Joel Barlow Senior Named Gatorade CT Baseball Player of the Year

REDDING, CT —Joel Barlow High School's Matt Scott has been named the 2021-22 Gatorade Connecticut Baseball Player of the Year.

Scott is the first Gatorade Connecticut Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Barlow.

The award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

Scott is now a finalist for the National Baseball Player of the Year award, to be announced later this month.

The 6-foot-6, 225-pound senior right-handed pitcher and designated hitter posted a 7-0 record on the mound with a 0.18 ERA and 82 strikeouts to just 10 walks in 39 innings pitched through 21 games. He lead the Falcons to an 18-3 record and a berth in the Class M state tournament. The state's No. 1 rated prospect as rated by Perfect Game and the 2021 Southwest Conference Player of the Year, Scott also batted .564 with four home runs, 34 RBI, 23 runs and a 1.676 OPS.

A member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society, Scott has volunteered locally on behalf of his church youth group, an assisted living facility and as a youth baseball coach.

"Matt Scott is an exceedingly rare combination of extreme talent, relentless work ethic and unwavering character," said Joel Barlow head coach Matthew Griffiths. "Despite all of the pressure and attention that comes from his success, he is unbelievably selfless and team-centered. He has been integral in changing our culture from mediocre and complacent to successful and hungry."

Scott has maintained a 4.27 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at Stanford University this fall.