Utah Top Prospect Games: Quick Hits (Class of 2025)
July 17, 2023
Quick Hits: Class of 2025
PBR Utah held its signature summer invite event, as a two day event for the first time. The first day was the typical showcase workout with our top tech companies Trackman Baseball, with its ball flight and pitching metrics, along with Blast Motion swing analysis, Vizual Edge eye tracking software and Swift Performance laser graded 10/30/60 run times. Day two was game play, with the players divided into 6 teams for the first time, with 3 games played overall.
The setting was ideal, as we secured Salt Lake CC as our venue (All turf surface). The Bruins from Salt Lake made the programs first appearance at the NJCAA D1 JUCO World Series, as the captured the District championship, after near misses on numerous occasions.
With 82 players in attendance, the Top Prospect Games has grown from two teams of near 50 players, to four teams of 72 in 2022, to its growth in 2023. With every college JC and D1 baseball programs ap and down the I-15 corridor, the players were able to be evaluated by all the statewide coaches and recruiters with a couple of head coaches in attendance.
The following 9 players were just some of the 2025 players that stood out, as we could have listed more, but felt this was a solid list to draw from on initial looks, from not only from this event, but past events and the recently completed HS season factored in as well.
Player Analysis
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Fish Manning SS / 2B / Layton, UT / 2025
Slick fielding athletic middle MIF’er that shows instincts and glove actions with educated feet, in giving himself a base set of skills to stay in the middle of the diamond. The bat has a chance to really improve, based upon his high rate of contact, with only 9 Al’s vs 15 BB in 106 PA’s. The stroke is flat throughout the swing and has a knack of spraying the ball around the field. Just needs to get stronger and mature physically to reach his potential. The bat to ball skills and ability to play defense .939 fld% provides promise of definitely playing at the next level.
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Carter Turley C / 2B / Dixie , UT / 2025
An athletic catch and throw defender with near 2.0 second pop times, shows solid movement patterns and the instincts to catch and defend. Comes from bloodlines with the ability to get better and take instruction with his cousins, Noah and Gavin Turley (uncle Jason, played for the Astros), being students of the game and having success at the next level. Carter shows passion and love of the craft, and wants it. Turley has the type of med stature to continue to develop physically to increase his strength and impact the baseball from an offensive standpoint. A slightly uphill approach through the hitting zone from a conventional square even prop stance to hit, needs to flatten the swing and shoot balls on a line vs gearing for power. The hands work in the swing and he stays inside and through the baseball with barrel release out front. An athletic gate to run, also lends to being versatile at 2B as well, much like a Biggio. A Future Game rep at LakePoint coming up, will get attention and we will see where his recruitment takes him, but there is next level ability now and with further improvement over the next two years, he could become a standout defensively with an emerging bat!
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Andrew Lyon RHP / SS / Snow Canyon, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 16 / POS: 5
The son of former MLB pitcher, Brandon Lyon and the younger brother of Isaac Lyon, who is a rising sophomore at Grand Canyon U. With these types of bloodlines, one would expect Andrew has picked up a thing or two about pitching. A former neighbor of Jeff Scholzen, Andrew grew up and continues to be around a plethora of next level players in his community, with over A DOZEN, current college commits and college baseball players. Andrew will be in the PBR Future Games, and receive attention no doubt, with his 6-3 180 ideal size and assortment of pitches. A controlled tall and fall delivery with a flexible high kick to his delivery, Lyon gets the ball out of the glove clean and is fluid through the slot with ext out front. The FB registered 85-88 at the Top Prospect games and his best secondary pitch was his father’s as well, that being a avg to solid avg CH 77 that shows promise to play plus in time, as his velocity climbs and the separation becomes more apparent with the FB/CH combo. The CH shows FB arm speed and deception, along with fading sink life and is able to kill the spin and create depth at the end. Keep an eye out for this kid, as he shows definite D1 potential with added development physically and arm strength wise.
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Talon Cloward SS / OF / Salem Hills, UT / 2025
A lean medium athletic build with fair growth factors left, but strength still remains and comes from bloodlines, as his father Casey Cloward was the starting catcher for a number of years in the mid 2000’s at BYU, after a stellar HS career at Spanish Fork HS. Talon is a multi dimensional two way player, as a MIF and now as a green RHP with the potential to do both for sure at the next level. As a MIF, the feet are educated and receive the baseball and play ground up and out front, with the ability to play on the run, coming in and side to side with one hand and showing solid movement patterns. The arm is 82 across the diamond with the strength to come to reach the mid to upper 80’s. The bat comes from a solid 45 degree load and from a conventional RHH even prop stance, that stays inside the ball and is compact to and has some length through, into a high one hand finish at release. Cloward looks to be a big factor moving forward as a rising junior at Salem Hills in 2024 and should provide a spark, with quality makeup and a strong baseball IQ, due to his love and learning of the game and his baseball background.
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Easton Fry OF / C / Brighton , UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 20 / POS: 3
A rising junior that produced offensively at the plate in 2023 as one of the two strongest bats in the Bengals middle of the order. A med compact stocky build, that plays CF and hits in the two hole in front of a D1 commit. The season was a successful one for Fry, as he hit .392 with 2 HR's, 24 RBI, 9 2B's and 3 3B's, earning 5A All-State honors. The defense is efficient and makes the routine play, yet would like to see him really focus on his throwing mechs and getting better ext out front with a bend of the back through release. A 7.32/60 runner, yet is a heady base runner and shows instincts for the game on both sides of the ball. The bat profiles at the next level as a LF, and the bat should and must carry him, and I believe it will!
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Jakob DeVries C / OF / Park City, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 13 / POS: 2
Lean wiry athletic build with slender features to add weight and strength to look lean moving forward. Oozing phys projections to gain 20-25 Lbs with a serious strength program. Defensively shows flexibility and lower ½ movement patterns to skate side to side in blocking and recovering. Uses the one leg catching technique and gets extremely low to steal K’s at the lower part of the zone. Quiet head to receive and gives a low target to work ground up into the zone. Sticks pitches and keeps it there, to give an umpire a quality look. Offensively had a solid BP, but the HS season has set him up for a good run with the bat over the next two years. Has some things to clean up and quiet his approach at the plate, but shows a quick bat to drive his hands inside the ball and get length out front to catch barrels in driving the ball to the deep part of the field and flashes pull HR power. A Future Games invite, that will get some hype in Atlanta, once he shows his tools and baseball IQ.
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Xaviah Patch 3B / SS / Stansbury , UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 6 / POS: 2
A lean wiry athletic LHH 3B with a frame to add quality weight and add strength with a strong and dedicated weight program to tap into his latent power and swing plane to produce even added distance and carry to a 2B’s type approach to the gaps. “X Patch” had one of the better HS seasons in the state as far as producing some “base” numbers with the base hit, batting avg and 2B’s. A high contact type approach with a low ball approach to hit with a flat bat through the zone with an inside out/long through and full wrapped finish behind the back shoulder. Drives the ball on a line with backspin to all fields, and finds the barrel often w/48 base hits this past spring. One of the better overall hitters in the 2024 class, earning a Future Games spot at LakePoint this next week. Defensively shows the soft hands and side to side agility to stick at the hot corner, yet needs to get his feet set and in sync to utilize his fringy arm, to play even better and add carry. Can’t wait to see what he does against quality age appropriate pitching in Atlanta, to get a better gauge on his instincts and baseball IQ.
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Merrick Bostock 3B / SS / Orem, UT / 2025Rankings State Rank: 7 / POS: 3
A lean athletic physical look, that appears to continue filling out, the more I’ve seen him. A tall upright approach to hit, from a semi open stance to hit. High hands and takes his hands higher into his load in an unconventional approach in his setup and overall operation to hit. Lays the barrel open on approach to start the hands towards the baseball. Has some funk and a different way of hitting, yet has abv avg hand/eye to find the barrel in a short compact stroke at contact, and a long through finish. The knack to find the barrel in a quirky way to the naked eye to hit, is fascinating, in that he can hit velo and makes adjs to off speed. With a max EV of 100.6 at the Preseason All-State w/a hand speed of 23.4 and max bat speed of 75.5, gives promise that the hands are hitter-ish. At the Top Prospect Games, the BP was solid as he barreled balls at a 70% hard hit rate, while keeping the plane of the bat in direct contact with the baseball at an 86% rate of accuracy. Defensively needs to work on his footwork and his approach to the baseball. Looks to be a more reactive and instinctive type defender that works better on a corner, where he likes to play side to side and not go get the baseball. Could see a more physical 2B type with the bat or is athletic enough to play an OF corner with the bat his carrying tool.
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Zach Engemann SS / 2B / Orem , UT / 2025
Lean wiry skinny build w/need for added weight and size, yet shows the movement patterns necessary to play at the next level. Type of frame and build to proj strength and added size with a dedication to the gym and where that can take his game. From an offensive standpoint, features a conventional bend at the knees, even prop stance with his bat held high and the bat in a wrapped position. As he takes his foot lift and weight transfer from back to front, he coils the bat head a bit, yet gets his hands started to drive inside and through the baseball w/a direct line of attack and impacts the baseball w/a compact short stroke and finds the barrel for an EV max of 94.7, which is good for his age and development. With a barrel adjustment at launch, he will be able to get to velocity as he continues to add weight and size to his frame. Had a solid 2023 season, leading state tournament bound Orem in hitting at .434 in 66 late season AB’s, as he took over a MIF spot and seized the opportunity and was a driving offensive force in turning the Tigers season around with a late season charge in winning 16 of their last 19 game and at one point 15 out of 16. Defensively shows educated feet and cones and gets the baseball with soft hands and a quick transfer from ball to hand and gets rid of the ball w/o any wasted extra steps. The arm is below avg now, yet at 16 yrs old, he has time and strength development on his side to increase his arm strength to avg and playable. 2B type profile that should only continue to get better as he controls the K zone and walked 11 times vs only 6 K’s. A high contact bat that puts the ball in play, which lends to promise a high batting avg now and in the future. Keep an eye on this kid as he continues to develop. Next level talent and athleticism.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
| SHOWCASE | STATE | DATE | LOCATION |
| PBR Junior Future Games | NATIONAL | 07/25 | LakePoint |
| 2023 PBR Future Games (Utah Invite) | UT | 07/26 | LakePoint Sports - Cartersville, GA |
| 2023 PBR West Coast Games | UT | 08/04 | UNLV & College of Southern Nevada |
| Northern Utah Open | UT | 09/16 | Ridgeline High School |
| 2023 PBR Scout Day: GBG Utah | UT | 09/30 | The Hive - Juab High School Fieldhouse |
| Utah State Games (Invite-Only) | UT | 10/29 | Snow Canyon High School |
| 2023 Utah Winter Update | UT | 12/02 | The Hive - Juab High School Fieldhouse |
RECENT NEWS
JEFF SCHOLZEN (BIO)
Scholzen was brought on as the Utah Scouting Director for Prep Baseball Report 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 a similar capacity as the Four Corners Scouting Supervisor. In all, Scholzen served as a full-time scout for 20 years. Scholzen also received a 2002 World Series ring for his contributions as a scout.
With the Angels, Scholzen created an Angels Scout Team, in which he coached the likes of current and former major league players: Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird, Tyler Wagner, Aaron Blair, Joey Rickard, Donn Roach, Johnny Field, Taylor Cole and Paul Sewald to name a few. During his run with the the Angels, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Angels rookie ball affiliate with the Pioneer League Orem Owlz, helping guide the Owlz to the 2005 and 2007 Pioneer League titles.
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 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.
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 from 1991-1999.