Future Games Tryout, Malibu: Preview

Holden Backus C / 1B / Westlake High, CA / 2028

From 4/21/26: "Holden came out to the Los Angeles Preseason All State event and looked sound during the beginning of the workout, before the event was rained out. He returned for the Preseason ID, where he was battling an illness, which limited him from showcasing his best skill set. Mixed in between, I had the opportunity to see him during a MLK weekend tournament. From those early January looks to now, the latter portion of April, the entirety of the profile for Holden has continued to trend up. Most noticeable was the added strength to a highly projectable frame that you can dream on. Having packed on about 15 pounds and now checking in close to 210 pounds, he looks the part of a long-term back stop. But, even more impressive is how he moves behind the dish. The glove action is smooth and quiet with a natural feel for sticking pitches and presenting borderline pitches. He’s agile in the blocking action, moving laterally with quickness, and is mobile enough to get his 6’4 frame low into the set-up. The arm is a strong present weapon for him, and he can continue to get better. He lived at 1.95 on his throw downs to second base with accuracy, living at the belt or below on nearly every throw. At the plate, he has also taken a step forward. The swing has shortened down into a more compact barrel path with a cleaner and more controlled overall operation. The hands are set, just below shoulder height, and he takes a smooth, athletic load to arrive on time to launch consistently across his four bats. I previously had some concerns over the swing and miss potential with the length of his levers and a previously more uphill bat path. But, on this day, he only swung and missed at one pitch. He collected a pair of hits during the game, including a double to the LCF gap on a low offering, while also picking up a single into CF vs spin later in the game. He sent a deep drive to straightaway center for an F–8 and popped out in his other plate appearance. The swing has natural leverage, and with the length in his levers, will continue to add loft with approach/contact consistency in damage counts. It’s a strong overall present profile that is continuing to get better and still has plenty more to come with polish to his ability to get to all of his impressive tools. It’s going to be a must-see profile for college programs with the mixture of impact potential defense at a premium spot and what looks like a realistic middle of the order offensive profile in the future."

Auron Blackledge SS / 2B / Calabasas High, CA / 2028

From 3/26/26: "Blackledge was a strong performer at the Central Coast Summer ID and West Coast Super Sophomore Games in 2025, but this was my first look at him during the high school season. Where the athletically built middle of the diamond defender stands out the most at present is in the RH batter's box. He employs a coiled load with a small leg lift to get him on his backside before using an athletic forward move to the launch position. Blackledge showed sound feel to get to launch on time or early, which allowed him to track pitches effectively and hunt the opportunity to swing, which he does with a hitterish intent. The swing itself sequences well from a taller posture that is geared for middle of the field leverage, but can loft the ball towards the pull side and use the whole field. His hands stay back well and are loose during the turn to give him adjustability and quality bat to ball at present, with some barrel awareness. The results on the day for Blackledge weren’t loud, but the process for the rising sophomore gave me plenty of confidence in his ability to be a long-term top of the order profile hitter. He shows athletic actions on the dirt with the ability to range laterally, come downhill quickly, and play with tempo, but there is some consistency that will need to be polished as he got stuck in between on a grounder right at him for an E-4. In totality, Blackledge is a quality name to start following in the 2028 class."

Leyton Denove OF / LHP / Oaks Christian, CA / 2028

Colton Dunwoody RHP / 1B / Royal, CA / 2028

From 4/1/26: "The younger brother of Dusty Dunwoody, Colton has steadily built his own reputation as a talented name on the baseball circuit here in North LA/Central Coast. He earned his first varsity start as part of the Highlanders spring break tournament schedule, and the projectable right-hander showed why he is amongst the names to know in the 2028 class for college programs. With a well sequenced delivery, clean, quick arm path, body control, and poise under pressure, Dunwoody tossed a strong four innings. Working off a three-pitch mix with each of his offerings showing present ability to go with anticipation for increased life/velocity on all of them. The FB for Colton lived at 83-86 MPH over all four innings and topped at 87 MPH multiple times, with life to the arm side and showing sink in the shape consistently. He primarily utilized a 75-77 MPH SLD, which was showing more vertical depth than horizontal break on the day as he continues to polish his shape on the offering. Finally, he showcased a sound 79-80 MPH CHG, which tunnels well off his FB, and he adds velocity to the FB, which will play up with the shape and his ability to land in the strike zone or below it. Dunwoody collected one K on the day, but produced plenty of GB contact, which suited his present attack pattern, including multiple double play balls in two innings, plus any balls in the air off him were hit in front of the OF not with carry. The overall foundation of what Dunwoody has at present is strong enough to garner attention from college programs, but when you start diving deeper into the profile which has room to add strength, build more inning on the mound and eventually focus full-time on the mound (two-way player at present) you can see plenty of similarities to his older brother Dusy (Arizona commit with MLB draft buzz) and puts him next in line for the Highlanders pitching pathway."

Kole (KJ) Henrich C / OF / Oaks Christian, CA / 2028

Alex Noble 3B / RHP / Bishop Alemany, CA / 2028

From 9/26/25: "After flashing well in both the workout and bullpen setting at the Central CA Summer ID, Noble was one of the players I had circled heading into Bushnell—and he did not disappoint. On the mound, the right-hander sat 82-83 mph, touching 85, with a full mix of secondaries (CB 67-68, SL 70-73, CH 74-76). He turned in a strong three inning outing with five strikeouts, showing improved stuff as the game went on and inducing consistent swing-and-miss. His changeup stood out in particular, flashing late dive and giving him a legitimate out pitch. At the plate, Noble collected a line-drive single to center and later barreled an opposite-field double, showing strength to all fields and a confident approach. The combination of his performance on both sides of the ball made him one of the bigger standouts on the weekend at Bushnell."

Pierce OBrien 1B / OF / Bishop Montgomery High, CA / 2028

From 1/11/26: "O'Brien was another summer cirucit find who showed well during a quick look at the Prep Baseball West Coast Program Invite. The LA Preseason ID served as his debut event for the Prep Baseball California event platform and it was an impressive one. Physically well built at present the corner profile OF/1B defender checked in at 6'5 236 lbs. with room for polish to his frame in the future. He is a sound defender in the OF and on the dirt at 1B with a solid present arm that profiles more accuracy than power with 78 MPH INF/82 MPH OF velocities. Where he LH hitter shines brightest is once he steps into the batters box. My live look at Pierce included two at bats where his operation look confident and controlled during a game setting, but the metrics he produced on this day raised interest to another level in his future potential. O'Brien has a relatively simple operation for a larger framed player with solid overall swing metrics including quickness in both his hand and bat speed (21.2 MPH hand & 71.9 MPH bat) with solid ability to produce torque during his swing (12.2 Gs of rotational acceleration). The strength in his frame helps generate loud, hard contact on a regular basis for O'Brien who had a 90% hard hit rate (balls over 90 MPH) with a peak at 104 MPH from a more direct swing that gears more towards present line drives than fly balls (40% sweet spot rate). The strength in his profile has plenty of intriguing power potential as he learns to elevate the ball more especially to the pull side of the field."

Jayden Singer RHP / OF / Calabasas High, CA / 2028

From 5/15/26: "Singer came in later in the game with the Coyotes down 6-1 and reeling in their hopes of a comeback attempt and from his first pitch to the final out of the day for this talented righthander he gave the Coyotes hope. After relinquishing a hit to the first batter he faced Singer responded by punching out the next two hitters and then went on to add two more K’s in the top of the seventh inning working around one hit allowed to allow no runs in 1.2 innings of work. The delivery is sound with a clean operation getting down the mound the righthander showed consistency with his front side at foot strike and with a longer arm action featuring loose present arm speed the fastball jumps out of his hand with life through the zone. Singer worked at 83-86 MPH while touching 87 MPH multiple times with both ride and run to the action on his FB. He predominantly attacked with his FB showing solid present control to put the pitch within the zone, but can improve the future command of the offering with several coming in over the middle portion of the plate. His breaking ball shows more of a horizontal SLD shape, but is softer in the velocity at 69-72 MPH which gave me the feel he is attempting to develop a sweeper over a power SLD, but he could be working towards a power SLD in the future as he adds velocity to the offering. While the overall foundation for Singer might appear more raw, the future ceiling with his long-limbed wiry athletic build that looks like a prototype RHP at the next level induces an intriguing feel to his future ceiling. Needless to say the talented Coyotes Fr. will be a name for college coaches to circle in the 2028 class and pay close attention to."

Julian Suarez C / 3B / Woodcrest Christian School System, CA / 2028