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With 2024 now in the past, Prep Baseball Michigan is eagerly anticipating bringing the state the best high school coverage that can be found anywhere in 2025. Starting in February, we began releasing team previews for squads across the state. Ahead, we will have Preseason All-State Teams as well as the Preseason State Rankings coming your way.

To view the full list of 2025 Team Previews that we have already completed, please click here.

If you are a coach and haven't filled out your 2025 Team Preview, click here.

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2025 Spring Team Preview: Byron Center

BYRON CENTER - Since becoming the head coach in 2019 Pat MacKenzie has been trying to make a name for Byron Center baseball.

“Part of the reason I took the job at BC is there wasn’t much tradition,” explained MacKenzie. “I liked the idea of being able to build something and, hopefully, create an elite program.”

It is the belief that the current edition of the Bulldogs could be something special.

“The strengths for the 2025 campaign would be experience, leadership and pitching depth,” noted MacKenzie, who led Byron Center to a 25-13 record a year ago, including a second-place finish in the OK-White Conference. “We have a lot of guys who have played a lot at the varsity level and particularly had to try and compete as underclassmen. This year a change for us will be that our team will have upperclassmen as main contributors with some talented underclassmen mixed in.” 

A trio of seniors are being counted on to take on the leadership needed in the quest to capture the first regional championship since 1999, the only time BC has won a regional.

“In 2022 we had a good freshman class come in who are now our seniors and three of them have been starters since day one,” related MacKenzie, in reference to Kellen Payne, Alex Wauben and Luke Laska. “We’ve been competing with relatively young teams the past couple of years and have been eliminated in extra innings in three straight postseasons to Grandville and Jenison, so we feel as though we are on the right track and not far off from being able to break through.”

Payne, the 12th-ranked senior right-handed pitcher in Michigan, was 6-1 with a 1.60 ERA last season, striking out 58 in 44 innings. The Nevada commit, who will also serve as DH for the Bulldogs, drove in 36 runs while hitting .269 with 28 walks in 2024.

Wauben, a Grand Rapids CC signee ranked 131st among seniors in the state, is back to play outfield after a 2024 season in which he hit .284 with 33 stolen bases.

The uncommitted Laska, the fifth-ranked senior catcher in Michigan, batted .333 with an OPS of 1.017 while recording 29 RBIs a year ago.

“I think the biggest thing for this team will be to improve defensively and offensively to take some pressure off the pitching,” MacKenzie explained. “I think we've had a good offseason in both those regards and having guys get one year older should help from a physicality standpoint.”

Despite the loss of Zach Ryan to graduation, pitching appears to be a strong point for Byron Center this season. Junior Jake Hill, the 18th-rated 2026 left-handed pitcher in the state, is back after going 6-1 with a 0.814 ERA last year, fanning 36 and walking just nine.

A trio of sophomores, Cam Payne, Conner DeVito and Keaton Van Kampen, are being counted on to add depth to the staff. Payne is the seventh-ranked 2027 RHP in Michigan and DeVito the 25th-ranked sophomore RHP, while Van Kampen, the number 15 sophomore in the state, was 4-1 in 21 innings on the mound in 2024.

“I think the identity of our program is similar to that of mid-majors at the college level,” explained MacKenzie. “We are on the smaller side for D1 schools and we do not have open enrollment. Therefore we rely on player development and doing a lot of the little things well, like baserunning and execution on offense and defense. I think a big part of our identity this year will be pitching depth. We feel pretty good about being able to compete throughout a weekly schedule with a number of arms.” 

To go along with the strong pitching, the middle infield for the Bulldogs is set with Tate Bainbridge, the second-ranked 2026 second baseman in the state, and Nolan Booth, the 16th-rated junior shortstop in Michigan.

The BC mentor points to Booth as a “breakthrough player” this year, with the shortstop also seeing time on the mound.

“He was asked to do a lot as a sophomore at short and hit in the two-hole,” MacKenzie said of the 80th-rated junior in Michigan who batted .287 with 22 runs scored and 16 RBIs last year. “I think that experience last year should pay off this year.”

MacKenzie looks at Jenison as the team to be in league play this year, with the Bulldogs also playing a strong non-league schedule against the likes of Brother Rice, Bay City Western, Saline and Hudsonville, which “I think prepares us for the postseason” according to MacKenzie.

“Our only expectations are to play the right way, compete no matter who the opponent is, and improve each day,” MacKenzie concluded.

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