Up-and-coming attractions

A look at some of the young athletes expected to make a name for themselves in 2009:

Action sports

Snowboarders aspiring to end the Shaun White dominance in the halfpipe include Greg Bretz, 17, and Trevor Jacob, 15, both residing in Mammoth Lakes. Bretz has won a World Cup event this year. Jacob last year became the youngest rider to make the halfpipe finals at the U.S. Open. Slightly older and hungry, after missing qualifying for the 2006 Olympic team by a hair: Danny Davis, 20, from Truckee. At a recent Grand Prix event, he landed back-to-back 1080s, which will be a required feat at the 2010 Olympics.

In women’s competition, the crystal ball places Gretchen Bleiler, Australia’s Torah Bright and Kelly Clark on the podium, but watch out for Ellery Hollingsworth, 17, an honors student of the halfpipe and also at Vermont’s Stratton Mountain School, where she’s a senior.

Baseball

The rookie everyone will be talking about is David Price, the Tampa Bay Rays pitcher whose October heroics obscured the fact that his next major league start will be his second, but scouts and analysts expect Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters to come up huge as well. Wieters, 22, got a then-record $6-million signing bonus in 2006. He made his minor league debut last year, hitting .355 with 27 home runs and more walks than strikeouts, split between Class A and double A, and the Orioles traded Ramon Hernandez to make room for him in their 2009 lineup.

Boxing

Shawn Estrada was part of a medal-less U.S. Olympic boxing team that is regarded as the most disappointing in history, but the East Los Angeles product who suffered through the death of his father while in Beijing has two fast first-round knockouts as a pro. He plans to fight as often as twice a month (usually around L.A.) during this career-building part of his middleweight experience and he’s already been showcased in Ontario and Cabazon. For local fight fans interested in tracking a tough, furious-punching prospect who offers unmistakable similarities to the probably retiring “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya, this is your guy.

College baseball

Gerrit Cole of UCLA was drafted 28th overall by the New York Yankees in June out of Orange Lutheran High but became one of the few high school players in recent years to turn down a bonus offer and enroll in college instead. He’s a right-handed freshman pitcher with a 97-mph fastball.

College basketball

Tyler Zeller, a 7-foot freshman, won’t get a chance to contribute to North Carolina’s national championship run this season -- the Tar Heels are slam-dunk favorites to win it, right? -- but he’ll be a key to the title chase in 2009-10. Zeller, who scored 43 points in the Indiana high school championship game last season, started the first two games for North Carolina as a true freshman before he was lost for the season because of a broken wrist. The extra year should give Zeller time to beef up his skinny frame.

College football

The incredible run/pass talents of Jake Locker, Washington’s junior-to-be quarterback, have been derailed by injury and bad karma. Yet, a player who may be as talented as Florida’s Tim Tebow could experience a reawakening under new Coach Steve Sarkisian. Locker rushed for 986 yards and 13 touchdowns as a freshman in 2007, while throwing for more than 2,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. A thumb injury in 2008 forced Locker to sit out the last eight games of Washington’s miserable 0-12 season, but that’s all hideous history starting with spring practice in ’09.

Also watch Kevin Prince, UCLA quarterback. It’s not often that a redshirt freshman has a chance to unseat a player who set a school record. But when that record was quarterback Kevin Craft’s 20 interceptions during UCLA’s 4-8 season, the Bruins need to seek other options. Prince is expected to get a long look during spring practice. He impressed Bruins coaches with his strong arm and dedication. Prince almost always stayed after practice putting in extra work. The downside is that the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Prince has not played in two years. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the season opener as a senior at Encino Crespi High.

Golf

Ji-Yai Shin joins the LPGA Tour after being a force on the Korean and Japanese tours, and after winning the British Women’s Open. She also won the season-ending ADT Championship on the U.S. tour with a one-stroke victory over Karrie Webb. Only 20, she has a record-tying 20 career victories on the Korean tour.

Dustin Johnson got off to a fast rookie start on the PGA Tour in 2008, winning almost $450,000 with three finishes in the top 12 in the first five events, then reality hit. He missed 12 cuts in his next 21 tournaments and had only one top-20 finish in that time. But in September, he won the Turning Stone Resort Championship, earned a two-year exemption and could be a factor in his second year on tour.

High schools

Looking for the next top young quarterback out of the Steve Clarkson private coaching arsenal? It’s going to be Kelly Hilinski, a 6-foot-4 eighth-grader who lives in Claremont and has visited Mater Dei, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Westlake Village Oaks Christian and Upland while searching for a high school to attend this fall. “He’s legit,” said Clarkson, who has tutored Matt Leinart, Jimmy Clausen and Nick Montana, among others. Hilinski will probably play freshman ball, but his size and potential can’t be dismissed, not to mention the drama over what high school he’ll select.

Horse racing

Chantal Sutherland is a 32-year-old jockey with movie-star looks and a rising riding career. A native of Winnipeg and a fixture at Woodbine in Toronto, she made an appearance last December at Hollywood Park’s late-year meeting, then stayed around into 2008 to become a factor at Santa Anita’s winter meeting. She returned from a summer at Woodbine this year to race much of November and December at Hollywood Park and won her first graded title in Southern California aboard Mister Rod in the Grade III Generous during Turf Festival Weekend. She has 524 wins in her eight-year career and currently ranks 34th in North America’s jockey winnings with $5.4 million.

Media

Andrew Siciliano, host of DirectTV’s NFL Sunday show the Red Zone, is ready for a play-by-play gig.

Motor racing

He wears oversized sunglasses, painted his toenails blue for one race, described crashing in another as “Days of Thunder-ish” and, having survived an earlier life-threatening illness, drives aggressively with little pressure. Scott Speed, a freewheeling Californian and former Formula One racer, enters his first full year in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series in 2009 for the Red Bull team. And regardless of how the quirky 25-year-old finishes, Speed probably will have something interesting to say.

Mixed martial arts

Thiago Alves, a 25-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight, can make a case for having the best 2008 of any MMA fighter, going 3-0 with a unanimous-decision victory over title contender Josh Koscheck and second-round TKOs of decorated former champion Matt Hughes and another tough contender, Karo Parisyan. The victories elevate the hard-striking, jiu-jitsu-skilled Alves (22-4) from prospect to top contender, and as soon as the Georges St.-Pierre-B.J. Penn fight is over Super Bowl weekend, expect Alves to land the next title shot.

NBA

As fast as Russell Westbrook developed at UCLA, going from lightly recruited prep prospect to No. 4 pick in the draft in two seasons, he may be doing it again in the NBA. The 2008 draft class has already seen surprises such as O.J. Mayo’s rapid rise to stardom, but Westbrook is just starting to happen. After showing he wasn’t intimidated -- he averaged 11 shots in his first 16 games while making 32% -- the 20-year-old Westbrook showed he wasn’t overmatched, improving to 45% in the next 11 while becoming the starting point guard for Oklahoma City. He may not have been ready, as everyone in Westwood said last spring, but if he ever is, the rest of the NBA is in trouble.

NFL

Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen, a seventh-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007, was signed by the Chiefs at the start of this season when Minnesota tried to put him on the practice squad. Because of injuries and shaky performances by players ahead of him on the depth chart, Thigpen has gotten a lot more playing time than the Chiefs thought he might. He has been one of the few bright spots on a bad team, a quarterback with a good arm and, for the most part, solid decision-making skills. If the Chiefs are going to make a return to respectability, Thigpen is a likely cornerstone.

NHL

John Tavares, a 6-foot-1 center with Oshawa of the Ontario Hockey League, and Victor Hedman, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound defenseman with the Swedish team Modo, are the top-ranked prospects for June’s entry draft. Tavares has had a huge buildup for several years, a la Sidney Crosby, but his vision and creativity suggest he has earned the raves. Hedman is considered a future franchise defenseman. Who knows -- the Kings could end up with one of them if they miss the playoffs again.

Olympics

Jeremy Abbott, 23, of Colorado Springs has a shot at replacing two-time national champion Evan Lysacek and three-time national champion Johnny Weir as the leading U.S. men’s figure skater heading into the 2010 Olympics. Abbott, fourth at last year’s U.S. championships, won December’s Grand Prix final and November’s Cup of China. His score at the Grand Prix final was highest ever by a U.S. man.

Tennis

Caroline Wozniacki, an 18-year-old from Denmark, was best known for being the Mad Dane when she was disqualified from the U.S. Open junior event for verbally abusing a linesperson. That was in 2006, and that was well before she came on strong in the second half in 2008, winning three titles and climbing to No. 12 in the world. Then there’s 20-year-old Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. His sports pedigree is impressive: His grandfather was a starter on a European championship-winning basketball team. Gulbis reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 and is on the verge of cracking the top 50, hovering at 53.

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