Prep Baseball Report

Utah HS Team Preview: Olympus


Jeff Scholzen
Utah Scouting Director

Utah HS Team Preview: Olympus HS


        


Opening Day is around the corner, try outs have been scheduled starting Feb 28th, and rosters are soon to be set. The Utah High School Activities Association has announced that opening day of the 2022 season will commence on Tuesday March 7th. The PBR Utah staff begins its 2022 season coverage with our annual preseason team previews, where we will take notes from coaches, and highlight returning players, newcomers, and some sleepers. Over the next couple weeks and leading up to opening day, we will be highlighting some of the top programs in the state in our team previews. 

PBR Utah will also be publishing its state Power 25 rankings that will be updated every Monday once the season begins. Throughout the season, PBR Utah will be pumping out coverage, highlighting individual players, games, rankings, scouting reports and nominating a player of the week. PBR Utah looks forward to getting out there this spring to see some great baseball. 

Of Note: As we countdown to opening day with the team previews, we still have one big event to kick off the HS season with the PBR Utah Preseason All-State. This event will be loaded with 61 of the top uncommitted players, along with 20 committed players, as it's an INVITE only event of the top players in the 2022-2025 classes. 

School History: Olympus High School is a public high school in the Granite School District in Holladay, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The school opened on September 1, 1953, with an original enrollment of 1028 students. In the fall of 1960, the largest entering sophomore class (the graduating class of 1963) in Utah's history (an estimated 935) enrolled. Two years later the overcrowding was reduced when the new Skyline High was completed. In April 2013, the new Olympus High School building was opened for classes adjacent to the original school. The original building was torn down after 60 years of operation.

Throughout its history, Olympus has been one of the leading academic public high schools in the state. In 1961 its orchestral and vocal music program was recognized as one of the nation's finest by the Ford Foundation, which funded a composer-in-residence for the school, an award shared with schools throughout the Granite School district. (Wikipedia)

We now break down the Titans with our team capsule below:

The Titans will be a force to reckon with once again in ‘22, as they have 3 players we will touch on below as these are X-Factor types that can carry a team at times with their abilities and mental strength and varsity experience. 

We start 2nd Team All-State and “LSU” commit 2022 Mic Paul, CF who originally committed to Arizona, but when the Wildcats legendary head coach left for Baton Rouge to take the LSU job right after the College World Series, it left Paul with a decision to make. Does he stay with his commitment to Arizona not knowing who the eventual staff would be, or inquire about joining Coach Jay Johnson at LSU? After a summer of back and forth and a subsequent visit to Baton Rouge, Paul decided to head to LSU and one that looks to be a good choice as Coach Johnson is arguably the best offensive mind in college baseball. Paul was a recent attendee at the PBR Super 60 pro showcase in Chicago for some of the top college prospects to be evaluated by over 100 MLB Scouts. Paul gets good jumps and reads on balls in CF and plus range and quickness. Over the last year and half, Paul has been one or two at every event in the 60, ranging from 6.54-6.77 in the 60 yard dash. Offensively he is a table setter at the top of the lineup and uses the whole field with extra base hits and stole over 30 bags a year ago. Look for Paul to have a great senior year and get things going for the Titans at the top of the lineup. 

Another big bat in the Titans lineup will be PBR Future Games alum and 2nd team All-Region 3B/OF/RHP-Jacob Faust. The junior has big hitting metrics with exit velos just under 100 mph on Trackman and above average hand and bat speed data with Blast Motion. Faust was the everyday 3B last year and looks to make a bigger mark in ‘22, as he has gotten stronger, bigger and played in some high profile summer events in bringing that experience back to Olympus this spring. 

The “Ace” and you can call him that without hesitation is 2022 and College of Southern Idaho commit Ashton Johnson, LHP/OF. Johnson earned PBR Utah Pitcher of the Week honors on three occasions last year as he put up ridiculous pitching numbers. With well over 100 strikeouts and less than 10 walks, the crafty lefty with a FB ranging from 83-86, has pinpoint command and even threw a couple of no-hitters in ‘21. At one point Johnson hadn't been scored upon in his first 3-4 starts a year ago. Look for Johnson to continue his 1st Team All-State run from a year ago into this year and it will be tough to duplicate his ‘21 season, but I wouldn’t put it past him in being an early favorite for 5A player of the year honors in ‘22! Johnson was a member of Team Utah at the PBR West Coast Games in mid-August and committed to CSI shortly thereafter.  

Olympus Titans by the Numbers:

Head Coach: Corland Felts (Former Utah catcher 1994-1997. I coached against Coach Felts in college)

State Classification/Region: 5A / Region 6

Last Year's Record: 26-4

Number of State Tourney Appearance in last 10 Years: 7

Number of State Title Appearances: 1

Number of State Titles games in the last 10 Years: 0

Number of State Titles in the last 10 Years: 0

  • 2021 Region 6 Champions and best record in 5A

Top Returning Players: 

  • 2022 Ashton Johnson, LHP/LF (CSI commit)

  • 2022 Mic Paul, CF (LSU commit)

  • 2022 Corbin Sanchez, C/OF

  • 2023 Jacob Faust, OF/3B/RHP

Who is your X-Factor?

  • 2022 Ashton Johnson, LHP/LF (CSI commit)

  • 2022 Mic Paul, CF (LSU commit)

Young players who have College potential down the road

  • Mic Paul

  • Ashton Johnson

  • Corbin Sanchez

  • Jacob Faust

  • Mathew Thomas

  • Luke Affleck

Returning All-Region/All-State Players


  • 2022 Mic Paul, CF (LSU commit) 2nd Team All State and 1st Team All-Region

  • Ashton Johnson, LHP/LF (CSI commit) 1st Team All State and Region 6 MVP

  • 2022 Corbin Sanchez, C/OF All Region

  • 2023 Jacob Faust, 3B/OF/RHP  All Region

Coaches Summary and Outlook

We lost 7 starters to graduation last year and that team had some of the best chemistry I had ever coached, which was critical to our success. It will not be easy to duplicate, but we are very fortunate to have some excellent players and leadership returning this year. We have some new guys that are talented and ready to step up and compete. 

We pitched very well last year and I think our success will continue to be predicated on pitching and defense.  We should be slightly deeper on the mound this year with Ashton Johnson, Matthew Thomas, Sam Creer and Jackson Park, which are all starter quality arms,  providing for some good depth. 

Mic Paul both offensively and defensively is an exceptional talent that will lead us on both sides of the ball. Guys like Corbin Sanchez, Jacob Faust, Ashton Johnson, JD Olson, and Luke Affleck will look to be offensive threats and real contributors for us. I’m looking forward to seeing what this group can do.

— Coach Corland Felts 

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