The following Texas players are on the West Team roster at the AFLAC All American game in California this week.

Matt Graham RHP
Slade Heathcott LHP
Jacob Morris OF
Matthew Purke LHP
Jonathan Walsh C
Everett Williams OF

Congrats to these young men.

From the PG website:

As in all previous years Perfect Game presented awards to those Aflac players who stood out at the Perfect Game National Showcase held in June at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN.

The amount of talent at the PG National is unbelievable to anyone other than those who attend that event and see everything. Picking individuals for the awards is a very tough task as many could easily be considered for nearly every award.

It can only be one in each category, so here are the players who received those awards at the Aflac Welcome Dinner.

Best Runner – Levon Washington (FL)
Best Fielding – Mychal Givens (FL)
Best Hitter – David Nick (CA)
Best Power Hitter – Jonathan Singleton (CA)
Best Pitcher – Matthew Purke (TX)
Best Prospect – Donavan Tate (GA)

I'm pulling for Matthew Purke to bring home the Jackie Robinson Award tonight. Great kid from a great pair of parents.


The Player of the Year nominees are:

Mychal Givens, INF/RHP, Plant HS – Tampa, Fla.
Austin Maddox, C/RHP, Eagle’s View Academy – Jacksonville, Fla.
Tyler Matzek, LHP, Capistrano Valley HS – Mission Viejo, Ca.
Matthew Purke, LHP, Klein HS – Spring, Texas
Donavan Tate, OF, Cartersville HS – Cartersville, Ga.
Jacob Turner, RHP, Westminster Christian Academy – St. Charles, Mo.



...Aflac National High School Player of the Year Award, given to the country’s top prep baseball player. The Player of the Year recipient will be presented with the Jackie Robinson Award, a trophy named in honor of the late Hall of Famer. Sharon Robinson, Robinson’s daughter, will present the award at the Aflac All-American Awards Dinner ...

"We are extremely pleased to once again have Jackie Robinson's name associated with this prestigious award," said Sharon Robinson. "This award has gone to fine young men who exemplify what my father stood for, and gives recognition to the student athletes who strive for excellence and give back to the community."

quote:

The following Texas players are on the West Team roster at the AFLAC All American game in California this week.

Matt Graham RHP
Slade Heathcott LHP
Jacob Morris OF
Matthew Purke LHP
Jonathan Walsh C
Everett Williams OF

They must not have seen the 2nd best HS arm in Tx. Shelby Miller or the best HS bat Randal Grichuck.

quote:

Originally posted by cheapseats:
From the PG website:


It can only be one in each category, so here are the players who received those awards at the Aflac Welcome Dinner.

Best Runner – Levon Washington (FL)
Best Fielding – Mychal Givens (FL)
Best Hitter – David Nick (CA)
Best Power Hitter – Jonathan Singleton (CA)
Best Pitcher – Matthew Purke (TX)
Best Prospect – Donavan Tate (GA)

Best looking Aflac coach in uniform - Omar Washington (TX)

quote:

Originally posted by KCR:
Best looking Aflac coach in uniform - Omar Washington (TX)

Mychal Givens Wins 2008 Jackie Robinson Award as Nation's Best High School Baseball Player
Beau Wright Takes Home Sportsmanship Award
Top Pitcher Award Goes to Matthew Purke link





Also at the awards ceremony, Matthew Purke, (Klein HS) of Spring, Texas, won the
Pitching Prospect of the Year award. Purke, a 6-foot-3 left handed pitcher,
dominated the competition in his junior year, allowing only four earned runs in
76.2 innings pitched. He finished the season with a 12-1 record and a 0.37 ERA,
striking out 147 batters. Purke was selected to the Texas High School Baseball
Coaches Association All-State First Team 5A for pitching.

Congratulations, all!

It's fun to see the local kids on tv -- a very talented group. I wonder where they get their stats though.

Todd Fitz-Gerald was the East coach. He was also coach of the year. His team was number 1 in the country. He is a nice young guy. I was his assistant coach in football at American Heritage HS in Florida. I also helped coach jv baseball. He is a good coach. It was fun to see him there. I was really proud of him this year.



Aside from player of the year Jake Odorizzi (Illinois) and pitcher Tim Melville (Missouri), the 2008 All-USA baseball first team is drawn from California (four players), Florida (two players plus coach of the year Todd Fitz-Gerald), Georgia and Alabama.

The team was selected by Jim Halley after discussions with high school baseball coaches and USA TODAY editors. All of this year's first-team selections are seniors. All of the second-team selections are seniors except for Jeff Malm. All statistics are for this season only.

What a bunch of good young arms. The foot speed was awesome.

BigHit,

I don't like to nit-pik, but the Aflac All-Americans are all rising seniors. The All-USA baseball team named in USA TODAY just graduated. The two are not really related, although there are more than a few 2007 Aflac'ers on the 2008 USA TODAY list.


Now, in 2007 and a few years prior, there was an event just before the MLB draft called the All-American Game which featured graduating seniors. I didn't see anything about it this year and guess it may have folded. This could be what you were thinking about, BigHit. Their website is here.