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Preseason Countdown: No. 35 Arvada West

February 18, 2015

By John Cackowski
State Director

Leading up to the start of the high school season, we will count down the top 50 preseason teams every day as part of our comprehensive season coverage. The top 50 teams are picked from all classifications, and are not divided up by class level. To see the entire list click here

Team: Arvada West
Preseason Rank: 35
2014 Record: 14-6
Conference: Jeffco
CHSAA Class: 5A
Head Coach: Matt McDougal
Playoff Run: Lost in first game of Districts 5-4 to Horizon
2014 Final Rank: 29
Returning Starters: 2
Returning Pitchers: 2

TOP PLAYERS:
Jesse Gonzalez, C/1B, 2015 (Garden City Commit)
Joe Krauss, SS, 2015
Lucas Ciacco, INF/RHP, 2015
Shane Hoyer, RHP, 2015
Luke Lastozcy, INF, 2016

X-FACTOR:
Shane Hoyer: Hoyer is the only player coming back who has 10 innings of varsity pitching experience on the mound.

NEW PLAYER TO WATCH:
Luke Lastozcy: Lastozcy was the only sophomore on the Wildcat roster in 2014. With a senior dominated team, Lastozcy shows some speed on the bases, and plated 11 runs in 2014, hitting .300.

KEY PLAYER LOST:
Brody Hagel Pitt: Iowa Western

STAT RAT: 
Of the 552 Total At Bats in 2014, 414 left to graduating players. Of the 128 total innings pitched in 2014, only 10 return to 2015.

BOTTOM LINE:
The Wildcats were back on the scene in 2014. After starting the year off 6 and 5 in non-league play, the Wildcats got hot and ran through league play undefeated for their first Jeffco League Championship since the 1990's. The Wildcats bring back big Jesse Gonzalez to 2015. Gonzales is a very big and strong left-handed hitting catcher for the Wildcats who shows gap to gap power. The 6-foot-2, 190 pound catcher was a main cog in the 2014 lineup. Gonzalez hit .364 with 20 RBI's and 8 doubles. Other than Gonzalez the only other player returning in 2015 with over 20 AB's of varsity experience is Junior Luke Lastozcy. When watching Arvada West in the Dakota Ridge Invitational in June of 2014, Senior SS Joe Krauss showed some athleticism. He has a strong build and runs well (7.14 60 time), and had a good approach at plate collecting multiple hits in that tournament with a balanced stance and level swing. There will be a lot of new faces on the Wildcats team in 2015, but the Wildcats will be anxious to prove their program turned the corner and that 2014 was not a fluke.

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