Former PVHS state champion named to West Coast League 2025 All-Star team

Recently named to the 2025 West Coast League All-Star team, former Pahrump Valley High School shortstop Kyle McDaniel has been taking the West Coast by storm.

A crucial piece of the 2023 Pahrump Valley High School squad that boasted a 28-8 record and captured the 3A division state title, McDaniel was presented offers by multiple college programs, including the College of Southern Nevada, South Dakota and North Dakota State, Wayne State and Southwest Minnesota State.

As a four-year varsity starter, McDaniel was named the 2023 3A Player of the Year and was a two-time 3A Southern Region MVP selection.

Finishing the 2023 season with a .554 batting average and 58 RBI’s, McDaniel pitched to an 8-2 record during his senior season. The three-time all-state infield selection and two-time Nevada academic all-state pick had been on the Utah Tech radar for quite some time.

“Ultimately, Utah Tech was the best decision I could have made,” McDaniel said. “I thought that was going to be best for my family and I, so that’s where I ended up going. The school is beautiful. Just walking around campus, it’s the perfect size. It’s not too big, not too small. And I’m still close to home.”

Growing up in Pahrump playing little league, travel ball for the Pure Baseball Titans and the PVHS baseball program, Kyle credits his college success to his upbringing.

“It taught me how to work with different people. I had my boys that I’ve always grown up with, and then I would go to Vegas and there’d be new faces in the dugout every week,” McDaniel said.

In 2024, as a freshman for Utah Tech, McDaniel started in 47 of 49 games that season, batting .271 while leading the team in doubles with 14.

In his sophomore season, the hometown kid led the Trailblazers in batting average, hitting .367 with a .945 OPS in 210 at-bats. Tallying a team-best 77 hits, McDaniel also led the program in runs scored (40) and in walks (35). Kyle had the lowest amount of strikeouts over 100 qualified at-bats.

Wrapping up the 2025 regular season on the road at the University of California, Davis, McDaniel extended his on-base streak to 35 straight games, a Utah Tech NCAA Division-I era record.

The Trailblazers, with the help of McDaniel’s hot bat, finished the 2025 year with a 24-31 record, making the playoffs. Appearing in the program’s first WAC tournament as a D1 program, the Trailblazers won the opening-round game in extra innings against California Baptist.

“We came in and we got the right guys over the off-season. We got our third baseman, Ryan Kroepel, who finished with the exact same batting average as me,” McDaniel said. “Coming into this next year, if you don’t believe now, then I don’t know where you’ve been.”

Splitting a house off-campus with three other Trailblazers teammates for the last couple of years, McDaniel enjoys hanging out with his boys playing “MLB: The Show”, ping pong and riding electric scooters around St. George in the little free time he has.

“MLB: The Show gets pretty hot,” McDaniel said, in reference to the San Diego Studios title video game. “I think just learning that I really do belong here and I really can compete and hang around has built my confidence levels up from my freshman season.”

One of the biggest spikes in McDaniel’s offensive numbers from his freshman to sophomore season at Utah Tech resulted from his approach at the plate.

Becoming content hitting with two strikes against him in the count, McDaniel said he began to hunt for his pitches more and emphasize putting the ball in play, no matter what.

“I don’t want to strike out, obviously, but I would just swing at not the best pitches early in the count. Learning better plate discipline and just knowing that I want to hit early in the count in a hitter’s count was a big thing my coaches and I talked about,” McDaniel said.

After spending last year’s off-season competing for the Peninsula Oilers, an Alaska Baseball League organization, McDaniel is currently spending the summer playing in the West Coast League for the Portland Pickles.

Starting the season immediately following the WAC playoffs on May 25th, over 32 games McDaniel has batted a team-best .374 with 33 runs and 43 RBI’s through 115 at-bats.

With the help of a host family in Portland keeping him in top playing condition, McDaniel plays six games each week with Monday as his only day off.

“I’m super grateful and honored to be able to just represent my family, the PVHS Trojans and Utah Tech as well,” McDaniel said. “My host family here in Portland takes really good care of me. They give me good meals and they look out for me. I’ve been focusing on just sleeping as much as I can, trying to get at least eight to nine hours of sleep a night.”

Heading into his junior season with Utah Tech, the second baseman plans on entering the 2026 MLB draft.

“My goal is to get drafted,” McDaniel said. “I’ve had a few scouts approach me, but I don’t want to jump the gun at all. I just have to keep doing my thing and keep my head down.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.