CHICAGO — In its 38th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Walker Martin of Eaton High School is the 2022-23 Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year. Martin is the first Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Eaton 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 Martin as Colorado’s best high school baseball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Martin joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Jackson Holliday (2021-22, Stillwater High School, Okla.), Bobby Witt Jr. (2018-19, Colleybille Heritage High School, Texas), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo High School, Mich.).
At the time of his selection, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior shortstop had led the Reds to a 28-0 record and the Class 3A state final. Martin batted .636 with 20 home runs, 74 RBI and 32 walks entering the title game, scoring 62 runs with an on-base percentage of .723 and a slugging percentage of 1.662. Ranked as the nation’s No. 36 recruit in the Class of 2023 by Perfect Game, he homered in nine straight games during one stretch this spring.
A football standout who was the state’s Class 3A Player of the Year as a quarterback in 2022, Martin also volunteers locally for a community cleanup day through his church and instructs youth baseball players at a barn his family built. “I competed against well over a dozen draftees and I can say with confidence that there were very few players that I was as impressed with as I was with Walker Martin,” said Dan Markoya, head coach at Basalt High School. “He was smooth defensively, had a quick release and had good range. From a hitting standpoint, he was aggressive, hit the ball hard, and looked very comfortable in any count. As you can imagine, we threw a heavy mix of changeups, curveballs and cutters to him and he stayed back while adjusting well to the different speeds and trajectories. In my seven-plus years coaching here in Colorado, I haven’t seen another player as talented as him.”
Martin has maintained a weighted 3.53 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Arkansas this fall, but is projected as an early-round selection in July’s Major League Baseball draft.
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 the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Martin joins recent Gatorade Colorado Baseball Players of the Year Dallas Macias (2021-22, Regis Jesuit High School), Radek Birkholz (2020-21, Valor Christian High School), Jack Moss (2019-20, Cherry Creek High School), and Riley Cornelio (2018-19, Pine Creek High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Being a Gatorade Player of the Year means paying it forward for the next generation. Through Gatorade’s Play it Forward initiative, every Player of the Year receives a grant to give to one of Gatorade’s social impact partners, supporting Gatorade’s ambition to fuel the future of sport. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
For nearly 40 years, Gatorade has honored high school athletes at the top of their game as teammates, supporting their communities and achieving academic success. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes and community leaders, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.