Austin Stadler of James River has been honored as the Gatorade Player of the Year for Virginia.
In leading James River to a district tournament title and its second straight Central Region title, Stadler is batting .585 with 8 HR's, 12 doubles and 30 RBI after 23 games, entering this week's state playoffs. I would guess he also led the state in intentional walks, including 4 with men already on first, and one with the bases loaded!
On the mound, the lefty is also 7-3, 2.74, and after some early ups and downs has thrown his last 18 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run (1 run total over that stretch).
Stadler has also collected honors this year as a Louisville Slugger 1st Team Preseason All-American (LHP) and Rawlings 2nd Team Preseason All-American (2-way player). He was named Co-Player of the Year in the Dominion District and sole Player of the Year in the Central Region, as well as the region's All-Academic Player of the Year.
Posts: 2233 | Location: Virginia | Registered: February 01, 2006
While it certainly didn't surprise me to see the awards Stadler is bringing home, I must say I was surprised to see him take the Central Region POY by himself. I guess I expected another split POY with Shaban following their sharing of Dominion District honors. I'm not sure what Shaban's statistics are, but I would guess they're very similar to Stadler's (maybe minus the IBB). Regardless, both are great players who have their teams in the state playoffs. Hopefully one of them can help keep the state championship trophy in Richmond for another year.
Posts: 338 | Location: Richmond, VA | Registered: December 27, 2006
Stadler may have benefited from his accumulated body of work, while Shaban really came on strong just last year. I think some folks thought Stadler got passed over a bit last year and maybe there was a desire to put him in the best position to get state honors. If you pick them both at the regional level, you can forget seeing one of them win the state honor. Tough choice, I'll agree.
Maybe they can settle things over the next few years of ACC competition?
Posts: 2233 | Location: Virginia | Registered: February 01, 2006
