Prep Baseball Report

Preseason Power 25 Countdown: No. 24 Waterford Union


By Josh Fields & Andy Sroka
PBR Wisconsin Staff

The Wisconsin high school baseball season kicks off on March 28, opening day for regular season action under WIAA regulations. Over the next week, leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2023 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down through the official PBR Wisconsin Preseason Power 25 Rankings.

Perennially, we’ve submitted a Preseason Questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis. We also utilized some of the information published inside the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association's 2023 Yearbook, which is available for purchase here.

Our 2023 preseason coverage begins today.

Team: Waterford Union
Preseason Rank: No. 24
2022 Record: 11-13
Conference: Southern Lakes
WIAA Division: 1
Head Coach: Matt Read

ROSTER PREVIEW

NAME POS. SCHOOL CLASS COMMITMENT
Dean Buse INF Waterford Union 2023 -
Calvin Hancock C/INF Waterford Union 2023 UW-Stevens Point
Garrett Kay OF/RHP Waterford Union 2023 Illinois-Chicago
Tyler Lusic RHP Waterford Union 2023 -
Max Northrop OF/LHP Waterford Union 2023 -
Dylan Questad RHP/OF Waterford Union 2023 Arkansas
Zach Flater MIF/RHP Waterford Union 2025 -
Mason Gapinski RHP Waterford Union 2025 -
Connor Harvie C Waterford Union 2025 -


X-FACTOR

+ RHP Dylan Questad (2023; Arkansas commit) is the top ranked player in Wisconsin’s Class of 2023 and the obvious ace of the staff, and he will give the Wolverines a chance to win every time he toes the rubber this spring. Questad is coming off of a productive summer where he performed exceptionally well and elevated himself as one of the best high school arms in the country. He was a stand-out performer at the Area Code Games where our national scouts were able to get eyes on him. Here is what our scouts had to say about Questad’s performance along the prestigious national summer circuit in August:

“Eyes were certainly fixed on Meyer in the first game of the event, but [Questad] stole the show, striking out six over three perfect innings. The Arkansas recruit induced weak contact early with a heavy fastball that sat 94-96 mph, then started racking up swings and misses. The curveball was inconsistent, coming up and out of his hand and showing early break at times, but it did flash above average. He also mixed in a running changeup at 83-84.”

Dylan Questad (8/7/22)

IMPACT UNDERCLASSMAN

+ C Connor Harvie (2025) Had a role on varsity last year as a freshman and will look to build off of his campaign last year. Harvie has impressed every time we have seen him, especially in our most recent look at him when he attended the West Milwaukee Preseason ID in February. Given the power arms on staff in Waterford, Harvie’s dependability as a receiver is as important a skill as anything else he offers. Here’s what we had to say about Harvie’s performance at that Waukesha-area event:

“... showed off why he is the No. 24-ranked sophomore in the state of Wisconsin on Saturday. Listed at 5-foot-10, 165 pounds, Harvie impressed both with the bat and behind the plate. At the plate, he displayed quick hands from a short, compact, balanced right-handed swing that drove baseballs to all fields, reaching a max exit velocity of 90.6 mph and a max distance of 311 feet. Behind the plate, Harvie showed smooth hands, quick feet, and the ability to turn the ball around with his best pop time of 2.05 seconds. Overall, Harvie further solidified himself as a follow backstop in the state.”

Connor Harvie (2/18/23)

OUTLOOK

The Wolverines are coming off a season where they went just 11-13, though they made an appearance in their Regional championship game before falling to a talent-packed Franklin squad. While the sub-.500 record in 2022 appears underwhelming on paper, the Wolverines were stricken with injuries to some key players and they were unfortunately rarely all healthy at once, though they appear to be 100 percent headed into this spring. Returning is a core group of both position players and pitchers that should make this team a tough matchup for opposing teams.

Offensively the Wolverines return three all-conference players from last year including a pair of first team all-conference players in OF/RHP Garrett Kay (2023; UIC) and C/INF Calvin Hancock (2023; UW-Stevens Point), as well as OF/LHP Max Northrop (2023) who was honorable mention all-conference. This trio of players along with the aforementioned Harvie and Questad, along with INF/RHP Zach Flater (2025) and INF Dean Buse (2023) will be a big part of the Wolverines offense in 2023.

Like his senior teammate Questad, Kay warrants a paragraph to himself. Kay is one of the state’s top two-way players and he’s an explosive athlete. He is an impact left-handed hitter who can and should generate a ton of offense for Waterford in 2023, much like he did last spring when he hit .451 as a junior, and, if he’s healthy enough to do so this year, he’ll make up the hardest throwing duo in the WIAA. He has premium arm speed and strength, and he makes the Wolverines that much more dynamic come playoff time, when opposing teams will have to take on not one but two right-handers with the ability to reach the mid-90s.

On the mound the Wolverines return 75 percent of their innings from last year's team, headlined by the aforementioned Questad and Kay, but the Wolverines’ arsenal of arms is their strength, and that’s something that bodes well for postseason chances typically. After those two are fellow seniors RHP Tyler Lusic (2023) and Northrop, as well as junior Ricky Maerzke. Northrop is a two-way talent to monitor here after showing well recently at the Milwaukee ID. There, he looked like a quality depth option with a low-80s running fastball that worked well alongside a changeup, and he also swings a simple left-handed bat that’ll help extend the competitiveness inside the daily lineup too.

While these two-way players will be heavily leaned on as offensive sparks, senior Hancock is a position player our staff has always been fans of. The UW-Stevens Point recruit offers positional versatility as a backstop who can also play the infield capably, and his right-handed bat should be one of the team’s most productive. He hit .392 as a junior last year, and he’ll be one of the most important players on the team again in 2023.

Now a sophomore, Flater is yet another two-way player to factor in on this roster. He has a quick, fundamental right-handed swing that helped him hit well as a freshman in 2022, and he’ll be most important as an up-the-middle infielder this year.

BOTTOM LINE

The Wolverines have a foundation of returning seniors that will carry the lion’s share of the innings on the mound, as well as the primary run-scoring duties, and there’s a crop of underclassmen that will be a factor offensively on varsity this spring. The firepower they have at the front of their rotation, and the depth behind it, should make them a tough out again in the postseason and they have a chance to grapple for a Southern Lakes title too, a conference that’s been particularly competitive in recent years.

Make sure to follow @PBRWisconsin on Twitter for the most up-to-date coverage throughout the 2023 season.

Find more information on the 2023 Wolverines below:

+ Team Website
+ Team Schedule
+ Team Twitter

PRESEASON POWER 25 COUNTDOWN