Team Preview: American Fork HS

Team Preview: American Fork HS

Players in Utah have been eager to compete for their high school programs and it feels as if we are getting close. 2020 saw the cancellation of the 2020 season, however as may approached, it began looking like Utah was going to be able to resume baseball activities  with the annual American Legion season. The UHSAA has announced that the first day of official team practice/tryouts will be Monday March 1st, with the opening day of the 2021 season on March 8th. Programs have been allowed to practice since the 1st part of January, with open field workouts, however there will be a two week moratorium of practices and coach involvement, between the dates of Feb 15-28. PBR Utah will begin its 2021 season coverage starting with our team by team previews, as we highlight some of the top programs statewide in our team previews. PBR Utah will also be publishing its state Power 25 rankings that will be updated every Monday once the season begins. Throughout the season, PBR will be pumping out coverage, highlighting individual players, games, rankings, scouting reports and nominating a player of the week. PBR looks forward to getting out there this spring to see some great baseball. 

Of Note: As we countdown to opening day with the team previews, we still have one big event to kick off the HS season with the PBR Utah Preseason All-State. This event will be the kick off to the season, as it's an INVITE only event of the top players in the 2021-2024 classes. 

School History: American Fork High School is a public high school in American Fork, Utah. Its mascot is the Cavemen, chosen as a tribute to Timpanogos Cave. American Fork High school is one of the oldest high schools in Utah. In 2017 they became one of the first schools to participate in the 6A division.

Recent Coaching/Team History: Jarod Ingersoll has been the head coach of American Fork since 2002, after a successful college playing career at Southern Utah University. After assisting as a student assistant coach at SUU, Coach Ingersoll embarked on his successful high school coaching career. Jarod comes from a prominent coaching family and has learned from one of the best, as he is the son of legendary American Fork/Lone Peak basketball coach, Carl Ingersoll, who would go on to be an assistant coach from 1981-1989 at crosstown Brigham Young University. The Cavemen, who were a powerhouse in the 80’s, winning 3 state championships, fell on hard times for quite awhile, until Jarod came on board. During those early years, Jarod set out to raise the bar and the expectations of the program. In the mid 2000’s, while watching his team in an early season tournament, while scouting for the Angels, I spotted an athletic quick twitch catcher named Shay Conder. I went on to draft Conder in the June amateur draft. Conder went on to play at College of Southern Nevada and College of Southern Idaho, before being selected an additional time by the New York Mets. 

One of the most successful players at “AF” was former Oakland A’s prospect and BYU star Steve Parker, who reached the AAA level and was a top 10 prospect at one point with the A’s. I was one of the earliest scouts to see Steve in HS, but as coincidence would have it, years later I was able to sign Parker’s brother in law, former American Fork and UVU pitcher, Taylor Mangum to a Brewers contract. 

Another highly successful player, who had MLB draft aspirations, but found his eventual path on the gridiron, was former American Fork All-State SS and future Utah football star and eventual NFL Denver Broncos tight end, Jake Murphy. Jake was one of many successful football playing sons of legendary Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame outfielder, Dale Murphy. Dale was a volunteer assistant coach of Coach Ingersoll’s during Jake’s years at American Fork. 

(Jake Murphy, Denver Broncos)

There have been a number of successful players come through American Fork over the years, but these are just some of the recent and most successful. The Cavemen have a handful of players that should jump on the radar in short order, as they become more involved with PBR’s efforts to expose the overall talent in the state. 

(Coach ingersoll addressing his club before a game)

Head Coach: Jarod Ingersoll (19th Year)

2020 6A “Last Chance” State Champions! 

2012, 2016 5A State Champions!

State Classification/Region: 6A / Region 4

Number of State Tourney Appearance in last 10 Years: 10

Number of Final 4 State Tourney Appearances: 3

Number of State Titles games in the last 10 Years: 3

Number of State Titles in the last 10 Years: 2 (2012 and 2016 State Titles)

Number of Returning Position Players: 4

Number of Returning Pitchers: 2

Expectations for Upcoming Season: 

“If we get leadership, we are hoping to be in the mix at the end.”

Team Strengths: Offense

Team Weaknesses: Experience

Top Returning Players: 

2021 Dalton Smith P  (Salt Lake CC)

2022 Fisher Ingersoll, IF, L-R (BYU commit) The Cavemen will be looking for a big year out of the 6-3 athletic LH hitter, who is also one of the top football players in the state and put up monster numbers this past fall as a WR. 

2022 Kaden Carpenter, LHP/OF (Uncommitted, but will have options) Kaden is a 6-5 physical LHP that reaches the upper 80’s with his FB and has big power potential from the left side of the plate. A high upside player with the physicality schools look for. 

2022 Easton Jones, 3B

2021 Easton Whittaker, P/OF

2021 Austin Houghton, C

Top Players Lost from 2020 

Jack Walker, CF -  Dixie State

Nate Rhineer - Western Oregon

Keep an eye out for (Potential College Baseball Prospects):

Easton Jones

Ryder Robinson, SS

Kaden Carpenter, LHP/1B

Easton Whittaker

Fisher Ingersoll, SS/3B (BYU commit)

Dax Newman, SS

Easton Welling

Spencer Clegg

Top Freshman: 

Jett Walker, SS/2B, R-R (Uncommitted) Attended our Fall Prospect ID in St. George, and caught my attention with his young projectable frame, and athletic bloodlines. His older brother Jack is a freshman OF’er at Dixie State U and his father Jason, was a DB on the BYU football team. His father was also a gifted baseball player in HS, and was drafted out of Springville HS by the Montreal Expos. 

Summary: 

Excited for the Year to get going without CoVid interference.  We need our seniors to be the leaders they can be. If we can get tough pitching and play defense, we should be very competitive. As a former MLB scout and what I was able to see and know of this club pre-CoVid, and the reputation Coach Ingersoll has for getting his clubs ready to play, American Fork should have enough pieces to make a deep run into the postseason.