Utah HS Team Preview: Olympus HS

Utah HS Team Previews - Olympus Titans

Opening Day is around the corner, try outs have been scheduled starting Feb 27th, and rosters are soon to be set. The Utah High School Activities Association has announced that opening day of the 2022 season will commence on Monday March 6th. Jeff Scholzen (Utah Scouting Director) begins the 2023 season coverage with our annual preseason team previews, where we will take notes from coaches, and highlight returning players, newcomers, and some sleepers. Over the next couple of weeks and leading up to opening day, we will be highlighting some of the top programs in the state with our team previews.

As our ardent readers are aware, Team Previews are answered by the Head Coaches of those programs and the scouting reports embedded in the PBR player profiles of the top players, are written by state scouting director Jeff Scholzen, the states only full-time MLB Area Scouting supervisor ever. 

With data partners Trackman Baseball, the leaders in measuring the ball flight and its characteristics off the bat for position players and out of the hand for pitchers. No one does it better. Blast Motion captures key swing metrics in evaluating the efficiency of the swing and where a player's swing is good or bad and what needs to be worked on. Swift Performance measures power output as an athlete with the EZ jump mat and collecting not only the 60 yard dash, but the 10 and 30 yard dashes as well. 3M technology measures key pitching mechanics and how the delivery through the body moves in sequence to produce and provide a more effortless and efficient delivery. 

This season as in every past season, stats are collected across the state at the end of that week's play, with input from coaches, assistant coaches and ultimately myself in putting together comprehensive player content on a weekly basis with the following. 

1. Weekly Utah Power 25 Overall Team Rankings (Monday)

2. Player and Pitcher of the Week, along with other notable player performances (Tuesday)

3. Player Spotlights throughout the spring of top players who are making their mark on the HS scene in capturing college recruiting looks. 

4. I will be scouting games throughout the state and posting player videos on Twitter for college marketing purposes on a weekly basis and in some cases where action is flowing and games are staggered, such as the preseason tourneys down south on a daily basis. 

Quick Footnote: Only 7% of all HS baseball players will play college baseball and the elite of that group, which consists of only 2% will play at the D1 level. These are the players I’m watching and gleaning information on. This is determined by objective data from events, as well as the subjective eye evaluations, honed from my 30 years at the college and professional level. 

School History: Olympus High School is a public high school in the Granite School District in Holladay, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The school opened on September 1, 1953, with an original enrollment of 1028 students. In the fall of 1960, the largest entering sophomore class (the graduating class of 1963) in Utah's history (an estimated 935) enrolled. Two years later the overcrowding was reduced when the new Skyline High was completed. In April 2013, the new Olympus High School building was opened for classes adjacent to the original school. The original building was torn down after 60 years of operation.

Throughout its history, Olympus has been one of the leading academic public high schools in the state. In 1961 its orchestral and vocal music program was recognized as one of the nation's finest by the Ford Foundation, which funded a composer-in-residence for the school, an award shared with schools throughout the Granite School district. (Wikipedia)

Olympus by the Numbers

Head Coach: Corland Felts (Former Utah catcher 1994-1997, who Jeff Scholzen coached against in college)

State Classification/Region: 5A / Region 6

Two Year Win-Loss Record: 

2022: 23-9

2021: 26-4

Number of State Tourney Appearance in last 10 Years: 10

Number of State Titles games in the last 10 Years: 2

Number of State Titles in the last 10 Years: 0

Keys to Success: Then and NOW

Jeff Scholzen’s after seeing a number of key players in PBR events over the course of the last two years and scouting the Titans on the spring and summer diamonds as well, the prognosis is below:

The Olympus Titans were a team built around a very productive offense, sprinkled in with some pitching and blended well as a unit, coached by a former D1 catcher in Corland Felts in 2021. The key offensive ingredient moved in from accosts town in transfer CF-Mic Paul. The pitching was headlined by a crafty pitchability LHP in Ashton Johnson, who on virtually every day he was on the mound, the Titans won! With Paul at the top of the lineup creating havoc and stealing bases and virtually any single, could become a double at any time, Johnson who was an automatic weapon on the mound, was equally as dominating at the plate as well. You add in Soph 3B-Jacob Faust and his two way talent on the mound as well and some other surrounding pieces, the Titans were now primed for a two year run into 2022, that saw them amass a win-loss record of 49-13 over the past two seasons. After making a deep run and being upset in the state tourney, the pieces were in place to try and finish things out in 2022. Matt Thomas-RHP, along with Corbin Sanchez, Jacob Faust, Mic Paul and Ashton Johnson, the Titans offensively and defensively had the ingredients to make a run at the 5A state title and that’s what they did. 

With Ashton Johnson going 19-3 on the mound over a two year period with an insane amount of strikeouts, 239 in total to lead the state in back to back years, Mic Paul, Corbin Sanchez, Ashton Johnson and Jacob Faust led a powerful offense all the way to the state title game against upstart Lehi, who caught fire in region play. With a combined 40 2B’s from Sanchez, Paul and Johnson, this team had pitching and hitting to beat any team in any class on any given day. But it was not meant to be, as Lehi and Olympus remained tied 3-3 headed into extra innings and Lehi would walk off the Titans in the bottom of the 8th to win 4-3 and capture their 1st ever baseball state championship. 

Johnson would be a member of the PBR West Coast Games roster and be named PBR Pitcher of the Week 5 times over the course of two seasons, has now taken his pitching talent to College of Southern Idaho, while Mic Paul took his combination of lighting speed and powerful bat to perennial World Series powerhouse LSU, the Titans lost two HS star players that will be tough to replace. Jacob Faust is back for his senior season, after being named to the 2021 PBR Future Games and PBR West Coast Games. Sanchez took his speed and all around extra base hit game to the northwest at Treasure Valley CC. Sanchez’s younger brother Cayman (2026) could see significant time on the mound as a freshman, as he is an all around athletic advanced talent for a 15 year old. His inclusion could cause a needed lift from a younger source and be a potential shot in the arm on the pitching front, as well as a high contact line drive bat somewhere in the lineup. 

The Titans replaced the bats of Johnson and Paul with two more potential star players in their own right. Luke Taylor the states highest ranked 2024 catcher and #3 overall talent, transferred back to his home school after two years at nearby Skyline, and is now a USC commit and underclass area code and PBR Future Games alum in his own right, while Jaxon Fox who hit over .400 as the starting catcher at also nearby Cottonwood, bring two versatile defenders behind the dish, while Taylor will also see time at 3B and Fox potentially at SS. The pitching will be the key, but scoring runs could make up for that key element. But you can’t rely on just one aspect of the game to carry a team, although the hitting will be a big component for the Titans. 

In the end it will come down to a rebuilt pitching staff and Taylor and Fox blending their offense with Faust and senior 2B and top of the order spark plug Luke Affleck and OF-Jackson Godfrey to form a nucleus to power the Titans this spring. Stay tuned…

Key Returners with Class/Position

Luke (LT) Taylor C / 3B / Olympus, UT / 2024 Rankings  State Rank: 3 / POS: 1 Overall Rank: 354 / POS: 25   Committed: USC 10/30/22 2021 PBR Future Games 2022 UC Reds Area Code Team 10/30/22 Taylor has been one of our mainstays at our invite only events and was a breakout prospect at the Future Games in 2021. A toolsy player over skill right now, but soaks up instruction and lives and breathes the game. Once Taylor stepped in the box for the BP portion of the workout, it got quiet, as he launched a few high and deep to straightaway left and LCF, that brought rain on a couple. A fast bat that can produce bat speeds from 73-79 mph, with a slight uphill path and HR type stroke. Spreads out in an even prop square stance with his hands held deep and over his back foot to get his bat into a ready position, to just turn the barrel as he loads into his backside. Gets to quality separation and explodes his hands into the baseball with very projectable strength and future big raw power. The defense continues to improve. Still young and just turned 17, Taylor, still with two years left in HS, the best is yet to come.  6/23/22 Saw Luke quite a bit this past week in SoCal with his ‘24 Trosky National team and he was really good with the bat and had 5 hits in 4 games w/2 2B’s and a long HR to LF. Taylor looks to be catching his stride and is gaining further attention, now that he’s back on the recruiting trail. The bat has big upside w/loft, bat speed and natural leverage for better than avg to potential + pwr moving forward. The tools behind the plate are developing nicely for a 16 yr old. Shows the soft hands to catch and works his thumb underneath the ball to steal pitches for K’s. The arm has improved from some inconsistencies in bouncing one hoppers in the past, to now showing online accurate throws through the bag w/some 1.90-2.00 pop times.

Jacob Faust OF / RHP / Olympus , UT / 2023 Rankings  State Rank: 47 / POS: 9   Uncommitted 2022 1st Team All-Region / HM 5A All-State 8/14/22 ‘21 A Future Game alum that I’ve seen quite a bit, but it’s been 5 months since my last look and Jake has smoothed out his swing and the ball jumps as it did a year ago, and there’s less violence. During the workout phase of the West Coast Games, the sweet spot found his barrel often, as he showed feel time up the baseball to the pull side w/solid rhythm and timing. The arm from the OF has some LTQ shoulder restriction from back to front/release. This makes the ball tail and go off like and he needs to work on his accuracy of his throws. Does run well for a big kid and has always been in the 6.8-6.9/60 range, every runner at the WCG’s was .2-.3 slower than their normal times, due to heavy rain the night before the workout, causing the running track to be slow. Jake’s tools are his running ability and he looks to steal bases and takes a good turn at 1B, while being aggressive in looking for xtra bases. Jake can hit velocity and when he is going right, he can juice the baseball from the pull side to RCF and does show pull side power, but he’s more of hard, xtra base to the wall type power. Needs to work on his defense, and instincts on the other side of the ball. But the metrics are there, the instincts to hit are there and he was a key cog in the middle of Olympus’ order, as the Titans were walked off in the deciding game 3 of the two of three format for the 5A Utah State Championship!

Luke Affleck SS / 2B / Olympus, UT / 2023 Rankings  State Rank: 50 / POS: 9   Uncommitted 2022 1st Team All-Region / HM 5A All-State 7/12/22 Positional Profile: SS/2B Hits: RHH. Power: 89 max exit velocity, averaged 84.3 MPH. 309' max distance. Arm: RH. INF-71 mph . Defense: Run: 6.97 runner in the 60. Vizual Edge: 75.88 Edge Score Affleck had a really good junior season, as he was a driving force in the offensive cog, in taking Olympus on the verge of a state title. With a .385 BA, Affleck also produced 4 2B's, 5 3B's and 5 HR's with 29 RBI and 37 base hits. A sparkplug type player, Affleck looks to replicate his junior campaign and be a driving force at the top of the order and crossing home plate. A college would do well to grab this kid and plug him into 2B and has good makeup and grinds out AB's and plays hard with grit.

Jaxon Fox SS / C / Olympus, UT / 2024 Rankings  State Rank: 26 / POS: 6   Uncommitted 7/12/22 Positional Profile: C/2B Hits: RHH. Power: 92 max exit velocity, averaged 84.9 MPH. 346' max distance. Arm: RH. C-71, 70, 71, 68, 70 mph. INF-80 mph . Defense: Run: 7.22 runner in the 60. Vizual Edge: 76.54 Edge Score 10/30/22 After hitting.439 at Cottonwood HS with  6 2B's, Fox had a good summer and looks to build off his SS look at the Top Prospect Games, as he is versatile and shows the ability to stay in the dirt and play the middle, whether that's at 2B or behind the plate at the next level. A top JC or D2 school would be served well to grab Fox and utilize him as a swiss army knife of sorts, in playing him all around the field of play. A grinder, that plays with passion and gets after it, with a high contact rate and squares balls on a line to all fields.    11/21/21 (Very similar package as the previous event in June) Not much has changed, except you can see some added confidence and swag now) Jaxon impressed me with his athleticism and overall movement patterns. Behind the plate, his receive and exchange of the baseball was solid and although his times were BA (2.04-2.11), his throws were to the bag and at times through the bag. The feet will get quicker has he gains weight and overall strength. From SS he showed solid actions and addressed the ball while syncing his hands and feet well. He showed confidence and was relaxed while taking his GB’s. The feet and glove exchange into his throwing mechanics were sound and coordinated! The arm is loose and fluid and his throws were online. The arm this go around was one of the better at the event, as he was 80 mph across the diamond. The bat once again showed projection as well. His lower 1/2 synced well with his load into the launch phase and his bat path was smooth and had a 65% plane efficiency. I look for this kid to improve in spades as he gets older and fills out an athletic frame. Want to see more and look forward to the fall to see the improvement that I believe wholeheartedly is in there!

2023 Jackson Godfrey-OF

2022 Stats : BA .343 with 5 2B's, 3 3B's and 20 RBI

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