63 West Coast Leaue alums were named as Top Players to Watch in their respective conferences in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s annual college baseball preview issue including former Cowlitz Black Bear and current University of Oregon closer Kenyon Yovan and former Corvallis Knights utility man Nick Madrigal of Oregon State, who both also earned CBN pre-season first-team NCAA Division I All-America honors.
Two WCL alums were named to the second team, pitcher Michael Clark of Cal Poly and catcher Mason Fishback of New Mexico State. Former Bellingham Bells pitcher Jon Olsen of UCLA was named to the third team.

The list of WCLers that were Top Players to Watch features players from the Pac-12, Big West, WCC, WAC, America East, American Athletic, Atlantic 10, Conference USA and Missouri Valley.

Recognized by conference are:

PAC-12
Carter Aldrete, Bend Elks, Arizona State
Daniel Amaral, Wenatchee AppleSox, UCLA
AJ Block, Victoria HarbourCats, Washington State
Joe Demers, Walla Walla Sweets, Washington
Brian Gadsby, Wenatchee AppleSox, UCLA
AJ Graffanino, Cowlitz Black Bears, Washington
Michael Gretler, Victoria HarbourCats, Oregon State
Cadyn Grenier, Bend Elks, Oregon State
JJ Hancock, Walla Walla Sweets, Washington State
Jared Horn, Bellingham Bells, Cal
Willie MacIver, Walla Walla Sweets, Washington
Nick Madrigal, Corvallis Knights, Oregon State
Gabe Matthews, Corvallis Knights, Oregon
Will Matthiessen, Gresham GreyWolves, Stanford
Parker McFadden, Cowlitz Black Bears, Washington State
Kyle Molnar, Walla Walla Sweets, UCLA
Jon Olsen, Bellingham Bells, UCLA
Charlie Strumpf, Bellingham Bells, UCLA
Michael Toglia, Wenatchee AppleSox, UCLA
Kenyon Yovan, Cowlitz Black Bears, Oregon

Madrigal was named the projected Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Big West
Ryan Anderson, Victoria HarbourCats, UC Davis
Zak Baayoun, Gresham GreyWolves, Long Beach State
Matt Blais, Victoria HarbourCats, UC Davis
Michael Clark, Gresham GreyWolves, Cal Poly
Jarren Duran, Walla Walla Sweets, Long Beach State
Clay Fisher, Corvallis Knights, UC Santa Barbara
Tommy Jew, Victoria HarbourCats, UC Santa Barbara
Christian Koss, Yakima Valley Pippins, UC Irvine
Cole Kreuter, Wenatchee AppleSox/Victoria HarbourCats/Corvallis Knights, UC Irvine
Alex McKenna, Walla Walla Sweets, Cal Poly
Nick Meyer, Victoria HarbourCats, Cal Poly
Hazahel Quijada, Corvallis Knights, UC Riverside
Trent Shelton, Medford Rogues, Cal Poly

McKenna was named the projected Big West Player of the Year

WCC
Daniel Bies, Bend Elks, Gonzaga
Louis Crow, Corvallis Knights, San Diego
Grant Goodman, Bellingham Bells/Corvallis Knights, San Francisco
Dempsey Grover, Klamath Falls Gems, Pepperdine
Mac Lardner, Wenatchee AppleSox, Gonzaga
Eric Lex, Bend Elks, Santa Clara
Easton Lucas, Walla Walla Sweets, Pepperdine
Chris Murphy, Walla Walla Sweets, San Diego
Jordan Qsar, Corvallis Knights, Pepperdine
Jay Schuyler, Yakima Valley Pippins, San Diego
Jake Vieth, Bellingham Bells, Gonzaga

WAC
Andy Atwood, Corvallis Knights, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Aaron Charles, Port Angeles Lefties, Cal State Bakersfield
Ian Dawkins, Kelowna Falcons, Sacramento State
Vinny Esposito, Kelowna Falcons, Sacramento State
Mason Fishback, Bend Elks, New Mexico State
Dalton Hurd, Bend Elks, Seattle
Nick Meservey, Kitsap BlueJackets, Seattle
Jackson Overlund, Walla Walla Sweets, Utah Valley
Jake Prizina, Kitsap BlueJackets, Seattle
Jake Repavich, Klamath Falls Gems, Grand Canyon
Tarik Skubal, Kitsap BlueJackets, Seattle
Jake Wong, Corvallis Knights, Grand Canyon

AMERICA EAST
Nick Silva, Bellingham Bells, Maine

AMERICAN ATHLETIC
Will McAffer, Victoria HarbourCats, Tulane

ATLANTIC 10
Vinny Capra, Walla Walla Sweets, Richmond

CONFERENCE USA
Shane Hanon, Bellingham Bells, Marshall
Austin Shenton, Bellingham Bells, Florida Interntional

MISSOURI VALLEY
Delvin Granberg, Cowlitz Black Bears, Dallas Baptist
Connor Kopach, Walla Walla Sweets, Southern Illinois

ABOUT THE WEST COAST LEAGUE

The West Coast League (WCL) is the premier summer collegiate baseball league west of the Mississippi. The 14-year-old, 11-team, professionally operated wood-bat league located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest showcases pro prospects from major conferences across the nation June through August. Out west, the league features an unparalleled history of memorable fan and player experiences and the best summer weather in North America. 83 players with WCL experience were selected in the MLB 2017 June draft. 271 WCL alums appeared or were active in affiliated professional baseball in 2017 including 31 in the major leagues, such as 2015 home-run leader Chris Davis (Baltimore); record-breaking rookie slugger Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia); rising star pitchers James Paxton (Seattle) and Matt Boyd (Detroit); and outfielder Mitch Haniger (Seattle). Overall member attendance was 412,392 this past summer, an increase of 8.6% in total attendance.