Youth Baseball

Diamond Sports Promotions, was formed and is owned by Mike & Albert Vanhorn of Bourbonnais, Illinois with the main goal of aiding high school aged players to obtain exposure of their talent and to give them an opportunity to play in a good college environment.

Tim Brownlee, former college baseball coach at University of Evansville and Illinois State University joined Diamond Sports Promotions in April of 2008. He will serve as Vice President of Baseball Operations and will be directing the tourneys and adding new programs to the Diamond Sports Promotions schedule. Tim is an excellent evaluator of talent as he has evaluated over 25,000 potential college baseball players in his career as asst. coach. at the Division I level.

Jim Brownlee just recently joined the DSP full time staff and will serve as Director of Marketing, tourney director, evaluator and head up our winter coaching clinics. Jim just finished over 30 years as a head baseball coach at the University of Evansville and Illinois State University..He is a great addition to our staff due to his knowledge of the game and his contacts at all levels of collegiate baseball.

Andrew Bartman just recently took the job as recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois. Bartmann previously spent 5 years in the same position at Wabash Valley Junior College in Illinois. Andrew will serve as an evaluator and tourney director for DSP which is his 3rd year in this position.

Mike Vanhorn has served as the head baseball coach at Kankakee Eastridge high school and was an assistant at John Logan College in Carterville Illinois. He is currently an associate scout for the Atlanta Braves under Stu Cann and is completing his 9th year in that capacity. Vanhorn also served as the vice president for Greater Midwest Sports Mgmt. and left that capacity to start Diamond Sports Promotions.

Very few high school aged players actually receive FULL college scholarships in baseball and there are fewer Pro prospects coming from the high school programs. The college recruiters are busy playing their spring schedules and Pro scouts territories are causing them to constantly be on the go.

DIAMOND SPORTS PROMOTIONS, INC has worked closely with several college coaches and professional scouts the past 3 to 4 years to CENTRALIZE their events with several teams to aid the Pro scouts and college recruiters, allowing them to see more players in different events. Maximum exposure for the athlete is the goal of DIAMOND SPORTS PROMOTIONS, INC.

Our schedule of events and tournaments are all based on college campuses and Minor League ball parks. The high school fields that are chosen to be nearby the colleges are some of the finest you will play on during the year. The fields are shown on our website photo gallery.

Over 100 Pro baseball scouts and over 250 college coaches are notified of each event. Our website shows the pairings and results of each tourney played. In addition, our "WHO'S WHO" in IL baseball and the Diamond Sports Recruiting book is available to all college coaches and Pro scouts nationwide. This book lists all contact information for each player participating in a DIAMOND SPORTS PROMOTIONS event. This will enable the player to be contacted by different universities for their camps and their recruiting campaigns with relative ease.

A special thanks to the following consultants and friends who helped me bring this company to "realism". Long hours and a lot of thought has been put into trying to get the BEST for all people involved: Scouts, College Recruiters, Travel Coaches, and most of all - the High School Aged player! Special thanks to Jerry Halstead-John A Logan College-Head Baseball Coach/Athletic Director, Stu Cann-Atlanta Braves scout, Todd Post-Kankakee Community College-Head Baseball Coach/San Diego Padres scout, Jim Brownlee-IL State University-Baseball Coach, Dan Callahan and Coach Henderson-Southern IL University (Carbondale), Larry Eastwood (Carterville, IL), Coach Dennis Martell-Illinois Wesleyan Head Baseball Coach, and most of all my parents Al and Billie Vanhorn-Marion, IL.

To be added to our mailing list, email us at diamondsportspromo@sbcglobal.net.

We hope to see you at an upcoming event -- Mike Vanhorn-Atlanta Braves Assoc. Scout/President-DIAMOND SPORTS PROMOTIONS, INC.