After a very abbreviated 2020 schedule, the 2021 season is just underway with pretty much every team in the area getting started over the weekend - some already with a handful of games under their belts.
The mostly lost season a year ago has baseball coaches, players and fans/parents antsy to make sure the entire year plays out, culminating with crowning state champions across all classifications and organizations.
With that said, we're going to try a new spin on the previews. We'll introduce power rankings in a couple weeks after a good amount of games have been played.
What we'll do instead is highlight a team we think has a high chance to win state, a team that could be dark horse in that class as well as a preseason player to watch in each class.
Private Schools
Team to Beat: Prestonwood Christian
The state's top-ranked private school team is poised for another great season, much like it was last year getting off to a 14-1 start.
Despite having the fewest returning starters among the ranked larger private schools, Prestonwood is year-in and year-out a contender.
Sophomores Derrick Mitchell and Tarris Murray along with juniors Trenton Shaw and Christian Bates are poised to lead Prestonwood to a deep playoff run in 2021.
Private School Dark Horse: Fort Worth All Saints
On the other side of town, Fort Worth All Saints enters the year ranked 10th in the state after a 13-1 2020 campaign. All Saints brings back 10 starts from year ago, including senior pitchers Grayson Cole and Charlie Bennett.
Preseason Player to Watch: Trip Banta, Fort Worth Lake Country Christian
Banta was having a nice season for Lake Country in 2020 before things shut down. The TCU-commit finished the year at 2-1 with 22 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings pitched and was batting .344 with a home run, three doubles and eight runs scored. Banta is looking for his first full season of action as last year as shortened and missed his sophomore season (2018) due to injury.
