2023 Utah Power 25 Rankings: Preseason Edition

With the high school season now upon us, we will continue our preseason team previews throughout the rest of the week, with top teams and eventual state champions from a year ago. With the official start of the season a few days ago, starting March 6th, with some non league matchups in the Southern Utah area, schools up north are fighting snow and weather, with very cold conditions. 

With such conditions, schools like Orem and Park City have relocated their game to Hurricane, on Wednesday, before the weekend tourney schedule kicks off. With over 20 schools descending on the St. George area for the annual pilgrimage of preseason tournaments. The opening weekend, will be a sun splashed Dixie tradition, with temperatures forecasted for the low to high 60's in Utah's Dixie, the sunshine and baseball will be a plenty. 

A list of schools arriving in Hurricane and St. George area are below:

Host: Dixie HS

Springville

Box Elder

Cedar

Bear River

Maple Mountain

Host: Snow Canyon

Spanish Fork

Uintah

Canyon View

Lehi

Syracuse

Host: Desert Hills / Pine View

Park City

Hunter

Wasatch

Juan Diego Catholic

Cyprus

Green Canyon

Carbon

Host: Crimson Cliffs

Westlake

Tooele

Herriman

Host: Pine View

 

 

As the rankings above and below suggests, it is always difficult to gauge rankings outside of the top 10-15 teams in the state. With the traditional powers, who consistently put up 20+ win seasons and produce talent at the college level more so than others, by and large they get the nods and spots above others. But to be clear, I’m sending out preseason coaches QA’s for team previews, and the coaches are asked to rank the top 5 teams in their region, as well as the top 5 teams in their classification.  That is weighed heavily and this is a 50/50 coaches poll, in combination with the dozen or more showcase events run by Prep Baseball Report throughout the state, in viewing the top players in showcase settings. In addition my subjective as well as objective view of how that top talent will play out on the field in leading their respective teams during the spring. So far over the past month, PBR Utah has seen 190 top uncommitted and committed players come through the Utah Preseason ID (72) and invite only Utah Preseason All-State (120). Also another factor is last summers prestigious regional and national level events with the Top Prospect Games, West Coast Games and the PBR Future Games. The vast majority of the top talent is spread throughout the top 20 ranked teams. On a larger note, 89% of all the college committed players in the state, have been to at least one PBR Utah event, with 72% coming multiple or 4-5 times throughout their HS careers. 

With personally attending close to 50 games throughout each of the past two spring seasons, the top players are seen at a rate, that fans, schools and coaches are limited to in scope. These players have been seen and tracked throughout the entirety of their HS careers. It’s easy to say one's SS is the best SS in the state on a social media post, but when that person is limited to the talent they see only in their region and when that SS is a JUCO commit and half a dozen other SS’s are D1 commits or a pro prospect, its taken as a grain of salt. As a former scout, the network that has been built and opportunities to see players are vast, top players are the ones that for the most part carry a team to a high standing. Now gelling that talent together is on the coaches and cohesiveness of the team members.  

I will always lean towards top producing coaches and their track records, regardless of that years talent on the club. Of note, more 5A/6A teams make up the top rankings, because of the amount of teams in those classes, but a 3A/4A team that has a deep college talent pool or a stud ace or two that are committed to a college, that has to be considered. Because on any given day a top pitcher, such as Oklahoma State RHP-Janzen Keisel (Gunnison HS) will shut down any team in the state 8-10 times over the course of a season, regardless of his teams classification! Also when a team is invited from a lower classification to play in a prestigious in-state 6A tourney, that lower class is definitely doing something right, such as a Crimson Cliffs HS that has 6 college commits dotting its roster, with all 3 rotation members on the mound committed to colleges, plus the catcher and SS. Teams are built up the middle of the diamond.

Also factored in, is the strength of a particular region and how many winning teams are in that region and how many patsies are there as well. If a region has a team or multiple teams that fail to win even 10 games and are routinely giving up absurd amounts of runs to other teams, a quality team can’t control this, but it does have to be factored in as to why a win total can be padded and stats altered in a negative light as to their validity. As I’ve pointed out, many can put a list of teams together based on stats and what they’ve heard, but players and teams have to be seen by someone credible and no one does it better than Prep Baseball Report. I have a vast network that I trust to gather intel, on top of my own looks, which is the ultimate source!   

 

2022 Win-Loss Records

   * State Champion

 

1	American Fork	6A	25-8
2	* Crimson Cliffs	4A	23-4
3	* Riverton	6A	25-8
4	Orem	5A	28-4
5	* Lehi	5A	22-11
6	Pleasant Grove	6A	20-11
7	Fremont	6A	27-3
8	Timpanogos	5A	18-10
9	* Juan Diego Catholic	3A	16-12
10	Bear River	4A	21-7
11	Snow Canyon	4A	22-12
12	Jordan	5A	21-8
13	Dixie	4A	23-6
14	Spanish Fork	5A	22-6
15	Bingham	6A	23-7
16	Olympus	5A	23-10
17	Park City	5A	17-10
18	Springville	5A	13-17
19	Juab	3A	22-7
20	Cottonwood	5A	19-9
21	Salem Hills	5A	20-13
22	Farmington	6A	22-11
23	Desert Hills	4A	15-14
24	Taylorsville	6A	23-6
25	Skyridge	6A	16-12

 

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JEFF SCHOLZEN (BIO)

Scholzen was brought on as the Utah Scouting Director for Prep Baseball Report after serving 9 years as the Four Corners Scouting Supervisor with the Milwaukee Brewers (2011-2020). Prior to his run with the Brewers, Scholzen worked for the Los Angeles Angels for 11 years (1999-2010), serving in a similar capacity as the Four Corners Scouting Supervisor. In all, Scholzen served as a full-time scout for 20 years. Scholzen also received a 2002 World Series ring for his contributions as a scout. 

With the Angels, Scholzen created an Angels Scout Team, in which he coached the likes of current and former major league players: Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Greg Bird, Tyler Wagner, Aaron Blair, Joey Rickard, Donn Roach, Johnny Field, Taylor Cole and Paul Sewald to name a few. During his run with the the Angels, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Angels rookie ball affiliate with the Pioneer League Orem Owlz, helping guide the Owlz to the 2005 and 2007 Pioneer League titles.

Prior to becoming a professional scout, Scholzen served as the head coach at Southern Utah University between 1993-1997. At the time, Scholzen was the youngest Division I head coach when he was first hired at 24 years old. The Southern Utah baseball program was dropped after the 2012 season. While coaching at Southern Utah, Scholzen served as the hitting coach for the Alaska Goldpanners in 1995, as they won the Alaska League Championship. 

A native of Utah, Scholzen played at Hurricane HS and was twice named 1st team All-State and an AAU HM All-American, before moving on to Utah Valley CC and Eastern Oregon University, earning All-Conference honors on three separate occasions. Scholzen played in the Angels’ organization from 1991-1992.