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New Episode LIVE now! - At The Yard Podcast

The 2024 California high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound 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 California.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in their respective CIF Section Championship Game, 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 California. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason Power 25 rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action and the Third Annual Prep Baseball California Spring Invitational.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across California. Each week we will be releasing our Power 25, Players of the Week, Diamond Notes, Podcasts and much more.

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Patrick Henry Patriots
Head Coach: Sheldon Watkins
CIF Section: CIF-SDS, Division 1
Conference League: Western League
2023 Record: 21-13
Team X Handle: @phpatriotsbsbl

Team Strengths: Deep on the mound. We return a lot of innings on the mound led by St. Mary's commit Talin Gardini. Cody Cappelletti is one of the top juniors down here as well who gives us a very good 1-2. Transfer Sophomore Jayden Goldman slides in behind those two.
No. of Returning Starters: 6
No. of Returning Pitchers: 6
Areas of Improvement: We need to be more offensive this year. Our pitching should keep us in most games so if we hit we like our chances.

 

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COMMITTED PLAYERS

+ ‘24 LHP/1B Talin Gardini - Saint Mary’s - 6'1 200 lbs.
+ ‘24 C Jack Giordano - San Diego - 6'2 190 lbs.
+ ‘24 RHP Dillon Foster - Lewis and Clark - 6'2 200 lbs.

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TOP UNCOMMITTED SENIORS

+ ‘24 OF Carter Lockwood - 5'10 180 lbs.
+ ‘24 OF Zach Morales - 6' 170 lbs.
+ ‘24 INF Logan Aguilar - 6'4 180 lbs.

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TOP UNCOMMITTED JUNIORS

+ ‘25 SS/RHP Cody Cappelletti - 6' 190 lbs.
+ ‘25 RHP Nate Moloney - 6' 200 lbs.
+ ‘25 C Rohan Brown - 6' 170 lbs.

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TOP UNDERCLASS FOLLOWS

Class of 2026

+ ‘26 RHP/1B Jayden Goldman - 6'5 220 lbs.
+ ‘26 INF/RHP Sal Gagliano - 6'3 180 lbs.

Class of 2027

+ ‘27 OF/RHP Lukas Waite - 6' 170 lbs.
+ ‘27 INF/RHP Parks Kronk-Hawle - 6'1 160 lbs.
+ ‘27 INF Oliver Allen - 5'8 140 lbs.

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TEAM OUTLOOK

Patrick Henry excites as a team-to-watch in the upcoming 2024 season—entering the year ranked at No. 14 in Prep Baseball California’s Power 25. The Patriots are fresh off of a run to the CIF-SDS D1 Title game, where they eventually fell short to Santana High School. Despite losing a couple of contributors, the Patriots have reloaded in a big way, and look to secure their fifth Western League Conference championship since 2019.

‘24 Talin Gardini leads the charge for Patrick Henry this season—emerging as the bonafide ace of this group, in addition to swinging a smooth left-handed bat at the plate. The Saint Mary’s signee is joined by ‘24 Dillon Foster on the mound—a savvy veteran arm that may be the closer for this experienced Patriots’ squad.

‘24 Jack Giordano will be the anchor behind the dish for the Patriots. The catcher currently ranks at No. 52 in California’s 2024 class, and has continued to improve on his skill set as one of the leaders of Patrick Henry’s program.

Speed will not be an issue in the outfield for the Patriots in 2024, as ‘24 Carter Lockwood and ‘24 Zach Morales will man two of those spots. Lockwood is a switch-hitter at the top of the order for the Patriots, and Morales brings game-changing speed to the table as a senior.

‘24 Logan Aguilar was a standout from the SoCal Uncommitted Games back in October, and has continued to add strength to his lean frame—helping his production at the plate. He will be joined by ‘25 Cody Cappelletti on the infield, who’s ceiling remains very high—according to head coach Sheldon Watkins.

After representing Team California at the 2023 PBR Future Games, ‘25 Rohan Brown looks to be a key contributor for his high school squad this season. Brown is a left-handed hitting backstop who is an athletic mover behind the plate—featuring pop times between 1.99-2.11 seconds. The bat continues to develop as well, a bonus to his work on the defensive end of the ball.

As for the underclassmen, ‘26 Sal Gagliano is back after earning playing time in his freshman season. He recently made an appearance at the SoCal Preseason All-State: Underclass event, and showed well. Gagliano is a slick-fielding infielder with a strong arm, while putting up exit velocities in the low-to-mid-90s throughout his round of batting practice.

‘26 Jayden Goldman and ‘27 Lukas Waite are both two-way prospects who can be big additions to this group for 2024. Goldman—a highly touted quarterback—ranges in the mid-to-upper-80s on the bump in a physical 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame. Similarly, Waite has shown improvements in his velocity, in addition to his added strength that has helped him at the plate, too.

With all of these pieces, Patrick Henry once again looks to be one of the top teams in the San Diego area of California—performing in the deep Western League.

Coach Sheldon Watkins’s Expectations: “We have a strong core returning from last years D1 Finalist team who were also co-league champs with Cathedral. Expectations are high for us this year as we hope to compete for a CIF championship.”

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