The 2023 high school baseball season is quickly approaching and as usual, excitement abounds throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across Alabama.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in the Jacksonville/Oxford/Montgomery area at the AISA or AHSAA state championships, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Alabama. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews and by continuing our scheduled podcasts and releasing our preseason Top 10 in each AHSAA classification. 

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across the state. Each week we will be releasing our players of the week, updating the Top 10 in each AHSAA classification as well as a Power 25. One thing that you especially don’t want to miss are our scheduled podcasts with guests from across the state as well as recaps and previews of big games across the state.  

*Please note that all information is based on team preview questionnaires that were sent out and returned by the participating high school coaches.

High School Name: Baldwin County Tigers 

Coach’s Name: Trent Higginbothem 

Classification: AHSAA 6A 

2022 Record: 9-19

Area Number: Class 6A, Area 2 

No. of Returning Positional Starters: 1 

No. of Returning Pitchers: 2 

Team Strengths: Pitchability, Hard-working Group, Baserunning, Outfield Defense

Top Returning Players:

• 3B/RHP Trevor Murphy (Bishop State CC, 2023)

Top 2024 Prospects:

• LHP Jaxen Schuler (2024)
• LHP Landen Walker (2024)
• SS Quincy Walters (2024)

Top 2025 & 2026 Prospects:

• RHP/OF Jackson Paul (2025)
• LHP/1B Ayden Owens (2025)

Team Outlook

The Baldwin County Tigers come into the 2023 season needing to fill some of the holes left by their 11 seniors who graduated last spring, but have some exciting young and ready prospects that will look to slide up to the varsity level this year. They are slated in a tough Class 6A, Area 2 that features McGill-Toolen, Robertsdale and Spanish Fort, but all signs point to the Tigers being a competitive club in 2023.

Playing a tough schedule with matchups against some of the best teams in the Mobile area last spring, the Tigers earned some key wins in the regular season. Some of those quality wins were against UMS-Wright, Mary G. Montgomery, Bayshore Christian, Robertsdale, and others on their 2022 schedule. They unfortunately missed the Class 6A playoffs in 2022 due to their tough area, but will look to take another step in the right direction with their program this spring. Arguably the biggest returner coming back this spring is 3B/RHP Trevor Murphy (Bishop State CC signee, 2023). Murphy will obviously be one of the leaders offensive hitting towards the top of the order, and will be asked to be a key run-producer for the Tigers. A pair of southpaws that are expected to see significant time on the mound in 2023 are LHP Jaxen Schuler (2024) and LHP Landen Walker (2024). Both are juniors and will look to help lead the rotation, in addition to some other players. Another junior who is expected to play an integral role is SS Quincy Walters (2024), who will be a key piece offensively while playing significant time on the infield. They'll need some younger players to step into larger roles this spring, and RHP/OF Jackson Paul (2025) and LHP/1B Ayden Owens (2025) look like two viable candidates to slide into those roles. 

Although they lost a good amount of seniors from last year's team, Baldwin County should be excited about the future of their program and will look to take the next step this spring. They will need to rely on some players who may not have much experience at the varsity level in their careers, but have hopes that they can get acclimated in the early part of the season and have the Tigers playing their best baseball once the end of the year comes around in Class 6A.

 

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