Now that the 2024 high school season has ended, we are excited to announce one player, who emerged ahead of the competition, at all levels across the state of Louisiana.  This player has been selected not only for their outstanding statistical numbers, but also for their overall effect on their high school program.  We are excited to announce that William Schmidt of Catholic BR High School has earned our 2024 Player of the Year award!  Below, we dive into Schmidt's meteoric rise from unkown freshman to projected first round MLB draft pick.  Be sure to follow us, across all of our social media platforms, as we will soon be releasing our 2024 All-State Team!

 

2024 Prep Baseball Louisiana Player of the Year

 

2024 STATISTICS

Record: 10-0

ERA: 0.44

WHIP: 0.57

Innings Pitched: 63 2/3

Hits Allowed: 19

Earned Runs Allowed: 4

Strikeouts: 102

Walks: 17

BAA: 0.93

THE SCHMIDT STORY

On June 8, 2021, we held one of our Summer Open Showcase events at Live Oak High School to kick-off the summer.  Just like all of our events, we ran players through a pro-style workout that consisted of running the 60 yard dash, batting practice, defense, and we then finished up with bullpens for each pitcher.  It was on that day, that I first saw William Schmidt, who was a gangly 5'10" 135 lbs. freshman.  Schmidt was the last pitcher to throw his bullpen on that day, and looking back, I'm so happy that he decided to come to the event.  His fastball velocity was 80-83 mph on that day, which was more than respectable for a freshman, but his control was a little erratic, as you could tell that he didn't have complete control of his body and movement patterns, which was to be expected for a freshman who was still growing.  After throwing several fastballs, I instructed him to move on to his curveball, and after he threw his first breaking ball, I grabbed my iPad and really started to lock in.  You have to remember, that at this time, I had been the State Director for Prep Baseball Louisiana for less than a year, and I was just starting to get a good grasp of our Trackman Baseball technology and the data that it produces for pitchers.  I'll never forget Schmidt ripping off his second breaking ball and looking down at my iPad to see a spin rate of 2,840 RPM's, which was the highest that I had seen at that time.  Schmidt's bullpen ended and I couldn't wait to get in my truck to send his video to a good friend of mine, who I relied upon as a second set of eyes for evaluating pitching prospects.  I called him and said, "I'm sending you a video right now of a freshman that I just saw, and I believe that he has a chance to be something in the future.  You're going to see in the video that he doesn't have control of his body just yet, but his arm action is long, loose, and easy, and he's got advanced feel for spin."  After I sent him the video and he reviewed it, he called me back to tell me that I may be on to something, and I'll never forget these words that he said to me, "You mark my words coach, William Schmidt is going to throw really hard one day."  Fast-forward five months and Schmidt had grown a couple of inches and gained a little weight when he showed up to our 2021 State Games event, where he now was sitting 86-88 mph with his fastball.  Then, we move forward a couple of more months to January of 2022, and he had started to receive his first college interest, and his fastball was now touching 90 mph.  Turn the page to today, and that gangly 5'10" 135 lbs. freshman is now a 6'4" 190 lbs. flame-thrower with a fastball up to 99 mph, who's the #1 ranked player in Louisiana and a projected first-round draft pick in this summer's MLB First-Year Player Draft.  I love to tell the story of William Schmidt, not to boast or brag about my abilities to identify talent, but to give hope to every aspiring player in our state.  William Schmidt was not the best prospect in his class as a freshman and he wasn't "ranked" when he was a freshman.  He was a "late-bloomer" to some degree, especially physically, and there's nothing wrong with that.  To all of the young prospects in our state that may not be where you want to ultimately be today, I urge you to remember the story of William Schmidt.  Everyone has a different timeline and journey in all sports, especially baseball.  Control what you can control and work to get 1% better each day, so that you become the best version of yourself by the time that you leave high school.  Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to Schmidt's historic senior season at Catholic BR High School, but first, let's take a look at how his junior campaign ended.  As a junior, Schmidt and the Bears were upset in the semifinal round of the playoffs by Rummel, and he was the starting pitcher for that game.  Catholic BR and Rummel were tied at 2-2 in the 2nd inning, before some bad weather came through McMurray Park, which unfortunately ended Schmidt's start, after he sat cold for nearly two hours.  I can remember seeing William and his good friend and teammate Brooks Wright after that semifinal loss, and both were obviously upset with the outcome of that game.  Schmidt looked at me and said, "I don't ever want to feel like this again."  Needless to say, Schmidt and the Bears started the 2023-2024 school year off with extra motivation to bring the State Championship trophy back to Catholic BR High School.  The LSU recruit was dominant all spring long for the Bears and was virtually a "guaranteed win", as he made 11 starts and finished the year with a perfect 10-0 record and 0.44 ERA.  Across his 63 2/3 innings pitched, he tallied 102 strikeouts to only 17 walks, which was good for a 6:1 strikeout to walk ratio.  Teams rarely made hard contact off of Schmidt, as he held his opponents to a .093 batting average.  He capped off his senior year accomplishing his most improtant goal, and that was leading Catholic BR to a State Title, which he did, after tossing a complete game one-hit shutout with 9 strikeouts against John Curtis Christian.  It's been a heck of a ride for William Schmidt up to this point, and his story is far from being over, as his best days in this game are likely ahead of him.  For today, we celebrate his phenomenal senior season with the first of many individual awards for his performance this spring.  Congratulations again to William Schmidt on winning our 2024 Prep Baseball Louisiana State Player of the Year Award!

JUNE 2021

OCTOBER 2021

FEBRUARY 2022

FEBRUARY 2023

JUNE 2023

MAY 2024

 
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