Prep Baseball Report

2025 High School Previews: St. Augustine Saints


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 St. Augustine Saints.


2025 TEAM OUTLOOK

High School: St Augustine Saints
Head Coach: Craig da Luz
CIF Section: San Diego Section
Division: Division 1 (2024)
2024 Record (Playoff Finish): 23-8 (CIFSDS-OPEN Division Quarter Finals (Western League Champions))
Key Players Lost: Justin Heffler, Tommy Carney, Rey Ramirez, Grayson Keleman, Dan Feiner

+ No. Returning Positional Players: 10
+ No. Returning Pitchers: 9
+ Team Strengths: We are an experienced talented group from top to bottom in 2025.

+ Key Players:

Seniors:

+ '25 RHP Grayson Boles - Texas Commit

+ '25 SS/RHP Tyler Wick - Oregon Commit

+ '25 INF/OF Raphael Dunne - UCSD Commit

+ '25 C Shane Miranda - Notre Dame Commit 

+ '25 OF/INF Anthony Tompkins

+ '25 RHP Ryan Popkins 

+ '25 RHP Jonah DePerro

+ '25 OF Drake Konja

+ '25 RHP Cristian Mares

+ '25 INF/RHP Kapono Nakanelua

+ '25 OF Liam Veeramallu

+ '25 RHP Wyatt Weldon

+ '25 RHP Christian Ledesma

+ '25 RHP Philip Knapton

+ '25 C Chris Black

Juniors:

+ '26 RHP Jonny Haskett - Cal Berkeley Commit

+ '26 INF/RHP Mikey Ruiz

+ '26 INF/RHP Nate Balkenbush

+ '26 RHP Payton Del Toro 

+ Projected Starters: Grayson Boles, Jonny Haskett, Ryan Popkins, Jonah DePerro
+ Projected Relievers: Cristian Mares, Mikey Ruiz, Nate Balkenbush, Christian Ledesma, Wyatt Weldon, Philip Knapton

IMPACT UNDERCLASSMEN 

+ '27 INF/OF Guilermo MacFarland

+ '27 INF/RHP Mario Vitale INF/RHP


+ '27 OF/RHP Lorenzo Haros OF/RHP

+ '28 RHP/INF Matthew Prior

+ '28 SS/RHP Julian Chanfreau

+ '28 RHP/C Kayden Zimmerman

+ '28 INF/OF Mason Choi

BOTTOM LINE

"We are coming off a strong season in 2024 where we made run in the Western League to bring home a title, but came up slightly short in the playoffs falling during the Quarterfinal round. With a talented and experience group returning for 2025 highlighted by 5 D1 commits in our '25/'26 class combined with depth up and down our lineup plus the pitching staff we are excited for another chance to make a run through the Western League/San Diego section." - Coach da Luz

PREP BASEBALL CA STAFF’S TAKE

St. Augustine was a mainstay on our Power 25 last year. They brought a strong lineup from top to bottom and a capable pitching core. With the loss of 4 batters in the lineup (Heffler, Carney, Ramirez, Keleman), there may be slight inexperience in the back half of the order, but they have a deep core of upperclassmen and underclassmen looking to fill those spots. The rotation has arguably gotten stronger as players have hit their development curve. '25 RHP Grayson Boles (Texas) has ticked up his velo heading into his senior year and returns one of the nastiest breaking balls in the state. He'll get tons of looks ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft. Behind him is '26 RHP Jonny Haskett (Cal Berkeley), who had a strong summer, including a dominant performance at the Future Games. He only pitched 34.1 innings and is expected to take a larger share of innings. A pair of uncommitted 2025s in Ryan Popkins and Michael Ivanjack, add experience to the staff. At the plate, the top of the lineup remains the same with '25 SS Tyler Wick (Oregon), '25 2B Raphael Dunne (UCSD), '25 C Shane Miranda (Notre Dame), '25 OF Anthony Tompkins, and '25 OF Drake Konja. These five hitters were highly productive all 2024 and should have no issue creating runs at the top of the order. On observation, this Saints team is a tight-knit group that plays a gritty brand of baseball. The returning core of hitters and pitchers have them positioned as one of the best teams in the San Diego section for 2025.

Learn more about California’s 2025 spring season below:

+ Follow St. Augustine on X: @stadirtbags
+ Find more team previews on the Prep Baseball California Season Previews homepage

FOLLOW US THROUGHOUT THE SPRING

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

MORE 2025 TEAM PREVIEWS

Upcoming Events

Showcase State Date Location
North Bay Preseason ID CA 01/25/25 Novato High School
Inland Empire Preseason ID CA 01/26/25 Ganesha High School
East Bay Preseason ID CA 02/01/25 Pittsburg High School
Sacramento Preseason ID CA 02/09/25 McBean Park
Orange County Rising Stars ID CA 03/02/25 Mater Dei High School
Inland Empire Rising Stars ID CA 03/30/25 Corona High School
Los Angeles Rising Stars ID CA 04/27/25 O'Malley Field

MORE PREP BASEBALL NEWS