The 2017 American Family Insurance ALL-USA Baseball First Team was chosen by USA TODAY Sports’ Jim Halley in consultation with high school coaches.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jordon Adell, Ballard (Louisville)
COACH OF THE YEAR: Todd Boyer, Shawnee (Okla.)
MORE: First Team | Second Team | Third Team
PLAYER PROFILE:
Name: Hagen Danner
Position: RHP/C
School: Huntington Beach (Calif.)
Height/Weight: 6-2, 195
The future: Signed with UCLA. Drafted No. 61 (second round) by Toronto Blue Jays.
By the numbers: He was 10-1 with an ERA of 0.94 ERA, a WHIP of 0.863 and 92 strikeouts in 63 innings. Hit .368 with 12 homers and 40 RBI.
Outside of baseball, what unusual skill do you have: I’m pretty good at basketball and I’m really good at making friends.
Best advice a coach gave me: Basically, to just move on. That’s what coach (Benji) Medure always said, to move on.
Biggest accomplishment: Winning two gold medals with USA Baseball was a big one. Going (with Team USA) to Japan and Mexico was pretty big. Being able to enjoy baseball with my best friends was big too.
Biggest disappointment: The hardest part was having to shut it down (stop pitching) last year. I didn’t have that good a year on the mound and I had to come back strong this year.
Nickname: I have one nickname, Hagy D. Justin Brodt, the 6-7 guy on our team, is one of my best friends and his dad called me that and it stuck.
Favorite pizza toppings: I’d have to go with bacon and all meats are good with me.
Ideal walk-up song: I like reggae, so anything from Rebelution.
First car I ever drove: My mom let me drive her GMC Denali, but my first car is a 2015 Toyota Tacoma.
Favorite MLB players: Buster Posey and Max Scherzer.
Favorite current song: I’m big into country right now. I like all types of music.
Least-favorite current song: Anything that is over-used on the radio, that is too pop-ish.
Most enjoyable thing about the season: Everyone on my team was like my best friend. It made it easy to play the game. Team chemistry was really good.
Favorite teachers: My hitting coach, Jeffrey Ruziecki, was my math teacher one year. My favorite teacher right now, is my math teacher. Mrs. (Melissa) Dahl, is awesome. Math is my favorite subject.
Longest homer you gave up: I gave up one this year and it was the last game of the season against El Dorado (Placentia).
Longest homer you hit: They said one 447 feet at our house against Marina (Huntington Beach).
I always say: Move on. That’s what I say when something is going bad.