Gatorade National Player of the Year Seth Hernandez (Pittsburgh Pirates) was just the beginning of the story for the Corona Panthers.
If it's ever seemed in the past two years like the Corona Panthers' sheer amount of blue chip baseball talent was unheard of, you're not crazy.
For starters, there's the fact that over the last two seasons, the Panthers went 58-6 and made the CIF-SS Division 1 title game twice with a championship in 2024.
And then last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers made it clear that Corona's 2025 graduating class is historically great in a projectable sense.
Gatorade National Player of the Year Seth Hernandez, high school's top-ranked pitching prospect and an elite hitter as well at the prep level, was taken sixth overall by the Pirates.
When shortstop Billy Carlson was taken four picks later by the White Sox, Hernandez and Carlson became the first pair of high school teammates to ever go top 10 in one MLB Draft.
To top it off, infielder Brady Ebel was taken 32nd by the Brew Crew, setting two more records that basically go hand in hand. For one, the three former Panthers became the first high school trio to go top-50 in one draft – with 18 picks to spare. And two, they became the first high school trio to get drafted before the start of the second round in one draft. The Brewers acquired the 32nd pick as a compensatory pick from the departure of shortstop Willy Adames, and compensatory picks take place between the first and second round. Hernandez, Carlson, and Ebel were all more or less first rounders coming out of one high school class.
While that seems to be the end of the list of records Corona rewrote, it's not the end of the program's incredible list of talent – including future professionals.
Ethin Bingamen, a two-way star who's viewed primarily as a pitcher but also as a legitimate outfield prospect, went in the 20th round (603rd overall) to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He opted to attend Auburn University instead of signing.
Like Bingamen, Hernandez (Vanderbilt), Carlson (Tennessee), and Ebel (LSU) were all going to the SEC had they not gone straight to the professional ranks. Also off to D-1 from Corona's same graduating class are Gavin Flores (Creighton) and Jason Gerfers (Arizona State). Outfielder Joshua Sur actually had the highest batting average this spring of any of Corona's seniors (.380), and committed to Vanguard.
Finally, while they don't count towards an all-time great senior class, two of Corona's premier players were juniors.
Anthony Murphy had the best season of any Panther on offense by nearly every possible metric, hitting .415 with 11 home runs, 49 RBI, a 1.265 OPS, 39 runs scored, and 10 steals. He's committed to LSU but is on track for a first round selection in 2026. And Trey Ebel is another prominent draft candidate and SEC pledge, currently committed to Texas A&M. A positionally versatile infielder who might project best as a second baseman, Ebel batted .314 with two homers, 22 RBI, a .459 on-base percentage, and a .971 OPS.
Who knows when we'll see so much talent on one high school baseball team again – let alone for a public school.
Category: General Sports
