A look at The Times\u2019 preseason top 25 baseball rankings for the Southland.<\/p>\n
Rk. School; Comment<\/b><\/p>\n
The Times\u2019 preseason top 25 high school rankings for the 2026 season:<\/p>\n
1. ST. JOHN BOSCO: The return of pitcher Julian Garcia from injury adds to a senior-laden team for defending Division 1 champions.<\/p>\n
2. ORANGE LUTHERAN: Full of talent, but it all comes down to finding two pitchers who will deliver complete games in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
3. HARVARD-WESTLAKE: Improved pitching, solid hitting and elite freshmen make the Wolverines title contenders.<\/p>\n
4. HUNTINGTON BEACH: With junior pitcher\/outfielder Jared Grindlinger leading the way, Oilers will once again make plenty of waves.<\/p>\n
5. CORONA: Outfielder Anthony Murphy, pitcher Mason Sims, shortstop Trey Ebel show the cupboard isn\u2019t bare.<\/p>\n
6. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME: The pitching depth is off the charts, now if only the hitters can come through.<\/p>\n
7. SANTA MARGARITA: Shortstop Brody Schumaker is the real deal and beware of sophomore pitcher Tyler George.<\/p>\n
8. ROYAL: There are 23 seniors, led by pitchers Dustin Dunwoody (Arizona commit), Dean Barkman (UCSB) and Colten Rainer (UCLA).<\/p>\n
9. CYPRESS: Terrific pitching depth gives coach John Weber lots of options for his annual tough schedule.<\/p>\n
10. SIERRA CANYON: Trailblazers have group of pitchers throwing 90 mph and elite freshman in Jordan Leon.<\/p>\n
11. ARCADIA: Damian Catano (St. Mary\u2019s) is a top pitcher and will have more mound help after leading the Apaches to the Division 1 playoffs last season.<\/p>\n
12. MATER DEI: Ezekiel Lara, Brady Guth, Owen Shannon are ready for big seasons<\/p>\n
13. AQUINAS: There\u2019s lots of hitters back, including Jonathan Tena, who had 36 hits and a .480 batting average.<\/p>\n
14. NORCO: There\u2019s lots of promising young players with experience ready to deliver even more this season.<\/p>\n
15. CORONA CENTENNIAL: Any team with Jaden Walk-Green being the disruptor in the outfield and at the plate is dangerous.<\/p>\n
16. LA MIRADA: Junior pitcher Luke Armijo is a Texas commit, so the Matadores will build their starting rotation around him.<\/p>\n
17. SOUTH HILLS: Junior shortstop Diego Villarreal was league MVP last season and should support a pitching staff that has depth.<\/p>\n
18. EL DORADO: As usual, the pitching will be good and it\u2019s a matter of execution to win the close games against top opponents.<\/p>\n
19. OAKS CHRISTIAN: Catcher Carson Sheffer is someone to watch as a future pro to watch his arm and power at the plate.<\/p>\n
20. JSERRA: If the young pitchers come through to support outfielder Blake Bowen & Co., Lions can surprise in Trinity League.<\/p>\n
21. LOYOLA: Freshman shortstop Brody Brooks is 6 feet 3, hero on El Segundo Little League team and ready to make immediate impact.<\/p>\n
22. AYALA: All you need to know is that pitcher Caleb Trugman is back for his senior season.<\/p>\n
23. BONITA: Outfielder Joaquin Covarrubias is a USC commit and pitcher Daniel Nageer showed promise last season with a 7-2 record.<\/p>\n
24. GAHR: The pitching duo of Jake Ourique (Oregon) and Bryce Morrison (USC) makes Gahr a team to watch.<\/p>\n
25. VILLA PARK: Top hitter Aidan Young as well as top pitchers Jack McGuire and Logan Hoppie return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A look at The Times\u2019 preseason top 25 baseball rankings for the Southland. Rk. School; Comment The Times\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":587083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[254113,31142,1582,276,2977,254111,254110,167838,254108,254112,2961,224,5337,471,254109,1424,40346,10622,637,2452],"class_list":["post-587082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-at-large-berth","tag-boy","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-division","tag-first-trinity-league-title","tag-gold-coast-league","tag-harvard-westlake","tag-high-school-basketball-ranking","tag-john-bosco","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-no","tag-open-division-playoff","tag-playoff","tag-seed","tag-st","tag-times","tag-week"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116063388636155018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}