It is eve of the New Jersey High School Baseball season and it is time to take a look at who the top teams are heading into 2022.

+ The Hun School tops the list on the eve of the season, with a stacked lineup and pitching staff led by Wake Forest commit Jackson Kraemer, Kentucky commit Carson Applegate, and Boston College commit Ryan DiMaggio. Expect these three to be the stalwarts of both the pitching staff and lineup, along with Tulane commit Ben Romano. 

+ Seton Hall Prep has quietly emerged as a top contender in Non-Public A with arguably the best pitching staff in the state - led by Elon commit Ryan Sprock, UPenn commit John Cerwinski, Lafayette commits Sam Nomura and Patrick Walega. uncommitted 2023 RHP Berkeley Harsch had a monster preseason at some events and should see some action this spring. Expect recent Rutgers commit Justin Shadek to pitch big innings and who could forget about Chris Maldonado? The Clemson commit is one of the state's top all around position players and will be looked at as one of the top MLB Draft candidates heading into the summer - but make no mistake of Maldonado's ability to eat innings, too. SHP is dangerous.

+ St. Joe's Metuchen is loaded this year. Coming off a successful 2021 in which it won the GMC Tournament, Andrew Goldan (Rutgers) returns as the ace of the staff. The biggest news coming out of Metuchen is the highly anticpated return of Virginia commit LHP Donovan Zsak. Zsak had been sidelined for some time recovering from Tommy John surgery, but is back and already up to 94 mph with the fastball. The lineup will be led by Goldan, Eastern Kentucky commit Christian Azcona, Lehigh commit Robbie Carvelli, Boston College commit Mark Gialluisi behind the plate, and talented uncommitted SS Josiah Brown. Come 12 games into the season, the lineup will get a nice jolt with the addition of transfer William & Mary commit Matthew Kosuda Expect the side-winding Fairfield commit Jimmy Mulvaney to get big outs down the stretch, along with Trinity commit Walter Schwartz. St. Joe's has all the elements of a championship team.

The Preseason Top 20