Prep Baseball Report

Preseason Countdown: No.21 Wheat Ridge




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: Wheat Ridge
Preseason Rank: 21
2014 Record: 19-5
Conference: Jeffco 
CHSAA Class: 4A
Head Coach: Adam Miller
Playoff Run: Lost to D'Evelyn 5-0 in 4A Final 4
2014 Final Rank: 11
Returning Starters: 4
Returning Pitchers: 3

TOP PLAYERS
Sylas Anderson, 3B, No. 102 2016

Damian Padilla, INF No. 11 2016
Travis Cowan, SS, 2017
Abraham Apodaca, C, No. 18 2018

OTHER PLAYERS THAT COULD MAKE AN IMPACT
Dominique Torez, RHP, 2016

X-FACTOR:
The Farmers will have to establish a few starters on the mound. Diego Garcia graduated in 2015 and was 6 and 0 last year with a 0.83 ERA. Look for Damian Padilla to lead the pitching staff.

KEY PLAYERS LOST:
Willie Harris: Abeline Christian
Diego Garcia: Graduated

STAT RAT:
Stolen Bases were a big part of the Wheat Ridge offense in 2015. They stole 42 bases last year, but 35 of those stolen bases graduated.

BOTTOM LINE:
Under head coach Adam Miller the Wheat Ridge Farmers have been one of the top teams in 4A since they moved out of the 5A Jeffco League down to 4A in 2009. The Farmers since then have won 114 and lost 45 games since then. Last year they were close to gaining that 4A title but had two tough losses to Green Mountain and D'Evelyn in the 4A state playoffs. This year the Farmers will have to reload after losing some D1 talent. Coming back is 2016 3B Sylas Anderson. Anderson hit .524 with 17 RBI's in 2015. He was also 3-0 on the mound with a 0.52 ERA in 13 innings pitched. 2017 SS Travis Cowan hit .389, and went 1-1 on the mound as well. Those two will be asked to have a more significant role on the mound in 2015. 2016 RHP Damian Padilla will take over the No. 1 option the mound after a successful 2015 campaign in which he went 6-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 48 innings pitched. 2018 catcher Abraham Apodaca will benefit from his experience starting as a freshman and will be solid behind the plate. Expect the Farmers to still be in the 4A playoff mix. They will have some new players step in and compete like all of Adam Miller's teams do.

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