With the American Family Insurance ALL-USA Baseball Teams to be announced next week, we look back at the last 10 ALL-USA Baseball Players of the Year.
POLL: Who should be the ALL-USA Baseball Player of the Year?
Five former POYs have already made it to the majors, including one, Rick Porcello, who won the American League Cy Young last season. Here is how the group is doing so far this season action and how they’ve done since leaving high school:
Scroll the gallery above to see what each player looked like in high school.
2016, Riley Pint, RHP, St. Thomas Aquinas, Shawnee Mission (Kan.)
After going 1-5 with a 5.35 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP last season in the rookie-level Pioneer League, he was promoted to Class A Asheville Tourists. He’s currently 1-6 with a 4.29 ERA in nine starts.
2015, Luken Baker, RHP-DH-1B, Oak Ridge, Conroe (Texas)
The sophomore was a second-team All-American last season as a freshman at Texas Christian, hitting .379 with 59 runs and 62 RBI and had 11 homers. Was 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA and struck out 41 batters in 47.2 innings. This season, he’s not pitching and he’s hitting .317 with 41 RBI and eight homers in 161 at-bats.
TCU will open its super regional against Missouri State Saturday.
2014, Brady Aiken, LHP, Cathedral Catholic (San Diego)
Two years after having Tommy John surgery, Aiken struck out five batters in four innings with two earned runs in his first start this season with the Lake County Captains of Eastlake, Ohio, which plays in the Class A Midwest League. In two-plus injury-plagued minor league seasons, he has 23 starts with an ERA of 4.93 and 84 strikeouts in 96.2 innings.
2013, Trey Ball, LHP, New Castle (Ind.)
Bell went 8-6 with a 3.84 ERA and 1.61 WHIP for Salem, Va., in the Class A Carolina League last season. This season has been a bit of a struggle at Class AA Portland, Maine, as he’s 1-5 with a 5.77 ERA in nine starts.
2012, Lance McCullers, RHP, Jesuit (Tampa)
McCullers was promoted to the Houston Astros this season and has been dominant with a 6-1 record and 2.58 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 13 starts. Last season, after going 3-1 with a 0.62 ERA and 43 strikeouts in six games at Class AA Corpus Christi, Texas, he made his major league debut, becoming the youngest Astro to make his MLB debut (21 years, 228 days) since Jose Altuve in 2011.
2011, Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso (Okla.)
Bundy struck out eight in seven innings to win his season debut with the Baltimore Orioles this season, and he’s 6-4 with a 2.93 ERA for the season. He rose quickly in his first full minor league season in 2012, making his debut with Baltimore after stints at Frederick, Md., in the Class A Carolina League, Delmarva in the Class A South Atlantic League and Bowie, Md., of the Class AA Eastern League. The next season, however, he had Tommy John surgery and he threw only 17 minor league innings until making it back to Baltimore last season, then going 10-6 with a 4.02 ERA in 109 innings with 104 strikeouts and 46 walks.
2010, Kaleb Cowart, 3B, Cook County (Adel, Ga.)
He’s hitting .310 with 23 RBI this season for the AAA Salt Lake Bees. He’s hit well at times in the Los Angeles Angels organization, making the Pacific Coast All-Star Team last season with Salt Lake and in 2012 with the Cedar Rapids, Iowa team in the Midwest League. Last season, he split his time between Salt Lake and Los Angeles, hitting .280 in Salt Lake with nine homers and 37 RBI in 404 at-bats. With the Angels, he hit .176 with eight RBI in 85 at-bats.
2009, Matt Hobgood, RHP, Norco (Calif.)
In six minor league seasons, he had a career record of 17-24 with a 4.98 ERA. He had rotator cuff surgery in the middle of the 2011 season. In his last season, 2015, with Bowie, Md., he was 1-1 with a 6.52 ERA.
2008, Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Highland (Ill.)
He is 4-3 this season with the Tampa Bay Rays. In six major league seasons with the Kansas City Royals and Rays, he is 34-33 with a 3.76 ERA with 524 strikeouts in 574 innings. He was a two-time midseason all-star in the minors and four years after he was drafted, was pitching for Kansas City.
2007, Rick Porcello, RHP, Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, N.J.)
He won the American League Cy Young award last season with the Boston Red Sox, going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and a WHIP of 1.541. He is 3-8 this season with a 4.46 ERA with the Red Sox. In his nine Major League seasons with the Detroit Tigers and the Red Sox, he is 110-90 with a 4.21 ERA. He spent only three seasons in the minors before being called up to Detroit in 2010.