Barbe’s Brady Drost named Gatorade Louisiana Baseball Player of the Year

CHICAGO — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Brody Drost of Barbe High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Louisiana Baseball Player of the Year. Drost is the third Gatorade Louisiana Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Barbe 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 Drost as Louisiana’s best high school baseball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Baseball Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Drost joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo High School, Mich.), Jon Lester (2001-02, Bellarmine Preparatory School, Wash.), David Price (2003-04, Blackman High School, Tenn.), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas), Rick Porcello (2006-2007, Seaton Hall Preparatory School, N.J.) and Kris Bryant (2009-10, Bonanza High School, Nev.).

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior outfielder and left-handed pitcher batted .390 with a pair of home runs, nine RBI and a 1.169 OPS for the Bucs this spring prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season. The state’s No. 1 prospect as ranked by Perfect Game, Drost also compiled a 3-0 record on the mound with a 0.89 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. A 2019 First Team All-State selection, he was MVP of the 2019 state championship game.

Drost has volunteered locally on behalf of a nursing home, as a youth baseball instructor and with the Special Olympics. “Brody Drost is a dedicated and hard-working player,” said Ben Sheets, former Major League pitcher and owner of Sheets Baseball. “Since he was nine years old, I believed him to be the best player in the state and one of the best in the nation. He has proved me correct as he continues to progress. He is a player that does everything well on the field. He’s as close to a five-tool player as I’ve seen at his age.”

Drost has maintained a 3.67 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at Louisiana State University.

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 and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Drost joins recent Gatorade Louisiana Baseball Players of the Year Cade Beloso (2017-18, John Curtis Christian School), Jacob Pearson (2016-17, West Monroe High School), Logan Savoy (2015-16, South Beauregard High School) and Kale Breaux (2014-15, Sulphur High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.