Prep Baseball Report

2025 High School Previews: Huntington Beach Oilers


Steven Hardesty
Assistant Scouting Director

 

  

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The 2025 California high school baseball season is quickly approaching and, as usual, excitement is abound throughout the state. Players and coaches have been working in preparation for the upcoming season and, as is the case each year, there are some very talented players and teams across California.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in their respective CIF Section Championship Game, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview these individual programs across California. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason Power 25 rankings.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across California. Each week we will be releasing our Power 25, Players of the Week, Diamond Notes, podcasts, and much more.

Our 2025 preseason coverage continues today with a preview of the Huntington Beach Oilers.


2025 TEAM OUTLOOK

High School: Huntington Beach Oilers
Head Coach: Benji Medure
CIF Section: Southern
Division: Division 1
2024 Record (Playoff Finish): 24-10 (Semis CIF-SS D1 (Lost to Corona) Semis CIF- Southern Regional (lost to la mirada))
Key Players Lost: Nathan Aceves, Tony Martinez, Travis Curry

+ No. Returning Positional Starters: 7
+ No. Returning Pitchers: 6
+ Team Strengths: 1-9 lineup that can hit, good defense in the middle, solid pitching both right and left

ROSTER PREVIEW

+ Key Players:

Seniors:

+ '25 C Trent Grindlinger Mississippi State commit

+ '25 1B Jayton Greer USD commit 

+ '25 SS/2B Cole Clark UC Irvine commit 

+ '25 3B Ethan Porter Oregon State commit 

+ '25 OF Trevor Goldenetz Long Beach State commit

+ '25 OF John Petrie Oregon State commit

+ '25 RHP Tyler Bellerose Oregon State commit

+ '25 RHP Otto Espinoza Cal Commit

Juniors:

+ '26 SS/2B CJ Weinstein LSU commit (Prep Baseball All-American Game alum)

+ '26 INF/RHP Dane Cunningham Cal Poly SLO commit

+ '26 Jason Dunham SS/2B

+ Projected Starters: Tyler Bellerose, Otto Espinoza, Jared Grindlinger, Tanner Brown
+ Projected Relievers: Jake Frohn, Ashton Arroyo, Dane Cunningham, Freddie Angiuli

IMPACT UNDERCLASSMEN

+ '27 LHP/OF Jared Grindlinger (#1 ranked '27 by Prep Baseball California)

+ '27 OF/LHP Tanner Brown TCU commit 

BOTTOM LINE

Our lineup is loaded from top to bottom with players who can put up offensive numbers that should give us plenty of opportunities to score runs. Backed up by strong defense and a deep pitching staff, our club is in a good spot heading into the 2025 season. - Coach Medure

PREP BASEBALL CA STAFF’S TAKE

Coach Medure is being modest in the above comments, a good spot would be a team that will compete for a league title. The Oilers are amongst the best, and deepest, teams in the entire state of California. Anything can happen in high school baseball, but the Oilers have the type of roster that can easily respond to an opponents best punch. The lineup is deep and balanced top-to-bottom with no glaring holes. It's so deep that bottom-of-the-order hitters in this lineup will have the opportunity to play in college at some level. It's that good. The rotation is equally as good led by as many as four Division I collegiate level arms, including the No. 1 2027 player in the country. We'll take Coach Medure's modesty as we've become accustomed to it over the years, but make no mistake, this Oilers team is as good a bet as anybody to be the last team standing on May 31st. - Les Lukach

Learn more about California’s 2025 spring season below:

+ Follow Huntington Beach on X: @hbhs_basebll
+ Find more team previews on the Prep Baseball California Power 25 homepage

FOLLOW US THROUGHOUT THE SPRING

+ Prep Baseball California on X
+ Prep Baseball California on Instagram
+ Prep Baseball California on Facebook
+ Prep Baseball California on YouTube

MORE 2025 TEAM PREVIEWS

Upcoming Events

Showcase State Date Location
Orange County Preseason ID CA 01/02/25 JSerra
San Diego Preseason All State (Invite Only) CA 01/04/25 Maranatha Christian High School
Central California Preseason All State (Invite Only) CA 01/05/25 Antelope Valley College
Central California Preseason ID CA 01/12/25 Ventura College
North Bay Preseason ID CA 01/25/25 Novato High School
Northern California Preseason All State (Invite Only) CA 01/26/25 Ohlone College
East Bay Preseason ID CA 02/01/25 Pittsburg High School

MORE PREP BASEBALL NEWS