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High School  | General | 2/2/2022

Battle Tested Buchanan Ready For Season

Photo: Sam Tookoian (Perfect Game)
2022 High School Baseball Preview Index

The Buchanan High School (Calif.) baseball team decided in the offseason that it wanted to beef up.
 
Trenton Kemp, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, implemented a food plan. Kemp spent time in the Boston Red Sox organization, where he saw the importance of what athletes were putting into their bodies. So the Buchanan players log into an app each day, and document their food and water intake.
 
That, along with the weight program the team is on, has produced results on the field already.
 
“It’s made a big difference in terms of them being able to maintain a high level throughout our whole practice,” Head Coach Brad Fontes said. “I’ve noticed that we don’t drop off toward the end like we were before. The energy seems better. The lifts are getting better. Some of the guys who were a little bit behind velocity-wise are starting to catch up. I can’t say that it’s just the nutrition program or weight program or throwing program, it’s probably a combination of all of it. Right now it’s working pretty well for us.”
 
After winning its conference and section last year, Buchanan returns a good amount of its roster from a year ago and lands at No. 11 in Perfect Game's Preseason High School Top 50.
 
The seniors on the roster include right-hander Sam Tookoian (Ole Miss), third baseman Andrew Smith (Oregon), outfielder Evan Wallace (UC Irvine), shortstop Jett Ruby (Fresno State), outfielder Hunter Jansen (Pepperdine), right-hander Austin Watson (Utah Valley), and first baseman Max Bernal (Cal State Bakersfield).
 
Infielders JP Acosta and Colton O’Toole, both committed to Long Beach State, and righty Jayden Mandal, committed to Fresno State, will help out of the junior class as well.
 
The talent seems well spread out, too. Scan over that list of committed players, and there are three pitchers, two outfielders, two corner infielders, and a handful of middle infielders. Of course, there are more guys on the roster ready to make an impact as well.
 
“You’re not sure where everybody is going to fit in, how they’re going to contribute,” Fontes said. “We’ve had plenty of guys who were not committed to Division-I schools who played a huge part in the success of our program…You never know how it will translate. These guys are a very blue collar group. They really work and go about their business pretty consistently the right way.”
 
Tookoian, who stands at 6-foot-5, will be the ace on the mound for Buchanan. The big righty really put himself on the national map at Perfect Game’s National Showcase last summer, and his outing in Jupiter later last fall solidified his future.
 




Heading into the WWBA World Championship uncommitted, Tookoian dealt a three-inning, six-strikeout performance on amateur baseball’s biggest stage, featuring a low-90s sinking fastball and a curveball that paired well with it.
 
Soon after, the commitment to Ole Miss came. Now, more refinement of his craft comes.
 
“He’s trying to put it all together and figure out how to pitch, not just throw hard,” Fontes said of Tookoian. “He’s really been working hard to put it together and polish it all. I think as the season goes on he’ll just get better and stronger and really be a big part of our staff.”
 
Tookoian will be a leader of the team, but he won’t be alone. That’s the great thing about this group, Fontes said.
 
This senior group has been together four years now, been battle tested, thrown into the fire as sophomores, and have one more opportunity to make a deep run in the playoffs.
 
Last year’s seniors were the same way, and the team really worked toward the same goal. It takes everyone on the same page if Buchanan wants to repeat as section champions and move its way through a regional bracket this spring.
 
“It will be about how well this team comes together,” Fontes said. “Last year they really came together as a team. In today’s age with social media and all the individual accolades, nobody really cared who got the credit. It was a different guy on a nightly basis. If this team can take on that mentality and all pull the rope in the same direction, we’ll have a very successful year. Regardless of wins or losses, that would be a big success for us.”
 
It’s about that time when rubber meets road, as Buchanan had its first scrimmage on Tuesday night for the first time this spring against an outside opponent.
 
The season officially starts 10 days from today on Feb. 12 with a doubleheader against West Ranch.
 
The offseason program has shown its benefits in practice thus far, now comes the real test.
 
“They’re getting after it and doing a good job,” Fontes said. “We’re a long way away, but the effort and the intensity have been good…We’re headed in the right direction.”

High School | Rankings | 11/4/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Risers

Kyler Peterson
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Complete Class of 2027 Rankings With the end of the summer and fall seasons behind us, it was time for a quick refresh of the 2027 class rankings. Below you'll be able to read about some of the biggest risers up the board, led by North Carolina outfielder John Hucko who jumped more than 110 spots to now sit at No. 20 overall.  John Hucko, OF, Charlotte, N.C. Previous Rank: 132 | Current Rank: 20 Hucko makes a huge leap into the top-20 players in the class after a dominating showing in Jupiter. It’s as good of a left-handed swing as you’ll come across with pretty easy impact to all parts. He’s a supreme athlete with all the tools to play center long term and is a present plus runner. Hucko is a name that cemented his prospect status in Jupiter and will be a name to follow for next year’s MLB Draft. Elyjah Mason, SS, Lake Forest, Calif. Previous Rank: 71 |...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 70

Ron Wolforth
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That Off-Season Program Wasn't Built for Your Son. It Was Built for Nobody. The Harsh Reality of Skill Development · Part 2 of 5 Somewhere right now, a pitcher is starting a twelve-week off-season program. It came from his travel team. Or a trainer. Or a big leaguer's Instagram. It has phases and a logo, and every kid in the building got the same one. Here is the harsh reality. That program was written before anybody looked at your son. It doesn't know he exists. It was built for the average pitcher... and the average pitcher does not exist. A Template Fixes Somebody's Problem. Maybe Not His. Every pitcher who is stuck is stuck for a reason. We call that reason his constraint... the thing that is actually limiting him right now. For one kid it is strength. For the next it is mobility. For the next it is a mechanical inefficiency, or an arm that isn't recovering, or a body that...
General | General | 11/5/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 69

Ron Wolforth
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Your Son's April Arm Injury is Being Scheduled Right Now   The Harsh Reality of Skill Development - Part 1 of 5 Let me start this series with something most people in baseball won't say out loud. In my experience, a great many of the arm problems we will see next April are being set up right now... in October, November and December. Not necessarily because a young pitcher is throwing too much. Often it's because of what happens when he stops. Here is the pattern. I have watched it for more than thirty years. The fall season ends. The arm is tired, so the family does what seems like the responsible thing.  They shut it down. No throwing. For a lot of kids, no anything. Weeks go by. The holidays come and go. Then somebody looks at a calendar in January and realizes tryouts are three weeks away. Suddenly, an arm that has done nothing since October is asked to go from zero to game...
General | General | 11/3/2026

Class of 2027 Rankings Update

Perfect Game Staff
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Press Release | Press Release | 11/2/2026

PG Partners Up with Minority Prospects

Perfect Game Staff
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  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES MEDIA RIGHTS PARTNERSHIP WITH MINORITY PROSPECTS   Sanford, Florida (Monday, November 2, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a media rights partnership with Minority Prospects, the Atlanta-based organization that has become the largest platform in the world for minority baseball and softball prospects. The partnership kicked off last month at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., Perfect Game's premier fall event, where Minority Prospects produced content featuring some of the nation's top amateur players in front of college coaches, professional scouts and MLB legends. Under the agreement, Minority...
Draft | Story | 10/30/2026

2027 Draft Preview: Prep Middle Infielders

Ryan Miller
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2027 MLB Draft Profile Preview: Collegiate Right-Handed Pitchers | Collegiate Left-Handed Pitchers The premium profile in each class often are prep middle infielders, a sought-after group with the athletic ability to stick on the dirt or land throughout the diamond long term. This demographic has produced the superstars of today’s game and therefore are selected in prime spots while demanding high-end signing bonuses. This group features a mix of loud tools, high level projection, and impact defenders. Below we break down at the top prep middle infielder in the 2027 cycle.  ‘27 SS Dylan Seward (CA)- liftoff from the No. 1 player in the class. A solo blast to RCF to extend the lead for @TheCanesBB #WWBA @California_PG @Vol_Baseball commit https://t.co/lJjNg6T7PS — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) June 27, 2026 SS Dylan Seward, Norco (CA)  The Southern...
Tournaments | Story | 11/2/2026

2028: Under-the-Radar Names to Know

Joey Cohen
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2028 Post-Circuit Dive: Under-the-Radar Names to Know One of my favorite parts of the calendar comes after the summer and fall circuits have wrapped, when I can finally sit down, dig through our tournament performance data and uncover some names that may have slipped through the cracks. With hundreds of events on the schedule and thousands of players coming through them, there's inevitably going to be talent that I or even our collective staff haven't given enough attention to. For this exercise, I wanted to isolate a particular offensive profile. I looked for 2028 bats who produced at a high level while keeping their swing-and-miss numbers in check across a sample of at least 50 plate appearances. On the pitching side, the approach was equally straightforward in terms of identifying arms who consistently filled the strike zone while missing bats at a strong clip. Of course, not all...
Tournaments | Story | 10/29/2026

WWBA Underclass Prospect Recap

Kyler Peterson
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WWBA Underclass Scout Notes: Days 1-2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Stars Being Stars These are some of the more well-known names on the national landscape, playing across several big events in which they performed at the highest of levels. Their showings in Fort Myers were simply a continuation of what we've almost come to expect at this point from them!  Kasen Langerhans (2028, Round Rock, Texas) batted leadoff and stuck at the hot corner for Texas Twelve Red Sox 2028 in Fort Myers. The Texas native has the looks a young left-handed power bat and the swing is built for it. Langerhans produces easy bat speed, delivering a fast and leveraged barrel through the zone. He creates backspin and uses the ground well, really getting into the legs. The infielder has excellent power projection and took comfortable, intentful cuts in the box. Langerhans got the job done at the top of the order...
Tournaments | Story | 10/28/2026

WWBA Sophomore Prospect Recap

Kyler Peterson
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WWBA Sophomore Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Stars Being Stars These are some of the more well-known names on the national landscape, playing across several big events in which they performed at the highest of levels. Their showings in Fort Myers were simply a continuation of what we've almost come to expect at this point from them!  2029 MIF Easton Housewright (Knoxville, Tenn.) currently stands at 6-foot,175 pounds with strength in the lower half, present above-average athleticism. Continued to shine at the top of the lineup as the left-handed hitter is your prototypical leadoff hitter, consistently finding a way on and scoring. Takes quality at-bats with an above average awareness of the strike zone. Loose hands with easy bat speed that find the barrel often for hard line drives into the gaps that frequently turn into XBHs. Confident and balanced approach. Also...
Tournaments | Story | 10/27/2026

Beyond the Board: SS Malachi Butler

Tyler Henninger
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As the 2027 draft cycle moves through the fall and into the offseason, we kick off a new series called Beyond The Board. With each installment, we will provide an in-depth scouting report for some of the top players in the class, breaking down their tools, strengths, question marks, and overall projection. This week we take a look at Georgia prep shortstop Malachi Butler. The Georgia Tech put together an outstanding showing on the circuit this summer and has been a significant riser early in the 2027 cycle.  Player: Malachi Butler Position: SS B/T: L/R Height: 6-foot-3 Weight: 190-pounds School: McEachern HS Hometown: Powder Springs, Ga.  Physical Description: 6-2/190. Strong, athletic build. Well-proportioned body. Has strength with room to continue to add more.    High speed BP swing from '27 SS Malachi Butler (GA)... #PGNational @PG_Georgia https://t.co/M9OWUX9rPw...
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