Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year: Matt Hobgood
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NORCO, Calif., June 8 CA-Gatorade-Baseball
California senior named nation's top high school performer
NORCO, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in partnership with ESPN RISE, today announced senior pitcher and first baseman Matt Hobgood of Norco High School (Norco, Calif.) as its 2008-09 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year.
Hobgood becomes only the third student-athlete from California ever to win Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year recognition, joining Florida Marlins catching prospect Kyle Skipworth (2007-08, Patriot HS/Riverside) and former NFL quarterback and Major League Baseball reliever Chad Hutchinson (1994-95, Torrey Pines HS/San Diego).
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Hobgood as the nation's best high school baseball player. A national advisory board comprised of sportswriters and sport-specific experts from around the country helped select Powers from more than 478,000 high school baseball players nationwide. Hobgood is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year Award, to be presented at a special afternoon ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior right-handed pitcher and first baseman led the Cougars to a 25-5 record and the CIF-Southern Section Division I quarterfinals, where they fell to Mater Dei High, 7-4. Hobgood compiled an 11-1 record, a 0.92 ERA, and 101 strikeouts in 68.1 innings this spring, issuing just 26 walks. He also batted .475 with 21 home runs and 55 RBIs, amassing a 1.88 slugging percentage for Norco in 2009. The 2008 Los Angeles Times Player of the Year, Hobgood hit a game-winning two-run home run in the second round of the playoffs against Temecula Valley, also hurling a scoreless inning of relief in the eighth and striking out the side in the process. Hobgood won Norco's opening-round postseason game by pitching a complete-game one-hitter and hitting a pair of home runs against Brea Olinda High. Opposing batters hit just .151 against Hobgood this year, while he has hit safely in 24 of Norco's 30 games.
Hobgood has set school records in career pitching victories, games pitched, innings pitched, shutouts and strikeouts. Offensively, he has set school single-season and career records in home runs and RBIs. With his 39 career home runs, Hobgood also broke the Inland Empire record of 36, set by former Centennial standout Mike Stodolka in 2000.
Hobgood led his club team, the Trombly Braves, to the American Amateur Baseball Congress Don Mattingly World Series Under-17 National Championship in 2007. A CIF Southern Section First Team selection in 2008, he batted .481 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs as a junior.
Hobgood has maintained a B average in the classroom. Active in multiple community service initiatives as a member of the Crossroads Christian Church Youth Group, he has also volunteered locally as a youth baseball coach and on behalf of numerous fundraising efforts to benefit cancer research.
"We've had a lot of good athletes at this school, but we've never had someone who can change the outcome of a game the way Hobgood can," said Norco Head Baseball Coach Gary Parcell. "He can go out there on any given day and strike out 12 batters and then turn around and hit a three-run homer to win the game. He's just such an incredible athlete, especially for a guy his size."
Hobgood has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at Cal State Fullerton University this fall, but is projected as an early round selection in this month's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
"Without question, Matt is deserving of recognition as the nation's best high school baseball player based on his statistics on the field and the impact his play had on Norco's success," said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jeff Urban. "But he is also a shining example to peers and aspiring young players of what a leader and a student-athlete should be. He represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient."
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which works with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Former notable Gatorade National Players of the Year include:
- Arizona Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch
- Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Peyton Manning
- Kansas City Royals ace Zach Grienke
- WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder Lisa Leslie
- NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith
- Reigning 200-meter world champion Allyson Felix
For more on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information and lists of past winners and future announcement dates, visit gatorade.com/playeroftheyear.
ALL-TIME GATORADE NATIONAL BASEBALL PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
YearName High School Status
2008-09 Matt Hobgood Norco/Norco, CA High School
Senior
2007-08 Kyle SkipworthPatriot/Riverside, CA Florida Marlins
2006-07 Rick Porcello Seton Hall Prep/ Detroit Tigers
West Orange, NJ
2005-06 Clayton Kershaw Highland Park/Dallas, TX Los Angeles
Dodgers
2004-05 Justin Upton Great Bridge/Chesapeake, VA Arizona
Diamondbacks
2003-04 Mark Rogers Mt. Ararat/Topsham, Maine Milwaukee
Brewers
2002-03 Chris LubanskiKennedy-Kenrick Catholic Kansas City
/Norristown, PA Royals
2001-02 Zack Greinke Apopka/Apopka, FL Kansas City
Royals
2000-01 Casey KotchmanSeminole/Seminole, FL Atlanta Braves
1999-00 Jason Stokes Coppell/Coppell, TX Retired from MLB
1998-99 B.J. GarbeMoses Lake/Moses Lake, WA Florida Marlins
Org.
1997-98 Drew Henson Brighton/Brighton, MI NFL Free Agent
1996-97 Darnell McDonald Cherry Creek/Englewood, COCincinnati Reds
1995-96 Matt WhiteWaynesboro/Waynesboro, PA Georgia Tech
(Coach)
1994-95 Chad Hutchinson Torrey Pines/San Diego, CARetired from NFL
and MLB
1993-94 Doug Million Sarasota/Sarasota, FL Deceased
1992-93 Alex RodriguezWestminster Christian/New York Yankees
Miami, FL
1991-92 A.J. HinchMidwest City/ Arizona Diamond-
Midwest City, OK backs Mgmt.
1990-91 Brian Barber Dr. Phillips/Orlando, FL Retired
1989-90 Todd VanPoppelJames Martin/Arlington, TXRetired
1988-89 Jeff Jackson Simeon/Chicago, ILToronto Maple
Leafs Mgmt.
1987-88 Mark LewisHamilton/Hamilton, OH Retired
1986-87 Willie Banks St. Anthony's/Retired
Jersey City, NJ
1985-86 Gary SheffieldHillsborough/Tampa, FLNew York Mets
SOURCE Gatorade
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