Follow @PrepBaseballCA Follow @LesLukach Follow @hardy03bsblFollow @HankLoForte Follow @vinniealfino42

New Episode LIVE now! - At The Yard Podcast

VENTURA, CALIF. - In what turned out to be a momentous year for the entirety of what we do at Prep Baseball California in covering/scouting high school baseball in California it all had to start somewhere. That starting point was right at the turn of the calendar year as our staff said goodbye to 2024 and welcome in 2025 with our initial events highlighted by our Preseason All State series. An invite-only based event which brings together some of the top talent from around the state of California together to specific sites for them to showcase their abilities. In the past Prep Baseball California has run two or three of these events at various different locations from SoCal up to NorCal. 

In 2025 the Preseason All State series in California reached new heights in terms of many different benchmarks. First and foremost we as a staff ran a new high of four different Preseason All State events encompassing four different regions of California. Our initial event for the 2025 calendar year was hosted in San Diego on January 4th and was immediately followed the next day January 5th by two more events in the Inland Empire and Central California region. The series was completed in the later part of January with the NorCal Preseason All State held on the 26th of the month.

Across the four events our staff saw north of 200+ highly talented players from the 2025 - 2028 graduating classes before the start of the CIF high school baseball season. Of the players in attendance at a Preseason All State event in 2025 well over 150+ of those players are featured within our Prep Baseball California rankings across the 2025 - 2028 rankings.

Let's take a deeper dive into each of the individual events and the highlights of some of the players in attendance.

San Diego Preseason All State:

Hosted on January, 4th at Maranatha Christian High School in San Diego. Event featured 57 players in attendance with some elite names and elite commits making their way out to kick start their 2025 calendar years. The event hosted 20+ college commits from the 2025 - 2027 classes with such prominent names as Alex Harrington (Stanford), AJ Curry (Tennessee), Tyson Bobo (Texas Tech), Jett Kenady (California), Jayden Parker (Indiana), Taden Krogsgaard (UCLA), Joseph Flores Jr. (Ole Miss) and Trevor Smith (Washington State) highlighting the D1 commits in attendance.

Our staff saw standout days from several of the players above, but even more impressively was the showing by class of 2027 star Carter Hadnot of Aquinas High School (ranked 6th in the 2027 class for California). The presently uncommitted talent put on a display across the board of his high level ability demonstrating just why he is so highly regarded in the state and the country.

Carter Hadnot

The San Diego event featured three players who would go on to represent SoCal at the West Coast ProCase with Hadnot, 2026 C Ian Brooke from Patrick Henry High School and Parker from University City High School. As well, one member of Team SoCal from the 2025 Future Games kicked off his year in attendance in Joseph Flores JR. of Corona High School.

Ian Brooke

For all the information on the 2025 San Diego Preseason All State event click here.

Inland Empire Preseason All State:

On Sunday January, 5th several members of our staff made their way to Corona High School to put on the Inland Empire Preseason All State. We saw 51 players in attendance at this iteration of the Preseason All State series. It was a talent laden field with a total of now 20+ college commitments on the roster. The likes of Dylan Seward (Tennessee), Codey Brown (UCSB), Gavin Cervantes (Long Beach State), Tate Hammond (UCLA), Gavin Hottle (USC), Elius Kelly (Cal State Fullerton), Gavin Loeb-Keene (Cal Baptist), Zion Martinez (Oklahoma State), Wyatt Mohler (St. Mary's), Michael Nonis (Nevada), Jake Ourique (Oregon), Ira Rootman (Texas), and Jayden Serna (UCSB) representing the D1 commits who were in attendance at Corona High School on that day.

The Inland Empire Preseason All State represented the launching pad of a highlight year for Seward who rode his performance here and in the spring season to an invite to the ProCase West and then onto represent the 2027 squad at the 2025 Prep Baseball All American Game in Miami, Florida. In addition to Seward, the duo of Ourique and Hottle would earn invites to the ProCase West out of their showings at the Inland Empire Preseason All State and spring seasons. 

Dylan Seward

From the roster at Corona High School five different players would go on to represent Team SoCal at the 2025 Future Games in Georgia with Martinez, Rootman and Brown representing the three commits from that group. While Kemuel Zhang and Luke Bacon each made their way to Georgia and represent two of the top uncommitted players in the 2027 class for California. On the 2026 class side a pair of Inland Empire Preseason All State attendees would find their to Georgia later in the year to represent Team West Coast at the SR. Future Games in Camden Goetz and Nonis.

For all the information on the 2025 Inland Empire Preseason All State click here.

Central California Preseason All State:

The third iteration of the Preseason All State series took our staff to a new venue and new locale on January, 5th at Antelope Valley College in the High Desert region of SoCal. Our roster in Lancaster for this event featured 56 players. Amongst this group we saw the likes of players like Carson Sheffer (Oklahoma State), Brady Hewitt (Fresno State), Jacob Madrid (Oregon), Nasir Akil (St. Mary's), Caden Atkinson (UCSD), Brady Bickham (Georgia Tech), Connor Clayton (CSUN), Mason Crang (Fordham), Ty Diaz (Cal State Fullerton), Larkin Fleming (Utah Tech), Holden Newhouse (LMU), Elijah Sim (Air Force), Isaiah Tillman (San Francisco) and Gavin Williams (Oregon) representing the D1 commits in attendance. In total our staff got eyes on what is at present 20+ college commitments from this roster in attendance.

Sheffer kicked off his year with a standout performance at the Preseason All State event which combined with his strong spring season brought him to the ProCase West and capped his year earning an invite to the 2026 Super Sixty. The trio of Crang, Tillman and Clayton each stood out on the day at AVC to carry themselves into strong spring seasons and earned invite to represent Team West Coast at the 2025 SR. Future Games. As well, the showing of Charlie Cummings thrust him into the radar of our staff for the spring/summer season and eventual would culminate with the talented INF out of Sierra Canyon playing his way onto Team SoCal for the 2025 Future Games.

Charlie Cummings

Isaiah Tillman

For good measure a trio of 2028's put on loud showings at the Preseason All State event which would build their profiles towards being standout attendees at the initial West Coast Super Sophomore Games in Sept. at PK Park. That trio was Ryan Sheffer, Gavin Gorman and Oliver Dauskurdas.

Ryan Sheffer

For all the information on the Central California Preseason All State click here.

NorCal Preseason All State:

The fourth and final iteration of the 2025 Preseason All State series took place on Sunday, January 26th on the campus of Ohlone College in Northern California. This was the largest verison of the 2025 calendar year with over 80 players in attendance for the workout. This group was a loaded crop of talent with over 20+ commits across the group in attendance at Ohlone. The names in attendance featured the likes of Masen Belding (LSU), Ayden Deome (Arizona), Hudson Flora (UCSB), Mariano Gonzalez (Texas Tech), Chase Gordon (CSUN), Justin Gregory (Cal Poly SLO), Colton Hadfield (UCLA), JP Harmon (Ole Miss), Griffin Messenger (Davidson), Kaden Nicholls (Cal Poly SLO), Trevor Rivas (California), Devin Simonton (USD), Phinn Thomas (UC Davis), Tino Vassell (San Francisco), and Waylon Walsh (Santa Clara) all prominent NCAA D1 commits to make their way to the event.

The group in attendance at Ohlone College featured six players who would go on to put outstanding spring campaigns on the heels of their showings at the Preseason All State series and earn themselves invites to the ProCase-NorCal. This group is highlighted by the likes Hunter Lynch, Simonton, Deome and Harmon in the 2026 class. In addition to those four we saw two members of the Team NorCal Future Games squad start their year at the Preseason All State and make their way to the ProCase-NorCal in Gonzales and LHP Cooper Benjamin. 

Ayden Deome

Mariano Gonzalez

While the duo of Gonzales and Benjamin earned their way to Georgia after their Preseason All State and ProCase-NorCal performances they were not the only members of Team NorCal in attendance. Our staff got early looks at Cruz Garcia, Quinton Hill, Logan Mull and Camden Salisbury were each in attendance prior to earning their spots on Team NorCal. For good measure Santa Barbara based Jetner Welch made the trip to NorCal to participate in the event before his JR. season at Santa Barbara High School and picking up a spot on Team West Coast at the SR. Future Games.

Cruz Garcia

For all the information on the NorCal Preseaons All State click here.

MORE PREP BASEBALL NEWS