Prep baseball teams to keep an eye on in 2025

There is little debate on this: La Cueva opens the 2025 prep baseball season as New Mexico’s best team. On paper.

Where will everyone be come mid-May? The next 12 weeks will iron out the wrinkles.

The defending Class 5A state champion Bears open Saturday with two games at Volcano Vista. And this team is loaded with future Division I talent.

Their top three pitchers all are DI-bound. Senior Braiden Reynolds, the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year for New Mexico, has signed with Grand Canyon. Junior Dylan Blomker is an LSU commit. Junior Everett Burdett is committed to Oregon State. Second baseman Reid Jacobson is headed to the University of New Mexico.

Reynolds broke New Mexico’s single-season RBI record last season, and he’s moving from first base to third base when he isn’t on the bump. Blomker will play some first base, and coach Gerard Pineda expects him to also be a heavy contributor at the plate. Burdett is an outfielder and first baseman.

“It’s a very talented group,” Pineda said. He described his three top arms as “options 1A, 1B and 1C. And you can change the order on any given day.”

La Cueva — 27-3 last season, the last game a dramatic 3-2 walk off victory over Cleveland in the 5A state championship game — also should be solid defensively, Pineda said.

“You have to be ready to go every night,” the veteran coach said. “We had this conversation (earlier this week): You’re gonna get somebody’s best shot, you have to play the right way and take care of the little things.”

Who stands poised to challenge the Bears? Locally, that list includes Cleveland for sure, plus Sandia and Los Lunas, and possibly Eldorado, Rio Rancho and Rio Grande. Carlsbad, Centennial and Las Cruces are among the teams that could contend from outside the metro area.

The 2025 season began for a few teams last week, others opened on Tuesday, still more open later this week, and some won’t start until next week.

The metro-area 5A districts have been reconfigured. Farmington and Piedra Vista have joined District 1 after being in District 2. Santa Fe, Capital and Manzano were in District 5, but they all now belong to District 2. Atrisco Heritage has been shifted to District 5 from District 1; West Mesa also has joined District 5 after being in District 2.

Sandia and Eldorado both have plans to challenge La Cueva in District 2.

The Matadors lost some key personnel to graduation after losing to Organ Mountain in the 5A quarters.

Senior pitcher/shortstop Adriel Figueroa-Brito is one of 5A’s best two-way players, and he tops the list of Sandia returners. Senior catcher Damon McRee also is back, and coach Marc Hilton has high hopes for big sophomore pitcher Colton Floyd, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound pitcher//third baseman who already is drawing plenty of looks from power DI programs.

Sandia brings back five starters, and a pitching staff with “tremendous upside,” Hilton said.

Eldorado won 21 games a year ago, including one against La Cueva, although the Eagles were bounced in the state quarters by the Bears.

The Eagles seem fairly sure to continue this momentum, with seven starters returning, including junior center fielder Timothy Kamphuis, senior pitcher/first baseman Jace Sanchez-Reynolds, senior third baseman Ethan Marquez and senior shortstop Cirilio Martinez. Eldorado ousted Rio Grande in the first round.

“We needed to win a playoff game to get Eldorado back where it was in the Jim Johns era,” coach Ambrose Romero said. “And I think we did that.”

Eldorado’s pitching will need to be sharp, Romero said, for the Eagles to beat some of the top teams on their schedule.

Cleveland was just one out away from winning the 5A state title at Santa Ana Star Field last season, and the Storm are looking to regroup and make another run at a blue trophy out of District 1-5A.

“Cleveland is the team everyone should be hunting for this year,” Rio Rancho coach David Gomez said.

The Storm brings back plenty of experience, with two-thirds of their starters returning. This group is topped by outstanding third baseman/outfielder Anthony del Angel, plus senior pitcher/shortstop Jarren Villa, senior catcher Owen Bishop and junior left-handed pitcher Xavier Vasquez.

“I do like the group, we are talented, but I think time will tell,” Storm coach Shane Shallenberger said. Defense and pitching is a strength, the lineup needs more consistency, he added.

Carlsbad, Hobbs and Los Lunas are among the teams competing with Cleveland at the Storm’s round-robin event which begins Thursday.

Rio Rancho, which lost a 5-3 game to Cleveland in last May’s state semifinals, won two out of three games at its season-opening tournament in El Paso. The Rams graduated some hugely influential players, including several pitchers.

Those to watch this year include junior first baseman/pitcher Dean Ellison, junior shortstop Wyatt Tinker, senior right-handed pitcher Brandon Segal and new senior catcher Jackson Roybal, who is moving from second base. Roybal is also the Rams’ closer.

“As good as our older guys are,” Gomez said, “we’re also so, so young.”

Volcano Vista has a new head coach in Scott Brandt, who most recently was at Sandia Prep where he led the Sundevils to championships in 2021 and 2023. (The Hawks open the season with a first strike from the NMAA, levied against the program’s team, and fans, in the final game of the 2024 season).

“There’s a lot of question marks,” Brandt said, adding that the Hawks have only a small handful of players with varsity experience and will have a lineup featuring many underclassmen.

New Mexico State commit Noah Massey, a senior catcher, is one of them. Others to watch are senior pitcher/shortstop Elijah Romero and junior left-handed pitcher/outfielder Aaron Sanchez.

Cibola struggled a bit last season, but the Cougars hope a senior-heavy group can get them back in the mix for a playoff berth. Coach Robert Puentes characterized Cibola as a team with good speed, decent power and an improved defense. He believes the Cougars have enough depth on the mound to be a factor in 1-5A, which got tougher with the addition of Farmington and Piedra Vista.

District 5 has largely been a two-team battle in recent years between Rio Grande and Los Lunas, and it’s quite possible that’s what will happen again.

The Tigers won 19 games and reached the 5A quarterfinals last May, losing a one-run decision to Cleveland. And Los Lunas is loaded to make perhaps an even stronger run this year, led by sophomore third baseman/pitcher JJ Utash, senior righty Matthew Castillo and junior left-handed pitcher/outfielder Kaden Reese.

“We’re definitely hopeful that we’re able to put all the pieces together,” Tigers coach Paul Cieremans said. The Tigers will have a tough schedule this spring.

Rio Grande is coming off a 21-win season; the Ravens lost in the first round to Eldorado, and those two opened the season against one another on Tuesday night.

Top returners for the Ravens include four-year starter, catcher Jackson Brettelle, and also left-handed pitcher Sebastian Chavez, also a four-year starter who’ll also play center field and first base. Of Rio Grande’s 13 varsity players, 12 will pitch, veteran coach Orlando Griego said.

Griego also calls junior shortstop Luis Guillen “hands down the best shortstop I’ve coached in 30 years. There’s not even a close second.”

Class 4A

Grants opens as the defending state champion, and the Pirates are expected to make a strong defense of that title this year as this was a team filled with underclassmen last year.

“They are the odds-on favorite — by a long shot,” Albuquerque Academy coach Chris Alexander said.

Grants will face challenges in its district, 5-4A, from St. Pius and Belen.

The Sartans graduated 12 players from a team that was beaten in the quarterfinals last season by Artesia, but coach Jim Stebbins said St. Pius is equipped to challenge again. The Sartans will be paced by veteran third baseman Jax Mulville, plus middle infielder/pitcher Jacob Madrid and a pair of lefty pitcher/outfielders in Kaiden Swanson and Ashton Warren.

“The kids have been motivated to prove last year was not what St. Pius looks like,” Stebbins said.

District 6-4A is heavy with ace starting pitchers: UNM-bound Jacob Gergen of Hope Christian, Uriel Castro at Bernalillo, Jayden Martinez at Valley and Matt Delaney for Academy.

The Chargers lost in extra innings to Grants in the 4A state semifinals last May.

Delaney, who also plays first base, heads the list of top returners that also includes senior center fielder and leadoff hitter Andrew Olson, senior shortstop EJ Gallardo (moving from second base), and junior corner infielder Ryan Williams.

Academy lost its top two bats and two of its top three starting pitchers.

“If everything comes together,” coach Chris Alexander said, “we should be in a good position. It’ll be a steep learning curve for us.”

Academy opens Thursday at home against Sandia. Valley, one of the other challengers in 6-4A, opened Tuesday at West Mesa.

Valley fell in the first round last year to Bloomfield, but the Vikings bring back a good bit of experience, led by Martinez and Estevan Fernandez, who led the team in innings pitched last year. Martinez also was potent at the plate, batting over .400 and tying for first in hits with another returner, senior Thomas Velarde.

Gergen, who also plays second base, is going to be crucial for Hope’s chances as the Huskies come off a first-round loss last season to Bernalillo.

Two other seniors the Huskies will be leaning on are right fielder Brady McGahie and center fielder Nolan Garcia.

Hope, coach Fernando Salinas said, has a good core, and the Huskies are deeper at the pitching position than a year ago.

Bernalillo and Belen both reached the final eight in 4A last May, but both had head coaching changes since then. Former Spartans athlete Aaron Budagher takes over at Bernalillo, while Justin Miller, most recently the head coach at Silver, replaces Tommy Wisneski at Belen.

The Eagles look to contend with both Grants and St. Pius in District 5-4A, and Belen has some holes to fill in the lineup after winning 20 games and losing to Academy in the quarters.

Top returners for Belen include senior third baseman Isaiah Vargas, promising sophomore catcher Ramon Martinez and junior utility Logan Gonzalez.

“We definitely have a lot of talent returning,” Miller said. “I think we can compete with anybody in 4A.”

Bernalillo’s Castro brothers, senior Uriel and sophomore Ulisses, anchor the Spartans lineup. Uriel is an ace pitcher and solid shortstop; Ulisses is moving from right field to third base. Only four players are back with any varsity experience for Bernalillo, which took a hit with a couple of key players transferring out.

“We do have some gaps to fill,” Budagher said.

Goddard and Artesia both made it to the 4A semis last season.

Class 3A/2A

Matt McCoy, who won a pair of state titles at St. Pius, is the new coach at Sandia Prep.

The Sundevils’ district 4/5-3A, is arguably the most competitive in this division, as four different members — Sandia Prep, East Mountain, Ruidoso and New Mexico Military Institute — have all been in the state final just in the last three years.

He inherits a young team with just four seniors, so Sandia Prep will be retooling.

East Mountain also has a new coach in former Atrisco Heritage head coach Ryan Santillanes, who was coaching collegiately in Mississippi last year.

The Timberwolves lost a one-run decision to eventual state champion Robertson in the 3A quarterfinals last season. Players to watch include senior catcher/utility Rylan Radosevich, junior utility Charlie Birdwell and junior right-handed pitcher Cole Darnell.

East Mountain also has gone out and seriously bulked up its schedule. It will play a handful of 5A programs, like Rio Rancho and Rio Grande, and a few top 4A teams, too. It’s a veteran team with plenty of postseason experience that should handle the challenge, Santillanes said.

“We’re looking to close it out this year (with a state title),” he said, adding that his team and NMMI should be the top two teams in the district.

Oak Grove Classical Academy is going solo in baseball. Last year, the co-op of Oak Grove and Menaul combined to capture the 2A state title. Menaul won’t be contributing players this season, and last year was Oak Grove’s first year of baseball.