2017 Perfect Game High School Preview Index
More than 1,500 high schools fielded California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)-sanctioned baseball teams in 2016, and it’s safe to say to that each one entered the season with the goal of winning a league championship and reaching the playoffs in their division of their respective CIF section. And, in addition, the assumption can be made they all strived to win their division championship in each one of those 10 CIF sections.
JSerra Catholic High School, with a campus in beautiful San Juan Capistrano in Southern California’s Orange County, was one such program that went into the 2016 campaign harboring thoughts of taking home a title in CIF Southern Section Division I.
It was not an unrealistic goal, not with a senior-laden roster that boasted seven NCAA Division I signees and a strong junior class that featured Royce Lewis, one of the country’s top prospects from the class of 2017.
The 2016 Lions did, in fact, achieve their goal of winning an unprecedented third straight Trinity League championship and reaching the CIF Southern Section D-I playoffs for the eighth time in 10 seasons under head coach Brett Kay.
Their goal of winning the school’s first CIF Section championship fell just short, however, when they suffered a 2-0 setback to mighty Harvard-Westlake in the playoffs’ semifinal round. They finished the season 27-7 and ranked No. 7 in the final 2016 Perfect Game High School National Top 50 Rankings.
It is against that backdrop that JSerra Catholic – ranked No. 43 in the 2017 PG HS Preseason National Top 50 Rankings – enters this season. The Lions need to overcome the graduation of those pivotal graduated seniors, but with the return of the PG All-American shortstop Lewis there is every reason to expect JSerra Catholic to maintain its position as one of the top programs in the PG HS Pacific Region (California and Hawaii).
“My thoughts going (into the 2017 season) are the same as last season and the two years before that,” the personable Lewis told PG during a recent telephone conversation. “We want to win a CIF championship – that’s our goal – as well as a league championship. Winning the league championship is always one of our main goals because that’s probably one of the hardest things you can do, especially in Southern California.
“The talent in our league is just amazing and this year is going to be a challenge, but we’re up for that challenge; we’re ready to go.”
The Lions will need to be. It is no coincidence that Lewis mentioned winning the Trinity League championship so prominently and in the same breath as winning a CIF section championship during his comments, simply because the league is one of California’s strongest.
PG HS Preseason No. 1-ranked Orange Lutheran is a member, as are traditionally strong Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, Servite and St. John Don Bosco. JSerra Catholic has won four Trinity League championships in Kay’s 10 years (2009, 2014-16), definitely an eyebrow-raising feat.
The Lions play a 15-game league slate in 2017; they finished 13-2 in 2016. They also have regular season games scheduled against PG HS No. 5-ranked Huntington Beach and what promises to be brutal pairings at both the So Cal-based National Classic and JSerra’s own Boras Classic.
Getting young players ready to face such a daunting schedule is a challenge, but staring down and ultimately conquering such a schedule can be a real character-builder. The old axiom of having to beat the best to be the best is tried and true, and Kay feels like his players will be better for it in the end.
“We’re not going to schedule down to try to win games and get to .500 and get to the CIF playoffs. These kids have to earn it and that’s what we’re trying to teach them,” he told PG in a separate recent telephone interview.
“In this day and age, it seems like everybody thinks they’re entitled to get something and, well no, you’ve got to earn it,” he said. “You have to go out and do the things that you need to do and we need to do as a unit to be able to be successful in our program.”
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IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LOT OF WORK AND PERSEVERANCE ON THE PART OF a core group of seven seniors to replace top 2016s like Chase Stumpf (UCLA), Lyle Lin (Arizona State, 16th Rnd. MLB draft), Collin Quinn (Washington State), Davis Wendzel (Baylor) and Brady Schockey (Southern Cal), among others.
Their departures leave gaping holes in the JSerra lineup, and even though the top returnees are now seniors – led by Lewis (UC Irvine), Colin Townsend (Saint Louis) and Brett Sevingson (Loyola Marymount) – they are, in fact, inexperienced seniors.
“We had a really good run the last three years … and those three years we had some youth. We had guys starting as freshmen and sophomores … and last year they all graduated, besides Royce,” Kay said. “But the information has stayed the same; the system has stayed the same. Now it’s just a matter of who can execute it and who’s dialed-in and who believes in it and who buys into it the most.
“I think we have a chance to be pretty good but we’re just inexperienced; we’re not very smart right now,” he continued. “It takes time … but we like to say ‘we’re rebuilding’ and ‘we’re not rebuilding’ at the same time.”
The speedy, strong-armed, sweet-swinging Lewis truly is – with apologies to Reggie Jackson – the straw that stirs the Lions’ drink. The Most Valuable Player at the PG All-American Classic in August, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound, recently turned 18-year-old Lewis is ranked the No. 6 overall national prospect in the class of 2017 and is projected as a can’t miss first-round MLB draft pick in June.
“I see all the (projections) and that’s all just crazy stuff, but I really – in a way – don’t care at the moment,” Lewis said of the draft speculation. “I’m trying to focus on school and graduation and then, of course, just playing baseball, the game that I love.
“I still have one more year and I hope that we can win (a league) championship and then hopefully make a push into the playoffs and hopefully win a CIF championship.”
Lewis is a two-time Trinity League Player of the Year last season, and after hitting .429 with 42 hits – including nine doubles and four home runs – he was named the Los Angeles Times Southern California High School Player of the Year.
Kay has had two PG All-Americans go through his JSerra program with Austin Hedges (2010) – currently a San Diego Padres farmhand – and Lewis; during his conversation with PG, he revealed that Hedges is his 4-year-old son Brody’s godfather. Kay’s wife Kristen his currently expecting their second child., and Kay also revealed that Lewis asked his head coach if he could be the newborn’s godfather.
“That just kind of tells you what kind of kid he is,” Kay said. “He’s the highest character kid I’ve ever coached in my life and I couldn’t give a higher compliment to a student-athlete in this age than I would to Royce Lewis. And that’s me trying to be subjective.”
Lewis is humbled when speaking of Kay: “He’s like a second father to me. He’s taught me a lot about baseball these last couple of years, just learning how to play the game the right way … and respecting the game, as well; he taught me how to do that. Now I can just go out there and have fun – that’s my philosophy – and so far, it’s been working out; hopefully we can do it again this year.”
He has embraced the brief but nonetheless impressive JSerra baseball program’s history. Kay – now in his 11th season at the school – has had 53 prospects sign with college programs and 11 have played professionally, including Hedges, a second-round pick in 2011.
Colton Plaia (JSerra class of ’09, N.Y. Mets), Bret Dahlson (’10, Tampa Bay Rays) and Shane Boras (’08, Oakland A’s) are among other JSerra alumni playing professionally.
“it’s an honor playing here,” Lewis said. “I’m looking at our banner right now and just seeing all the (league) championships and the playoff appearances that we’ve made in the last 15 years. (The school has) only been open for 15 years and it’s awesome how much we’ve already accomplished and are still accomplishing to this point.
“I’m just glad to be a part of it right now, and every time I’m able to put on this uniform, it’s a blessing; I really appreciate it.”
Kay calls the legacy left by his player that made college commitments “pretty cool” and is rightfully proud that his baseball program has provided a vehicle upon which those players made that journey. But he also wants them to realize that, in his words, “It’s not the end-all, be-all.”
“You want to appreciate it but you want to be able to put good husbands and good brothers and good fathers out there and hope that they’re (those things) 10 or 15 years down the road,” he said. “But if we can help them get to that next level (college), it’s very gratifying.”
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THE 37-YEAR-OLD KAY WAS A STANDOUT IN BASEBALL, FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL at the Trinity League’s Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., but after a stellar all-American prep career, decided to focus on baseball. Kay was a catcher, and the Houston Astros selected him in the 35th round of the 1998 MLB June Amateur Draft, but he didn’t sign professionally.
He instead moved on to enjoy even more success at Cal State Fullerton University, helping the Titans make College World Series appearances in 1999 and 2001. He was drafted again after his junior season, this time by the New York Mets in the 8th-round of the 2001 MLB June Amateur Draft. He decided to sign and played three seasons in the minor leagues (2001-03) before calling it a career.
Coaching seemed to be Kay’s destiny, and he began his career with a one-year stint (2006) at Capo Valley Christian High School (San Juan Capistrano). He took over a team that was 9-11 in 2005 and led them to a 17-5 record and a spot in the CIF playoffs in his first and only year.
The JSerra job opened after the 2006 season and Kay was hired that August; his first of what has become 10 full seasons in charge of the program began in 2007.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity to coach at this prestigious high school with strong leadership, quality people and tremendous facilities,” Kay said at the time of his hiring. “I am honored to be able to impart life-long baseball knowledge with these student-athletes in building a tradition while laying a foundation for future Lions. This is truly a blessing and I am thankful.”
Kay’s first year at JSerra Catholic coincided with the program’s first year as a member of the Trinity League, and Kay knew what he up against as he worked to establish the program’s roots. As a graduate of Mater Dei, he was intimately familiar with the other schools in the league, including Orange Lutheran, Santa Margarita, Servite, St. John Bosco and his alma mater.
In his gut, Kay knew the culture of the JSerra program was going to have to fundamentally change. He knew he was going to have to hire a top-notch coaching staff – current assistants Will Rubalcava and Damon Summers joined him that first year – and collectively they would have to create an environment that was better than the existing one.
“Our big mottos are that, first, you have to surround yourself with good people … and, second, good players make good coaches,” Kay said. “But we also believed in our ability to coach and to lead these young men down what we call ‘the path of enlightenment.’
“I know that sounds cliché, but we wanted to change things so we could become a force not only in southern Orange County, but in the Trinity League, at the state level and then the national level,” he continued. “I had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted to become within three years.”
The Lions were one game away from securing a playoff berth in Kay’s first season (2006) and then broke through in year-two. It was the start of something very special.
“We had just a great group of kids that were hungry for information and learning, and they completely bought in. I just remember the excitement and the joy that they had when they reached the Division-I playoffs. And then the next year we won the league championship,” Kay said.
“I think the most important aspect and the key component of (those early years) was spreading that positive vibe and that positive gossip was a key to what we were coming as a baseball program.”
Kay’s accomplishments at JSerra Catholic – he has six 20-win seasons and a 10-year record of 194-98 – have not gone unnoticed. He has won several Southern California coach of the year awards during his 11-year career and in 2014 was named the head coach of the West Team at the Perfect Game All-American Classic; he has been a West assistant coach at each of the last two Classics.
If he has a message for his young players, it is only that they need to embrace the past, present and future with equal zeal. There have been a lot of very good ballplayers that have created a legacy at JSerra Catholic in a very short time, and while everyone involved with the program would love to win a CIF South Section D-I championship, that’s not really what it’s all about.
“They have to understand what was in the past, and what type of families and players and administrators laid that foundation for what they have today and the opportunity they’ve been given to wear what they have across their chests,” Kay said.
Top prospects like Lewis have bought-in, and take a great deal of pride not only in the baseball program but the school in its entirety.
“There’s a great vibe around the school and it’s very challenging as well,” he concluded. “But if you’re up to the challenge and you can make it happen, great things will come out of it. I see every one of these kids reaching their highest potential after being here for four years, and I’m just very appreciative of being here (myself).”