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Preseason Preview: Sunrise Mountain

February 16, 2022
Paul Panaccione
Arizona Scouting Director

Sunrise Mountain High School | AZPreps365

Opening Day is around the corner, try outs have been held, and rosters are soon to be set. The Arizona Interscholastic Association has announced that opening day of the 2022 season will commence on Wednesday, February 23rd. The PBR Arizona staff begins its 2022 season coverage starting with our preseason team previews, where we will take notes from coaches, and highlight returning players, newcomers, and some sleepers. Over the next couple weeks and leading up to opening day, we will be highlighting some of the top programs in state in our team previews. PBR will also be publishing its state Power 25 rankings that will be updated every Monday once the season begins. Throughout the season, PBR will be pumping out coverage, highlighting individual players, games, rankings, scouting reports and nominating a player of the week. PBR looks forward to getting out there this spring to see some great baseball. 


Today, we look into:

Team: Sunrise Mountain High School (5A, Northwest)
2021 Record: 18-6
Head Coach: Michael Deardoff
Returning Starters: 4
Returning Pitchers: 4

OUTLOOK

As we gather info from coaching staffs, and come to a conclusion with our Preseason Power 25 Rankings, Coach Michael Deardoff and the Mustangs have hopes to top their State Runner-Up finish from last spring. Sunrise Mountain has lost a few key players, but not many holes have been left on this roster. Coach Deardoff believes the strength of this years roster will be the pitching staff. With three quality arms returning, and some promising youth coming in, the Mustangs have a pitching staff that will definitely be keeping them in a position to win ball games. Senior starting pitcher Ryne Palmer (Cal Baptist), will be the ace of the staff. We've seen Palmer continuously sharpen his game over the past calendar year, as the FB velo keeps climbing, and the SL is landing for strikes and showing its an out pitch. Senior pitchers Blake Hammond (Northwest Nazarene) and Cruz Oxford (Kansas Wesleyan) will be getting big innings in 2022 as well. 2024 LHP Griffen Clapp has also been an arm that's shown some big upside, as Coach Deardoff hopes he can step into a meaningful role within this staff. Sunrise Mountain's offense will be more of a scrappy offense that puts together team at-bats and grinds away the opponent. No doubt will the offense be led by 2022 C/SS Easton Talt (Oregon State). Talt has shown he belongs in the conversation with the best bats in the state, especially from the left side. This is a very mature hitter with plate discipline, zone awareness, bat speed, and barrel consistency. When the 2022 spring season is all said and done, we could be looking at one of the top offensive seasons being from Easton Talt.  

 

KEY PLAYERS LOST:

Name State School Class Position Commitment
Nick Lustig AZ Sunrise Mountain 2021 RHP/SS Ottawa
Alex Ramirez AZ Sunrise Mountain 2021 RHP/SS Phoenix College
Spencer Horwath AZ Sunrise Mountain 2021 3B Azusa Pacific
Adam Moser AZ Sunrise Mountain 2021 OF Iowa Lakes

TOP RETURNERS:

Name State School Class Position Commitment
Easton Talt AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 C/SS Oregon State
Ryne Palmer AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 RHP Cal Baptist
Cruz Oxford AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 RHP/1B Kansas Wesleyan
Blake Hammond AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 RHP/1B Northwest Nazarene
Zach Tincher AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 C -
Dawson Ellis AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 OF -

 

 

PRESEASON MVP:

Name State School Class Position Commitment
Easton Talt AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 C/SS Oregon State

 

 

TOP NEWCOMERS:

Name State School Class Position Commitment
Dawson Ellis AZ Sunrise Mountain 2022 OF -
Griffen Clapp AZ Sunrise Mountain 2024 LHP -
Matt Schulz AZ Sunrise Mountain 2023 RHP/1B -


 

UNDERCLASSMEN WATCHLIST:

Name State School Class Position Commitment
Bryce Madison AZ Sunrise Mountain 2025 LHP/1B -
Everrett Sanderson AZ Sunrise Mountain 2025 RHP/3B -
Gunnar Thomas AZ Sunrise Mountain 2025 SS/RHP -
Ryan Haseltine AZ Sunrise Mountani 2025 OF/C -
Brandon Ornelas AZ Sunrise Mountain 2024 SS -
Tanner Milner AZ Sunrise Mountain 2024 C/RHP -
Connor Mayer AZ Sunrise Mountain 2024 3B/RHP -
Andrew Balian AZ Sunrise Moountain 2024 C/RHP -


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