Utah HS Team Preview: Lehi HS

Utah HS Team Previews - Lehi Pioneers

Opening Day and the weekend has arrived! Jeff Scholzen (Utah Scouting Director) continues the 2023 season coverage with our annual preseason team previews, where we will take notes from coaches, and highlight returning players, newcomers, and some sleepers. Over the next couple of weeks and leading up to opening day, we will be highlighting some of the top programs in the state with our team previews.

As our ardent readers are aware, Team Previews are answered by the Head Coaches of those programs and the scouting reports embedded in the PBR player profiles of the top players, are written by state scouting director Jeff Scholzen, the states only full-time MLB Area Scouting supervisor ever. 

With data partners Trackman Baseball, the leaders in measuring the ball flight and its characteristics off the bat for position players and out of the hand for pitchers. No one does it better. Blast Motion captures key swing metrics in evaluating the efficiency of the swing and where a player's swing is good or bad and what needs to be worked on. Swift Performance measures power output as an athlete with the EZ jump mat and collecting not only the 60 yard dash, but the 10 and 30 yard dashes as well. 3M technology measures key pitching mechanics and how the delivery through the body moves in sequence to produce and provide a more effortless and efficient delivery. 

This season as in every past season, stats are collected across the state at the end of that week's play, with input from coaches, assistant coaches and ultimately myself in putting together comprehensive player content on a weekly basis with the following. 

1. Weekly Utah Power 25 Overall Team Rankings (Monday)

2. Player and Pitcher of the Week, along with other notable player performances (Tuesday)

3. Player Spotlights throughout the spring of top players who are making their mark on the HS scene in capturing college recruiting looks. 

4. I will be scouting games throughout the state and posting player videos on Twitter for college marketing purposes on a weekly basis and in some cases where action is flowing and games are staggered, such as the preseason tourneys down south on a daily basis. 

Quick Footnote: Only 7% of all HS baseball players will play college baseball and the elite of that group, which consists of only 2% will play at the D1 level. These are the players I’m watching and gleaning information on. This is determined by objective data from events, as well as the subjective eye evaluations, honed from my 30 years at the college and professional level. 

Lehi by the numbers

Head Coach: Jason Ingersoll 

(2022 5A Utah Coach of the Year)  

Classification: 5A

Region: 8

2022 Win-Loss: 28-3

2021 Win-Loss: 12-15

State Playoff appearances in last 10 years: 10

State Championship appearances last 10 years: 1

State Championships last 10 years: 1

2023 Preseason PBR Ranking: 5

2022 5A State Champions

Key Returners with Class/Position

• 2023 Jake Olsen SS (Salt Lake CC)

• 2023 Jackson Brousseau 1B/RHP

• 2023 McGwire Madsen 2B 

• 2023 Braden Willes

• 2023 Dawson Rodak RHP (Treasure Valley CC)

Player Analysis

Jake Olsen SS / 2B / Lehi, UT / 2023 Rankings  State Rank: 23 / POS: 6   Committed: Salt Lake CC 8/20/22 An athletic mover with abv avg actions and shows some twitch. A slight thin build with the frame to add weight and size with maturity. Does need to get in the weight room and make the gym his friend. Has the potential to add 10-15 lbs over the next calendar year, if he really gets after it. This will jump his metrics and translate into really driving the baseball. Has a rhythmic type approach to hit w/a inward turn if the knee as he loads into his back side and w/a load of the hands into a 45-degree position of the barrel/hands. Has a short simple, yet direct path of the bat through the baseball, into a full arc to finish w/two hands. His EV’s of 87-92, can and should be a little higher, as he needs to add more mass and overall development in his upper and lower arms. A LD hitter to all fields w/aluminum he flashes pull side loft to carry the ball, but with a wood bat at the next level, if it is at the JUCO level locally, his power will be impacted if size/strength becomes an issue. All the ingredients to hit are there with this change. Where Olsen really excels is with the glove at SS. He shows an active twitchy lower ½, with agility and range to go get the baseball. Features SS instincts and field awareness with educated quick feet and soft, quick hands. Can range and play on the run and the ball disappears in his glove. If he can catch it, he does! The arm is 79 mph across the diamond and it should get exponentially stronger as he fills out once again. Flashy and showing glove actions, all the things defensively you look for in a SS. If he has to move across the bag to 2B, he could become an offensive 2B as a late bloomer with an abv avg glove and arm for the position. Really like the upside here moving forward. I would like to see a more filled out look come next spring, and if he does, look for a big spring from Jake! 7/12/22 Positional Profile: SS/2B Hits: RHH. Power: 92 max exit velocity, averaged 86.5 MPH. 325' max distance. Arm: RH. INF-79 mph . Defense: Smooth graceful actions w/educated feet and sure hands Run: 7.12 runner in the 60 Vizual Edge: 73.44 Edge Score   5/25/22 Olsen was the ignitor and catalyst of the 5A State Champions. It was the first state baseball championship for the Lehi Pioneers since 1981. Olsen has bloodlines, as his uncle played in the San Diego Padres organization. Olsen had a tremendous junior season, and can really play SS. Features plus hands and feet with solid range and shows a solid avg arm, that projs to plus as he continues to fill out and get stronger. The arm is clean and fluid, and the ball jumps from his hand. Olsen made only 6 errors on the season for a FLD% of .923 and should only improve his consistency aver time. The bat and power potential, along with his SB type speed should only continue to improve as he matures and fills out. A big state tourney as his bat and glove spearheaded a unblemished run at the state title. Really excited by this young man, and he is drawing offers now and should be a quality impact bat for someone. Will be attending the PBR Top Prospect Games on July 12th at Pleasant Grove HS.

 

Dawson Rodak RHP / 3B / Lehi, UT / 2023 Rankings  State Rank: 37 / POS: 10   Committed: Treasure Valley CC 3/4/23 A 5'8 RHP with an athletic delivery and enough arm strength/arm speed to pitch at the next level. A K thrower with a 4-seam straight FB, that he can locate/spot to all four quadrants of the zone. A stocky strong build, with a developed/strong lower 1/2, that allows for solid use of his legs and drives down the slope with solid momentum. The FB 83-87 can appear quicker than its gun reading, as he has a medium take away from the glove, into a short ball to ear release point w/solid ext. out front, which can be deceptive at times and hitters get late reads and swings. The CB 68-69 is more of an off speed variety with TQ tilt and med depth and bite. The SL 70-74 is more of the version he needs to turn his CB into velocity wise, and add the depth. This is just a matter of think CB when the SL is used and maintain the arm speed. The CH 74-76 has late fade w/medium depth. The key for Rodak, is with the four pitch mix, he must work the top and bottom parts of the zone and work side to side, and stay out of the middle, as his stuff doesn't play to be aggressive there. With the 5'9 frame, the overall stuff can flatten out, thus he will need to pitch fine and increase his command, resulting in a small margin of error. Does compete and have an idea and at the HS level, he's aggressive and shows a calm, yet confident demeanor.

Key players lost to graduation 

Zach Evans

Wack Christensen

Maddux Madsen, RHP/INF (2022 5A Player of the Year - Playing Football at Boise State)

Who is your X Factor to your success

2023 Ashton Holbrook, DH/RHP

2023 Bowen Ingersoll, OF

2025 Mays Madsen,  INF/OF 

These players need to pick up the slack lost with the 3 seniors last year

Returning players who were named All-Region / All-State 

Jake Olsen 2023 All Region/All-State

Jackson Brousseau 2023 All Region/All-State

Dawson Rodak 2023 All Region

McGwire Madsen 2023 All Region

Braden Willes 2023 All Region

Mays Madsen 2025 All Region

List players you feel have college baseball potential*

2023 Jake Olsen, SS (Salt Lake CC)

2023 McGwire Madsen, 2B (College of Southern Idaho) 

2023 Dawson Rodak, RHP (Treasure Valley CC) 

2023 Jackson Brousseau, 1B/RHP (CSU Football) could easily play college baseball if he went that route.  

2023 Braden Willes, 3B uncommitted (Stud! 3B)

We have a ton of sophs that could play.  

List players in your region you feel have the potential to play professional baseball, either out of HS or College*

Jake Olsen, SS (Salt Lake CC)

Luke Kimmel, LHP (Utah Valley U)

Billy Bird, 1B/LHP (Utah)

Coaches Summary and Outlook

Expectation is to go out and compete and defend the 5A title.  We have some big pieces we need to fill with the losses from last year seniors and missing Boston Bingham (All State) from injury that will most likely not allow for him to play this year.  

We return an infield that has 3 yr varsity starters at every position.  Led by one of the top players in the state, SS Jake Olsen. He is as smooth as they come in the field and is as dynamic of a hitter as you will find in the state.

Jackson Brousseau 1B who has signed to play Division 1 college football at Colorado State, will help anchor our staff and has some of the biggest pop in his bat you can find.  If he wasn’t playing football he would be committed somewhere playing baseball. 

Braden Willes is one of the top defensive 3B in the state.  As a former SS he makes plays at 3B that you don’t expect most HS 3B to make. 

McGwire Madsen is returning as our 2B, and was on base as much as anyone last year and can be a menace on the base baths.  He sets the table for the rest of the line up. 

Senior RHP Dawson Rodak will be expected to help anchor Lehi starting rotation. 

Mays Madsen soph, will be expected to play anywhere on the field and like his brother be a fun watch on the base paths. 

Like a lot of teams we will have a few new hero’s this year as we need some new players to step up and fill in where new spots are available. Lehi should continue to be one of the fastest and exciting teams to watch this year. Our expectation is to compete and play hard every game. 

• Jason Ingersoll (Head Coach)

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