2025 Utah Top 10 Prospects (May Update)
May 22, 2024
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Austin Park SS / RHP / Juab High, UT / 2025
2024 Stat Line: Hitting: G 29 PA 116 AB 95 R 41 H 54 HR 7 RBI 58 2B 13 3B 3 BB 16 SO 10 SB 18/19 (OB% .621 SLG% 989 OPS: 1.1610 ~~ Park was #7 in the country in RBI's ~~ Pitching: G 10 W 6 L 1 ERA 2.03 IP 48.1 H 24 R 16 ER 14 BB 10 SO 80 “Park is a two-time Future Games participant and a West Coast ProCase alum and he has had a massive spring with the bat and arm on the mound. The leading candidate for Player of the Year honors in 3A, as well as statewide for Prep Baseball Utah. Park hit a robust .565 with seven home runs, 13 doubles, three triples, 18 steals, and his 58 RBIs are among the most in the nation. On the mound, Park finished with 48 innings pitched and he allowed only 24 hits, 10 walks, and he totaled a staggering 80 strikeouts. Numbers like these leaves one wondering what kind of year Park will put up as a senior in 2025. BYU should be proud of how the No. 1-ranked prospect in the class represented his school, especially since he made his commitment to the Cougars earlier this year.” – Jeff Scholzen, Utah Scouting Director
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Dylan Singleton LHP / Mountain Ridge High, UT / 2025UNCOMMITTED 2/24/24 The two-time Future Gamer, has improved dramatically over the past two years since we first laid eyes on him at the 2022 Preseason All-State where 30 lbs ago and featuring a FB that at the time was 78-82, has seen incremental jumps every 6 months or so. Now touching 91 with the FB, that’s another jump from 88 last July at LakePoint. The 3 pitch mix has developed to the point that with 2 seasons left in his HS career, this could and should be an Area Code type arm that, with some mechanical tweaks, could turn into a draft prospect. The FB spin was really good at 2,428 rpm’s and avg’ed 2,359. The CB 72-73 was sharp with near avg spin at 2,173 and with a little added bite moving forward, the pitch has the makings of an avg big league offering. The CH 72-75 needs a little added power and velocity, with upper 70’s a goal to shoot for, yet is able to kill the spin at 1,934-1,992, which with the small difference in spin, suggests he has feel for the baseball leaving the hand. Just added arm speed and maintaining the arm speed will do the trick. Should settle in as the ace of the preseason #1 team in the state this year. High upside with his best yet to come!
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Chase Johnston LHP / 1B / Maple Mountain High, UT / 2025
2024 Stat Line: G 10 W 6 L 1 ERA 1.52 IP 50.2 H 31 R 14 ER 11 BB 16 SO 72 3/10/24 One of the games that I was in attendance, and Johnston a BYU commit and the ace of the #6 ranked team in the state, has been the Golden Eagles ace since his freshman year. The former two-time Prep Baseball Future Games alum, threw a 7 inning stellar performance vs the #3 ranked team in the state, the Dixie Flyers. With a FB ranging from 85-90 mph, the future D1 lefty, had hitters off balance with his adding/subtracting to the FB and his controlled hammer CB for K’s. When he needed a strike, he was able to back door RHH’s and catch the corner for a called strike, and put hitters away with a spotted up FB low and away, as well as swing and misses at the top of the zone. He would then bury the CB just above the dirt for swinging K-3’s. It’s gonna be tough sailing for opposing hitters vs Johnston over the next two years and with continued projections to his stuff, we could be seeing a low 90’s lefty in short order. Congrats to Chase on this week's Pitcher of the Week honors! 3/04/23 Johnston is projecting like top college level pitcher project, as he was 80-84 at the Future Games last July, however as he's filling out and the body/strength are maturing, so has his velocity. The Delivery is the same and he shows deception thru a high glove to kick delivery, that stretches out nicely as he gains momentum down the slope. The FB now plays 83-85 T86, and with continued growth physically and his strength matures into man strength over time, the FB projects nicely into a high 80's to low 90's type LHP, that should garner D1 offers. The CB has quality shape and TQ tilt w/depth, and projects for a harder version CB with added bite as time goes on. The type of arm to project over the next 2-2.5 years, as he just made his 1st start of his sophomore season, and the line score read: IP 5 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 0 SO 11. This folks is a D1 arm w/pitchability and with former Utah Tech and BYU pitching coach of a decade, as his head coach at Maple Mountain (Jeremy Thomas), Johnston is in good hands throughout his remaining HS years.
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Haigen Reed OF / RHP / Desert Hills High, UT / 2025UNCOMMITTED 2024 Stat Line: G 30 PA 110 AB 80 R 40 H 40 AVG .500 HR 9 RBI 47 2B 11 3B 2 BB 27 SO 18 SB 7/7 8/09/23 West Coast Games The surprise position player of the event for me! After posting a .400 BA as a sophomore this past spring, Reed flew under my radar for a myriad of reasons, but after attending the CBA Scout Day, he caught my attention with an EV of 100.8 and his ability to square up the baseball and find the sweet spot. Built like a ball player w/strong well defined features and a strong lower ½ that he utilizes well in his swing. The body shows rhythm and timing as he gets his hands into the proper position to load the bat, in getting to a solid 45 and then sinks into his legs and shows plus bat speed in firing his lower ½ and core, to get the knob inside the baseball. Shows barrel release and acceleration through contact into a firm front side and stays behind the baseball to get his hands extended and looks to do damage with violent intentions. At the WCG’s, Reed went off at the plate and finished the 3 games 7-9 with 5 2B’s and a 3B while creating energy and anticipation when he stepped into the box, that something was about to happen! The only 2025 on the roster, and he played well beyond his age class in performance and how he carried himself and went about his business. Reed also turned in an 84 mph OF arm velo and one that I can see making the jump near 90 in the next couple of years. Plays hard and was aggressive on the bases and looked for the extra base hit out of the box. A definite name to follow in the state over the next 2 years and one that excited me enough to place at #6 in our next 2025 state rankings release after his showing in Las Vegas. Definitely a D1 bat moving forward!
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Merrick Bostock 3B / OF / Orem High, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 5 / POS: 1
UNCOMMITTED 2/24/24 Bostock came into the event with a noticeable change and improvement to his pre-pitch load at foot strike and it has dramatically improved his swing plane and the efficiency of his overall swing. Instead of a lay back open barrel load, Bostock now get to the MLB logo, 45 degree look and has really tightened up his hand path to the baseball and shortened the overall stroke. With good extension out front, a once “let go” of the top hand, now shows a strong dominant top hand, into a quick and powerful two hand finish past contact. The defense still remains consistent and gobbles up balls with soft hands out front and an efficient easy throwing stroke that doesn’t play big, but gets rid of it quickly and is accurate with his throws. This is my pick to click in ‘24, to have a monster year and jump the board as a result and have D1 teams contacting him soon! 11/03/23 Bostock represented Team Utah at the summer’s PBR Future Games and he remains one of the most interesting uncommitted athletes in the region. Listed at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, Bostock’s right-handed strength resulted in the highest average exit speed (95.5 mph) at the PBR Utah State Games, recording a 100.8 mph max. A report from PBR Utah’s Top Prospect Games (published July 20): “A lean, athletic, physical look, that appears to be still filling out… Has some funk and a different way of hitting, yet has above-average hand/eye to find the barrel with a short compact stroke at contact, and a long through finish. The knack to find the barrel in a quirky way to the naked eye to hit, is fascinating, in that he can hit velo and makes adjustments to offspeed.” |
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CJ Mascaro OF / LHP / American Fork , UT / 2025
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Max Moffat OF / Woods Cross, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 7 / POS: 3
2024 Stat Line: G 29 PA 108 AB 89 R 38 H 36 AVG .404 HR 2 RBI 24 2B 4 3B 2 BB 11 SO 8 SB 13/13 (OB% 505 SLG% 561 SLG% 1.067 The Utah Valley commit, took a loud round of BP and has really jumped strength wise, since we last saw him at the Top Prospect Games in July of 2022. At 5-11 190, Moffat is built thick and strong and looks the part of a hitter. New to the Top 10 prospects in our preseason HS release at #7, Moffat is the big bat for a quality Woods Cross team, that is the best HS team north of Salt Lake City (5 miles north of the metroplex). Turning in a 6.98/60 with a big EV of 101.8, Moffat also posted quality hand and bat speed data. The ball flies off the bat from an unconventional style to hit. A front foot hitter with very strong hands and upper body strength that creates the data mentioned, I would love to get my hands on him and tweak him to stay back and spin under/through, using his powerful lower ½ more to see where the ball takes off after that. But with two years of ball left at his current level, the sky is high for Moffat, when he takes his talents to the hitter friendly confines of Utah Valley! |
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Ethan Iacono RHP / OF / Mountain Ridge High, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 8 / POS: 1
UNCOMMITTED 2/24/24 The arm that came in and made the loudest impact as well as velocity improvement from the right side than any one pitcher at the event. Iacono, a former Future Gamer last summer sat 86-88 at LakePoint and touched 89 at one point last summer, came into this preseason event in mid-season form, based on our previous looks. With a FB that touched 91 and was the best of the event, it begs the question as to where the FB will go this year, headed into his senior year this next fall. The delivery was clean and easy with a quality arm stroke and solid ext. out front. The FB with a max spin of 2,362, also tunneled while the CB/SLV 73-79 at a spin max of 2,570 and avg’ed 2,483. All quality metrics with both pitches. Now comes the fun part, how to maximize their usage in a game and how they play in different parts of the zones vs hitters?! Iacono also showed an effective CH 80-83 and killed the spin to 1,950, giving him potentially 3 avg to solid avg pitched in time to work with. With one D1 offer in hand, there are sure to be many others coming this spring and summer! 7/31/23 2023 PBR Future Games Strong and built like Sonny Gray. Strong lower ½ with arm and hand speed to project his current strength to a low 90’s FB over the next one to two years. A flexible compact high kick to his delivery, Iacono gathers with balance throughout and features a clean HTQ arm stroke with proper arc and acceleration. Gets good ext. out front and uses his lower ½ well to drive the slope and create plane for a 6’ RH’er. The FB 85-88 at the Future Games, as he worked comfortably at 85 with 2000+ spin. The FB shows late sink below the thigh and created S/M’s to the bottom ½ of the zone. The CB 69-73 can be a little harder with repeated FB arm speed. The shape and tilt is present to create added tightness and velo. Needs to develop the CH and add a soft 3rd pitch to the mix to keep LHH’s off the FB. Really like the delivery and arm stroke with current FB velo to project a ceiling of a nationally ranked JC/High D2/mid-major D1 type player. The best is yet to come!
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Josh Mawhinney RHP / Brighton , UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 9 / POS: 2
2024 Stat Line: G 11 W 9 L 0 ERA 0.69 IP 51 H 28 R 8 ER 5 BB 22 SO 77 (Threw a No-Hitter)
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Riley Brown 3B / 1B / Brighton, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 10 / POS: 2
UNCOMMITTED 2024 Stat Line: G 29 PA 112 AB 81 R 34 Hn 32 AVG .395 HR 9 RBI 37 2B 8 3B 2 2/24/24 A former D1 commit, who decommitted last summer and is taking his time this go around to make a decision. I believe it will pay off, as he has another in-state D1 offer on the table, and his calling card is a “power” bat that plays at any positional profile! A square semi crouched stance with his bat already turned slightly in the loaded position, Brown turns his left hip into the online position to the pitcher, and lands soft, sits, spins and turns under and through the point of contact with big bat speed and quality ext. out front. The power is big and can leave the yard in any direction. A .360 or better avg hitting in the middle of the Brighton lineup since his freshman year, jumped back into the recent Top 10 prospect release at #9. With an EV of 104.1 which was third at the event, Brown also turned on one pitch at 384’ and cleared the high net in left and into the adjacent building, as the shot was very high and “brought rain!” His Blast metrics were also REALLY GOOD, as he registered a max bat speed of 81.8 and sat 77.6! With a big rotational acceleration high mark of 27.5 which is off the charts, allowing him to really utilize his lower ½ and get the most out of his stocky strong build to really impact the baseball! The defense showed better this go around and he must continue to maintain and improve his flexibility and get lower to his center of gravity on ground balls, and put his nose in the dirt with his hands extended out front. Even if he has to move potentially at some point in his career across the diamond to 1B, he has the makings and looks of a young Mike Napoli (google search Napoli). But the bat plays and plays big, and I have no question over the next two years, big numbers are in store and the offer he has on the table now, would fit his hitting style in a big way and produce loud numbers at the next level!
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SCOUTING DIRECTOR (BIO)
Scholzen comes to Prep Baseball after serving 9 years as the "Four Corners" Scouting Supervisor with the Milwaukee Brewers (2011-2020). Prior to his run with the Brewers, Scholzen worked for the Los Angeles Angels for 11 years (1999-2010), serving in the same capacity as the "Four Corners" Scouting Supervisor (UT, WY, So-ID, Las Vegas, AZ, CO, NM and El Paso). Scholzen received a 2002 World Series ring for his contributions as a scout with the Angels.
With the Angels, Scholzen created an Angels Scout Team, in which he coached the following MLB players: Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird, Tyler Wagner, Aaron Blair, Joey Rickard, Donn Roach, Johnny Field, Taylor Cole, Andy Burns and Paul Sewald to name a few.
During his run with the the Angels, Scholzen also served as the hitting coach for the Angels rookie ball affiliate in the Pioneer League, the Orem Owlz, helping guide the Owlz to the 2005 and 2007 Pioneer League titles, which earned Jeff two more championship rings.
In Scholzen's 20 year scouting career, he was credited with the signing of 6 MLB players starting with: Brandon Wood, SS, Angels 2003, 1st Rd ~ Efren Navarro, 1B, Angels 2007, 50th Rd ~ Donn Roach, RHP, Angels 2010, 3rd Rd ~ Tyler Wagner, RHP, Brewers 2012, 4th Rd ~ Payton Henry, C, Brewers 2016, 6th Rd ~ Ryan Aguilar, 1B/OF - Brewers 2017, 31st Rd ~ Scholzen also had an additional 3 players added to various clubs 40 man MLB rosters over the years. Currently 2019 (14th Rd) draft pick, RHP-Paxton Schultz from Utah Valley U, is currently in AAA with the Toronto Blue Jays, and former 40 man Brewes rostered RHP (Utah Tech) just recently returned from Korea and signed with the NL Champion Arizona Diamondbacks and will most likely start the year in AAA and once stretched out after an injury plagued 2023, File will move up to AAA!
Prior to becoming a professional scout, Scholzen served as the head coach at Southern Utah University between 1993-1997. At the time, Scholzen was the youngest Division I head coach in the country, when he was first hired at 24 years old. The Southern Utah baseball program was dropped after the 2012 season. While coaching at Southern Utah, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1995, as they won the Alaska League Championship. Scholzen also recruited and coached World Series RHP-Ryan Jensen of the San Francisco Giants, who would earn a top 5 finish for NL Rookie of the Year in 2022. Scholzen and Jensen had the unique opportunity, to be on opposing sides of the ledger, when Scholzen's Angels and Jensen's Giants squared off in the 2002 MLB Fall Classic.
Scholzen also had the pleasure of coaching Jensen's roommate and back up catcher, Kyle Turner who has worked in professional/major league baseball for 24 years. Kyle currently is in his 14th season with the big league Kansas City Royals and serves as the clubs Head Athletic Trainer. Turner was instramental, while a young player for Scholzen at Southern Utah, in introducing Scholzen to his first wife, the late Heidi Dalton Scholzen, who passed away in December of 2014. A native of Utah, Scholzen played at Hurricane HS and was twice named 1st team All-State and an AAU HM All-American, before moving on to Utah Valley CC and Eastern Oregon University, earning All-Conference honors on three separate occasions. Scholzen played in the Angels’ organization in 1991.
Scholzen was married to his late wife Heidi for 20 years and their union produced four children - McKyla 27, Miranda 24, McKenzie 22 and the couples only son, Grant Scholzen 19, who is a freshman 2B at D1 WCC school, the U of the Pacific (Pacific Tigers) on scholarship. After Heidi's passing in 2014, Scholzen married Cami Macias Scholzen, a widow herself and the same age as Heidi and the couple now have been married 8 years. Between both families, Jeff has 3 grandchildren and 5 step grandchildren (8 total) and the Scholzen's reside in Hurricane, UT in the bottom left SW corner of the state near the most iconic and scenic national parks in the country.