The 2023 high school baseball season is quickly approaching and as usual, excitement abounds 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 Washington.

Teams across the state have goals and aspirations to finish their seasons at the State Tournament, but there is plenty of work to be done before that becomes reality. We hope to familiarize our readers with many of the teams across the state as we preview individual teams across Washington. We will take you right up to first pitch this season with these team previews and eventually releasing our preseason Top 25 teams in the state.

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 Top 25 teams in the state.

High School Name: Lake Washington

Coach’s Name: Derek Bingham

Classification: 3A

No. of Returning Positional Starters: 5

No. of Returning Pitchers: 3

Team Strengths: Depth and strength up the middle. Kangs return a number of key players and will look for some newcomers to step up in key roles. 

Top Returning Players
‘23 Carsen Mann (Tacoma CC)
‘23 Aiden Carlson
‘25 Brady O’Cain
‘23 Camden Gillespie (Edmonds CC)
‘23 Paxton Fenberg
‘23 Matteo Droz (Edmonds CC)
‘25 Shane Johnson

Prospects includes all players within the program who have PBR profiles, it does not indicate Varsity status

2023 Prospects:
'23 Cooper Neilson

2024 Prospects:
'24 Aaron Kaufman
'24 William Martin

2025 - 2026 Prospects: 
‘25 Mason Smithwick
‘25 Marcello Giusti
‘25 Ryan Hartnett
‘25 Gavin Johnson
'26 Will Cooley
'26 Asher Crossley
'26 Kane Nishikawa
'26 Cooper Vincent

Team Outlook:
Look for pitching to be a strength for the Kangs this season as the top of the rotation is well established with the likes of Shane Johnson, Paxton Fenberg, Matteo Droz and Carsen Mann all set to likely accumulate a bulk of the innings. Johnson was 1st team All King Co in 2022 as a Freshman. Fenberg pitches angry with a heavy FB and aptitude for spin. Droz can really make for some uncomfortable ABs with his lower arm slot and sinking FB. It will be tough to replace league MVP and All State player ‘22 Colton Kennedy (Utah Valley commit) from last season but there are multiple pieces in place to help ease the burden of that lost productivity. Especially with 2 seniors up the middle in ‘23 Carsen Mann and ‘23 Camden Gillespie who both bring stout defensive ability at key spots while also serving as offensive catalysts. Mann has a more patient approach with the ability to split the gaps and turn on the jets once he’s underway. Gillespie has steadily emerged as one of the more powerful bats in the class and has proven to be able to get to his power stroke in game when it counts. A couple of key bats who will look to protect Mann and Gillespie throughout the year are ‘23 Aiden Carlson and ‘25 Brady O’Cain. Both who have experience to build upon from last year. We could also see ‘25 Ryan Hartnett and ‘25 Mason Smithwick contributing this year based on what they flashed at preseason events leading into the season. The Kangs finished with a record of 18-6 this year and were 1 win away from making it to the 3A final four. Given the key pieces of the senior class returning and another year of development for their underclassmen, they look like a strong bet to make another deep run into the playoffs in 2023.

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