Prep Baseball Report

Uncommitted Spotlight: '26 RHP Riley Moran


Steven Hardesty
Associate Director SoCal

  

New Episode LIVE now! At The Yard Podcast

VENTURA, CALIF. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series returns as we officially have begun the 2025 CIF High School baseball for the 2025 spring. With than in mind Prep Baseball California will continue highlighting some of the top uncommitted class of '26 athletes for college programs to be following throught the spring schedule and into the summer. The player featured today is one of the top players in the state of California and figures prominently in our Class of 2026 Rankings

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 the #172 ranked player in the 2026 class in SoCal '26 RHP Riley Moran from Norco High School in the Norco, Calif.. The Inland Empire based righthander made a pair of appearances in 2024 on the Prep Baseball California platform. He started the year off at the 2024 Orange County Preseason ID and displayed a solid foundation of potential during his bullpen session. From there he returned in the fall period to attend the Orange County Uncommitted Game where he showed off the upward development pattern he is on with improvements across the board.

With athletic wiry frame Riley checks in at 6'3 185 lbs. with the length in his legs and arms the projects the "prototype pitcher" frame comment. During his bullpen session at the Orange County Preseason ID Moran flashed a solid three pitch mix with a 80-82 MPH FB that showed 14.6" of average IVB while adding 5" of average horizontal movement and spin rates averaging 2153 RPMs. During that session he backed it up with a 67-70 MPH short breaking SLD with -6.3" of glove side horizontal break and spin rates peaking above 2000 RPMs. His third offering on the day was an emerging 72-75 MPH CHG which he was still developing feel for, but did show potential.

But, it was his apperance at the Orange County Uncommitted Game in October of 2024 that really showed his future potential as a college level option for a pitching staff. Arriving having added strength to his athletic frame (up about 10-15 lbs.) that added strength and polish to his overall operation resulted in a strong performance for Moran. His FB velocity ticked up to 85-87 MPH on average and peaked above 88 MPH showing a strong improvement in pure velocity. The underlying data on his FB metrics remained similar to the shape it showed at the Preseason ID, but the improvement to his spin rate (peaking at 2457 RPMs while averaging 2288 RPMs both strong improvements) helped him to induce more whiff/soft contact on the offering. His SLD increased in velocity reaching 70-74 while reaching the higher spin rate levels more consistently with an average of 2131 RPMs and a peak of 2147 RPMs. He threw both his FB and SLD in the zone on a consistent rate with the FB landing in zone at 69% and the SLD in zone at 67%. In addition, Moran showed a more consistent lower arm slot with a 4'4" release height on both pitches allowing them to tunnel well out of the hand towards the hitter. His low release height and emering pitch mix with feel to aggressively attack the zone should make Moran a name for college programs to be following over the coming months for their 2026 class.

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

Scouting Report

10/13/24

Riley Moran, Norco High (CA), 2026
Positional Profile: RHP
Body: 6-3, 185-pounds. Athletic frame with room to add strength.
Delivery: Calm, controlled delivery. Fluid leg lift, leads with front hip.
Arm Action: RH. Loose, whippy arm.
FB: T88, 85-87 mph. Slight arm side run. T2457, 2288 average rpm.
SL: 70-74 mph. Tight slider that plays towards outer half. T2147, 2131 average rpm.

1/04/24

Riley Moran, Norco High (CA), 2026
Positional Profile: RHP/OF
Body: 6-2, 180-pounds.
Delivery: RH. Works from the windup, hands and legs move in sync. Gets into legs, stays low through release.
Arm Action: RH. Three-quarter release. Concise arm path
FB: T82, 80-82 mph. Spots fastball to all parts of the plate. T2192, 2153 average rpm.
SL: 67-70 mph. Sharp horizontal break. Good speed difference with fastball, consistently spots it on outer half. T2047, 1985 average rpm.
CH: 72-75 mph. Traditional circle change break. Consistently keeps it in the bottom third. T1903, 1781 average rpm.



Upcoming Events

Showcase State Date Location
Central California Rising Stars ID (2029-2030 Grads) CA 03/23 Ventura College - Ventura, CA
Inland Empire Rising Stars ID (2029-2030 Grads) CA 03/30 Corona High School - Corona, CA
Los Angeles Rising Stars ID (2029-2030 Grads) CA 04/27 O'Malley Field - Sepulveda Basin, CA
2025 Future Games Tryout: Fullerton CA 05/31 Fullerton College
2025 Future Games Tryout: Los Angeles CA 05/31 Loyola Marymount University
2025 Future Games Tryout: Malibu CA 05/31 Pepperdine University - Malibu, CA
2025 ProCase - West CA 06/01 Loyola Marymount University - Los Angeles, CA
2025 Future Games Tryout: Central California CA 06/07  Antelope Valley College - Lancaster, CA
2025 Future Games Tryout: Northern California CA 06/14 Consumnes River College - Sacramento, CA

MORE PREP BASEBALL NEWS