CHICAGO — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Bobby Juan of La Crosse Central High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year. Juan is the first Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from La Crosse Central High School.

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 Juan as Wisconsin’s best high school baseball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award announced in June, Juan joins an elite alumni association of past state baseball award winners, including Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Roy Halladay (1994-95, Arvada West HS, Colo.), David Price (2003-04, Blackman HS, Tenn.), Chipper Jones (1989-90, Bolles School, Fla.), Derek Lee (1992-93, El Camino HS, Calif.) and John Lester (2001-02, Bellarmine Prep, Wash.).

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior utilityman and right-handed pitcher led the Red Raiders to a 20-4 record entering the Division 1 regional tournament, scheduled to begin June 1. At the time of his selection, Juan owned a .556 batting average with 13 home runs and 33 RBIs along with a 1.320 slugging percentage. On the mound, he boasted a 6-1 record with one save, a 1.30 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 32.2 innings. A four-time Team MVP and a three-time First Team All-Conference selection, Juan was recently named the 2010 La Crosse Area Sports Commission High School Male Athlete of the Year.

Juan has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has volunteered locally on behalf of the Salvation Army, Students Against Destructive Decisions (S.A.D.D.), the Special Olympics and as a youth mentor in his school community.

“Bobby Juan is the best pure hitter there is in Wisconsin,” said Baseball America Executive Editor Jim Callis. “He’s been putting up some really good numbers up there and he has a very good chance to get drafted.”

Juan has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Minnesota 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 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. (Here's the list of national winners this year)

Juan joins recent Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Players of the Year Brad Schreiber (2008-09, Kimberly), Phil Schreiber (2007-08, Kaukauna) and Nick Rice (2006-07, Tremper) among the state’s list of former award winners.

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