The 2024 Georgia 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 Georgia.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons in mid-May inside one of Coolray Field, AdventHealth Stadium, or JI Clements Stadium at Georgia Southern University. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Georgia. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews, eventually releasing our Preseason Power 25 rankings that’ll carry us into the opening week of action.

Please keep checking back throughout the season as we will be your one-stop shop for everything related to high school baseball across the state. Each week we will be releasing our Players of the Week and updating the Power 25 rankings.

Our 2024 preseason coverage continues today.

High School: Pickens Dragons
Head Coach: Adam Williams
Classification: 3A
2023 Record (Finish): 29-7 (Sweet 16)
Team X Handle: @phsbaseballga

Team Strengths: Pitching and defense
No. of Returning Position Players: 7
No. of Returning Pitchers: 6

 

---

TOP SENIORS

• Connor Shouse, Georgia Tech commit
• James Tilley, Reinhardt commit
• Trace Ledbetter
• JP Nunn, Jacksonville State commit
• Trey Payne
• Cason Cannon, Columbus State commit
• Bodie Keener, Middle Georgia State commit
• Tate Hales

---

TOP JUNIORS

• Dawson Holland
• Cade Sutton
• Sam Hammontree

---

TOP UNDERCLASS FOLLOWS

• AJ Rice, 2026
• Christian Starks, 2026
• Kam Jenkins, 2026
• Dylan Walls, 2027
• Dawson Lowit, 2027
• Jennings Allen, 2027

---

TEAM OUTLOOK

Led by one of the most tooled-up players in the state and an abundance of talented, experienced pitching, Pickens brings a squad that can improve from an impressive 29 wins a year ago. Georgia Tech commit RHP/SS Connor Shouse is SP1 as well as the driving force behind the offense. Committed seniors RHP James Tilley (Reinhardt), RHP JP Nunn (Jacksonville State) and RHP Cason Cannon (Columbus State) give the Dragons a battle-tested group to fill multiple spots among the rotation and bullpen. RHP/2B AJ Rice was a strong performer as a freshman, and looks forward to an even bigger role as a two-way starter after a really strong summer and fall. Fellow sophomores Kam Jenkins will be a focal point as the starting catcher for this impressive staff as well as Christian Starks, who is likely to fill multiple roles this spring. Senior Trey Payne and junior Dawson Holland return in the outfield after big showings in the playoffs last year and are ready to be all-region players this spring. The Dragons won their first region championship in school history in 2023, and I believe this team has even higher aspirations than that.

---

RELATED CONTENT