PIAA baseball season preview 2024-25: Meet the top 10 players to watch in Butler County
As the weather allows this spring, Butler County baseball teams will take the diamond with a good amount of talent, especially on the mound.
Opposing hitters figure to have a tough time against the top hurlers within county borders, and those pitchers do some damage from the plate themselves.
Butler, Seneca Valley, Mars and Karns City have all been perennial playoff teams, while Moniteau made a deep run into the state playoffs last spring.
There are a handful of players who are already committed to play at the Division I level in college or are figuring out where they’d like to continue their careers on that stage.
Here are some of the top local players to watch as the campaign unfolds, listed alphabetically:
Casteel doesn’t yet have a collegiate destination. Golden Tornado coach Josh Forbes believes he’ll have Division I options soon enough.
Casteel has a fastball that ranges between 90-92 mph, per Five Tool Baseball. He pitched 32.2 innings for Butler last season, posting a 4.07 ERA, 36 strikeouts and a .187 batting average against.
Goodworth, the Planets’ all-time leading passer on the gridiron, had his senior high school football season cut short by a shoulder injury. He returns to the diamond as a second-team all-section shortstop.
Jones isn’t the largest in stature, but he’s a guy other teams’ pitchers tend to try to work around. Gremlins coach Josh Smith said he bashed a 380-foot home run over the left field fence on the first pitch he saw this season.
When the roles are flipped, he pounds the strike zone and eats up innings for Karns City.
Krause’s family moved back to Mars from Buford, Ga., and Planets coach Jason Thompson’s team will benefit from his return. A right-handed hurler, Krause is committed to play for the University of Virginia.
According to Perfect Game, Krause’s fastball topped out at 89 mph last summer.
Manuel has an “above average fastball for our level, in the 2A, 3A area,” Smith said. That pitch, the coach estimated, climbs as high as 85 mph and is paired with a slider and changeup.
He’ll be counted on to sit batters down as the Gremlins roll through their schedule.
Rockets coach Tyler Friel described McCandless as a five-tool player, much like his former teammate, Ohio State’s Sal Mineo, was for the team.
He’s a versatile fielder who does well at the plate for Slippery Rock and can even pitch. McCandless hit three home runs last season. He’s gaining attention from colleges.
You’d be hard-pressed to find as many hurlers as tall as Pacek, who towers at 7 feet. The righty pushes his fastball up to 87 mph.
At 16 years old, Pacek pitched up at 18U last summer and led pitchers in swing-and-miss percentage. Pacek also plays forward for the Knights’ basketball team.
Piekutoski, a South Carolina-Sumter commit, hits with power in the No. 3 spot for the Raiders. He’s begun pitching this season and is working on combining control with the velocity he already possesses.
At Prep Baseball’s Senior Future Games last summer, Piekutoski had the second-fastest maximum hitting exit velocity (96.9 mph). He was tied for fifth at that event with an 87 mph fastball.
A captain for the Rockets, Runtas has worked hard to improve as a pitcher. He struck out 11 batters in Slippery Rock’s opener.
“To me, that kind of shows what he’s capable of,” Friel said. “When he’s at the top of his game, he does everything you want a pitcher to do. He pounds the zone, he changes speed well, he finds his location (and) he limits walks.”
Runtas is a Waynesburg commit.
During 29 frames on the mound for the Golden Tornado last season, Stefaniak struck out 37 and posted a 2.89 ERA. Stefaniak is committed to play at Penn State following his high school career.
Stefaniak deals at more than 93 mph, an impressive arm. He plays travel ball for the Pittsburgh Spikes.
