCESSES:

7. Buckeye Scout 100

Buckeye Scout is an INDEPENDENT baseball evaluation bureau (www.buckeyescout.com) that recognizes the top 100 seniors in the state of Ohio each year.

Listed below are Lookout players that have been recognized by this bureau:

Class of 2008
PLAYER	STATE RANK
Brad Goldberg	15
Kyle McMillen	17
Brent Choban	20
Joe Corfman	34
Chad Opalich	41
Ross Brunello	44
Connor Burns	45
Matt Rosinski	46
River McWilliams	51
Anthony Bokar	59
Ryan Mace	62
Ronnie Stout	73
Johnathan Campriana	86
Class of 2009
Luke Farrell	39
Samuel Trecaso	50
Chris Snopel	67
Class of 2010: Many players on the 2010 Lookout roster will be selected to this prestigious list. We will list them when the Buckeye Scout 100 is published.

12U BROWNLEE LOOKOUTS

14U BROWNLEE LOOKOUTS

15U BROWNLEE LOOKOUTS

16U BROWNLEE LOOKOUTS

18U BROWNLEE LOOKOUTS