Brewers Gray bounces back from sloppy effort for strong win as Redwood Christian's Vanegas sets pitching tone. Read on for updates on other California players who have impressed the scouts so far this week in Long Beach.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor

Seven teams from Major League Baseball sponsor their own teams at the Area Code Games in Long Beach each August and it doesn't take long for the assembled coaching staffs to find out what works and what doesn't work at Blair Field.

Power pitchers that can't get the ball over the plate are quickly exposed. In turn, batters with big sticks that can hit the ball a country mile, but can't hit a curve ball five feet are not going to cut it, either.

Coined "Yellowstone Park," by longtime scouts, Blair is not a hitters friendly park to begin with and when you throw in the fast infield, control, contact hitting and good defense become a premium.

"The longer each team stays in Area Code, a better idea of what they need to succeed out here becomes evident," remarked on American League Area Scout. "Power guys that don't throw strikes have no chance. In days past, kids that heaved it up there (at a tryout) would automatically be brought out here by the coaches. There has been more emphasis put on playing the game."

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What makes the CalHiSports.com all-state honors unmatched is that we point the spotlight on players from different-sized schools as well as the best players for the future. Cathedral Catholic and San Dimas lead the medium school selections while Washington of Easton and Escalon each get a pair for small schools. Sixty players also named either first team or second team all-state underclass.

Compiled by Mark Tennis, Executive Editor
Contributing: Paul Muyskens, Steve Brand

Congratulations to the following players for earning all-state baseball honors for medium schools. Players eligible were from schools that were considered Division III for our state rankings as well as a few other schools with similar-sized enrollments:

Catchers
Geno Escalante (Rodriguez, Fairfield) Sr.
Josh Leyland (San Dimas) Sr.
Wade Morten (East Union, Manteca) Sr.

Pitchers
Anthony Amara (Placer, Auburn) Sr.
Josh Dreier (San Juan, Fair Oaks) Sr.
Chris Herrera (Kingsburg) Sr.
Kyle Hayes (Santana, Santee) Jr.
Justin Jones (Oakdale) Sr.
Andrew Kjar (Miramonte, Orinda) Sr.
Eric Salcido (San Dimas) Sr.
Ryan Wilkins (Cathedral Catholic, San Diego) Sr.
Brady Zuniga (Bishop Amat, La Puente) Sr.

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