SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Baseball Preview, Division 1-3 (PAID)

We take a deep dive into the top teams in D-1 through D-3 from an area point of view.

DIVISION 1

Top Four Seeds: 1. Corona 2. Crespi, 3. Huntington Beach, 4. St. John Bosco

Dark Horses: La Mirada, Orange Lutheran

Final Four: Corona, Mira Costa, La Mirada, Harvard-Westlake

TOURNAMENT TALK: We were quite surprised to see Servite exit D1 and enter D2 as an At-Large team, especially after their win over Arlington. That is how the ratings played out. Aside from some teams shifting around, there were no major surprises. Rancho Cucamonga became the last team to be placed in D1 as the #27 seed.

Ethin Bingaman, Corona (Escarcega)

AREA ANALYSIS: Here we go with the toughest baseball playoff division in the United States. We are the only local SGV media outlet to have seen Corona multiple times, and they are as good as advertised. The one thing they excel at is working the count better than any team I’ve seen in a long while. This explains why Caleb Trugman threw only two innings early in the season and Luke Armijo tossed four innings in the Perfect Game Tournament final in early March. In both of those games, we’ve seen University of Auburn commit Ethin Bingaman pitch, and he certainly checks off every box in each of those appearances (Fastball {FB} in the low 90s). All you need to know is that Corona’s lineup has six players who are committed to play in SEC schools. They are the prohibited favorites to win it all.

Diego Velasquez, Crespi. (Escarcega)

We’ve seen Crespi three times, once early in the season against St. Francis and two weeks ago when they played Harvard-Westlake. Offensively, the top four hitters, Landon Hodge (LSU), Diego Velasquez (USC), Nate Lopez (San Diego State), and Josh Stonehouse (Xavier), are going to D1 schools. We were able to gain momentum with the performance that Jackson Eisenhauer has garnered. He tossed a two-hitter against St. Francis and struck out 10. His fastball lived in the upper 80s, and his slider was devastating. He has no offers yet, but we have a feeling that will change once the playoffs are done. We also saw Diego Velasquez against HW, and he was impressive. His fastball lived in the 90s, with a 95 TOP. He is also a top-notch infielder, and USC is getting a solid prospect for the next four years. Mikey Martinez threw the final 3.1 innings in the game and looked good with a fastball that ranged between 84-86 MPH. They are a solid second seed, but one that we feel is a bit vulnerable.

We saw Huntington Beach once at the Boras Classic when they lost to La Mirada, and it was probably not the right day to evaluate them. They only mustered four hits off the pitching duo of Luke Armijo and Jason Rodriguez. CJ Weinstein (2026, Prep Baseball Report #5) was fun to watch, and you immediately see why he is going to LSU. Ethan Porter (2025, PBR #10) hit a home run off of Luke Armijo that just landed. He also plays solidly as a third baseman and is an Oregon State commit. Jared Grindlinger is the top pitching prospect for Prep Baseball Report for the class of 2027 and is destined to become an MLB Draft pick leaving high school. Even though he gave up a homer to Boston College commit Kevin Jeon (the hottest hitter of the spring in the area), he was impressive with a fastball ranging between 89-91. His changeup (CH) and slider (SL) have terrific spin rates and movement. We would love to see a rematch against La Mirada in the quarterfinals.

Those are three of the top five seeds we’ve seen in person.