Projected Winner: Desert Mountain

This was hard bracket to pick and we could have gone a number of different ways with it. After long deliberation, we chose the Desert Mountain Wolves  to win it all in 5A this year. They have a strong team led by arguably the best player in the state in Wes Kath who has been swinging the bat all year long. It will be interesting to see how teams decide to pitch to him in the tournament. They may have the best player but there is plenty of other talent on this team to go around. Luke Moeller, Austin Haugen, and Jake Horowitz have been providing plenty of offense of their own for the Wolves. All of them are hitting .400 or above with high on base numbers. Brock Jessup (Sacramento State commit) & Toby Haarer have led this team on the mound. Jessup has a 1.66 ERA & has a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio on the season. The question is do they have enough pitching to back those two up. The way the tournament is spread out, teams can last with two main arms but surly they are going to need arms in relief at times. Don't be surprised to see a number of different guys roll out there for the Wolves. Luke Moeller who has also started and even Wes Kath could log some key innings with big arm strength. 

Upset Alert: Canyon View

The Jaguars might be one of the younger teams in the entire tournament but that doesnt mean they dont have enough experience. The Jags have a group of sophomores that they have used often in every situation this year. 2023 RHP Connor Mattison (Long Beach State commit) has arguably had one of the top seasons on the mound in 5A with a 1.28 ERA with 63K & 12BB, only allowing 8ER all season long. We would expect them to try to use him to start as many games as possible in the tournament. They also have a solid number 2 on the mound in Jacob Heppner who is also swinging the bat well. Junior, Noah Madas has been the most consistent bat towards the top of the lineup, hitting .476 with a .560 on base. Sophomores, Ashton Zacher, Matthew Hart, and Liam Whalen are all hitting around .400 on the season. Zacher has provided the most power with 13 extra base hits including 3 HRs. Canyon Views balance and energy will be something to watch out for. 

Predictions:

+ Nogales could very well go on a run. The apaches have 3 strong pitchers that have thrown some consistent innings in Roman Bracamonte (New Mexico State commit), Saul Soto (New Mexico State commit) & Albert Domniguez. All of them have under 3.0 ERAs with solid strike throwing ability, Bracamonte has a 1.77 ERA. The apaches also have a high energy lineup led by Demetrio Cristantes (New Mexico State commit), Brayan Espinoza (Glendale commit) & Brian Garcia. Cristantes is hitting over .500 on the season with a close to .600 OBP. Espinoza is hitting .450 & Garcia at .417. As always, the apaches play with a ton of grit and competitiveness which is fun to watch. 

+ Millennium & Horizon are actually the top-2 seeds in the tournament and will surly challenge for top spots. Both have high-end number 1 starters with balance throughout their lineups. Reed Interdonato (Horizon) & Connor Hill (Millennium) will play huge roles for their teams on the mound going forward and could dictate how far their teams ultimately go. Offense will be key for these two teams as we project both will face off against big arms in the semi-finals. Both teams really have enough talent to win the whole thing.

+ Sunnyside gets by the first round with big Gerardo Grijalva on the mound. He has been stellar on the mound all season long with Sunnyside picking up some sneaky wins against strong programs along the way. Grijalva has 84 strike outs in 50 innings this spring This is an under the radar team. 

+ Higley & Sunrise Mountain will both have tough draws in the 2nd round if our mock bracket shapes up correctly. We gave their opponents the edge but we are expecting some down to the wire games. These teams have a ton of balance and athleticism and could really do some damage in the tournament. Sophomore, Justin Chambers (Washington State commit) from Higley is one of the top left-handers in the tournament. 

+ We picked Canyon View to make it to the championship in 5A but they need to get past the first round to start things out. Cienega was one of our picks to make run at the championship to start the season. Their teams seems to be clicking alot more in recent weeks with some of their top guys turning things around after slow starts. Not sure they have the pitching for a deep run but they cant be taken lightly in the first round. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

SHOWCASE	STATE	DATE	LOCATION
Arizona ProCase (Invite Only)	AZ	05/23
Arizona Prospect Preview	AZ	05/23
Top Prospect Games (Class of 2023)	AZ	06/01	Cactus Shadows High School
Junior Future Games Trials (Makeup)	AZ	06/09	Red Mountain High School
Mesa Position Player ID	AZ	06/09	Red Mountain High School
Underclass Games (2024 & 2025 grads)	AZ	06/16	Cactus Shadows High School
Top Prospect Games (Class of 2022)	AZ	06/17	Central Arizona College
PBR Junior Future Games	NATIONAL	07/28	LakePoint Sports

 

Related Content