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South Salem's Sawyer Nelson Ready for Senior Year

March 13, 2026
Maggie Akins
PNW Reporter

Senior Sawyer Nelson has been making a name for himself in a big way in the state of Oregon.

Nelson, a Loyola Marymount University commit, has steadily improved throughout his high school years, highlighted by an invite to Prep Baseball's Super 60 a little over a month ago, as well as the Future Games in 2024. Nelson spoke highly of his recent experience at the Super 60.

“It’s one of the first sort of deals I’ve had where just everybody there is that good…In college, everybody’s good, in the pros, everybody’s good, so it's kind of different than a high school setting,” Nelson said.  

Nelson represented the PNW as the lone competitor from Oregon and Washington as he showcased his talents to the 104 MLB scouts present. After the showcase, Nelson was able to converse with several scouts in attendance as well.

Currently, Nelson is getting ready for his senior season, playing out of South Salem, the No. 1 high school in the Oregon Preseason Power 25 Rankings. Nelson is playing alongside a few other top 10 players in Oregon, including junior RHP Harrison Buckingham and fellow senior catcher Teagan Scott.  

Since his freshman year, Nelson credits his added strength to much of his success, particularly offensively. The extra muscle has allowed him to swing free and easy to produce loud results.

“Not swinging as hard led to hitting more home runs because I'm barreling the ball up more, and that's kind of how I've thought and how I've kind of adjusted my hitting,” Nelson said. “I have enough power to hit home runs easily now, so that's brought average up, home runs up, and wins up.”

For Nelson, while he is five home runs away from breaking the all-time record at South Salem, his main goal is to just have fun in his final high school season.

“We're just gonna go out and have fun, win some games,” Nelson said.  

The aspect of having fun was part of what drew Nelson to LMU after decommitting his sophomore year. The 2024 Future Games came at an ideal time for Nelson in this regard.

“It's great for just showing progress… the Future Games really helped to put some more eyes on me, at a time where people weren't really watching me as much,” Nelson said.  

What set LMU apart from all the other schools Nelson talked to was the personability and care shown by the coaching staff.

“They actually called every other day and tried to build a relationship with me in case I did commit there, and they would be able to coach me better and be more personal with me once I got there,” Nelson said. “I feel like that's gonna be a really good spot for my development.”

Nelson is inching closer to his time at LMU, but has his sights set on a 6A state title with South Salem in the meantime.

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