Earlier this week, Prep Baseball Report announced the State Player of the Year awards for the 33 states PBR currently covers. These athletes were selected through a variety of criteria including, but not limited to, on-field production and positive character qualities representative of their respective state.

From the list of individual PBR State POY awards, we have selected one athlete who has excelled amongst his peers, on his way to earning the first ever recognized Prep Baseball Report Player of the Year Award:

MacKenzie Gore

Gore, a senior left-handed pitcher and outfielder from Whiteville HS, NC, delivered a statistically dominant season while helping lead his team to the NCHSAA 1A state championship. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder dominated opposing hitters, going 11-0 with a minuscule 0.19 ERA. The East Carolina commit worked 74.1 innings, striking out 158 while allowing only 25 hits and five walks. Known for his prowess on the mound, Gore hit .478 at the plate with 19 extra-base hits, including seven home runs. A known commodity in North Carolina for quite some time, Gore captured the attention of scouts from across the country, eventually being drafted third overall by the San Diego Padres.

Gore’s all-around performance earned him the 2017 Prep Baseball Report North Carolina Player of the Year honors earlier this week, and he has now secured the overall PBR Player of the Year award in a star-studded class that included 15 draft picks and 29 Division I recruits.

The PBR scouting staff is constantly on-site, viewing and reporting on high school games throughout the spring, and is credibly able to identify the top athletes, year in and year out, who best represent our nation’s pastime.  

The Prep Baseball Report is the No. 1 resource for high school baseball in each state we cover through our boots-on-the-ground scouting staff, variety of events, daily coverage and multimedia platforms. Our platforms work in tandem, ultimately creating the most powerful source of high school baseball coverage in each state. The Prep Baseball Report scouting staff covers the state at all levels year-round, and is constantly in contact with high school coaches, college coaches and pro scouts.  

For more information on Prep Baseball Report, please visit www.prepbaseballreport.com.