In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Bryant Yoak of Gilmer County High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade West Virginia Baseball Player of the Year. Yoak is the first Gatorade West Virginia Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Gilmer County High School.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Yoak as West Virginia’s best high school baseball player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Gary Sheffield (1985-86, Hillsborough High School, Fla.), Alex Rodriguez (1992-93, Westminster Christian School, Fla.), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Max Clark (2022-23, 2021-22 & 2020-21, Franklin Community High School, Ind.).
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior right-handed pitcher and first baseman compiled a 7-1 record on the mound with a 0.38 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 54.2 innings this past season, leading the Titans (26-5-1) to the Class A sectional championship game. Ranked as the state’s No. 5 prospect in the Class of 2024 by Perfect Game, Yoak held opposing hitters to a .094 batting average and recorded a WHIP of 0.56. At the plate, he produced a .487 on-base percentage and an OPS of 1.000.
A devoted parishioner in his church community, Yoak has volunteered locally as a youth baseball coach. “Bryant Yoak is the best pitcher I’ve seen in the state in my nine years of coaching,” said Bartsel Keener, head coach at Grafton High School. “In high school, you see a lot of throwers, but Yoak is a pitcher. Obviously, his velocity stands out from the competition, but I was just as impressed with his spin pitches and changeup. Far and away, he was the best player I have had the opportunity to see in the state of West Virginia.”
Yoak has maintained a 3.35 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of West Virginia this fall. 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 the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Yoak joins recent Gatorade West Virginia Baseball Players of the Year Ryan Fluharty (2022-23, Morgantown High School), Atticus Goodson (2021-22, Independence High School), Cullen Horowicz (2020-21, Jefferson High School) and Austin Dearing (2019-20, Hurricane High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $4.9 million in grants to winners across more than 1,900 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
