A former Bay Area high school star is already making his presence known in college baseball before playing a single game. Now with Stanford, former Palo Alto High School star Charlie Bates received some very high praise in the preseason ahead of his debut campaign, with the freshman infielder being named a Top 25 Freshman by Baseball America.
Ranked No. 16 on the list, Bates joins Stanford teammate Rintaro Sasaki (No. 1) as one of the top 25 college freshman baseball players in the nation heading into 2025, coming out of high school as the No. 2 shortstop in all of California and the No. 24 overall prospect. Once considered a candidate to be selected in the MLB draft out of high school, Bates instead opted to play college baseball, looking both continue growing his game as well as get that Stanford education.
As a member of the Vikings, Bates ended his career with a .373 batting average with 12 home runs and 71 RBIs, helping guide the Vikings to consecutive NorCal titles in 2021 and 2022. Bates’ best season came during his sophomore year in 2022 where he hit .394 with 32 RBIs in 31 games played, finishing the season as the Vikings’ most valuable player. Despite seeing his most struggle in the field that year, committing a career high of eight errors, Bates quickly developed into an elite fielder as the years went on, finishing with a .932 career fielding percentage.
Outside of playing for his high school team, Bates has had other numerous achievements on the diamond, including being named a Rawlings First-Team All-American (2024), a Baseball America All-American (2024) as well as being invited to a handful of MLB development camps and showcases that feature some of best high school talent.
The Cardinal are coming off of a down season in 2024 following three consecutive College World Series appearances, finishing 22-33 and struggling to be a force in their final season in the Pac-12. However, the program spent the offseason retooling, and after adding a lot of top tier talent, they should be back and ready to compete for a postseason spot once again.
Bates has already proven that he has what it takes to be a star but will have to show that he can hang with the top talent that is showcased all throughout the ACC. However, based off of what his career trajectory has suggested, Bates should see himself blossom into one of the best players in all of college baseball and go down in history as a Stanford legend.
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