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VENTURA, CALIF. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series continues as we wind down from a packed fall of Prep Baseball California events, scout baseball, and other opportunities to evaluate players we will be recognizing some of the top remaining uncommitted players around the state. We will be looking at players from the 2026 class and 2027 classes across the upcoming weeks/months. 

We invite you to get to know them through the eyes of our Prep Baseball California staff of scouts both through our in person looks at players and/or the data-backed numbers collected at our events with our partnered companies. TrackMan, Blast Motion, and VALD Performance provide comparable data to project and evaluate players. All of these systems come together to give a clear picture at what colleges will get when a players steps onto their campus.

Today, we put the spotlight on a talented 2026 player who is featured inside the Top 275 of our 2026 California rankings. We are looking at the NorCal based '26 OF Tristen Bartlett from Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, Calif.. Barlett made his debut on the Prep Baseball California event platform this summer with a strong performance across three days at the 2025 California State Games and then followed that up with a standout showing at the NorCal Uncommitted Games in September of 2025. 

Both of the showings for Bartlett back up what was a dynamic JR. year performance for him with the Elk Grove High School program. The Thundering Herd went 20-10 on the year with a 12-3 record in the Delta League good for a second-place finish and a berth in the  CIF-Sac Joaquin Section playoffs. Bartlett played in all 30 games on the year taking 110 plate appearances with 90 official at bats while posting an impressive slash line of .400/.500/.589 on the season. His 36 hits and .400 average both led the Thundering Herd as a team while he posted 10 total extra base hits including a team leading seven triples with three doubles. The 26 runs he scored on the year were second best on the squad with 17 RBIs good for third on the team. Tristen showed a high quality approach over the year drawing more walks than strikeouts witha  16-13 ratio.

The LH hitting operation for Bartlett is an athletic one where he starts with an athletic posture and employs a casual sway of his body before beginning the load. Bartlett shifts his body weight onto his back side with a medium length toe tap stride while quietly loading his hands to separate from the body. During the turn of the swing Bartlett remains taller in his posture with effective sequencing and balance throughout the whole operation. Tristen uses his hips aggressively to rotate and generates impressive present torque posting 22.7 Gs of rotational acceleration. The torque in his turn helps generate strong present bat speed reaching 72.8 MPH while showing off fast hand speeds at 25.5 MPH. The balance in his approach and swing operation with a strong present feel for timing/barrel awareness during batting practice produces intriguing batted ball data via Trackman including a max EV up to 99.6 MPH during the NorCal Uncommitted Game batting practice with an average EV at 95.4 MPH. He showed intriguing underlying batted ball data with an 57% sweet spot rate and 85% hard hit rate while reaching a max distance of 385' while showing a 86% fly ball/line drive rate during his California State Games batting practice.

Bartlett has solid athletic frame at present standing at 5'11 180.6 lbs. with broad shoulders and room to fill more strength/muscle as he continues maturing. He is a solid overall athlete who runs well with a 7.04 60 yard dash time at the NorCal Uncommitted Game that give shim the potential to stick in CF with a tick more improvement to his foot speed. But, his 88 MPH OF arm with carry on his throws will fit comfortably in RF or LF as a solid to strong weapon for his defensive profile.

The overall profile for Barlett is solidly well-rounded with offensive performance, intriguing metrics, future upside to the bat and showing a sound defensive profile with potential for both premium/impact OF spots in CF/RF. With the solid foundation that Bartlett presents across the board he is a name that college programs would be well served to be diving in on as a LH bat for their 2026 class.

College coaches and fans be sure to click on Bartlett's profile to see full video and information.

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