POSTSEASON PRIME 31: 3-2

3. BROCK KETELSEN

Senior, center field-pitcher, Valley Christian

The Skinny: Valley Christian's baseball season ended about a month ago, but Brock Ketelsen hasn't stopped moving. There was a senior trip to Hawaii that was followed by a couple of days at the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix, two days of hanging out with the nation's top draft prospects and going through outfield drills, batting practice and meetings with interested teams. The Mets might be interested, if you're curious, but it would take a big payday for him not to walk onto the Stanford University campus in the fall, he said. Since the Combine, he has landed in Corvalis, Oregon, home of the Knights, a group of college-age ballplayers from all over the country. Stanford placed Ketelsen there and he'll spend the summer getting acclimated to college pitching. It's a jump, but Ketelsen has adjusted to every level he's ascended to. At Valley, after what he calls a sub-par junior season, he was one of the WCAL's top centerfielders in 2025 and shocked even himself by being named the league's pitcher of the year. "I never thought that would happen," he said. "I was just happy to pitch, and my goal was to be the best closer in the Bay Area." By the end of the season, Ketelsen was a mainstay on a rotation that featured Quinten Marsh (Stanford), Kole Laubach (UC-Santa Barbara) and Rohan Kasanagottu (Southern California) and in the Warriors' biggest game of the year – the CCS-Division I title game against Serra – it was Ketelsen who got the start. "I wanted to compete," he said. "I wanted to get the last guy out every time I pitched." Perhaps his best game of the year was a 3-1 victory over St. Ignatius Prep in the WCAL semifinals. He threw a season-high 111 pitches, allowing just a run in 5 2/3 innings, but saved the game by going over the fence in left-centerfield to rob Archer Horn of the game-tying home run with two out in the seventh. Most impressive about the catch, might have been that he called it, yelling to right fielder Quinten Marsh what was about to happen. "I just had a feeling," he said. "Archer had come close earlier in the game. He was swinging it well." Marsh was impressed by the prediction. "That was wild," Marsh said. "It was a super cool moment and watching it up close was great."

Season Highlight: The trip to Las Vegas, where Valley won the All-Faith's Classic turned around the season for the Warriors, who has been struggling with their bats up to that point, but the week in the desert proved to get them back on track. "We knew we were capable of more," he said. "We knew we were a great team, and we got to play some great teams down there. We were beating them. That was a great way for us to show what we could be when we were firing on all cylinders. We could compete with anyone."

"It would be amazing to get drafted, to see how high I go. Anything can happen. Right now, the goal is for me to go to Stanford."

The Numbers Tell the Story: Ketelsen allowed just nine runs in 51 1/3 innings, while recording three saves. Offensively, he had 33 hits and scored 32 runs.

Eye-Popping Stat: Ketelsen and teammate Quinten Marsh led the WCAL with 19 extra-base hits each. Ketelsen had five homers, four triples and 10 doubles.

What Others Say: "Brock is a great all-around player and two-way specialist. I'm super excited to be playing with hm next year at Stanford," – Quinten Marsh, Valley Christian senior

QUINTEN MARSH

Senior, utility, Valley Christian

The Skinny: Quinten Marsh was Valley Christian's North Star. Constant. Omnipotent. Always shining bright. Even when the Warriors were going through their offensive doldrums early in the season, it was Marsh who always seemed to have two or three hits each game. He was the WCAL's player of the year. And in a league where quality pitching – from Landon Kim and Nick Chow at Saint Francis to Jacob Vines at Sacred Heart Cathedral to Finn DeMuth and Chase Gordon at St. Ignatus Prep and Christian Duarte at Bellarmine – is in abundance, there's only one answer to how Marsh hit .700 in league play. He's just that much better than everyone else. Of course, you can also say he never had to face Valley's pitching staff. You get the feeling the Stanford signee still would have scratched out a few hits against what most would say was the deepest and most talented staff in Northern California and – perhaps – the entire state. And he was one of the key pieces on that staff.  "He’s the best player in Northern California,” said Valley senior right-hander Rohan Kasanagottu, who is headed to Southern California. “Quinten Marsh is just a phenomenal athlete. … He’s the ultimate competitor.” Marsh is a throwback. An all-around athlete who can play anywhere on the field and thrive. He was the kid who turned an early-season flyball against Wilcox – a sure double down the left-field line – into a triple with his exceptional speed. He was the southpaw who allowed just nine earned runs in 54 1/3 innings and the outfielder who committed just one error all season. And most of all, he was the model of consistency, the guy the opposition had to account for at all times. "He hit .700 in the WCAL. What more can you say? That's amazing," said Serra shortstop Ian Josephson, who watched Marsh collect two hits in the CCS-Division I championship game – a 3-2 Serra victory. The Padres got the last laugh when Marsh struck out looking at a Nate Hui curveball with the tying run at third to end the contest. That's baseball. Even the best of the best don't come through every time. Water under the bridge. Marsh has moved on. He's playing with the Lincoln Potters this summer and preparing for college. Marsh's goal is to continue pitching and taking his licks at the plate at Stanford, an uncommon occurrence in this age of specialization. "I just need to stay consistent in my training and confident in myself," he said. “I’m going to try and hit and pitch as long as I can. That’s very difficult because both sides of the field are so tough, so trying to focus on both of them can be really hard.”

Season Highlight: The Warriors found their stride in mid-April with a trip to Las Vegas. They announced their presence early on with a victory over nationally ranked St. Thomas Aquinas of San Bernardino and put an exclamation point on the tourney by beating nationally ranked Archbishop Moeller – the Cincinnati school that produced Hall of Fame outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. – in the championship game. "It's hard to choose a specific moment this year, but I enjoyed going down to Las Vegas and winning that tournament," Marsh said. "This team was a brotherhood and every single one of us wanted to win for each other."

"I don't really have a specific thing that I'm working on to improve. I would just say overall that I want to get stronger and faster and continue working on all facets of my game."

The Numbers Tell the Story: Marsh had a .602 on-base percentage and scored 21 runs. He slugged .780 and had a Peninsula-leading OPS of 1.382.

Eye-Popping Stat: In three seasons, Marsh threw 206 career innings and struck out 243 batters with an earned-run average of 1.76. Offensively, he has a career batting average at Valley of .364. He collected 123 hits at Valley, including 46 this year.

What Others Say: "He can do everything on the baseball field. I'm so excited we're going to Stanford together." – Brock Ketelsen, senior pitcher and centerfielder, Valley Christian.