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VENTURA, CALIF. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series continues after a jam-packed preseason of Prep Baseball California events, winter scrimmage high school 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 and 2027 classes across the upcoming weeks/months as the spring high school season begins to ramp up. 

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 of what colleges will get when a player steps onto their campus.

Today, we put the spotlight on an impressive 2027 player who is coming off a solid Sophomore high school season and shone on the Prep Baseball California event platform during the preseason. We are looking at SoCal '27 C Andrew Nicklaus from Simi Valley High School in Simi Valley, Calif. He earned his way into a consistent role on the Pioneers' 2025 Coastal Canyon League championship squad. The talented sophomore saw the majority of his time at DH while getting some work behind the dish, but with some movement in the defensive positioning for 2026 is likely to take over full-time behind the dish. 

During the 2025 spring, Nicklaus played in all 29 games with a total of 94 plate appearances and 78 at-bats. During the time frame, he posted a sound slash line of .282/.383/.410 on the year. Nicklaus was top five on the Pioneers team in hits with 22, runs scored with 19, RBIs with 13, doubles with four, hit by pitches with seven, stolen bases with nine, and led the team with two homers on the year. His offensive numbers have the opportunity to tick up in 2026 as his full season of experience on the varsity level and development overall should clean up the strikeout-to-walk ratio he posted in 2025. During his work behind the plate in 2025, he posted a 1.000 field percentage with two assists, and his workout at the Los Angeles Preseason ID event showed the upside to his defensive potential as he increases his work behind the plate in 2026.

During the preseason calendar of Prep Baseball California events for 2026, our staff got an up-close look at all of the tools for Nicklaus in a showcase setting. The RH hitting backstop put together a strong day across the board, even with a stiff wind blowing into the field all day long. His offensive metrics give evidence to the anticipated potential for him to take a step forward in the 2026 season on the sound stats he produced in 2025. Nicklaus starts his swing with a small foot lift on the front side and hovers in his back leg to track the pitch out of the hand before smoothly working to the launch position. His batting practice at the LA PSID was a display of his feel for timing and barrel awareness, with the consistency of his swing metrics and batted ball data. On Blast Motion, all three of the main metrics gathered show a well sequenced swing with hand speed, bat speed an torque. Nicklaus posted 21.1 MPH hand speed, 72.3 MPH bat speed, and rotated with 13.3 Gs of rotational acceleration. Present quickness to the turn and bat path, combined with his consistency for timing, produced a 96.8 MPH max EV, 90.6 MPH avg EV, and a 340' max distance. Diving deeper into his batted ball data showed a 69% hard hit rate and 46% sweet spot rate. The flatter stroke he takes presents more of a high-contact/doubles offensive profile at present, but the emerging top-end EV gives him the chance to tap into more power as he continues to develop.

With a likely increased role behind the plate in 2026 for the Pioneers, paying attention to the skillset of Nicklaus behind the plate was vital. His arm strength played well on a windy day, making it difficult for catchers to throw through it. Andrew demonstrated a consistent transfer at the chest with quickness in his arm stroke and efficient footwork to produce 79 MPH C velocity, and his throws were low out of the hand with sound online accuracy to the bag. Living down near the tag zone or working the ball in on one hop to the bag helped Nicklaus post a low of 1.95 while staying in the low 2.0 range on the day. His receiving during bullpens was consistent with smooth glove action, feel to hold velocity while adeptly tracking and presenting offspeed offerings well at receive. In the one game of live action defense I saw for Nicklaus last spring, he was an athletic mover who flashed the feel for his blocking technique, timing, and angles to be a solid blocker long term and potentially more.

Nicklaus ran a sound 7.5 60-yard dash time on a day when the wind was steadily blowing upwards of 30+ MPH into the face of the runners and with soft OF grass affecting the speed of the runners. One could easily anticipate a stronger run time for him, which would settle him in as sound or solid athletic ability. He measured in on the day at 5'10 156 lbs. with room to fill out in his upper body and lower body that should adequately handle another 20-25 lbs. easily while maintaining his athletic ability and potentially increasing it. 

The overall foundation of what Nicklaus presents as a defender, offensive piece, and athlete, combined with the solid performance he showed in his sophomore season, is interesting on its own merits. But, when combined with the upside to his frame, room to polish his offensive profile, upward trend as a defender, and more, Nicklaus is a strong name to know in the 2027 class for college programs.

To see his full video and information on Nicklaus, dive into his profile here.

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