Today, we’re announcing the second winner of the year’s TwinTack Prep Baseball Player of the Month Award. After a stellar month of April, SS Jace Mataczynski (Hudson HS, WI, 2026), an Auburn recruit, finished with an OPS of 2.088 after going 23-for-38 with twice as many home runs (8) as strikeouts (4). He did so while playing for one of the top-ranked teams in Wisconsin and against one of the most competitive schedules in the state as well. In the month, he finished with a slash line of .605/.667/1.421 with 27 RBIs, nine steals, and he struck out 12 batters in six clean innings on the mound.

We recently got the opportunity to speak with Mataczynski about his meteoric rise from JV to becoming a bonafide MLB Draft prospect.

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Jace Mataczynski represents a vintage athlete and a dying breed.

His journey to becoming one of the best prospects in the Midwest didn’t even begin on a baseball field and he definitely didn't start to specialize in a single sport until much later, not until his junior year in high school, really.

The Hudson, Wis., shortstop had dreams of hooping on a college or professional basketball court long before he looked like an MLB Draft pick out of high school. That background used to feel a lot more familiar in amateur sports, you hear stories about how good Bob Gibson was at basketball in the ‘50s while at Creighton before he turned his attention to baseball professionally. The hardwood is where he excelled first, and there’s plenty of reason to think it helped mold him into an all-world athlete, one good enough for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Mataczynski plays baseball like a Globetrotter, with fun and flair.

Mataczynski’s mother, Corrin, scored over 1,000 points at Hudson High School before playing college hoops at Minnesota and Jace was first eager to follow in her footsteps. And he also attributes basketball to gaining the agility and movement patterns that have allowed a long-levered 6-foot-4 athlete like himself to move smoothly at the most important position on the infield.

“My mom was my mentor,” Mataczynski said. “My dad was my mentor for baseball – he threw me thousands and thousands of baseballs in my basement. My younger brother and sister play basketball, I'm the baseball one. But we’re a competitive family, we all hate to lose.”

It wasn’t until Mataczynski’s sophomore year that baseball started to naturally take the front seat. He got his first taste of varsity ball action that spring as a split starter bouncing between JV and the top team. He got better and better as the summer progressed and he first began to receive some attention from colleges that fall, in 2024, and it was then that he and his family began to feel as if his future was brightest in baseball.

“Me and my parents sat down and they said, 'You have a pretty good shot at this baseball thing,’” Mataczynski said. “I switched gears. I started lifting, eating right, taking everything super seriously. It wasn’t a side thing for me anymore. And then I blew up over the next spring and summer."

That’s a slight understatement, considering Mataczynski exploded by any kind of metric you’d like to compare. From his sophomore to junior years, he cut his 60-yard dash time down from a 7.40 to a 6.69 time, his max exit velocity climbed 10 mph, and he was eventually recorded throwing 98 mph across the infield, up from 83 mph in early 2024.

But that’s all outside the lines.

Between them, Mataczynski was named to Prep Baseball Wisconsin’s 2025 First Team, All-State roster after slugging .800 with 20 extra-base hits while looking more and more like an everyday shortstop that can play there in college, and at a high level. He parlayed that performance into a place at the second annual Prep Baseball Senior Future Games at LakePoint in Georgia where he competed on Team Heartland, representing Wisconsin, against the top uncommitted incoming seniors in the country. And then all he did was go on and win the event’s most valuable player award.

Jace Mataczynski SS / Hudson, WI / 2026 "[Mataczynski] put his alluring athleticism on display at the Super 60 back in February, but the post-basketball season performances of the spring have driven even greater buzz in the scouting community. The tooled-up, 6-foot-4, 195-pound shortstop has delivered power-driven performances at the plate as the raw tools have quickly polished in presenting as an eager Day One pick." – Shooter Hunt, Prep Baseball VP of Scouting (5/7/26)

"After the Senior Future Games, I was getting texts from schools I never thought I’d hear from,” Mataczynski said. “It projected my recruiting tenfold. Ultimately, I chose Auburn because I felt I could excel and grow more there. They were all great programs, I just felt like Auburn was the best fit for me and my parents felt the same way. The coaching staff had big league experience, and they turned the lightbulb on for me and drew me in to commit there."

(7/23/25)

Prep Baseball Wisconsin scouting director Vinny Rottino was highly impressed having been around Mataczynski in the dugout at the SFGs.

“The tools, of course, stand out,” said Rottino. “You’re looking at all five tools with Jace. He has an innate feel to hit and hit for power to all fields. The glove has the potential to be special. He can run. He has a cannon. But the players I’ve seen excel and become impact big leaguers are the guys with this kind of makeup. This is an authentically self-assured and confident person who seemingly doesn’t get caught up in what people are thinking and saying about him as a player which allows him to compete in the moment. That’s exceedingly rare especially for a high school player.”

Rottino recognizes that mentality because it’s cut from the same leather that helped him reach the Major League level despite signing his first professional contract as an undrafted free agent.

Rottino wasn’t the only one who noticed though. Two days after committing to Auburn, he and his family thought they’d be in the middle of a small break from the chaos that accompanied that commitment, but that’s when he heard from his first MLB scout.

“I was like, ‘Wait… what?’ That was really when I was like this is really, really happening,” Mataczynski said.

It’s also clear that the calmness and competitiveness Rottino referenced and that Mataczynski possesses comes just as naturally to him as swatting home runs in big moments and in front of important audiences.

“One thing about me, pressure makes me excel more,” Mataczynski said. “Whether that was basketball or baseball, I wanted to be that guy in that moment. I’m not trying to sound arrogant. But [college coaches] are there for a reason. They like what they see, so just go out and play. For me, you’re just out there playing baseball on a beautiful day with your best friends.”

It’s that exact energy that he generated on April 18 in a game between No. 1-ranked Muskego at the Prep Baseball Wisconsin Invitational at The Rock in Franklin, Wis. The top two programs in the state were set to face each other in front of around 50 pro scouts where they sat to watch Mataczynski face the top-ranked pitcher in the state, Tyson Grulkowski.

“I knew that we were gonna face a really, really good arm,” Mataczynski said. “Just getting the opportunity to face Tyson was super cool. Last year we faced Ben [Kuglitsch], then getting the opportunity to face Tyson. He has one of the best sliders I’ve ever seen. Funky arm slot, super weird to hit against, uncomfortable at-bat. I feel like I lock in better when I’m facing a really, really good pitcher.”

The two faced each other twice that day. Grulkowski’s slider did in fact get the better of Mataczynski in his first at-bat punch-out, but Mataczynski battled for a two-strike single through the right side of the infield in his second at-bat. Later in that same game, Hudson trailed 8-2 at one point and Mataczynski launched a no-doubt three-run homer to bring the Raiders within a run. They tied it and Mataczynski pitched the final four innings and K’d six batters without allowing a run to help them win one of the best games of the year so far. He slugged a clutch homer the next day in a tight ballgame against Hartford Union too, adding to the early season mythology.

(4/18/26)

In total, it was a special first full month of spring ball for the Auburn recruit, who’s helping steer this Hudson program back to state this season. Hudson head coach, Brent Blegen, also emphasized just how crucial Mataczynski’s leadership has become to the 18-2 squad this season.

“Over the last four years Jace has grown so much,” Blegen said. “Throughout his time in Hudson he has never lost his enthusiasm and has never lost sight of going out and having fun. Watching him play baseball and watching him interact with his teammates, you can't help but see how much he loves this game. I've been so fortunate to have a front row seat to watch Jace turn into the player he is today.”

It all kind of circles back to his multi-sport background, too. He contemplated playing basketball his senior year, weighing potential injury concerns, but ultimately he decided to compete given how much he valued the sport’s influence on his booming baseball career.

“If I didn’t play my senior year and just lifted, I would have lost that agility and twitch, “Mataczynski said. “I have no regrets having played basketball, that’s my take. I think kids should play as many sports as you can. Get a feel for basketball, lacrosse, hockey, whatever. It makes you a more athletic, different player."

Mataczynski fell just 13 points short of becoming the family’s second 1,000-point scorer at Hudson, after his mom. According to him though, it’s all about pushing yourself and challenging yourself to be the best. And that’s also the advice he can offer to players who might be in similar shoes as him. Raw, gifted athletes who are far from finished products.

"Three years ago, I was a stringbean nobody, playing JV,” said Mataczynski. “Now, I’m committed to a really good college and maybe have a shot to get drafted. Never stop working. You never know how things fluctuate. Somebody could get hurt, something could happen in the spot in front of you, and then there’s your opportunity and you do absolutely great. That’s what you play for.”

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