Baseball Top 20 watchlist: Here are key returners to monitor during the 2024 season

The 2024 high school baseball season is getting underway and Stanislaus District baseball teams are once again loaded with talent.

Pitman High won the Central California Athletic League title and made a deep playoff push last season with a senior-heavy team while Central Catholic won a Valley Oak League title, Sac-Joaquin Section title and Northern California regional championship with a team made of mostly sophomores and juniors, meaning the Raiders will be looking to repeat with a ton of players who have played on California’s biggest baseball stage.

Ripon Christian also won a blue banner last season and brings back a number of key contributors.

Throughout the area are a number of players who worked hard over the offseason to improve and hope to see their production increase in 2024. There are a number of 2023 All-League, All-SJS and All-District players back for another season and some who will grow into new roles this spring.

Here is a list of 20 baseball returners to watch for this spring:

Adrian Garcia, Senior, Central Catholic

A Fresno State signee, Garcia was one of the section’s best pitchers in his junior campaign. His 89 strikeouts were good for 15th-best in the region. At the plate, he drove in 28 runs. None were bigger than the RBI double he sent to the outfield in a walk-off win to secure the Division III section championship.

Beau Blake, Junior, Turlock Christian

On a 2023 team statistically led by seniors Gavin Farinha and Rob York, Blake still found a way to make his mark. He led the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII finalist Eagles in batting average (.459), hits (34) and doubles (10).

Carson Gonzales, Senior, Turlock

Gonzales made an impact on varsity last season, batting .256 with 20 hits, 13 RBI, four extra base hits and 18 runs scored and securing a 4-2 record and 1.44 ERA on the mound. As a senior so far he’s only gotten better. Through the Bulldogs’ first three games, he is hitting .571 with four hits, five RBI, a double and a triple while striking out an impressive 21 batters and giving up just one hit in nine innings pitched.

Dawson Downs, Senior, Ripon

Downs is a four-year varsity player with some eye-popping career numbers. He boasts a .359 batting average with 93 hits, 66 RBI, 21 doubles and 69 runs scored. Last season, he was 15th in the section in runs scored (37). He led Ripon in runs (37), hits (34) and triples (4) and led the team to the TVL championship and a quarterfinals appearance in the D-IV section playoffs.

Dustin Hoekstra, Senior, Ripon Christian

Hoekstra joined Grant Sonke as one of the most productive offensive players in the area on a championship squad. Hoekstra was 18th in California in RBI (38) and finished second on the team in a number of offensive categories, tallying 40 hits, 10 doubles and hitting .430.

Giovanni Lunardi, Junior, Modesto

Lunardi was a steadying presence for the Panthers last season as he led the team with 20 hits and 14 RBI as a sophomore. He finished second in doubles (8), third on the team in batting average (.345) and tied for third in runs scored.

Grant Sonke, Senior, Ripon Christian

In 2023, Sonke finished 15th in California in RBI (40), first in runs (55) and seventh in stolen bases (40) in an overall impressive season for the Sac-Joaquin Section champion Knights. So far this season, he has five hits with three doubles and an RBI in 13 at bats.

Jaxen Rowland, Senior, Downey

Rowland is back for his final varsity season after helping the Knights to a Division II playoff appearance last season. In 2023, he batted .379 with 22 hits and 15 RBI and scored 14 runs for a team that relied heavily on its senior leaders. He was also one of three junior pitchers who earned three wins and had a 2.50 ERA.

JC Lupercio, Junior, Hughson

Lupercio finished the 2023 campaign among the 25 top runs scorers in California, crossing home plate 41 times. He also finished 14th in the Sac-Joaquin Section in on base percentage .614. He led the Huskies in batting average (.482), hits (40) and stolen bases (17) and struck out just four times last year.

Josh Ramirez, Junior, Turlock

Ramirez was the only non-senior on the CCAL’s 2023 All-League First Team, earning the nod after a stellar sophomore season. He is one of the area’s best infielders defensively and on offense, he hit .395 with a team-high 14 RBI and 32 hits. He added five doubles and a triple last year.

Kaden Prine, Junior, Denair

During his sophomore season, Prine was one of the section’s best pitchers, finishing 10th in ERA (0.58) and eighth in strikeouts (100). At the plate, he batted a team-high .341 with 15 hits and five doubles. This season, Prine threw a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts against Johansen in a 1-0 win.

Kannon Sharpe, Senior, Enochs

Sharpe returns for his senior season after finishing the 2023 campaign with a 1.38 ERA and team-best 5-2 record with three complete games and two shutouts in 10 appearances. A University of San Francisco signee, Sharpe is 1-0 as of March 6 in his lone start so far this season.

Landon Schutte, Sophomore, Oakdale

Schutte was one of the few Stanislaus District freshmen to make a big impact at the varsity level last season. He finished third on the team in batting average and second in RBI, home runs and triples for the Division III playoff team. He followed up a stellar freshman campaign with a strong start to his sophomore season. Schutte and the Mustangs are already off to a 4-0 start. He is batting .462 and leads the team with a pair of home runs, 7 RBI and six hits.

Max Medina, Sophomore, Patterson

Medina struck out 22 batters in 19.1 innings of work as a freshman and hit .342 at the plate with 13 hits, five extra bases, and scored 20 runs. Medina helped the Tigers reach the Division III section playoffs where he earned a hit against Pioneer. Medina already has five hits with a pair of doubles and four RBI early in the season.

Nate Lozano, Senior, Patterson

In his junior season, Lozano finished second on the team in RBI and tied for first in doubles. So far in his senior campaign, he has four hits in the team’s four games with a double. On the mound, he finished with an impressive 5-1 record last season with a 3.18 ERA.

Noah Cruz, Senior, Downey

Similar to Rowland, Cruz will likely be expected to produce more this season after a solid junior campaign for the Knights. He hit .354 last season with 22 hits, 13 RBI, three doubles and scored 15 runs.

Owen Wilbur, Senior, Ripon

Last season, Wilbur was statistically one of the best power hitters in the state, hitting eight homers, ninth best in California. In 2023 he finished second on the team with 29 RBI, third in hits (28), third in runs scored (24) and was tied with Downs for first on the team in doubles (9).

Robert McDaniel, Junior, Hughson

McDaniel’s seven home runs in 2023 ranked fifth in the Sac-Joaquin Section and his 36 RBI was seventh. He finished second on the team in doubles (10) while finishing as the team’s leader in at bats while scoring 24 runs.

Seth Van Dyk, Senior, Central Catholic

Van Dyk was reliable at third base both in the field and at the plate for the VOL, section and NorCal champion Raiders last season. He recorded 34 assists and 15 put outs in 54 chances and had a 90.7% fielding percentage. At the plate he finished top five on the team in hits, runs scored, doubles and batting average.

TP Wentworth, Senior, Central Catholic

A Clemson University commit and one of the best pitchers/outfielders in the nation, Wentworth returns for what the Raiders are hoping will be a big senior campaign. Last season he was one of the few pitchers in the nation with two no hitters and finished 16th in California in strikeouts (115). At the plate, he ended the season seventh in the section in home runs (6), 11th in the section in runs scored (38) and fifth in wins (9). He went a perfect 9-0 in 13 pitching appearances as a junior.

▪ Did we miss someone? Let us know about baseball players ready for big seasons at qhamilton@modbee.com.