Gavin Floyd
Mount St. Joseph
Floyd became only the second local player to be drafted in the first round out of high school since the draft commenced in 1965 when the Phillies took him as the fourth pick overall Tuesday. Andover High first baseman Jim Spencer was taken by the California Angels in 1965. Floyd's 92- to 94-mph fastball and sharp breaking curve endeared him to pro teams and established him as the nation's top high school pitcher.
The three-time All-Metro pitcher also becomes the first to repeat as Player of the Year since Calvert Hall's Andy Bair in 1994-95. Floyd and Bair are the only two to win the honor back-to-back since 1970.
This season, Floyd, the metro area's only first-team All-American, was 8-2 with a 1.11 ERA in 63 innings pitched, giving up just 23 hits, walking 29 and striking out 103. Playing right field when not pitching, Floyd also batted third in the order for the No. 11 Gaels (19-10) and hit .322 (28-for-87) with a team-leading 26 RBIs, 21 runs, four doubles, two triples and four homers.
He finished his career with a 30-5 record, a 1.35 ERA in 211 innings, 97 hits, 290 strikeouts and 84 walks. Four of his career losses (one this year) went to nemesis Calvert Hall, which he beat three times, including the last time he faced it.
Floyd two-hit the Hall over 10 innings in the first game of the MIAA A Conference playoffs, winning, 1-0, on his own hit off the center-field fence at Mount St. Joe in what was his final game as a Gael.
His other loss this season was by 1-0 to Greenbrier (N.C.) Christian on an unearned run in his only high school no-hitter. Floyd has a baseball scholarship to South Carolina, but likely will sign professionally.
