In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Michael Chavis of Sprayberry High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Georgia Baseball Player of the Year. Chavis is the second Gatorade Georgia Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Sprayberry High School.
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 Chavis as Georgia’s best high school baseball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year, Chavis joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Roy Halladay (1994-95, Arvada West HS, Colo.), David Price (2003-04, Blackman HS, Tenn.), Chipper Jones (1989-90, Bolles School, Fla.), Derek Lee (1992-93, El Camino HS, Calif.) and John Lester (2001-02, Bellarmine Prep, Wash.).
The 6-foot, 205-pound senior shortstop, third baseman and outfielder batted .573 with 13 home runs, 39 RBI and 30 runs scored, leading the Yellowjackets (18-11) to the first round of the Class AAAAA state tournament this past season. A 2013 Perfect Game All-American and a 2013 First Team Al-State selection, Chavis is ranked No. 12 in the nation in the class of 2014 by Perfect Game USA and slugged 1.183 in his final prep season.
Chavis has maintained a 3.21 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered locally on behalf of S.M.A.R.T. (Socially Mature Athletes Reaching Thousands, Inc.) and as a youth baseball coach.
“Michael Chavis is a very talented player who plays the game the way it is supposed to be played,” said Jeff Rowland, head coach at Pope High. “He hustles on and off the field and he runs out every ground ball or fly ball at full speed. He is one of the best high school hitters I have seen. He has hit some of the hardest balls I have seen in a long time against us. I just hold my breath every time he comes to the plate.”
Chavis has signed with Clemson University but is projected as an early round selection in next month’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
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 the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Chavis joins recent Gatorade Georgia Baseball Players of the Year Clint Frazier (2012-13, Loganville High School), Byron Buxton (2011-12, Appling County High School), Matt Olson (2010 – 11, Parkview High School), Kaleb Cowart (2009-10, Cook), Zach Wheeler (2008–09, East Paulding), Ethan Martin (2007-08, Stephens County), and Josh Smoker (2006-2007, Calhoun) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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Previous School Winner
1992-93 Kris Benson, P
