2023 Utah Top 10 Prospects (Sept Update)
Mon September 5, 2022
Jeff Scholzen
Utah Scouting Director
In what has been the most talked about recruiting class since their sophomore year. The 2023 class by and large was the class that had the coming out party at the 2021 Future Games and the West Coast Games as the younger class at that event. This class started to receive big attention from the D1 recruiting world the minute the shackles were taken off, for recruiters to hit the road June 8th, 2021. At the culmination of the Future Games, the offers started to roll in for this class.
It feels like yesterday prospects in the 2023 class were taking their first steps on to high school campuses across the state, and it still feels a little odd that they are now seniors! Over the summer, we were able to hold open events and scout days for select travel ball teams that were strategically placed to try and cover every area of the state: From Hurricane HS to Mountain Ridge HS to Dixie HS as well as Pleasant Grove HS for the invite only Top Prospect Games, where every college program up and down the I-15 corridor was in attendance. The Top Prospect Games featured 82 of the state's top prospects. Our busy summer also as mentioned featured the Future Games, from July 27-31, at the Lakepoint Sports Complex in Emerson, GA and finished off with the West Coast Games in Las Vegas, NV. Needless to say, we've seen a lot of baseball over the past few months!
The list is headlined by American Fork switch hitting MIF’er Ryder Robinson, who committed to national power TCU last November. Yes Ryder has a prolific lineup behind him, out of the lead off spot, but still l, only Robinson and ‘22 Gatorade POY, Luke Anderson from Snow Canyon (BYU) are the only two players in the past two seasons to score 100+ runs over that span. For good measure, Robinson is very hard to K out and after not showing HR power as a sophomore, although with big on base skills, Robinson popped 6 HRs this past spring and the power is still gonna grow even more!
In a close call for #1 and #2 is the state's most dynamic arm! Pleasant Grove ace and 1st ™ All-Stater along with an Area Code showing, Brayden Marx is at #2. Marx, who received a can’t turn down offer, committed to the U of Hawaii, a week after the 6A state tourney was finished. Marx is the holder of a FB that sits 89-93 and touched 95 at the Area Code tryout in mid-June. Also his biggest weapon is the state's best CB 76-79 and a SL up to 83. The CB is one of the better ones and arguably the best in the four corners as it has tight hard breaking depth to land it for K’s and bury below the zone for consistent swing and misses. The CB spin has topped out at 2990 and that rate of rpm’s is in the well above to elite range at the MLB level. Both players will be tracked by scouts come next spring.
At #3 is an elite runner and defender in Lone Peak speedy CF’er Crew McChesney, who committed the first of July with local regional contender BYU. McChesney is also one of the better WR’s on the gridiron as well and holds a few D1 football scholarships, but his elite speed and emerging pull power to complement a power/speed package, will have him devoting his time on the baseball field solely at the collegiate level! Crew announced himself fully to D1 recruiters, when he ran a laser timed 6.24/60 at last March’s Preseason All-State event at Desert Hills HS and got off to an electric start to the season in St. George, finishing the season hitting over .400 and had recruiters leaving their teams to come see he and Marx in Utah county throughout this past spring.
Players 3-10, all could be ranked higher or lower in the top 10, as they all bring about tool packages that make for tough placements. I decided to place 3 MIF’ers in a grouping at 5-7 followed by the state’s premier raw power threat at #8 and two physical RHP’s that are gaining steam and have touched 91 and 92 respectively this summer and are trending up!
This group is gonna be fun to watch next spring as we cover their senior campaigns. All these players just finished their last hurrah at the travel ball level this summer and many will either be playing for the Utah Marshalls next summer or being sent out to play in designated summer collegiate leagues around the country by their future college coaches, that are designed to speed up the learning curve for these talented players, to compete for playing time at their campuses next fall!
With all that in mind, we update our 2023 Top 10 Prospects and have provided a link for the rest of the rankings beyond the 10 touched on in this piece. There are still a handful of exciting commits that could have been in the Top 10 in their own right.
Commitment: 
Commitment: Brigham Young U
Commitment: 
Commitment: Utah
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Commitment: 
3/6/22
Robinson the #1 ranked player in the ‘23 class and a TCU commit, didn’t do anything to be knocked off that perch, as he sprayed hard LD’s to all fields from both sides of the plate during his BP round. With 3 MLB scouts in attendance, Robinson was immediately noticed and it won’t take long for other scouts to do the same. A PBR Future Games alum and a 2021 1st Team All-Region and 1st Team All-State honoree, Robinson has a silky smooth stroke to hit from both sides of the plate and makes it look EZ. A bloodline player, as his uncle was a four year starting 3B at BYU and his Father was an All-American MIF at CSI and played in the Cardinals chain for three years. Ryder’s older brother Crew was a 1st Team JUCO All-American at CSI a year ago and currently plays at UC-San Diego. Robinson is also the leadoff hitter for national powerhouse American Fork and led the state in runs scored with 52 a year ago. Look for Robinson to contend for state player of the year honors before he culminates his HS career.