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Prep Baseball Illinois Player of the Week: Conor Essenburg

April 8, 2025
By: Peter Hamot
Assistant Scouting Director, Illinois & Wisconsin

Kentucky commit Conor Essenburg (Lincoln-Way West, 2025) has long been one of the top two-way players in the state, earning First-Team All-State honors last year as a utility player after he hit .388 with 12 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 29 RBIs - also firing 52 innings with 101 strikeouts and a 1.48 ERA. He has gotten off to an even better start this spring, helping his team to a perfect 8-0 record as the Warriors now find themselves at No. 1 in our Power 25. Essenburg and his club made the trip down to our LakePoint facility in Emerson, GA to take on some of the top teams from around the country and Essenburg made an immediate impact, going 7-for-16 with two home runs, three doubles, 10 RBI, six runs scored and three walks - helping the Warriors to a perfect 4-0 clip on the week. For his efforts, Essenburg has been named this week’s Player of the Week.

He got his week started on Monday in a 11-6 win over Calvary Christian (GA), finishing 1-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and two runs scored. 

He kept things rolling the following day in an 8-5 win over Troy (OH), going 2-for-5 with the go-ahead three-run home run in the fifth inning which would eventually put the game out of reach.

 He was also dominant on the mound in three innings of work, striking out 10 while scattering two hits and two earned runs. 

The Warriors took two games on Wednesday to conclude their trip, with the first being a 16-2 win over Troy (OH) and the second a 10-9 win over Coffee (GA). 

In the win over Troy, Essenburg went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored - and he backed it up with a 1-for-3 performance against Coffee with a home run, RBI, two runs scored and three walks.

The recent Super 60 standout has a real ability to change the game on either side of the ball, boasting one of the more thunderous bats in the state along with a mid-90s fastball from the left side. He leads his team in multiple offensive categories, including batting average with .615, home runs with five, and stolen bases with five as well - and he will surely be looked to as one of their horses on the mound for the remainder of the year. 

Scouting Report

2/03/25

Super 60: A proven in-game performer time and time again, Essenburg also has a knack for showing well in a showcase setting, and he did just that yesterday. He continues to add lean strength to his 6-foot-1, 198-pound frame, and there is certainly still room for added physicality in the coming years. He’s an above-average athlete for a first baseman, running to a 6.91 with a peak running speed of 20.3, though he has also proven to be more than capable of playing the outfield as well. His rounds of BP were unsurprisingly loud, showing his usual controlled aggression to work hard on the barrel up the middle of the field, flashing backspin and also elevating to his pull-side. He showed above-average feel to the barrel with his level of intent, averaging 95.7 mph for his EV with a peak of 102.6 mph, sending his furthest ball at 355’ with a wood bat. He also put up some impressive BLAST numbers, averaging 72.2 mph for his bat-speed and 23.5 mph for his hand-speed. Also a high-level southpaw on the mound, Essenburg understandably opted to just come as a position player, but he will be the top two-way player in the state this spring and surely one for pro scouts to keep a close eye on.

We're thankful for the POTW submissions we received from the coaches across the state. The players who garnered POTW consideration will earn a place within tomorrow's Diamond Notes story, so be on the lookout for that.

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