PRESEASON PRIME: 4-2

4. Nate Plata

The King's Academy - catcher - senior

The Skinny: The physical part of the game has always come easily to Nate Plata, who was the PAL-Bay Division’s player of the year as a sophomore and has set his sights on ending his career at The King’s Academy as the school’s all-time leader in hits. He’s worked on the mental side of his game, the mental side of being a teenager and the result is a kid who is coming into his own. “I've matured,” he said. “It was just finding that approach to the game that I didn't have as much last year. There's a lot more to baseball. It’s a very mental game.” That should serve Plata well in his senior season and in the future when he will go to school and play baseball at UC-Davis. Plata spent the fall in the weight room and showed up for the new season looking lean. His goal for this year is to give it his all every time he steps on the diamond. “I just want to go all out,” he said. “If you hold anything back, you're going to know that you had more to give at the end of the day.” He’s now the unequivocal leader on a young team that graduated more than its share of talent last year. That only makes it official. As a catcher, Plata has always carried himself as a leader.

He said it: “I want to hit over .400 and for us to make a CCS run this year. That would be a great season.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Plata collected 30 hits, walked 19 times and scored 22 runs. He had a .554 on-base percentage and a .620 slugging percentage for an OPS of 1.174.

Eye-Popping Stat: Plata committed just one error and had a .994 fielding percentage in 2025.

3. Jack Leeper

Saint Francis - centerfield - junior

The Skinny: After missing his entire freshman season with a knee injury suffered in football, Leeper burst onto the scene as a sophomore and made All-WCAL first-team honors while locking down the No. 25 spot in PeninsulaPrepBaseball.com’s end-of-the-season Prime 31 list. He also moved from shortstop to centerfield and played error-free baseball. The Stanford commit will remain in the outfield, coach Erik Wagle says, and that suits him just fine. “That's probably where I'm going to play in college,” he said. “I like being in center and just being able to use my athleticism, just being able to captain the outfield, and go for any ball.” Leeper brings a mixture of speed and power to the Lancers lineup and, after a slow start, paid dividends in Saint Francis’ run to the NorCal-Division II championship game. “It took a little bit to adjust to varsity baseball,” Leeper said. “I think I had a little bit of struggle last year at the start of the season, for sure, but by the time league season started, I started to get more comfortable. I was seeing more pitches and getting used to the zone and what guys were going trying to do to me.”

He said it: “Ever since I was younger, going to the games there, growing up, like, five minutes away from the Stanford campus, that’s where I wanted to be. They had three years in a row going to Omaha. As a young kid, I just kind of always dreamed about being there. That's where I envisioned myself. And then when the opportunity came. I took it.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Leeper collected 35 hits, scored 30 runs and had an on-base percentage of .426.

Eye-popping Stat: Leeper’s 27 stolen bases, which were the most on the Peninsula, also were a school record.

2. Gino Cappellazzo

Saint Francis - catcher - senior

The Skinny: If given the chance by Lancers’ coach Erik Wagle, Gino Cappellazzo would enjoy calling pitches. The three-year starter and Santa Clara University signee has been with Wagle long enough to be on the same page. He’s always looking at where a hitter sets up, what he’s done in his previous at-bats and who the hitter is. “I think I could do it,” he said. “I've done it in the past. I called all the games this summer with my travel ball team.” So, he was asked, how he would call pitches with a hitter like Archer Horn in the box? Horn, standing nearby, laughed, but Cappellazzo didn’t flinch. “Changeup away,” he said. Horn smiled and said he’d remember that. “You didn’t hear that, Archer. I’m not giving you the keys to success.” If anyone is wondering, the two teams will meet in their WCAL series April 14 and 17. Cappellazzo, at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, has the size to play the game at the next level. He also has the skillset: a live bat, a strong arm and the defensive mindset to control a game. “I’ve worked hard to get better, and I think I am 100 percent better,” he said. “I have put in a lot of work defensively to get my game where he needs to be ready to go to college next year.”

He said it: “My approach at the plate has not changed. It’s just to be aggressive, hit my pitch. I think I could have played better last year. There’s always, room for improvement.”

The Numbers Tell the Story: Cappellazzo had 28 hits and 25 walks for a team-leading .487 on-base percentage.

Eye-Popping Stat: Defensively, Cappellazzo committed just three errors and had a .985 fielding percentage last year while being one of the more difficult catchers to run on in the WCAL.