Follow @PrepBaseballCA Follow @LesLukach Follow @PBRmonkFollow @hardy03bsblFollow @HankLoForte

At The Yard Podcast: New Episode LIVE now!

Bakersfield, Calif.- This past Thursday, August 7th, the Prep Baseball California team hosted the Bakersfield Summer ID at North High School in Bakersfield, Cal. This was an open event for high school classes (2026-29), and gave our staff an ample look at the development of some of the top talent in the area and introduced our staff to new names to know after their performances.

24 players made their way to North High School last week and participated in a pro-style workout, gathering unrivaled access to data through our state-of-the-art tech partners (VALD, Blast Motion, and TrackMan) as well as in-depth scouting analysis from our Prep Baseball California staff.

Today, we will be looking at some of the top performers from the event and for more information including stats from the event, click here.

Bakersfield Summer ID: Top Performers

Adrian Bravo LHP / OF / Ridgeview High, CA / 2026 The standout lefthander from Ridgeview stepped on the Prep Baseball California event stage for the first time and his performance was eye-popping from the first pitch he threw to the final one. The medium built Bravo was a key piece of the Ridgeview run to a CIF-SS D2 title and State D4 title with his four pitch mix (with two different FB shapes - 4 seam & 2 seam). Bravo was the event leader in FB velocity reaching 90.3 MPH on his final FB of a 30 pitch bullpen while living at 87.3-89.4 on the offering showing impressive spin averaging 2400+ RPMS while attacking the zone with the offering that averaged 19+" of IVB. He spun a pair of high quality breaking balls in in his 72-74 MPH CB that averaged 2400 RPMs of spin with control of the offering inside the strike zone and a sweepy shaped SLD in the 73-77 MPH range with upwards of 12+" of horizontal break on the pitch while averaging 9+" of horizontal break. Bravo flashed a CHG at 78-81 MPH with efficient feel to kill spin on the offering averaging sub 1900 RPMs while generating arm side fade, but will need to polish his control of the offering inside the zone. With a clean easy delivery and a quick arm that repeats effectively from a 3/4 release point on all his offerings with sound feel for the strike zone there is plenty to love about the foundation for Bravo at present  and his future.

Ryan Talley OF / RHP / Royal, CA / 2026 Talley was a key reserve on a talented Royal High School squad in the 2025 spring season and the dynamic athlete showed his impressive tools ahead of a senior campaign which should see him take over a prominent role for the Highlanders. Talley showed off a CF defensive profile with his impressive 6.58 60 yard sprint before popping 87 MPH from the OF with low carry to his throws and sound accuracy to the bases (3rd and home during OF workout). He is athletically built at 5'11 with wiry present strength at 159 lbs. and shows room to add another 15-20 lbs. in the future to add strength on a strong foundation. With his CF profile athleticism and defensive actions a strong start to Talley's profile his RH hitting profile takes it up another step. Over his two rounds of batting practice Talley showed explosiveness in his turn (25.9 Gs of rotational acceleration at the max while averaging 21.1 Gs) with present strong bat speed at 71.6 MPH and hand speed at 22.1 MPH while adding strong feel for his barrel and timing. With leverage in his path Talley produced consistent hard contact in the air witha  50% line drive rate and 33.3% fly ball rate through the middle of the diamond reaching a max distance of 344'. Talley hit the ball with authority peaking at 97.1 MPH on exit velocity with a consistent feel for hard contact (58% hard hit rate and 90.1 MPH avg exit velocity).

London Anderson OF / Bakersfield Christian High School, CA / 2026 Anderson rivaled Talley for the top performance of the day with his own loud athletic performance showcasing both a CF defensive athletic profile and intriguing top of the order offensive potential. Hailing from the talented Bakersfield Christian High School program Anderson topped the event with a 6.53 60 yard sprint time including eye popping burst off the line and ability to build speed on top of that burst. His arm was sound with accuracy on all his throws showing strong feel to throw accurate one hop throws at or near the bags (3rd and home). A compact, but athletically built 5'9 173.1 lbs frame Anderson has solid present strength which showed up during batting practice, but the frame that can add additional strength on it as he continues to mature. Anderson generates impressive bat speed from an aggressive uphill bat path (74.1 MPH peak / 71.6 MPH avg. bat speeds) with quick hands peaking at 21.8 MPH and quickness in his turn 19.4 Gs of rotational acceleration. The impressive swing metrics for Anderson produced one of the best batting practice sessions of the day over his two rounds he hit the ball with authority including an event best 101.3 MPH exit velocity reaching a peak distance of 355' while showing solid feel for working the middle to pull side of the field with his stroke that produced a 55% fly ball/line drive rate over his two rounds. The profile for Anderson suits a top of the order bat with speed to create chaos and the impact to produce extra base hits.

Cash Gerecke OF / RHP / Liberty, CA / 2027 An event which had 11 two-way players in attendance the rising JR. out of the strong Liberty program Gerecke is the youngest of three brothers who have been talented players in the Bakersfield area and Cash showed he is right in line with his older brothers talent. Running a solid 7.1 60 yard dash which was fifth best in attendance while throwing 88 MPH from the OF with easy arm speed, carry on his throws and sound accuracy to the bases (3rd and home) that gives him CF potential with the profile to handle RF as a position player. His batting practice showed off present hand speeds up to 22.1 MPH with bat speed above 70 MPH from the LH side which produced loud contact peaking at 95 MPH on exit velocity while averaging 89.7 MPH with a max distance of 368' on a pull side HR that was a no doubt shot off the bat. As good as his batting practice session was the righthander tossed an impressive 20 pitch bullpen session with a quality FB that reached 86.6 MPH at its peak living at 84.4-86.2 MPH with an average of 16.7" of IVB on the offering. Gerecke showed a trio of offspeed offerings fronted by his 74-76 MPH CHG that has fade to his arm side and vertical depth off his FB shape including spin rates that averaged 1600 RPMs. Gerecke spun a CB in the 69-72 MPH range with solid feel for throwing it in the zone and a 69-71 MPH SLD which he also threw for strikes in the bullpen. He will need to polish the shapes of each pitch to create different movement profiles for them  or focus in on one offering going forward to improve his breaking ball offering(s). A strong collection of tools as both a position player or pitcher the foundation for Gerecke is strong with an intriguing future as either one.

Aden Manning OF / LHP / Liberty, CA / 2027 Rankings  StateRank: 25 / POS: 7 OverallRank: 241 / POS: 53 The second half of the Liberty High School two-way duo in attendance Manning was equally impressive to his counterpart Gerecke. A left-hand hitting OF and lefthanded pitcher Manning flashed potential on each side of the game across the workout. Running a sub 7.0 60 at 6.97 seconds with quality arm strength from the OF at 84 MPH that gives him a CF potential profile as a defender, but could handle either corner in the future should he continue adding arm strength. Manning showed of quickness in his hands with peak hand speed of 21.7 MPH while flashing 72.5 MPH bat speed from a flatter stroke which produced quality contact in his two rounds of batting practice. The LH hitter reached 92.8 MPH on his best bolt of the day while averaging 88.8 MPH throughout batting practice with a 333' max distance, 44% hard hit rate while producing 56% fly ball/line drive rate. His pitching profile from the lefthand side creates an interesting upside profile with a FB that peaked at 85 MPH while consistently throwing the offering in the 82.3-84.6 MPH range with 19.9" of IVB on average. Manning spun a solid present CB with a vertical shape in the 71 MPH range, but will need to polish his feel to control the offering while adding in a 70-74 MPH SLD that has 9+" of glove side break on average. He added a CHG at 72-76 MPH with both arm side fade and vertical separation of his FB from a clean easy arm stroke and athletic delivery overall. Manning shows plenty of potential across the board as a two-way product who can continue to develop/improve on a strong foundation to be a high quality name to know in the 2027 recruiting class.

Ayden Francisco 1B / LHP / Frontier High, CA / 2028 While several 2028's had impressive days at the event Francisco was able to separate slightly from the group with his strong two-way performance. A bigger build at 6'2 233.6 lbs. Francisco has solid present strength, but can polish himself going forward to become an imposing force as he goes through high school. Showing sound hands and footwork at 1B Francisco looks to be a solid defender at the spot where his athleticism fits best, but it's his LH bat which earns him this spot. During the two rounds of batting practice Francisco swung with aggressiveness in his hands and bat speed (21.6 MPH hand speed & 73.9 MPH bat speed) while showing impressive feel for his barrel to deliver hard contact consistently. Francisco produced an event best 90% hard hit rate with a peak of 98.3 MPH on his exit velocity, but even more impressive his average exit velocity was 94.6 MPH with a 70% fly ball/line drive rate and a 359' max distance on a pull side HR. It's a strong hit tool with power in the profile foundation that can continue to trend up as he matures to be an impact offensive profile in the future. Francisco showed nearly just as well on the mound where his easy delivery with loose arm stroke that repeated well produced a FB in the 79-82 MPH range that peaked at 83 MPH on his final FB of the 20 pitch bullpen that showed 2200+ average spin rates while pounding the strike zone with the offering. Francisco dropped in an impressive SLD which lived in the strike zone at 68-69 MPH with 2500+ RPMs of spin and a sweeping shape to it 15" of horizontal break with a two plane shape at present which can tighten up with added velocity. The southpaw mixed in a solid 73-75 MPH CHG with firmer spin on the offering but arm side run on the offering averaging -7.6" on the pitch. The profile for Francisco is strong with some present rawness that can be polished up as he matures that makes him a strong name to keep eyes on in the Bakersfield area for the 2028 class.

RELATED CONTENT