Baseball bat
The Gatorade State Baseball Players of the Year were selected based on athletic production and impact in the 2015-16 season. Each winner also demonstrated high academic achievement and exemplary personal character, including volunteerism, sportsmanship and community leadership.
For a list of the other Gatorade State Baseball Players of the Year winners, click here . The Michigan winner is …
Tommy Henry
School: Portage Northern
Grade: Senior
Position: Left-handed pitcher, outfielder and first baseman
Height: 6-feet-4
Weight: 180 pounds
Athletic achievement: He led the Huskies to a 16-9 record and the Division I regional tournament, scheduled to begin June 11. At the time of his selection, Henry posted a 4-0 record with a 1.73 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings. A 2015 first-team all-state selection, he has also batted .433 with 14 RBIs, a .604 on-base percentage through 25 games, including 15 stolen bases without being caught.
Academic excellence: Henry has a 3.89 grade-point average.
Exemplary character: He has served as a student senate representative and volunteered on behalf of the March of Dimes and as a youth baseball coach.
The praise: “Tommy Henry has worked extremely hard to develop into the upper echelon of high school baseball players,” said Bill Blakely, head coach at Midwest Athletics. “His statistics speak for themselves with his miniscule ERA and pinpoint control of three different pitches. At some point in the next 15 years or so, Tommy Henry’s baseball career will end, but his impeccable character will be with him for the rest of his life. And his character far surpasses his ability to throw a baseball. Everyone who interacts with Tommy Henry benefits from his presence.”
The future: Henry has signed a national letter of intent to play at Michigan this fall.