Power rules as teams seek elusive state titles
Scouts dig the long ball, too.
That’s why the top prospects in Miami-Dade prep baseball this year are a pair of power-hitting third basemen: Westminster Christian’s Sal Stewart and Miami Springs’ Jason Torres.
According to Baseball America’s rankings, Stewart is the 16th-best prep senior in the nation, and Torres is No. 54.
Isn’t it ironic?
South Florida is known for speed in football, but, in baseball this year, it’s the power that rules.
A 6-3, 215-pounder with a scholarship to Vanderbilt, Stewart hit .534 with 17 homers and 40 RBIs in 31 games last year, leading Westminster to a secondplace showing at state. Stewart is a career .420 hitter in 156 prep games, and his power has been compared to that of another right-handed pull hitter – Pete Alonso of the New York Mets.
Stewart routinely hits balls over the left-field fence at Westminster – a distance of 309 feet – and has also cleared the swimming pool that sits behind that wall.
“Sal is hitting balls that don’t land,” Westminster coach Emil Castellanos said. “When he gets ready for batting practice on our campus, we tell people in the pool, ‘Heads up!’ He’s hitting rockets. He has pro power.”
Scouts seem to agree. Stewart could become the first Westminster Christian player to go from high school to the first round of the MLB Draft since Alex Rodriguez in 1993. Former MLB catcher J.P. Arencibia was a 17th-round pick out of Westminster in 2004 and a first-rounder out of the University of Tennessee three years later.
Scouts say Torres, a 6-2, 215-pounder, is a notch below Stewart but yet more powerful than every other hitter in Miami this year.
Last season, Torres hit .521 with 11 doubles, eight homers and 45 RBIs in 24 games. He has a scholarship to play for the University of Miami, but the Hurricanes could lose him to the draft.
As for speed, MiamiDade baseball has that, too, although not as highprofile. Two of the fastest players in the city are a pair of sophomore center fielders: Northwestern’s Darrell Pender Jr., who hit .487 and stole 28 bases last year; and True North’s Robert Alvarez.
Despite those and many other talented athletes, Miami-Dade County failed to win a single state title last year.
This season, though, could bring multiple state titles to Miami for the first time since 2015, when Columbus (7A), Westminster (3A) and Brito
(2A) all won gold.
Some of the top contenders are Columbus (7A), Doral (6A), Belen (5A), Miami Springs and Mater Lakes (4A), and Westminster, Gulliver Prep, Monsignor Pace and
SLAM (3A).
Here’s a closer look: