Prep Baseball Report

Uncommitted Spotlight: '25 OF/RHP James Latshaw


Steven Hardesty
Central Coast/North LA Area Scout

  

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The Uncommitted Spotlight Series continues as we have reached the completion of the '24 CIF High School baseball season Prep Baseball California is continuing to highlight some of the top uncommitted class of '25 athletes. The player featured today was a stellar performer in live looks by our Prep Baseball California staff this spring and is one the top uncommitted players in our Class of 2025 rankings. The players featured within our Uncommitted Spotlight series are ones that college coaches and fans should be keeping their eyes on over the coming months.

We invite you to get to know them through the eyes of our Prep Baseball California staff of scouts both through our in person looks at players and/or the data-backed numbers collected at our events with our partnered companies. TrackMan, Blast Motion, Swift Performance, and Visual Edge provide comparable data to project and evaluate players. All of these systems come together to give a clear picture at what colleges will get when a players steps onto their campus.

Today, we put the spotlight on a SoCal '25 OF/RHP James Latshaw from Oaks Christian High School. With a wiry, athletic and projectable frame at 6'4 185 lbs. with loose athletic actions across the board Latshaw presents both an intriguing RHP prospect, but also a very strong RHH CF prospect. During multiple in game looks this spring for Prep Baseball California Central Coast/VTA County scout Steven Hardesty, Latshaw consistently showed a loose RH swing with upside while displaying a feel for his barrel with a quality approach while putting together a strong season the mound as the Lions 3rd starter. Latshaw manned CF on the first two days of the week where his long strides, easy running action with instincts for the ball in the air projects the potential to stick long term with plenty of arm strength to handle RF. His offensive ability is intriguing that you can see a middle of the order potential with depth to back end of a lineup floor. As good as he is as a CF defensive prospect his overall profile becomes even more interesting when you consider he actually is as good if not better on the mound. Latshaw uses a 3 pitch mix that is highlighted by his FB which worked up to 84 MPH at the 2023 Prep Baseball California State Games and was into the upper 80's consistently this spring while topping at 90 MPH. He pairs it with an interesting breaking ball that shows potential and emerging feel for his CHG. His delivery is athletic with some looseness to the operation. His stuff is solid across the board, but there is still polish needed on his control/command from being a 2-way player. If he remains a hitter in addition to pitching being a leverage reliever seems a more likely path while continuing to handle CF, but should he switch to pitching full time you can easily imagine Latshaw to handle a starting role. He was a 2nd Team All-Marmonte League performer in 2024. Latshaw is a name in the '25 class that is a must follow for college programs who has a chance to continue to polish his profile over the coming months headed into his SR. season.

College coaches and fans be sure to click on Latshaw's profile to see full video and information.

 

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