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Ventura, Calif. - The Uncommitted Spotlight Series continues as we forge ahead in the 2024-2025 school year and the looming JR. High School baseball season for our '26 class. With than in mind Prep Baseball California is highlighting some of the top uncommitted class of '26 athletes. The player featured today is one of the top players in the state of California and figures prominently in our Class of 2026 Rankings. All 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, and Swift Performance 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 the number 47 ranked player in the 2026 class in SoCal '26 OF Jetner Welch from Santa Barbara High School. Welch catches eyes quickly with a projectable athletic frame at 6'4 185 lbs. with length and wiry present strength that projects to fill out as he matures. His athleticism is impressive for his size including a 6.9 60 time while showing burst off the line (1.67 10 yard split & 3.86 30 yard split) with a 20.2 MPH max run speed. Welch has been a 2-year varsity starter at Santa Barbara High playing each of the corner OF spots (LF as FR. and RF as Soph.), but his athleticism and actions give him potential to play CF while showing present 85 MPH OF arm velocity with room to continue adding.

While his potential to handle a premium defense spot like CF is intriguing and will give him strong consideration to be a college level player he flashes a high-ceiling LH hitting power potential at the plate. His operation at the plate starts with a taller set up and waggle in his hands before loading into his lower half at launch position. Welch employees an aggressive swing that shows natural lift with his bat path and can generate impressive power to the middle/opposite side of the field with carry to his contact in the air while beginning to tap into his ability to elevate to the pullside. His Blast Motion swing metrics are impressive across the board with hand speed (23.5 MPH) bat speed (74.2 MPH) and torque from his turn (15 G's of Rotational Acceleration). His Trackman batted ball data backs up the quality in game looks Central Coast Evaluator Steven Hardesty has had on Welch. From CA State Games Welch produced hard contact with deep carry to the middle of the field consistntly including a peak EV at 96 MPH with a 86.2 MPH average EV, and has shown a peak max distance of 376'. His athleticism, raw present strength with room to add and bat path with length to his levers gives a middle of the order power potential bat profile for Welch.

As he prepares for his JR. campaign at a strong Santa Barbara High program which looks to be in the mix for a repeat of their 2023 Channel League title Welch will hold prominent role within their lineup as well as defensively on Southern California high school baseball scene. The arrow signs for Welch are pointed way up as he contineus to improve/polish his overall package of tools and in game performance with one of the more intriguing ceilings on the Central Coast and in SoCal for the '26 class. 

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

Upcoming Events

Showcase	State	Date	Location
Ventura County Uncommitted Games	CA	09/22	Ventura College
SoCal Underclass Top Prospect Game	CA	09/28	University of San Diego
2024 West Coast Games	CA	10/04	JSerra High School & Chapman University (Hart Park)
Northern California Uncommitted Games	CA	10/05	Del Oro High School
Northern California Underclass Games	CA	10/06	Del Oro High School
Orange County Uncommitted Games	CA	10/13	Cypress College
Ventura County Fall ID	CA	10/20	Ventura College

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