2017 Pitcher of the Year Candidates

February 2, 2017

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By Jerry Shank
Maryland / Virginia Scouting Director

We continue our 2017 Season Preview Coverage with our Preseason Candidates for Pitcher of the Year. 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 Pitcher of the Year (In alphabetical order).

Our pitcher of the year candidates was a hard one to choose from and easily could have expanded into a group of 10-12 pitchers. We chose to keep this shorter for the pitchers we think will play an integral role to their teams success.

Maryland Pitcher of the Year Candidates

Name	School	Class	Pos.	Commitment
Harold Cortijo	Riverdale Baptist	2017	RHP	Seminole State
Kieran Garner	River Hill	2017	RHP	Maryland
Tristan McDonough	Stephen Decatur	2018	RHP	Miami
Stephen Pelli	St. Mary's	2018	RHP	Virginia Tech

Notes

One of the biggest stories from 2016 was the emergence and rise of RHP/OF Harold Cortijo at Riverdale Baptist. Now in his senior campaign, Cortijo is getting plenty of pro interest and could be the first Maryland player picked up in this year MLB draft. Cortijo shows off a strong arm and top end speed and has been getting more interest on the mound after a fall in which he was around 92-93 and reportedly topped out at 94mph. Cortijo is going to be a two-way talent at Riverdale, but his ability on the mound give us the nod towards our Pitcher of the Year...Kieran Garner has been an integral part of the River Hill pitching staff since his sophomore year. This year he headlines the rotation as River Hill looks to build off of their 2016 campaign in a tough Howard County conference. When on, Garner has been up to the low 90's on the mound with stuff that can shut down a lineup...St. Mary's again has one of the deeper pitching staff's in the MIAA this year and Stephen Pelli will take the reins as ace for this season. St. Mary's should be more comfortable in the MIAA A this year, their second in the MIAA's top division, and we see Pelli playing a major role in the team success this season...Tristan McDonough will play a big role for Stephen Decatur as they strive to win the Bayside and make a run in the 3A tournament. McDonough will again assume role as ace and we think the junior Miami commit will put up some impressive numbers this season.