This past Sunday, October 27th, the Prep Baseball Utah staff hosted the 4th annual Invite-Only Utah State Games (Complete Event Results, a marquee event on the Prep Baseball calendar, at Snow Canyon High School in St. George, Utah. This event featured roughly 45 prospects in the 2025 - 2028 classes and allowed our staff an opportunity to get an in-depth look at the players in attendance, as well as collected updated metrics and data.

The Utah State Games serves as a final chance each year for top prospects in Utah's high school scene to showcase their talents before the winter arrives.

(Context of our setting) Our annual venue of Snow Canyon HS, has captured 6 state titles in 25 years, since the turn of the century and played for the 3A/4A title, 10 different times. We started setting up at 7am in the morning under dark skies and the sun hadn’t come up yet, but what a beautiful day it turned out to be with cloudy 75 degree weather. We packed house of parents and grandparents to give the event the feel of a standard high school game! With many of the attendees being from the 2026-2028 classes, it gave our staff a feel for the younger crop of prospects to consider for the regional and national events, such as the West Coast and Future Games, moving forward. The talent in the Beehive State remains strong and very recruital. 

Snow Canyon HS - 7am (Dawn)

2028

Austin Brown, OF, 6-1 185, Wasatch HS

Brown continues to turn heads at each event, as the only ‘28 at this past July’s Future Games, Austin put up another big showing in BP at our signature fall invite event. As we tracked batted ball metrics with Trackman, a couple of swings went by the wayside, and didn’t make the data board, but they were both visually detected by all in attendance. The smooth easy LHH stroke with plus raw power, produced a subjective 400+’ as he rocketed 2 balls out of Snow Canyon to deep RCF, with one ¼ of the way up the light pole and the other clearing the RCF scoreboard, that drew oohs and awes! During game play, Brown smoked a ball for a HR on a line, over the wall in deep LCF for another explanation point, to his strong event. The Wasatch product will one again go back to LakePoint next summer and is eligible for a 3 year run at Prep Baseball’s signature national recruiting event. 

Jake Welch, SS/2B, 5-8 150, Lehi HS

The incoming freshman product from Lehi HS, earned an early invite to Prep Baseball’s signature national event next summer, as a young MIF heard to the Future Games. Welch has impressed at such events as the Rising Stars ID and played significantly up against older competition at last summer's Top Prospect Games. The 14 year old twitchy MIF, has a fluidity and grace to his plus movement patterns at SS and has projectable plus hands and feet, to go along with an 84 MPH arm, that is online and accurate. The arm and glove actions are advanced for a 2028 grad and at the plate, a conventional classic RH stance, shows separation with his hands and front side and foot strike. A LD bat with backspin to the gaps, will only be more of a threat as he continues to grow, progress and fill out with maturity. College coaches need to mark this name down to follow next summer as he will be eligible for two years at LakePoint!

Boston Hatch, LHP/OF/1B, Riverton HS

Hatch is a mainstay at Prep Baseball ID and invite only events. The tall and rangy incoming freshman can his FB up to 84-85 (didn’t pitch at this event), but had a strong BP, as he powered balls on a hard line through the 2B spot and into RCF with backspin carry. A projectable bat with potential pull side thump as he continues to fill out and coordinate his body a bit more, the Riverton product, will be playing for a new and outstanding coaching staff with experience coaching the MGF Marshalls and another successful HS program. Hatch has been a dominant player on the youth circuit and now will take his steady 1B glove and easy gate to balls in RF, to profile on the corners, but the arm is gonna be intriguing on the mound as a tall LHP with a projectable frame, FB and big arching CB for K’s!

Trigg Cloward, SS/C, 5-8 135, Salem Hills HS

One of the top ‘28’s in the state and also a mainstay at events since he was a 7th grader and now into invite events over the past calendar year as an 8th grader. A strong two way C/SS that hasn’t really separated himself one way or the other with the two spots, as he shows well at both and has the feel of a “Baseball Player.” The actions at SS are fluid and as clean as can be for a young maturing kid. His movement patterns are what catch your eye. Behind the plate we are talking 1.93-2.05 pop times, with quick twitch to his lower ½ and clean fast exchanges. As the arm continues to develop over the next 4-5 years, we are looking at a sub 1.9 consistent arm. The bar is now starting to show some promise since our first look a year and half ago. He’s starting to control his body and swing path more consistently and as he continues to develop his overall body strength and lower ½ power, it is going to aid every part of his game. Will be fun to see where he’s at come summer time after a big off season of gym work and speed/agility training. He’s gonna be fun to watch! 

2027

Brody Buck, C, 5-7 145, B-R, Mountain Ridge HS

The son of former 13 year MLB veteran and All-Star catcher John Buck, Brody has made huge strides in the past year since we first saw him at the Preseason ID, Preseason All-State and Top Prospect Games. The typical late bloomer physically, Brody is a switch hitting catcher that is stronger from his non dominant LH side. The swing was more controlled and on plane since this past July, showing much improved body control and firing his hands and back hip at and through the baseball. The ball jumped off his bat to RCF, splitting the gap with backspin. With pop times in the 2.0-2.1 range now and showing a big jump from 2.16-2.30 in early February! Look for Brody to continue to grow and fill out moving forward and with the switch hitting profile behind the plate, it will be fun to see where he is at come next February and into the spring and summer after his sophomore year!

Maddux Jensen, SS, 6-1 150, R-R, Ridgeline HS

UPDATE: We have seen Jensen since the summer and he has another strong event at the State Games, with a solid BP and an outstanding day at the plate during game play with a couple of hits and a double to the RCF gap on the sweet part of the bat that jumped! 

Northern Utah Open: Maddux is a smooth mover and shows the athletic movement patterns you look for in a young SS, that when the physical size takes over, will most likely slide over to the hit corner. The hands are soft and the actions fluid, with an EZ arm with a short arm slot with “flip” carry. The bat is a LD gap to gap now and the swing is flat with extension through finish to drive the ball hard over the SS head and when the body takes off, the gaps should turn into pull HR power. An incoming sophomore, Maddux looks to be a solid contributor come this next spring in his first extended varsity level assignment! 

Josh Draney, 1B, 6-1 220, R-R, Mountain Ridge HS

A stoutly built compact frame with natural strength to power the baseball for distance and the ball jumps off his bat. A triple digit EV and #2 at the event, has pull side juice and can drive it on a line. The defense is still a work in progress and his agility training needs to be a focus to be playable defensively, but the bat plays and will be his calling card. The defense and run tool are well below, but with extensive focus to the detail of that part of his game is gonna be of utmost importance, because the bar is his strong suit and his offensive #’s should pile up over the next 3 seasons. 

Luke Marostica, SS/C, 5-10 170, L-R, Juab HS

The young sophomore out of 3A powerhouse Juab HS, has been a MIF/C through his youth years and has a really strong freshman year as Luke hit .321 over 74 PA’s and looks to in 2026 to replace PBR and Gatorade Player of the Year Austin Park at SS, but while he’s waiting in the wings, Coach Josh Park who sings his praises, looks to find a spot in the lineup for the rising sophomore. A LHH with some extra base power right now, just needs to tighten and shorten his bat path over the next 3 years against good pitching in the summer, so he can dominate 3A competition and also get good passes at the ball vs stronger arms in the summer. But you can’t deny the athleticism and baseball player in him. A catcher at present, Luke has shown well at our events and posted a 1.94-2.01 pop time at the CBA Utah Scout Day, along with an EV of 96.2 with a 364 max distance and 74.1 max bat speed! Being that he is a LHH catcher/SS with the LHH’ing profile, and a 5-10 170 Lb build, over the next 2-3 years an additional 15 Lbs at 185, should create a different level of strength to his tools and set him up for a definite next level career! 

Chase Ford, RHP, 6-2 160, Orem HS

Recommended by the father of ASU LHP-Easton Barrett’s Dad and Orem head coach, Carl Hermansen. Ford reminds me of Future Games alum and his HS teammate Blake Brotherson who like Brotherson has an ease to his delivery that looks to project to a 90+ mph arm moving forward. Ford sat at 85 with a smooth HTQ arm slot and did things easy enough to project further. With a conventional high kick delivery and a smooth arm slot, Ford fits the mold of “smooth and EZ gets better faster!” Coaches look to keep this name handy and follow his developmental progress as at 6-2 160, this is another 20-25 Lb type projection that the 90+ is definitely within possibility of happening! 

2026

Miles Robinson, OF, 6-2 185, L-R, Skyridge HS

The surprise player of the event and clearly a player to highly consider as a top 10 prospect in the state! I guess when your head coach is Ryan Roberts (12 years as recruiting coordinator at BYU) you as a director pay attention when he brings him to the event. Robinson has a next level frame and is built with long lean muscular features. There's a twitch to his game and in his movement patterns. The event leader in EV at 101.4 and the leader in max distance at 392, as Miles smashed LD after LD from the big part of the field to the pull side. The stance has rhythm and timing, along bat speed (79.1) and balls jumped with backspin and carry through the gaps and a couple deep over the RF fence. Robinson also was the leader with a 6.69/60 and showed 4 usable tools with the arm being the only below tool in his tool box. It will be fun to see where this kid ends up over the next two years as the tools are that of a legit D1 prospect! 

Ripken Roberts, SS/3B, 6-3 185, R-R, Skyridge HS

Another surprise prospect in that he comes from a big time baseball family and saw him briefly in the spring, but I get it, when your Dad is a decorated coach, you don’t want to pump your kid, but I’ll do it for Coach Roberts. The bloodlines are thick as Father Ryan is the head coach at Skyridge and was drafted 3 times at Utah Valley U (when it was a JUCO) and BYU. Ryan played a year in the Cardinals org and was the longtime  BYU Recruiting Coordinator from 2000-2012. Ripken is the younger brother to Padres top prospect Kai Roberts, who is the all-time SB leader the U of Utah and was a 7th Rd pick in 2024, who went on to hit .340 in his first taste of pro ball with a California League Championship Ring!

Roberts is lean and athletic like his Dad and brother at the same age and shows the frame and build to go from 6-3 185 to potentially 6-3 210 as he matures and fills out with his man strength. Ripken ran a 6.84/60, which was the second fastest time of the event, Roberts showed an all around game with his run tool, potential ability to hit and hit with some straightaway to pull power. An athlete that plays SS and shows the soft hands and educated feet with an 80 mph arm across the INF and wasn’t selling out for a reading, but just timed up ground balls and made easy short quick release of the ball for online target accuracy. With the run tool and athleticism, one can see a timeline like his brother, where Kai eventually went from being a HS catcher to D1 3B’man, but it was his move to CF that saw the prospect come into focus and just off a short look, one can see this trajectory taking hold possibly with Ripken. Like a few others that caught my eye, it will be fun to follow Rip’s projection and development over the next two years, as he also shows the tools, athleticism and projectability to be a next level D1 prospect! 

Cohen Allred, OF/3B, 6-0 190, Riverton HS

The former Future Games OF, left Georgia and LakePoint Sports this past July with strong interests from many mid-major D1 recruiters and projects into a corner OF with solid avg raw power and arm strength. Dealing with some elbow discomfort over the past 6 months and has been shut down from throwing for the fall/winter, but an upper 80’s arm from the mound is also an asset when healthy. But the 6-0 190 Lb prospect is also the younger brother of Utah Tech freshman catcher Kaden Allred, and with coming from a very strong HS and playing for the Trosky/Milwaukee Brewers scout team, Allred plays strong competition to develop his strongest tool and that’s the ability to hit and potentially hit with big power with a slight tweak to his swing plane and where he catches the barrel in the swing zone. A flat bat path with solid acceleration, a short tight approach at contact with a one hand full extension release on follow through. The ball jumps with near 100 mph EV’s and hit one ball at the Future Games high and deep into the night at 387 over the LCF wall at LakePoint! College coaches keep a leash on this kid and continue to follow his development, as with two years left of HS competition, the bat will be the key, but the feeling here is the power could really come into focus soon! When the man strength comes, he should fill the profile of a power hitting corner bat with strong competition on his resume’ 

2025

Jackson Rosvall, 2B, 5-7 140, R-R, Jordan HS

One of the players in the state, who has been behind some college talent through his first 3 years, should get his shot this coming spring as he brings two tools to the table and that’s power in his bat and his 6.93/60 time! The bat is intriguing as he has fast hands and gets solid separation in his load at front foot strike. He can whistle LD’s and the ball jumps off the bat. The size may be an issue and at 5’7 he needs to get another 20-25 Lbs on his frame quickly to be a target for coaches. But the bat has big potential, he just needs to fill out and get even stronger as he is pound for pound now, but at his current size, opportunities may be limited. But I wouldn’t bet against the bat, as the added size could turn his hit tool into a real asset. 

Cael Kidman, RHP/OF, 6-3 170, R-R, Ridgeline HS

An intriguing arm and bat, the Ridgeline product, had a strong 2024 as he was named one of our Utah Players of the Week this past spring. Kidman hit .365 with 6 HR’s as a junior and now that the pitching is coming into focus, it adds a layer of intrigue that a 90+ mph arm is in the making. With a 100 mph EV, coupled with a max distance of 379 which was 3rd at the event. But the arm on the mound is what took me by surprise. Kidman has a loose live arm that is raw and un-developed as he touched 89 to lead the event and gives indications of a 90-93 as when strength, weight and added strength take over. Kidman avg’ed 88 with the FB with a spin of 2,222 and a CH up, that sat at 77 with an absurd 1,011 kill of the spin rate. It will be interesting to see where the bat and arm take him over his senior year and where he starts to separate the arm or bat to make it to the next level, of which he should be on top JC coaches follow lists! 

RECENT NEWS

                   

SCOUTING DIRECTOR (BIO)

Scholzen comes to Prep Baseball after serving 9 years as the "Four Corners" Scouting Supervisor with the Milwaukee Brewers (2011-2020). Prior to his run with the Brewers, Scholzen worked for the Los Angeles Angels for 11 years (1999-2010), serving in the same capacity as the "Four Corners" Scouting Supervisor (UT, WY, So-ID, Las Vegas, AZ, CO, NM and El Paso). Scholzen received a 2002 World Series ring for his contributions as a scout with the Angels. 

With the Angels, Scholzen created an Angels Scout Team, in which he coached the following MLB players: Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird, Tyler Wagner, Aaron Blair, Joey Rickard, Donn Roach, Johnny Field, Taylor Cole, Andy Burns and Paul Sewald to name a few.

During his run with the the Angels, Scholzen also served as the hitting coach for the Angels rookie ball affiliate in the Pioneer League, the Orem Owlz, helping guide the Owlz to the 2005 and 2007 Pioneer League titles, which earned Jeff two more championship rings.

In Scholzen's 20 year scouting career, he was credited with the signing of 6 MLB players starting with:

Brandon Wood, SS, Angels 2003, 1st Rd ~ Efren Navarro, 1B, Angels 2007, 50th Rd ~ Donn Roach, RHP, Angels 2010, 3rd Rd ~ Tyler Wagner, RHP, Brewers 2012, 4th Rd ~ Payton Henry, C, Brewers 2016, 6th Rd ~ Ryan Aguilar, 1B/OF - Brewers 2017, 31st Rd ~ Scholzen also had an additional 3 players added to various clubs 40 man MLB rosters over the years.

2019 (14th Rd) draft pick, RHP-Paxton Schultz from Utah Valley U, is currently in AAA (Buffalo Bisons) with the Toronto Blue Jays, and former 40 man Brewers rostered RHP (Utah Tech) just recently returned from Korea and signed with the NL Champion Arizona Diamondbacks and is in AAA with the Reno Aces.

Prior to becoming a professional scout, Scholzen served as the head coach at Southern Utah University between 1993-1997. At the time, Scholzen was the youngest Division I head coach in the country, when he was first hired at 24 years old. The Southern Utah baseball program was dropped after the 2012 season. While coaching at Southern Utah, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1995, as they won the Alaska League Championship. Scholzen also recruited and coached World Series RHP-Ryan Jensen of the San Francisco Giants, who would earn a top 5 finish for NL Rookie of the Year in 2022. Scholzen and Jensen had the unique opportunity, to be on opposing sides of the ledger, when Scholzen's Angels and Jensen's Giants squared off in the 2002 MLB Fall Classic.

Scholzen also had the pleasure of coaching Jensen's roommate and back up catcher, Kyle Turner who has worked in professional/major league baseball for 24 years. Kyle currently is in his 14th season with the big league Kansas City Royals and serves as the clubs Head Athletic Trainer. Turner was instramental, while a young player for Scholzen at Southern Utah, in introducing Scholzen to his first wife, the late Heidi Dalton Scholzen, who passed away in December of 2014. A native of Utah, Scholzen played at Hurricane HS and was twice named 1st team All-State and an AAU HM All-American, before moving on to Utah Valley CC and Eastern Oregon University, earning All-Conference honors on three separate occasions. Scholzen played in the Angels’ organization in 1991.

Scholzen was married to his late wife Heidi for 20 years and their union produced four children - McKyla 28, Miranda 25, McKenzie 23 and the couples only son, Grant Scholzen 19, played 2B/3B at D1 WCC school, the U of the Pacific (Pacific Tigers) on scholarship, in 2024 and transferred to Salt Lake CC.

After Heidi's passing in 2014, Scholzen married Cami Macias Scholzen, a widow herself and the same age as Heidi and the couple now have been married 9 years. Between both families, Jeff has 3 grandchildren and 5 step grandchildren (8 total). The Scholzen's reside in Hurricane, UT in the bottom left SW corner of the state, near the most iconic and scenic national parks in the country.