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2017 Preseason Player of the Year Candidates

January 31, 2017

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By Jerry Shank
Maryland / Virginia Scouting Director

We kick off our 2017 Season Preview Coverage with our Preseason Candidates for Player of the Year. Player of the year focuses on the position players who will will impact the team every game of the season and some of this list will also contribute on the mound as well for their teams. Over the course of the next month and change, we will give you continued 2017 High School previews coverage with team profiles, our preview of each classification, MIAA Preview, as well as preseason all state teams and our Maryland Power Rankings. For now, let's take a look at our early candidates for Player of the Year (In alphabetical order).

It looks like there will be a lot of parity across the state heading into 2017 season. Where the 2016 season was very much driven by seniors, 2017 looks to have more of a mixture of junior and senior talent. There are many players that are in the discussion as potential Players of the Year, but we decided to keep this to six players who we feel could have the biggest impact for their team in 2017.

Maryland Preseason Player of the Year Candidates

Name School Class Pos. Commitment
Raffy Baumgardner Bullis 2017 RHP/OF  
Randy Bednar
 Landon
 2017 OF/LHP
 Maryland
Ryan Bywaters
 Smithsburg
 2017 RHP/OF
 Radford
Brandon Dorsey
 Riverdale Baptist
 2017 3B
 Florida International
Jack Schroeder
 Mount Hebron
 2017 OF/RHP
 VCU
Joe Seidler
 Chesapeake 2018 RHP/1B

Notes

The reigning IAC Player of the Year Raffy Baumgardner comes back to lead a talented Bullis squad in their hopes to get back to the IAC championship game where they came up just short. Baumgardner will again play a major role for Bullis this season both in the middle of the order and on the mound to help them reach that goal...You hear the term "five tool" player in the baseball world plenty and Maryland's best representation of that could be in the form of Landon's Randy Bednar. Once again Bednar should patrol centerfield at Landon while being a staple in the middle of the lineup and will play a big role as a starter on the pitching staff. It's no surprise that while Benar has been at Landon they've played in the IAC championship two years in a row and he should once again lead the Bears to their third title game...Smithsburg will have to replace some big pieces to their 2017 team and it looks like they could do so with some new talent ready to breakout. Leading their way this year should be RHP/OF Ryan Bywaters. Look for Bywaters to get more time on the mound and his bat will be an impact either way whether if he stays at the top of the order or moves down...Joe Seidler was one of the first names mentioned as Player of Year last season during his sophomore campaign and that looks to be no different heading into 2017. The two way threat had an amazing statistical season both on the mound and at the plate and his junior year should be no different as a talented Chesapeake teams looks to get back to the 3A state championship game...Riverdale Baptist again has a loaded roster for the 2017 season, and it gets scary having a bat like Brandon Dorsey's in the middle of it with the likes of Corey Rosier, Jose Rivera and Harold Cortijo potentially batting in front of him. Dorsey looks like he could have a lot of RBI opportunities throughout with the potential to post up some impressive numbers by the end his senior season...Jack Schroeder has been a constant for Mount Hebron since his sophomore year and was a very key piece to the team in 2016. Schroder will sit in the middle of the batting order and should anchor the pitching staff in 2017.

Stay tuned on Thursday we will release our list for pitchers of the year

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