All-State Baseball 2025: First Team

In a bit of a twist from the past, we’re getting out the final teams of the 43rd annual All-State Baseball Teams the day after the first three rounds of the MLB Draft and the same night after all rounds were complete. Corona made history with three players selected in the first round and has three as well on first team all-state (just not the same three). St. John Bosco, Granite Hills of El Cajon, Valley Christian of San Jose, De La Salle and Orange Lutheran all have two on the first team. All first team players are written up in this post. We also have a second team and third team (senior only/large schools only) in a separate post.

For the all-state second and third teams (Gold Club), CLICK HERE.

FOR RECAPS OF EVERY 1ST, 2ND, 3RD ROUND PICK IN THIS YEAR’S MLB DRAFT, CLICK HERE.

RELATED: All-State Medium & Small Schools | All-State Underclass (Juniors & Sophomores) | Final 2025 All-State Nominations (SoCal) Gold Club | Final 2025 All-State Nominations (NorCal) Gold Club

For Gold Club post of our all-time all-state baseball archives, CLICK HERE.

Note: We hope you enjoy this free post. State baseball record lists plus two of our four all-state baseball posts are for Gold Club members only. Our upcoming all-state frosh watch list (done later this month) also will be Gold Club. To join our team today, CLICK HERE.

CHECK OUT CALGAMESWANTED.COM
Created for Coaches by Coaches for California Varsity High School Head Coaches and Athletic Directors, Start building your schedule with CalGamesWanted.com.
User friendly to take the stress out of scheduling.

Congratulations to these players who’ve been named first team overall for the 43rd edition of the Cal-Hi Sports all-state baseball honors program:

FIRST TEAM OVERALL CATCHERS

Trent Grindlinger (Huntington Beach) Sr.
Although a different catcher (who also did some pitching) was the MVP of Sunset League, Trent has been a standout for the Oilers since his sophomore season and in all games he’s played. For this season, Grindlinger bashed six homers to tie for the team lead and he had 22 RBI plus a .333 batting average. He flipped a college commitment from Mississippi State to Tennessee and was projected to be a high round choice in Sunday/Monday’s MLB Draft but was not named. For the Oilers, who were among the top ranked teams in the state until a first-round exit in the CIFSS D1 playoffs to Santa Margarita, we went with Trent on first team with younger brother Jared on second team along with outfielder Trevor Goldenetz. Jared also has been State Sophomore Player of the Year and could have been first team but went with a senior to take that spot instead.

Landon Hodge (Crespi, Encino) Sr.
Entering the CIFSS D1 playoffs, Crespi was the No. 2 seed behind Corona and had won the Mission League title. The top player for honors off of the Celts was their catcher. Hodge gained that position by being named Player of the Year in the league. He handled a dominant pitching staff and swung away for a .420 batting average. He added a pair of homers had flashed some speed with seven stolen bases. Hodge has signed with NCAA champion LSU, but he may not go there. On Monday morning, Landon was the first pick in the MLB Draft in the fourth round by the Chicago White Sox, which also was No. 106 overall.

Brayden Jaksa (Irvington, Fremont) Sr.
He’s been all-state medium schools twice and easily steps up to first team overall with solid national credentials, including a top 100 ranking prior to this year’s MLB Draft. That didn’t happen, but the ranking is legit. Jaksa has hit four home runs for each of the last two seasons and didn’t see many pitches to hit as a big-time player for a team that struggled to find wins. Brayden also had an OPS this season of 1.358. He has committed to Oregon.

FIRST TEAM OVERALL PITCHERS

Luke Bailey (Granite Hills, El Cajon) Sr.
The UC Santa Barbara-bound Bailey had a monster season for the Eagles and was one of the big reasons why they took an unbeaten record into the CIF SoCal D1 regional playoffs after they won the CIF San Diego Section Open Division championship. Bailey, who has been selected as the San Diego Section Pitcher of the Year, ended the season with a 12-0 mound record and a 1.02 ERA. He only allowed 37 hits in 68 innings and had 75 strikeouts. Bailey’s three complete game shutouts also were all against quality foes — Helix, Patrick Henry and Valhalla.

Brennan Bauer (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) Sr.
The CIFSS D1 playoff run that Brennan went on was hard to believe. He had a shutout of Newport Harbor (Newport Beach) in the first round, held nationally ranked Huntington Beach with no earned runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings, pitched one inning to get the win vs Los Alamitos in the quarterfinals, threw five shutout innings with two hits allowed in a win vs Crespi of Encino in the semifinals and he kept No. 1 St. John Bosco off the scoreboard with five scoreless innings in the title game (that the Braves won in extra innings). Bauer, who also set a school record for career pitching wins, ended 11-3 with a 2.19 ERA.

Angel Cervantes (Warren, Downey) Sr.
For prep pitchers expected to go high in the MLB Draft, Cervantes was near the top of many lists. One done by Prep Baseball Draft HQ had him second behind only Corona’s Seth Hernandez. Then on draft night itself, Angel was picked at No. 50 overall in the second round and he was picked by the Pittsburgh Pirates, which is the same team that tabbed Hernandez in the first round. On the high school side of things, Angel had a 7-3 record this spring plus 106 strikeouts in 66 2/3 innings. Warren doesn’t do stats on MaxPreps, but it wasn’t hard to see that Cervantes set a new school career strikeout record with 310. His third career no-hitter also came against the school’s big rival, Downey High, and it was game in which he struck out 16 batters. His college signature is with UCLA.

Trevor Heishman (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) Sr.
Is it possible for one performance to be enough to get someone up to first team all-state? No, but it clearly helped for Heishman, who is the pitcher who shut down state No. 1 Corona (and regarded as one of the most talented teams in state history) in the CIFSS D1 semifinals. Trevor only allowed one hit to that lineup and struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings of the 2-0 win before the bullpen got the final two outs. Heishman ended the year 4-3 with a 1.19 ERA and he had several other notable outings, including a three-hitter with seven strikeouts in a win vs JSerra and a four-hitter in eight innings in a win vs Mater Dei. Heishman has committed to Memphis but the Corona outing obviously was also seen by some scouts. He was selected No. 279 overall on Monday in the MLB Draft in the ninth round by the Detroit Tigers.

Josh Jannicelli (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) Sr.
After locking down a no-brainer all-state junior honor a year ago with a 12-1 record, 0.73 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings, Jannicelli had another stellar season for the Cardinals. He wasn’t 12-1 again, but the team wasn’t as potent offensively so the final record was 9-4. Josh was better otherwise with a 0.71 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings. He has committed to UC Santa Barbara. MLB Prospect Rankings also had him at No. 155 overall, but he was not selected in the draft. He’s also been the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat Pitcher of the Year the past two seasons.

Hunter Manning (West Ranch, Valencia) Sr.
By already being selected as our Medium Schools State Player of the Year and CIFSS D2 Player of the Year, Hunter’s spot in the top 30 was pretty much assured. He also was the L.A. Daily News Pitcher of the Year. In addition to being one of the team’s top hitters, the UC Irvine commit gave up just one unearned run with six strikeouts in the CIFSS D2 title game win vs Mater Dei and he earlier had a playoff no-hitter. Manning also ended 10-0 with a 0.74 ERA and he had 112 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings.

Cameron Millar (Alhambra, Martinez) Sr.
After Sunday’s MLB Draft, the decision was made to move up Millar from second team to first team. He also already had been selected to All-State Medium Schools First Team. It isn’t just him being chosen in the third round at No. 97 overall by the Kansas City Royals that elevated him. Millar also had a great season for the Bulldogs even though they were only 13-12. He had a 0.11 ERA in 64 innings and struck out 117 batters while going 7-1. For his career, Cameron pitched 187 innings over the past three years and had a 0.45 ERA. He was the only player from a Northern California high school who was tabbed in the first three rounds of the draft and has signed with Arizona.

Gary Morse (Lutheran, Orange) Jr.
He’s one of the top national pitching prospects from the Class of 2026 and was perhaps even better than that during the high school season. Morse, named as Trinity League Pitcher of the Year and Orange County Register Pitcher of the Year, had an 8-2 record with a 0.94 ERA plus 65 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings. He had a CIFSS D1 playoff one-hitter with six strikeouts in a 5-0 win vs Rancho Cucamonga. Gary has committed to Tennessee.

Zach Strickland (Maranatha, Pasadena) Sr.
Yes, he signed with UCLA and was among the top 100 on the MLB Draft top prospects board, but it’s the career totals that Zach established for the Minutemen that made him a somewhat easy choice for first team all-state. In 30 decisions over four years, he finished 27-3 with a 0.91 ERA. Strickland also had 324 strikeouts in 199 2/3 innings. This season, Strickland went 6-0 with a 0.58 ERA and he had 86 strikeouts in 48 innings. He was not named in this year’s draft, which means UCLA will be next for sure.

FIRST TEAM OVERALL INFIELD

Billy Carlson (Corona) Sr.
Here’s the first of three on first team all-state from Corona. He was expected to be picked in the first round of the MLB Draft after teammate and State Player of the Year Seth Hernandez and that is what happened. Billy went at No. 10 overall to the Chicago White Sox. Billy has been a highly regarded infielder for the last three seasons and has been used as a reliever. This past season, the University of Tennessee commit batted .365 with six homers, 33 runs scored and 34 RBI. For his career as a pitcher, Carlson had 28 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings plus a 0.94 ERA. Carlson’s defense was described in one report as perhaps the best of any player in this year’s draft class. His fastball as a pitcher also was once clocked in the mid-90s.

James Clark (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) Jr.
The way that the season ended for James, which was as the leading player for the team that beat vaunted Corona in the CIFSS D1 semifinals, then won the title and then won the CIF SoCal D1 crown, kept on continuing in the red-hot category during last week’s National High School Baseball Championship Series. He was one of just two juniors on the California team, but was clearly one of the top players in the event in helping the California team win the title. At Bosco during the spring, Clark led the Braves in batting average (.411), runs scored (29), hits (46), doubles (11) and stolen bases (15). He’s the twin brother of Miles Clark, who has been named second team all-state juniors. James already has Trinity League MVP and Long Beach Press-Telegram Player of the Year honors on his resume.

Dax Hardcastle (St. Mary’s, Stockton) Jr.
At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Dax looks like a prototype football tight end, but he’s been a baseball star since his youth days coming up in Stockton and he had a big-time junior season after earning all-state first team sophomore honors. Hardcastle blasted eight home runs, none bigger than the one he hit for the Rams in their win vs Valley Christian of San Jose in the CIF NorCal D1 playoffs. They didn’t repeat as CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 champs, but made it to the final. Hardcastle is regarded by some as a pitching prospect since he reached 90-92 on fastballs last summer, but he only pitched eight innings this season. He has committed to Mississippi State.

Ian Josephson (Serra, San Mateo) Sr.
Serra won the CIF Central Coast Section D1 title and went to the CIF NorCal D1 championship game where it lost in a heart-breaker to De La Salle. The Padres of course deserve to be repped on first team all-state and it’s clear that Josephson was their top guy. He has been named to all of the Bay Area first teams plus one NorCal team. The All-WCAL first team pick led Serra with 55 hits and a .487 batting average. He also led in homers with seven, runs scored (37) and he even stole a whopping 25 bases. Ian will play next at St. Mary’s.

Dylan Minnatee (Franklin, Elk Grove) Jr.
This year’s club at Franklin won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 title and Dylan emerged as the team’s top player of the year candidate. His hitting skills gained national attention last summer and he’s an MLB Draft prospect for next year. Playing first base this last season but possibly an outfielder later on, Minnatee led the Wildcats in hitting with a .441 average on 45 hits. He also led them with 34 RBI and although he only had one homer he led them in doubles (13) and triples (eight). Minnatee, already named as the Sacramento Bee Player of the Year, has committed to LSU.

Tyler Spangler (De La Salle, Concord) Jr.
It was a tough call for State Junior of the Year and all three of those who were heavily scrutinized for it are all first team all-state. Spangler edged out the other two — James Clark of St. John Bosco and Anthony Murphy of Corona — and did it with some playoff heroics in helping the Spartans win their third CIF NorCal D1 regional title in three seasons. A starter as a freshman on the 2023 title team, Tyler led De La Salle in homers with 10 and was tied for first in hits with 43. He also led in runs scored (42) and was second in RBI (40). He has committed to Stanford but is ranked as the No. 1 pro prospect for the Class of 2026 in the state by both Prep Baseball Report and Baseball America. Spangler also was the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bay Area Player of the Year.

Quentin Young (Oaks Christian, Westlake Village) Sr.
While Quentin was not able to match being Mr. Baseball State Player of the Year like his uncles, Delmon in 2001 at Camarillo and Dmitri in 1992 at Rio Mesa of Oxnard, part of that is because he happened to have been in the same class as Corona’s Seth Hernandez. Quentin certainly had player of the year credentials, especially as a senior. He led all large school players in the state with 14 homers, which also set a new school record. Young also ended the season with a .381 batting average on 32 hits. He also had 34 RBI. Quentin signed with LSU but on Sunday he was selected at No. 54 overall in the second round of the MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins. He already has been L.A. Daily News Player of the Year plus Marmonte League Player of the Year and now it’s first team all-state.

FIRST TEAM OVERALL OUTFIELD

Alec Blair (De La Salle, Concord) Sr.
After having to miss about three weeks with injury last season, Blair had a more full season for the Spartans and was one of their top players. Junior teammate Tyler Spangler was the leading player of the year candidate, but Alec also has to be first team all-state. The State Sophomore Athlete of the Year for 2022-23 (he also has been all-state for basketball) batted .429 with 33 hits. He also had 30 runs scored, 24 RBI, three homers, nine doubles and two triples. We saw former NL MVP Christian Yelich play in high school and with Alec’s long, lanky lefty frame, quick bat and the way he roams the outfield making catches, if he were to someday just concentrate on baseball he could be that good. Blair has signed to play baseball and basketball at Oklahoma.

Josiah Hartshorn (Lutheran, Orange) Sr.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound switch-hitting slugger moved up on all of the national draft lists after a dominating summer last year. The Texas A&M signer was picked early on Monday in the sixth round by the Chicago Cubs. Hartshorn also became OLu’s career home run leader during this season. He has been named All-Trinity League and All-Orange County and now is all-state first team. Josiah had a .364 batting average plus five homers this season with 32 hits, nine doubles and 27 runs scored.

Brock Ketelsen (Valley Christian, San Jose) Sr.
We went back and forth whether both Valley Christian standouts Brock and teammate Quentin Marsh should both be first team. We didn’t have two from St. Mary’s of Stockton or Serra (San Mateo). Those teams do have others on second team and in the end the two from Valley Christian have done enough throughout their high school years and project to do plenty more. Ketelsen, who we are listing as an outfielder just to avoid having two multi-purpose players from one team, had a .311 batting average with 33 hits and he had five homers and 23 RBI. He also was the WCAL Pitcher of the Year with a 5-1 record, 1.23 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings. Ketelsen, who is from Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County, was projected to be chosen in the MLB Draft as an outfielder. That didn’t happen, but he has signed with Stanford and also had a 4.2 GPA.

Anthony Murphy (Corona) Jr.
He doesn’t pitch like State Player of the Year teammate Seth Hernandez and who’s knows if he’ll be a first round MLB Draft pick in 2026, but the junior outfielder for the Panthers was arguably their top player in 2025, clearly ahead of everyone else other than Hernandez. Murphy led the team in home runs (11), batting average (.415), hits (49), RBI (35) and runs scored (39). The 2023 State Freshman Player of the Year and 2024 State Sophomore Player of the Year will enter his senior season with career totals of 24 homers, 137 hits and 78 RBI. He hit three homers in a league game vs Corona Centennial and scored three runs when the Panthers routed St. Mary’s of Stockton to win the Boras Classic state title.

FIRST TEAM OVERALL MULTI-PURPOSE (Hit & Pitch)

Damian Catano (Arcadia) Jr.
For being the San Gabriel Valley Tribune Player of the Year and having a unique stat combination of leading the Apaches in pitching wins (10) and in runs scored (32) plus hits (40), Catano has climbed up to first team. He also led a team that finished with a 26-4 overall record and was in the CIFSS D1 playoffs. Catano’s other pitching totals had him 10-2 with a 1.27 ERA. He also had a .408 batting average with five doubles and one homer.

Cooper Flemming (Aliso Niguel, Aliso Viejo) Sr.
It was a little bit of a surprise that Cooper was the Player of the Year by the Orange County Register, but this was a year in which a non-OC team won the Trinity League title. Flemming also is similar to Mr. Baseball Seth Hernandez in that he didn’t play high school baseball early in his career. For him, though, it was just the senior season that he played at Aliso Niguel. Still, Cooper made his time count. He hit .407 with six homers, 27 RBI, 31 runs scored and 10 steals. He also went 7-1 on the mound with a 0.69 ERA and he had 66 strikeouts in 51 innings. Flemming was projected to get selected in Sunday’s MLB Draft, and his selection exceeded pre-draft forecasts as he went at No. 53 overall in the second round to the Tampa Bay Rays. He has a commitment to Vanderbilt as well, but no one picked as high as Cooper goes for college. The money at that point of the draft is just too much.

Seth Hernandez (Corona) Sr.
Our Mr. Baseball State Player of the Year for the 2024 and 2025 seasons was projected to be selected very high in the first round of Sunday’s MLB Draft. That’s what happened, too. Seth went at No. 6 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates. As head coach Andy Wise told us “He’s the best high school baseball player I’ve ever seen.” Seth came to Corona for his junior season after being home schooled for two years and made the most of his high school experiences. He got to experience the high of winning the school’s first-ever CIFSS D1 title in 2024 and the next year also got to experience the low of being a heavy favorite having everything snapped away from you in one short afternoon. We’re pretty sure Seth is ready for whatever awaits him in the coming years in a sport that can be almost cruel in the way that seemingly certain wins can turn into excruciating losses. Note: Corona teammate Brady Ebel was the third player from the team chosen in the first round of the MLB Draft (at No. 32 overall). Like Great Oak’s Gavin Fien, though, those two didn’t have the high school seasons this spring like some others and have been selected second team all-state.

Brenden Lewis (Granite Hills, El Cajon) Sr.
There hasn’t been a more decorated player coming out of San Diego since 2012 when there was someone, Troy Conyers of El Capitan, who was the last back-to-back player of the year. Lewis also is just the fifth to do that since the section was formed in 1960. Lewis was the main cog in the Eagles’ team that had just one loss and two ties during the season. As a batter, he hit .373 with eight homers and 26 RBI. Lewis also scored 40 runs and only made five errors as a shortstop. As a pitcher, he checked off 56 innings this season with a 7-0 record and 1.50 ERA. Brenden has signed with Arizona State and his honors for us still aren’t done since he also has been an All-San Diego Section football wide receiver.

Quinten Marsh (Valley Christian, San Jose) Sr.
It wasn’t unanimous in the Bay Area regarding Player of the Year. The Bay Area News Group went with Marsh, who had an outstanding two-way season for the Warriors following along one year after older brother Tatum graduated. Quinten also was the West Catholic Athletic League Player of the Year. On the mound, he helped the Warriors reach the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division final with a 1.14 ERA. He also had 76 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings. As a batter, Marsh was perhaps even better with an OPS of 1.382 and a .505 batting average. Quinten plans to join Tatum at Stanford in the fall.

Vaughn Neckar (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) Sr.
He’s another great two-way talent for the Class of 2025 and he had an outstanding season in leading the Broncos to the Southwestern League title and then a CIFSS D1 playoff win vs Harvard-Westlake. As a pitcher, Neckar netted 77 strikeouts in 53 innings with a 7-2 record and 0.92 ERA. His career ERA ended at 1.44 and his fastball went up to 95 mph. At the plate, Vaughn ripped seven homers and he had 32 hits and 31 RBI. He has signed with Oklahoma. Neckar was the final California high school player picked in Sunday/Monday’s MLB Draft at No. 612 overall in the 20th round by the Cleveland Guardians.

Landyn Plaut (Lincoln) Sr.
He’s all-state medium schools and was a candidate to be the medium schools state player of the year. Despite not being from the highly regarded Sierra Foothill League (Rocklin, Davis, Granite Bay, etc), Plaut just did too much not to be included on the top overall all-state team. He led the state in reported home runs with 15 and he batted .495 on 51 hits plus he had 44 RBI. As a pitcher, he also had three no-hitters with a 9-4 record, 1.41 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings. In Plaut’s final game, in which Lincoln lost to Fowler, 3-2, in the CIF NorCal D3 playoffs, he gave up no hits in 5 1/3 innings but walked four and two of those runners scored. Landyn has committed to NCCAA national champion William Jessup University located in nearby Roseville.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports