Puyallup MLB prospect is The News Tribune’s All-Area baseball player of the year
Before Mason Pike could settle into the first inning of his senior season, Puyallup’s star arm surrendered an earned run. A one-out double and two-out single pushed Mount Vernon ahead of the visiting Vikings early on, 1-0, in a March 11 opener on the road.
It was a surprising oddity, a rare hiccup for one of the state’s premier prospects, but Pike recovered exactly how an elite pitcher would — with four hitless innings that dazzled the MLB scouts in attendance at Everett’s Funko Field. The eventual 3A-champion Bulldogs pounced for an early run, but Pike went 50 days and 40.2 innings pitched before issuing another, striking out 65 batters with just 13 hits and 10 walks in between.
Whenever Pike stepped on the gas, Puyallup went with him. The Vikings won 28 straight games to begin their campaign and were the second-ranked high school baseball team in the country, per MaxPreps, before their only loss to Lake Washington in the 4A state semifinals. A magical season ultimately fell short, but Pike’s status among MLB draft boards remained unchanged — considered a dual-threat, early-round selection next month.
“(Mason’s) going to give everything,” longtime Puyallup head coach Marc Wiese said, “and that’s just been a trademark of Puyallup baseball. He internally has that.
“I tell them all: All I can expect out of you is to compete at your very best ability and play the game hard. And if you do that, hey, we won. It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day on the scoreboard. That’s the motto we’ve always taken.
“And Mason, obviously, has had that since he’s been 8 years old, since I’ve known him.”
With a fastball that flirts with triple-digits and true, four-pitch mix best described as nightmare fuel, Pike twirled nine shutouts in a dozen starts this spring with a 5-1 record and 0.84 ERA. Opponents hit .132 when the 4A SPSL’s Player of the Year trotted to the mound, tallying 112 strikeouts and 21 walks across 66.2 frames.
Coupled with the raw arm talent that might convince an MLB team to pry him away from Oregon State University this summer, Pike was Puyallup’s best hitter. The state’s Gatorade Player of the Year posted career-highs at the plate in nearly every stat imaginable — average (.482), RBI (28), doubles (14), walks (20) — and turned in another stellar defensive season as a middle infielder.
Now, the South Sound’s best player has another crown.
For a second-straight season, Pike is The News Tribune’s All-Area Player of the Year.
“That was one of my goals this year,” Pike said, “was Player of the Year.”
If his 98-mph fastball wasn’t enough, Pike’s nasty slider and deceiving changeup silenced the area’s best. His favorite pitch? A wicked curveball with improved depth that froze opponents waiting for heat.
Wiese chuckled: “I can see why he likes that one.”
“Having (opponents) know they have to be ready for the fastball makes the offspeed a lot better when you can fool them,” Pike said. “It worked extremely well.”
Of the right-hander’s eight earned runs this spring, six came in Puyallup’s state semifinal loss to Lake Washington, 8-1, when Pike battled through food poisoning against the eventual 4A champions. Six days prior, he threw a 17-strikeout no-hitter in Puyallup’s state-opening win over Moses Lake, 5-0, his most-complete masterpiece of the year.
“He has dreams of being a big leaguer and winning a World Series someday,” Wiese said. “He leads by example ... It’s by working (to) be the best. Guys see him at the New Level facility, working with Calloway Athletics, and spending all of that extra time in the cages.
“He’s a quiet leader. He just goes about his business, and he’s probably one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever had.”
If anyone’s fiercer, it’s Mason’s younger brother, Madden — a freshman right-hander and 4A SPSL first-teamer with a 1.27 ERA in 38.2 innings this spring. Mason declined the opportunity to play his senior season for IMG Academy (FL) and elected to play with his brother instead, likely the first and last year they’ll spend as teammates.
“It was my first time ever playing with him,” Pike said. “Just getting to actually see him play up close was super fun to watch.”
Pike will attend the MLB Draft Combine from June 17-21 at Chase Field in Phoenix as another decision looms: Will he sign with a major-league club or play college ball for Oregon State, a program he committed to more than four years ago?
He’ll wait and see how the MLB Draft shakes out, Pike told The News Tribune, though he considers the decision a “win-win.” He’s the No. 136 prospect on next month’s draft board, per MLB.com, for the two-night event in Atlanta from July 13-14.
“It’s just been his drive and passion to be the best baseball player he can be,” Wiese said, “and to do everything to fulfill a dream.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
