PRESEASON PRIME: 20-16

20. Rallin Covey

Sacred Heart Prep - pitcher - senior

The Skinny: Ralin Covey has turned the page on a 2025 season that was nowhere close to what he wanted. He recommitted himself to craft by getting back in the weightroom and finding success in the summer against some of the best players around at the Area Code All-Star Games. Now, the Southern California signee finds himself bigger, stronger and a better pitcher, just ready to enjoy his last season of high school baseball. “I just want to have fun with my teammates and not take anything for granted,” he said. “I’m really excited to compete again and get on the mound even more than previous offseasons so I can show off all of that hard work.” The hard-throwing right-hander is up to 220 pounds and a ton of momentum. “I think I ended the high school season on a high note by pitching well in my last outing against The King’s Academy,” he said. “That gave me some momentum going into the summer. I just trusted the process after that and kept improving. That culminated with my Area Code outing where I definitely felt like I was back.” That’s bad news for the PAL-Ocean Division, which now must contend with a new team and a pitcher with the ability to dominate with his fastball. He also throws a split-change slider and added a sinker this offseason.

He Said it: “I haven’t gotten on (radar) gun this winter. Almost everything I do is somehow related to increasing velocity, but it also is rarely the sole focus. I’ve put a lot of work into improving as an all-around pitcher.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: He struck out 55 batters in 44 innings but went just 1-6 with a 4.45 earned-run average last season.

Eye-Popping Stat: Covey has struck out 159 batters in 151 innings pitched for the Gators. If his season goes as he’s planning, he’ll blow past 200 career whiffs, something few Peninsula pitchers have ever done.

19. Jacob Vines

Sacred Heart Cathedral - pitcher - senior

The Skinny: In 2025, the WCAL pitching landscape was littered with Division I talent. Jacob Vines is one of the few who is back in 2026, and he’s ready to show his stuff as a senior before heading the University of the Pacific. Vines spent the fall in the weight room, “getting as strong as possible and moving weight fast. I’ve been making sure every rep has a purpose so I can be the best player possible.” Vines hasn’t been timed on a radar gun since the summer but expects to be around 91-93 mph and improving on that number as the season progresses. The fastball is his primary pitch, but he’s also confident with his curveball and developed a harder slider in the offseason. The Irish finished near the bottom of the WCAL standings last year, but playing in one of Northern California’s toughest leagues and playing a strong non-league schedule was enough for them to have their named called when the CCS tournament seeding came out. “I’m very excited and confident in our team this year. We have a lot of pitching and we are going to make some noise this year.”

He Said It: “It feels good to be known. I have high expectations for this season, and I have worked very hard to get to where I am now.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Vines went 5-3 with a 2.01 earned-run average. He struck out 81 batters in 52.1 innings.

Eye-Popping Stat: Opposing hitters hit just .193 against him in 2025.

18. Brady Simon

Los Gatos - centerfield - senior

The Skinny: Brady Simon never spent a day at the junior varsity level. He was eased into the starting lineup late in his freshman year and has been there ever since. When the Wildcats open the season on Feb. 24 at Menlo-Atherton in the second annual Battle for Atherton, it will mark Simon’s third opening-day start. “I feel like I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable each year,” he said. “That’s mostly just because I've been able to play to the standard that (Los Gatos) has and that our coach sets out for us. I've been able to get comfortable with the team, grow relationships and stuff like that.” The senior centerfielder who is still undecided on where he’ll play ball and attend school in the fall, was a key player in Los Gatos’ run to the CCS-Division I semifinals and the NorCal semifinals. “It was a long year, but it was a good grind, for sure,” he said. “We were so close as a team, and I felt like that was a big reason as to why we went so far. We were just fighting for another practice with each other every single game.” Replicating last year won’t be easy, but Simon says it’s his responsibility to help show Los Gatos’ underclassmen how they are expected to perform each game. “As a senior, I have to really, show everyone who hasn’t played on varsity yet how things are and what the standard is.”

He Said It: “We play in a really weird ballpark that’s deep to left-center field, so I really just try to stay right-center. Our whole team does this because that's the shortest part of the park. So yeah, that's worked for me. And even going to other fields that have short porches, I still just try to stay that way.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Simon hit .349 with 29 hits, 21 runs scored and 19 RBI as a junior.

Eye-Popping Stat: Simon had a .500 on-base percentage in 2025.

17. Tanner Wall

Saint Francis - outfield - senior

The Skinny: Over the last month of the 2025 season, Tanner Wall’s bat caught fire. He was finding gaps and the injured ankle that slowed him down early on finally felt good again. Wall found his spot in the No. 3 hole and the Lancers, with talent all around him, took off offensively. “I finally felt 100 percent, able to get my legs underneath me and was feeling more connected,” he said. Saint Francis made it to the CCS-Division I semifinals and then made a run in the NorCal-Division II tournament, getting all the way to the championship game before falling to Yuba City. Not to worry, the Lancers return more talent than any team in the WCAL – seven position players and a designated hitter – including Wall. “We’re returning a very experienced and sturdy team this year,” he said. “We’re super fired up for this season.”  In a lineup filled with plenty of speed, Wall fits in perfectly with gap-to-gap power, but he is quick to point out that he’ll turn on an inside pitch if it’s to his liking. Wall will continue his baseball career in college, signing recently with Pepperdine University in Malibu. “The culture that they are cultivating there really resonated with me,” he said. “And it’s a beautiful campus with a lot of great people as well.”

He Said It: "I was feeling great going gap to gap and being able to use my speed to leg out that extra base.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Wall was an All-WCAL first-team selection by hitting .352 with 31 hits, 17 runs scored and 18 RBI. He also stole eight bases.

Eye-Popping Stat: Wall collected 14 extra base hits – seven doubles, five triples and two home runs, to finish with a team-leading .614 slugging percentage.

16. Carter Bader

Palo Alto - catcher - senior

The Skinny: As a catcher, Carter Bader said he’s always been a leader. He’s been behind the plate for Palo Alto High since his sophomore year, but now that he’s a senior, the leadership role has been ramped up to 11. “Now I’m at that age where people expect it,” Bader said. He can live with that. He’s a catcher. “I like commanding the field and thinking about the game from behind the plate. I get to think about a lot. I get to think about pitch calling. I get to think about situations – a bunch of situations.” Bader, who will attend Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington in the fall, is a good defensive catcher who might be a better hitter. Last year, he was a key piece to an offense that was loaded with hitters. Batting in the No. 3 or cleanup spot all year, he led the Vikings in runs batted in. It started early for him by collecting three hits and driving in a pair in the season opener, a 4-3 loss to Saint Francis that set the tone for a season where he never cooled down. “I think a lot of people thought we were going to get blown out by Saint Francis, but we competed,” he said. “Being able to score runs against a WCAL team that was pretty decent last year was really fun. It was a fun game offensively, yeah, that the season off to a good start.”

He Said It: “You’ve got to be good defensively. That's what gets you on the field, and then the hitting keeps you on the field. … Last year, the offensive things started to click for me more and I still had the defensive side of my game.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Bader hit .409 by collecting 39 hits and driving in a team-leading 31 runs. His .462 on-base percentage was second on the team.

Eye-Popping Stat: Bader struck out just nine times in 109 plate appearances in 2025.