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The results are in from the first of The Palm Beach Post’s “Summer Celebration” series.
Palm Beach County high school baseball fans had their say last week in reader polls that highlighted 25 years of The Post’s Player of the Year award winners and state championship teams.
The Sunday, June 1 print edition featured a spread of images and biographies of each player or team as well as “Where are they now?” features and a column making the case for the top local program of the last 25 years.
Here’s a look at which local teams and players readers selected as the best of 2025:
State champion: 2001 King’s Academy (Class 2A)
Wayne Sewell’s Lions amassed a 30-4 record in winning the 2001 Class 2A baseball state championship, the second state championship in school history.
Gator Brooks, coined the “King of King’s” by The Palm Beach Post, was the team’s centerpiece with a 15-1 record with a 0.83 ERA and 110 strikeouts as well as a .390 batting average. He threw a one-hitter in the state semifinal and later signed with Rollins College.
The Lions were far from a one-man show, however, as freshman star Joey Howell, standing 6-foot, 190 pounds at just 15 years old, burst onto the varsity scene with a team-high .424 average, three home runs and 20 RBI.
Contributions from Nathan Thomas (.377, 20 stolen bases) and Braedyn Pruitt (.394, 20 RBIs, 27 runs) helped bring the pop to the Lions’ lineup while starting shortstop Aaron Verrett drove in Brooks for the game-winning run in a 2-1 state final win over Gainesville-P.K. Yonge.
Player of the Year: Colby Coates, Wellington, 2003
Coates was a slugging first baseman who nearly won the area batting triple crown in his Player of the Year season.
In 2003, he peppered opposing pitchers with a .487 batting average, third best in the area, while also leading the area in home runs (6) and RBI (36).
Coates overcame a shoulder injury which required surgery in the offseason prior and nagging hamstring issues late in the season to put together his ultra-productive offensive campaign. He signed with Stetson University.
Honorable Mention: D.J. Leonard, Palm Beach Gardens, 2006
Former Palm Beach Gardens standout D.J. Leonard finished a close second in the reader’s choice poll.
Leonard, who posted a .427 batting average and 41 RBIs along with a school-record 13 home runs in 2006, provides an inspiring local story of resilience after suffering a spinal injury the fall after his award season.
The injury, which occurred in a home-plate collision at Roger Dean Stadium in October 2006, required surgery and cost him his senior season. He worked his way back to walking and joined the team at Palm Beach Community College before playing Division I baseball at Bethune-Cookman.
Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at ejwallace@gannett.com.
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