Baseball Preview: Flintridge Prep rebuilding, but still maintaining high prospects

From new coaches to drastically different rosters, an abundance of change is the hallmark of the upcoming baseball season for Flintridge Prep, St. Francis High and La Cañada.

Former Major League Baseball player Matt Whisenant has returned to his alma mater to helm the Spartans.

Aaron Dorlarque will look to bring stability to a St. Francis program as its fourth coach in four seasons.

And Guillermo Gonzalez, the area’s most successful baseball coach over the past four seasons, is hoping to maintain Flintridge Prep’s recent expectations of winning despite rebuilding.

Indeed, major change is at hand as the baseball season is in its infant days.

“It’s a rebuilding year for us; we lost a lot of kids,” said Gonzalez, who piloted the Rebels to a 19-6 record last season that included an outright Prep League title and the team’s third trip to the CIF semifinals in the past four seasons. “We’re just going to do the best we can with what we have.”

The Rebels bid farewell to All-Area mainstays Robbie Leslie, Cole Pilar and Hamilton Evans, all of them crucial and standout contributors during Flintridge Prep’s greatest seasons in program history, which included a CIF Southern Section Division VI title in 2015. In all, Prep had seven seniors graduate.

On top of dealing with a roster overhaul, the Rebels will make a huge jump from Division VI to Division IV upon CIF realignment. Still, Gonzalez, the reigning All-Area Baseball Coach of the Year, maintains the same lofty goals he’s always had since taking over the program.

“Same thing as always, try to win league and make a run in the playoffs,” said Gonzalez, who believes Pasadena Poly will likely be the stiffest competition in league a season after Flintridge Prep ended the Panthers’ two-decade-long run of winning league titles.

However, Prep will have to change things up in terms of going to a more small-ball approach.

The key to that will be sophomore Max Rosenthal, who will bat lead-off and also take up the No. 3 spot in the pitching rotation.

“He’s gonna have to set the table for us,” Gonzalez said. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on him to lead the team.”

Returning starters Daniel Chiarodit (senior second baseman), Aidan Schraeder (junior outfielder/No. 2 pitcher) and Kendall Kikkawa (senior center fielder) will also be looked upon to play vital roles for the Rebels, who will give junior pitcher Nick Davis the ball as the staff ace.

At La Cañada, alum and former four-season MLB veteran Whisenant takes over, seeking to return the Spartans to prominence in the Rio Hondo League as they look to come back from a 10-13 record and a 4-8 mark in league that left the program with its third straight losing season since it last won a league title and went to the playoffs in 2013.

“The kids have been very responsive to practically a whole new coaching staff. We’ve been working hard,” Whisenant said. “Our biggest goal is to learn how to trust the process and stay within the parameters of what we’re focused on doing that day.”

Looked on to lead the charge will be returning All-Area selection Matthew Sox, a senior pitcher who posted a 2.41 earned-run average last season and will also play shortstop and hit in the No. 3 spot.

“I expect big things from Matt,” Whisenant said.

Big things are also expected of sophomore Connor Buchanan, who will pitch, play first base and outfield. Sophomore Tai Walton should also contribute all over the field.

“As a whole, I think our pitching is gonna be our strength,” said Whisenant, a former pitcher. “We have a pretty deep pitching staff.”

In league, La Cañada will look to move up with Monrovia aiming to defend its title and San Marino predicted to be a player as always.

“I just want to make sure these guys stay focused on what today brings and not get caught up on statistics and wins and losses,” Whisenant said, “because those things will take care of themselves if we do what we’re supposed to do.”

Dorlarque, who previously coached Dunn for more than a decade, is taking over a St. Francis program on the heels of a tumultuous season in which coach Terry Phillips was replaced by interim coach Joe DePinto ahead of the second game of the campaign.

The Golden Knights went 6-22, lost their last seven games and finished at 2-16 in the always arduous Mission League.

Dolarque realizes league heavyweights such as Chaminade, Loyola and Harvard-Westlake will make turning the program around all the more difficult.

“In league, I’m anticipating that it’s gonna be tough,” said Dorlarque, who takes over a program that has had five consecutive losing seasons since they last went to the playoffs with a .500 record in 2011. “I want to put us in a position over the next two or three years to be up there at the top. To do that, the first thing is changing the culture. The second thing is being able to play at that higher level.”

To begin that change, Dorlarque is as concentrated on matters off the field as on with his immediate priorities being bringing “stability to the program” and “character development.”

On the field, the new skipper expects senior center fielder Brandon Lewis to be a catalyst.

“As he goes, we’ll go on offense and, on defense, he’s pretty spectacular in center field,” Dorlarque said of Lewis, a returning All-Area selection who hit .341 with 16 runs batted in and 13 runs.

Other Golden Knights expected to be valuable contributors are junior shortstop Christian Muro and senior left-handed pitcher Evan Tontini. Dorlarque is also excited about the prospects of freshman pitcher Tanner Tomko.

The biggest quandary for Dorlarque will be on the mound, however, as the rotation is one of question.

“That’s going to be the question mark for the team,” Dorlarque said. “I think we’ll hit a little bit and play good defense, but we need to see about our pitching.”