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Preseason High School Preview: Glendale

March 11, 2024
By: Diego Solares
Central Region Media Director, Scouting

The 2024 Missouri 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 Missouri. 

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in Ozark come early June, 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 Missouri. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason team rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action.

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, and we’ll be releasing daily content to ensure our top-tier coverage of the ‘Show Me’ state. 

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

Team: Glendale
2023 Record (Playoff Finish): 25-6 (District Champions)
Conference: Ozark
Classification: 5A
Head Coach: Jim Julian

UPPERCLASSMEN TO KNOW

UNDERCLASS FOLLOWS

  • 1B Reed Jackson (2026) 
  • P/INF Kyle Julian (2026)
  • P/INF Karsten Stack (2026)
  • INF/RHP Brady Yates (2027)
  • P/OF Grayson Biggers (2027)

OUTLOOK

Glendale’s been one of the better teams in Class 5 over the last few years, winning a highly competitive District in 2023 before falling in the state quarterfinals to St. Francis Borgia. Plenty integral parts from that team have graduated, but a school like Glendale has talent scattered from top to bottom throughout the program. They’ll look to make another deep run in the playoffs this spring with a club more than capable of living up to the task.

The Falcons have a few forces in this lineup that return after plenty of production at the plate last spring. It starts with OF/3B Sebastian Norman (2025; Oklahoma State), who’s one of the top juniors in not just Missouri, but the entire country as well. Norman’s plenty powerful at 6-foot-2, 225-pounds with strength in all aspects of his game, and he slashed .341/.456/.473 with nine extra-base hits and 25 RBIs over 91 at-bats last season. There’s no reason to believe why Norman shouldn’t build off those numbers this upcoming spring and he’s likely to see more time on the mound too, where his upper-80s fastball should fare well against opposing hitters. 

Sebastian Norman

3B/OF Mark Ross II (2024; Central Arkansas) adds another potent right-handed stick to this group. He returns a .351/.398/.479 triple-slash, as well as a near team-high 29 RBIs and nine extra-base hits. We saw Ross II at an event this winter, where the Falcons’ right-handed slugger barreled multiple balls at 100+ mph in BP, peaking at 105 mph. 

Mark Ross II

Two more seniors coming off strong seasons that are back: OF Alex Rankin (2024) and MIF Camren Stratton (2024; Johnson County CC). Rankin returns one of the highest OPS on the club (.913), batting .311 and reaching base at a .454 clip in 31 games last spring. Stratton should serve as an integral part of the Falcons’ infield defense and their offense as well - he can really hit, .361 batting average, .481 OBP in 83 at-bats. 

Camren Stratton

C Graham Satterwhite (2025) should see a bulk workload behind the plate as the Falcons’ starting backstop. OF Brayden Biggers (2024), OF Dominic Licata (2025), and INF Easton Friesen (2025) will all look to take expanded roles throughout the 2024 season. 

LHP Drew Wedgeworth (2024) figures to anchor this rotation again after throwing a team-high 67 ⅓ innings last spring. The high pitchability southpaw was purely excellent over that bulk workload, pitching to a 1.14 ERA with a 0.83 WHIP and walked only 18 batters the entire spring. Perhaps Wedgeworth’s most impressive outing came in the District championship game when he hurled a no-hitter against Willard to punch his team’s ticket to the state quarterfinals. 

Drew Wedgeworth

Another senior arm with experience on the hill is RHP Kaleb Julian (2024). The 6-foot-3, 175-pound uncommitted right-hander was stellar over his 24 ⅓ innings of work last spring, posting a 1.44 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with 34 strikeouts to six walks. Expect him and Wedgeworth to make a bulk of the starts for the Falcons with several other names toeing the rubber throughout the season. 

INF/RHP Brady Yates (2027) is an underclassmen to know that could impact this varsity roster sooner rather than later. Yates was a standout at one of our winter events in late January, showcasing a powerful, polished right-handed swing with above-average stuff on the mound, too. The Falcons are a fairly upperclass heavy group this year, but Yates has the upside to provide a spark for this club early on into his high school career. 

Brady Yates

BOTTOM LINE

Their regular season schedule and path throughout the playoffs isn’t easy, but Glendale’s more than proven they’re up for the task in any given year. With the experience that they bring back on both sides of the ball, look for the Falcons to make another deep push come postseason play. 

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