SoCal Roundup

SoCal - The four games I watched in the second week of the season provided me with a little bit of everything. A couple of solid pitcher’s duels with team’s having to resort to small ball, and some offensive barrages with barrels aplenty. With that came many standout performances, some from established D1 commits and others from uncommitted players trying to make themselves known. There are a couple of players that had solid performances that didn’t quite make the list below. Two of them are West Ranch Wildcats James Hepp and Trey Topping. Hepp only went 1 inning, as he is still building up his pitch count, but he struck out the side and was up to 89 with his FB. Topping is West Ranch’s starting catcher and is a true power threat for the Wildcats as he hit a go ahead 2-run HR to give the Wildcats the win over Hart on Friday. George Cooper of Harvard Westlake (Harvard signee) had a good offensive outing on Monday for the Wolverines against Birmingham that included a HR down the left field line. I was also impressed by Sierra Canyon’s Eddie Mgdesyan as he had a scorching double to the center field wall and got on the mound and pitched 2 quality innings where he got up to 88 mph. The great thing about many of the players mentioned below is that they come from programs with coaches known not just for winning, but developing good players into great players. Below are 9 players that stood out from the 4 games I took in. 

Standouts

‘23 INF Kai Caranto - Harvard Westlake HS - Uncommitted

Caranto has started off the season going 8-14 and on Monday against Birmingham he collected 4 of those 8 hits. Caranto aggressively got out in front of balls with 3 of his 4 hits being pulllside line drives. Caranto uses a leg kick trigger that gathers into his back hip while keeping his hands and barrel in a neutral position throughout his load. His balanced on-plane swing and quick hands is conducive to high contact. Kai already has an above average glove and shows good athleticism on the base paths. He's still growing into his potential which I believe is a D1 player in the making. 

Login to read notes and see video on more standouts including '22 Jaden Noot, '24 Bryce Rainer, '22 Luke Gombos, '21 Bryce Bond, '23 Gavin Taylor, '22 Max Martin, '21 Scott Bauman, and '22 Matt Quintanar