Gatorade® National Baseball Player of the Year: DYLAN BUNDY

OWASSO, Okla., June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In its 26th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Dylan Bundy of Owasso High (Owasso, Okla.) as its 2010-11 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year.  Bundy was surprised with the news during a youth baseball clinic by former All-Star Third Baseman Aaron Boone.

"It felt great to surprise Dylan with the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award and welcome him into one of the most prestigious legacy programs in high school sports," said Boone.  "Gatorade has been on the sidelines fueling athletic performance for years, so to be recognized by a brand that understands the game and truly helps athletes perform is a huge honor for these kids."

As the recipient of the 231st Gatorade National Player of the Year trophy to be awarded since 1985, Bundy becomes only the second player from the state of Oklahoma to earn Gatorade National Player of the Year honors. The other was A.J. Hinch (Midwest City, Okla.) in 1991-92, a catcher who went on to play seven years in the MLB and now serves as Vice President of Professional Scouting for the San Diego Padres.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Bundy as the nation's best high school baseball player.  A national advisory panel comprised of sport-specific experts and sports journalists helped select Bundy from more than 472,644 baseball players nationwide. Bundy is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade Male High School Athlete of the Year award, to be presented at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards in July.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior right-handed pitcher and third baseman posted an 11-0 record on the mound with a 0.20 ERA, 158 strikeouts and just five walks in 71 innings-pitched this past season, leading the Rams (37-2) to the Class 6A state final.  Now a three-time Gatorade Oklahoma Baseball Player of the Year, Bundy also batted .467 with 11 home runs, 54 RBIs and 50 runs scored this spring.  He tossed eight complete-game shutouts, including one no-hitter, registered a save and allowed only two earned runs to score in 2011.  He finished his senior season with a 0.35 WHIP and opposing hitters managed just a 0.81 batting average against him.  Bundy averaged 15.5 strikeouts per seven innings this year en route to a 31.6-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

Bundy is the nation's only three-time winner of Gatorade State Baseball Player of the Year honors in the award's 26-year history.  He was an Aflac and Under Armour All-American in 2010 and a Rawlings First Team All-American in 2011. Bundy has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Texas this fall, but is projected as an early first-round selection in this month's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

"Bundy established himself as the best high school pitcher in this draft early in the spring and hasn't let up at all, pushing himself into top-5 pick consideration," said Keith Law, Senior Baseball Writer for ESPN.com. "Bundy has stuff, command, and aggressiveness with a big-league arsenal that includes a fastball up to 99 and an outstanding cutter. He throws strikes and attacks hitters on both sides of the plate. With great makeup, stuff, and track record, Bundy shouldn't get out of the top 10 picks."

Bundy has maintained a 3.72 GPA in the classroom.  He has volunteered locally on behalf of both First United Methodist Church and Owasso Community Resources holiday service missions since 2009, participating in an annual drive that distributes 3,000 holiday turkeys.  He has also donated his time as a baseball clinic instructor at Sperry and Owasso high schools since 2008.  Bundy recently initiated a grassroots effort for Rams athletes to provide additional humanitarian relief to victims of the Joplin, Mo. tornadoes.

"Without question, Dylan is deserving of recognition as the nation's best high school baseball player based on his statistics on the field and the impact his accomplishments have had on Owasso High's success," said Gatorade Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jennifer Storms.  "But he is also a shining example to peers and aspiring young athletes of what a leader and a student-athlete should be.  He represents everything we hope for in a Gatorade Player of the Year recipient."

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.

For more information on the Gatorade Player of the Year program, including nomination information, a complete list of former winners, and future announcement dates, visit the Gatorade Player of the Year web site at http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.

SOURCE Gatorade