All-Met Baseball Players of the year; what happened to them? at Nationals Arm Race

As a guy who tracks local high school baseball players, one of the most anticipated annual posts I wait for is the Washington Post’s All Met baseball team. A couple years back, I stumbled across a historical link at allmetsports.com; a link to every All-Met team for all sports going back to the early 1990s.

So I decided to do a big research project; what happened to all the All-Met Baseball Players of the year for each year? It was a bit tough to back beyond 1990 (heck, I graduated in 1989 and cannot remember or find the link to the All Met player of the year my graduating year), but going forward here’s how all these players turned out:

I wrote the bulk of this post in 2018 and 2019, then forgot about it, but i’ve resurrected it with the announcement in 2023 that Bryce Eldridge of my alma mater Madison HS has been named the 2023 All-Met Player of the year. No better time than now to update this post and catch it up for the last decade or so of players. I’ve reversed this chronologically so it reads from 2023 backwards.

Player links are to milb.com, baseball-reference.com, college sites, or some other reference site.

2023: Bryce Eldridge, 1B/RHP for Madison HS. Led school to 6-A title, All-American, projected as a 1st round pick. Gatorade VA State POTY. Alabama commit drafted 15th overall by the San Francisco Giants. Signed, now playing for SF’s rookie affiliate. Other all Met’s of note: Jonny Farmelo of Westfield was also a 1st rounder and went toe-to-toe with Eldridge all year. Ryan Marohn is committed to pitch for NC State. Bryson Moore is headed to UVA to join their long-history of DC-area recruited arms.
2022: Amari Allen, junior two-way player for Sherwood HS. Somehow, he was “just” a 2nd team all-met in 2023 despite his HS team winning the Maryland 4-A title for the 3rd year in a row. Chipola College JC committed after his 2023 graduation. Other All Met’s of note: Nick Morabito, son of 1989 All-Met Brian Morabito (who I played against at various points growing up and went to JMU with) was a 2nd round pick by the Mets and just got promoted to Low-A mid-2023. He was the sole DC-area prep player to get drafted out of HS i 2022.. Jack O’Conner went to UVA and was their mid-week starter all year in 2023, going 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA as a freshman.
2021: No All Met team done by WP. Weird. They did all-Met teams for other sports, but not for Baseball this year, which was definitely competed (Madison won the 6-A title). Probably would have been James Triantos (who graduated a year early and was picked in the 2nd round in 2021) or Jackson Merrill, who went in the 1st round out of Severna Park HS.
2020: Covid: no baseball and no all-Met team. Likely would have been Jack Bulger, who was a multi-time all-Met and a Vanderbilt scholarship player.
2019: Lyle Miller-Green, RHP/1B from Lake Braddock POTY. George Mason commit initially and went Undrafted in 2019. Miller-Green transferred out of Mason after one year, sat out 2021, went to Oklahoma State for 2022, barely played, transferred again for 2023 to Austin Peay, where he led the team in hitting AND made 13 starts with a 2.00 ERA. He’s in the Cape in 2023 after his technically “junior season” and may be looking to get drafted. Other all-Mets of note: Zach Agnos, brother of Jake, also went to ECU like his brother and was a 2022 10th round pick by Colorado. He’s in their high-A bullpen for 2023. Jack Bulger was an all-Met as a junior, has been a 3-year starter at Vanderbilt and is in his draft year in 2023. Marcus Lee Sang was drafted out of HS in the 11th round by Philadelphia and currently sits in high-A. Nate Savino was Gatorade VA State POTY, went to UVA, had a stellar career and was a 3rd rounder in 2022 by Arizona. He’s yet to pitch a minor league game though; full season injury in 2023. James Triantos was an all Met as a *freshman* (!!), became a 2nd round pick in 2021 by the Cubs, and currently is in high-A as a 20yr old.
2018: Kody Milton, MIF Severna Park. 4-year starter committed to UMaryland but did not get drafted. Played one year at Maryland and transferred to the Naval Academy. He has no college stats past 2021 and may be out of the sport. No DC area player was drafted out of HS in 2018. Other All Mets of note: Patrick Halligan went to Pensacola State JC, was drafted in 2021 by the Royals and is a swing-man for their High-A team in 2023. Corey Rosier went to Chipola, then UNC-Greensboro and was a 12th round pick by Seattle in 2021. He’s currently raking in AA and looks like a prospect.
2017: Harold Cortijo, RHP/OF from Riverdale Baptist. Drafted in the 14th round by the New York Yankees and signed; there’s no evidence he signed for anything more than the $125k slot figure for post 10th round signings. Pitched in relief for the GCL Yankees in 2017, then had a 2.63 ERA starting 10 games for the Short-A Yankees affiliate in 2018. He remains in the Yankees system in 2023, pitching in the high-A bullpen. Other All Mets of note: Kyle Whitten went to UVA, was an NDFA in 2021 after graduating, and is now holding his own in the Tampa high-A bullpen. Trendon Craig went to Juco and was a 20th round pick in 2021 by Baltimore; he’s on their low-A team for 2023.
2016: Jake Agnos, LHP from Battlefield. 2-time All-Met. ECU commit, went undrafted out of HS. In two seasons for Battlefield, he was 18-0 with a 0.60 ERA and 265 strikeouts in 134 1/3rds innings. That’s a K/9 rate of more than 17 strikeouts. Agnos started 10 games for ECU his freshman year, 14 his sophomore year with a 4.10 ERA). In 2019, he was a 4th round pick by the Yankees after a stellar 11-3 season for the ranked ECU team that advanced to a Super Regional. He pitched briefly in his draft year of 2019, missed 2020, and has been injured basically ever since. For 2023 he’s on the High-A Tampa full-season injured list. Other All-Mets of Note: Joe Rizzo, 2-time All-Met drafted in 2nd round and played all of 2018 in High-A for Seattle’s affiliate in Modesto, hitting .241 as a 20-yr old. He’s a well regarded prospect and is in AAA for 2023. Khalil Lee was Gatorade VA State POTY, drafted in 3rd round by Kansas City and has shot up the ranks, finishing 2018 in AA and is now considered one of the best prospects in Kansas City’s entire system. However in 2023 he was suspended for a Domestic Violence issue, which may derail his career entirely. The Mets released him out of AAA and he’s currently playing Indy ball. Conor Grammes was a little-known hurler for McLean HS, went to Xavier, found an upper 90’s fastball and was a 5th round pick in 2019. He’s in AA for 2023. Useless personal anecdote: I used to play tournament racquetball with Conor’s father back in the late 1990s. A note on this year: Agnos more than earned his All-Met POTY award above these two players for their 2016 production, but it seems crazy not to have recognized Rizzo’s accomplishments in either 2015 or 2016. Especially in 2015 when he hit above .500 in his HS season.
2015: A.J. Lee, RHP/SS from St. Johns, 2-time All-Met. Starting infielder for U Maryland; hit .232 in his junior season in 2018 and was not drafted. After he graduated in 2019, the Astros made him a 34th round pick and he signed. He played a few seasons in Houston’s low-minors and was released in Aug 2022. Other All-Mets of Note: Ljay Newsome, 26th round pick of Seattle, started 26 games for Seattle’s high-A Modesto team in 2018, currently on the DL for SF’s AAA team in 2023, Cody Morris, a 3-time All-met who had to have Tommy John but still got his South Carolina scholarship honored and was their Friday starter in 2018, a 7th round pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2018, and who debuted in the majors in 2022, Nate Eikhoff (played at UVA but did not go pro), Jack DeGroat (Liberty’s Ace for three years, Cleveland’s 11th round pick in 2018 draft, played a few years and then retired in Jan 2023).
2014: J.B. Bukauskas, RHP from Stone Bridge who skipped a year of HS and enrolled at UNC. He was Gatorade Player of the Year and a BA 1st team All-American. He’s was UNC’s Saturday starter as a sophomore, was on the USA Collegiate All-America team and was projecting as a possible top 10 pick in the 2017 draft before one bad outing in the conference tournament dropped him to the 15th pick, where Houston snapped him up. In 2018 he missed significant time but did get promoted up to AA. By 2019 he was one of the top prospects in the minors for one of the best teams in the league, but he struggled in AA. This led to his missing the entire 2020 season. Since, he’s bounced between AAA and the Majors for Seattle, kind of settling into a 4-A type guy. Other All-Mets of note: Nick Wells, 2nd team BA all american, 3rd round pick. Bounced around Seattle’s system, then Washington traded for him in May 2019. He played for our system for years, finally getting cut loose in 2021. He’s in indy ball now, Tommy Doyle, from Flint Hill, who has was UVA’s Sunday starter/closer in 2017, was a Supp-B round pick in 2017 and finished 2018 as the closer in Full-season A-ball for Colorado’s system. He debuted for Colorado in the Covid 2020 season then didn’t get back until 2023, where he now sits in the bullpen.
2013: Scott Mitchell, rhp from South River. Committed to Radford per the allmetsports.com link, but does not look like he ever made it there. He had a heart condition discovered while in HS, and I wonder if that’s impacted his future. Current status: completely unknown. Other all-Mets of note from 2013: J.B. Bukauskas and Cody Morris; both sophomores making All-Met, which is pretty amazing, See 2014-15 for more. Matthew McPhearson. 4th round draft pick by Arizona out of Riverdale Baptist, made it to Low-A in 2018 but was released in Jan 2019, Alec Grosser (who signed an over-slot 11th round deal with Atlanta, got traded to the Dodgers in 2015, then was released in June 2016 and never re-signed).
2012: Josh Sborz, RHP from McLean. Went to UVA, was UVA’s “super reliever” who basically won the 2015 CWS for them. 2nd round pick by the Dodgers. In 2018 got to AAA, then was added to LAD’s 40-man prior to Rule-5 draft. He starred for the Dodgers bullpen for a couple of seasons, then got flipped to Texas ahead of the 2021 season. He’s now in his 3rd season in the Texas bullpen and is excelling in 2023. Other All-Mets of note: Kevin Doherty (who pitched out of UVA’s bullpen but was not drafted), Josh Hader (Baltimore 19th rounder who got traded to Houston, then to Milwaukee, where he exploded onto the scene in 2018, getting selected to the NL All Star Team).
2011: Kenny Towns, SS/2B from Lake Braddock. Went to UVA, played four seasons and was a 20th round pick by the Angels in 2015. He was released in June of 2016 and retired. Other All-mets of note: Evan Beal (South Carolina, 21st round pick of KC, spent all of 2018 in Miami’s XST). Josh Sborz (see 2012), Nick Howard (2014 1st round pick out of UVA, spent 2018 in Cincinnati’s AA team as a middle reliever).
2010: Bobby Wahl, RHP from West Springfield. Went to Ole Miss, was a 5th round pick in 2013 by by Oakland. In 2018, Wahl got flipped to NY Mets, who selected him and gave him his debut in 2018. He had limited MLB appearances in 2018 and 2020, pitched entirely in the minors in 2021 and 2022 and then was released by the Dodgers in July 2022 after getting shelled in AAA. Seems retired. Other All-Mets of note from 2010: none.
2009: Matthew Bowman, RHP/SS from St. Albans. Went to Princeton, was drafted in the 13th round in 2012 by the Mets. In 2016, the St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the Rule-5 draft from the Mets and he was holding his own in the Cardinals bullpen through 2018, pitching as an 8th inning guy. After 2019, he missed a few seasons due to injury, and is back in AAA for 2023 with the Yankees. Other All-Mets of note from 2009: Branden Kline (2nd round pick in 2012 from UVA, with Baltimore’s AA Bowie as of 2018, and was added to Baltimore’s 40-man roster ahead of the 2018 Rule-5 draft).
2008: Danny Hultzen, LHP from St. Albans. As we well know, he went to UVA, was the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 draft by Seattle (matching a historical high draft pick for a DC-area native, tied with Jay Franklin, drafted 2nd overall in the 1971 draft by San Diego out of Madison HS in Vienna). Hultzen threw 124 innings in 2012 but just 35 in 2013 before running into shoulder issues that cost him all of 2014. He only threw 8 innings in 2015 before another issue arose and he has yet to appear in 2016. Current status: he spent 2018 in the Chicago Cubs AAA farm-team and seems like SP depth. He transitioned to the bullpen in 2019 in AAA but never re-appeared in the majors, and then after the 2020 covid season was released. Other All Mets of note from 2008: Matt Snyder (who was a long-serving NYY farm-hand before being released as a 28yr old AA player in 2018), L.J. Hoes, who was a 3-time All-Met player, 3rd round pick by Baltimore who has several years of MLB experience, 2nd teamer Mike Snyder (who finished 2018 playing for Atlanta’s AA squad and is now a 6-yr MLFA), 2nd teamer Matt Crouse (who was a 6-yr MLFA off of Detroit’s AAA team after 2017 but never re-signed and may be retired)
2007: Jason Farley, RHP from Madison HS. Went on to pitch at VMI, where he was a 3-year starter but ended his baseball career prior to his senior year. Current status; unknown. Other All Mets of note in 2007: L.J. Hoes, Danny Hultzen (both juniors), Justin Wright, 2nd teamer Shawn Pleffner (a former Nats farmhand, was playing for AA Harrisburg in 2016, now retired), 2nd teamer Jarrett Parker (had time with the SF Giants but was released Mar 2018).
2006: Steve Ulaki, 1B for Our Lady Good Counsel. Played four years at U-Delaware but went un-drafted. Current status; unknown. Other All-Met players of note from 2006: Justin Bour (who in 2018 split time between Miami and Philly), Matt Sweeney, L.J. Hoes (as a sophomore!), Paul Clemens (RHP who was in the majors as recently as 2016, now playing Indy/Mexican league ball.)
2005: Brandon Snyder, SS from Westfield in Centreville. Became a 1st round pick (13th overall) by Baltimore, has played parts of four season in the majors. Current Status: he picked up with Tampa Bay for the 2018 season after spending 2017 in the minors. Then, he signed on with his home town Washington Nationals for the 2019 season and played a full season in AAA Fresno. He took off 2020 for Covid, returned to Washington’s AAA team for 2021 but transitioned from a player to be a player-coach mid-season, becoming the team’s bullpen catcher. It is unclear if he remains in this role in 2023. Other All-Met players of note from 2005: Mike Bianucci.
2004: Brett Cecil, LHP from DeMatha. Went to Uof Maryland, was then a 1st round pick in 2007 by Toronto. He’s a long-serving 8th inning/LOOGY, and moved from Toronto to St. Louis in 2017. Current Status: He struggled in 2018 in his age 31 season pitching for St. Louis, and has spent the entire 2019 season on the D/L. Other All-Mets of Note from 2004: Brandon Guyer, who went to UVA out of Herndon HS, was a 5th round pick in 2007 and spent 2016-2018 as a utility player for Cleveland. Signed a NLFA deal in 2019 with Chicago WS, another with STL for 2020 but never appeared and was released in July.
2003: Matt Foley, C from Madison HS in Vienna. Played four years at Virginia Tech but did not get drafted. Current status: unknown. Other All-Mets of Note from 2003: Jay Sborz, Daryl Thompson (yes that Daryl Thompson, who was in the Washington system and was part of the big 2006 Cincy-Washington trade). Emmanuel Burriss was just an honorable Mention All-Met this year, and played some time for the Washington Nats franchise … that is until an 2017 PED test resulted in a 50-game suspension for a “drug of abuse” (i.e., probably Pot). He played out 2017 w/ the team, signed a MLFA deal for 2018 with the Angels but never appeared.
2002: J.J. Hollenbeck, RHP from Madison HS in Vienna. Went to VMI, struggled in college, pitched 3 years in the Frontier league. Current Status: was a member of his HS alma-mater’s coaching staff at Madison HS for a bit, now unknown. Other All-Mets of Note from 2002: Seth Overbey
2001: Mikey Sweeney, 1B from Riverdale Baptist. Initially committed to Florida, he lost his scholarship when the Florida coaching staff was fired. He wasn’t drafted because of his college commitment so he enrolled in a community college in Florida. It looks like he eventually ended up at St. Petersburg college, was drafted in the 39th round in 2004, played briefly in the rookie league and was cut. Current status: unknown. Other All-Mets of Note from 2001: Justin Maxwell (as in long-time Nats player Justin Maxwell, who grew up in suburban Maryland and went to the University of Maryland before getting drafted by the then Montreal franchise).
2000: Kenny “Bubba” Nelson RHP from Riverdale Baptist via Clinton MD. He passed up a scholarship to Arizona State when he got drafted in the 2nd round by Atlanta. He became a prospect of some note in the 2003-4 time frame, but never matriculated to the majors, pitching nine seasons in the minors reaching AAA. Current status: unknown. Other All-Mets from 2000 of note: Josh Banks, Joe Koshanksky, Jeremy Cleveland (Gatorade POTY for Virginia from Hayfield HS).
1999: Jeff Baker, SS from Gar-Field HS in Woodbridge. Gatorade Player of the year in VA and Baseball America 2nd team All American. Went to Clemson, drafted in the 4th round out of Clemson and went on to have an 11 year MLB career. He was a backup infielder for Miami in 2014 and 2015 but was released in July of last year after suffering an injury and doesn’t seem to have picked up with anyone else. The timing of his release was curious, and there’s some sentiment out there that the club released him with an axe to grind. It seemed a bit odd that he didn’t get picked up by anyone after his 2015 release. Current Status: unknown, believed to still live in the Virginia area. Other All-Mets of note in 1999: Joe Saunders again.
1998: Ray Gemmill Jr., SS for Paint Branch HS. Played 4 years at the University of Maryland and was not drafted. Current Status: unknown. Other All-Mets of note in 1998: Joe Saunders, who went to Va Tech and ended up having a 10 year MLB career as a lefty starter.
1997: Chris Stowe, RHP for Chancellor in Fredericksburg. 1st round pick (37th overall) by Montreal; he pitched one season in rookie ball and then walked away from the game for “personal reasons” but may have been injury related. Current Status: involved with Pinnacle Baseball as an instructor in the area. Other All-Mets of note in 1997: Peter Bauer
1996: Matt Halloran, SS/2B for Chancellor in Fredericksburg. VA Gatorade player of the year. 1st round pick (15th overall) by San Diego, played 6 years in their farm system, peaking at AA as a hitter. Current status: unknown. Other All-Mets of note: none.
1995: Billy Deck, 1B from Potomac (Va); 2-time All-Met, VA Gatorade player of the year. 3rd round pick by St. Louis, made it to AA briefly but played 5 seasons in their lower minors before reaching MLFA status. Current Status: unknown. Other All-Mets of note: none.
1994: Chris Jackson, OF/RHP from Riverdale Baptist. 3-time all-met. Drafted by the Cubs in the 23rd round but he has no pro baseball records, nor any records of having gone to college. Current status: unknown. Other All-Mets of note fro 1994: Shawn Camp, Mike Colangelo (2nd teamer). Colangelo is a big name now in the DC baseball scene; he’s got his own academy, and he’s the head coach at the new Colgan HS in Prince William county.
1993: L.J. Yankosky, RHP from West Springfield. 2-time All-Met, went to Georgia Tech, suffered an elbow injury that cost him half his collegiate career, and was an 11th round draft pick by Atlanta. Pitched in Atlanta’s minor league system for 5 years (b-r.com link here). Current Status: per linkedin.com he finished his degree (I believe he was an Academic All-american) and works for Chick-Fil-A in Atlanta area. Other All-Mets of Note in 1993: Seth Greisinger (who was VA Gatorade player of the year over Yankosky) and had a better pro career. Useless information department; I once went out on a date with his older sister. I’m not kidding. He was playing for the Braves AA team at the time, and I asked about the unique last name.
1992: Dwayne Crawley, 1B from Douglass HS in Upper Marlboro, MD. Went to PGCC, got drafted in the 61st round by Houston but chose to go on to a 4-year school, finished up his collegiate career at GWU. Played 2 years of Indy ball. Current Status: unknown. Other All-Mets of note in 1992: L.J. Yankosky (see 1993), Justin Counts, Brian McNichol (who went undrafted, went to JMU, got drafted in 1995 and reached the majors).
1991: Bill Pulsipher, OF/LHP from Fairfax HS. Drafted in the 2nd round by NY Mets as a pitcher, he turned down a full ride to ODU to sign his contract. He raced through the minors, was a top 2 and served as a starter for the MLB team for half the 1991 season at age 21 (B-R.com link). He blew out his elbow, had Tommy John surgery and didn’t make it back to the majors for 3 seasons. From 1998 onward, he bounced around as a lefty reliever, quit the sport in his late 20s, mounted a comeback and eventually getting one last cup of coffee in 2005 with St. Louis. His wiki page has a better narrative of his career and comeback. He continued to pitch in winter ball and indy leagues until 2011 (age 37). Current Status: believed to be a private pitching instructor in Upstate NY. Other All-Mets of note in 1991: Brian Buchanan, David Carroll, Scott Schultz (the Gatorade VA player of the year somehow over Pulsipher who went to LSU).
1990: Believed to be Doug Newstrom to make him a two-time winner. Newstrom took a scholarship to Arizona State University (at the time one of the best baseball schools in the nation), 7th round pick in 93, bounced around the minors until 2000. Other notables: Justin May (NC State), Brett Sutch (Radford). Sean Cheetham was VA Gatorade POTY, drafted 4th round by Chicago Cubs, never pitched above high-A.
1989: Believed to be Doug Newstrom, who would have won as a junior. Other All-Mets of note in 1989: Steve Lyons (went to ODU, 4th round pick in 92). Mike Nielsen, who turned down a full-ride to Miami to take one at BYU but never panned out.
1988: believed to be Steve Dunn from Robinson HS. Drafted out of Robinson in the 4th round in 1988, debuted and had parts of two MLB seasons with Minnesota. Other notables from that year included Lonnie Goldberg, Chris Burr, both of whom went pro.
1987: Pete Schourek, who held the title of “Most accomplished DC-area player in the modern era” for many years. Schourek was a 2nd round pick by the Mets in 1987, made it to the majors by 1991 and split time between the rotation and the bullpen for three years in New York. He was waived after the 1993 season, picked up by Cincinnati and in 1995 he went 18-7 and finished 2nd in Cy Young voting. His great season took a toll though; he sprained his UCL in 96, had surgery and missed half the season, then had another surgery after the next season. Cincinnati released him, and he bounced around several organizations until finishing up in Boston at age 32 in 2001.
1984-86: unknown
1983; (link needed): Potomac’s Tim Raley was the All met POTY per this novabaseballmagazine.com retrospective.
1982 and prior: unknown if they even did the analysis at the Post.

Hope you enjoyed this ride through memory lane. If I failed to mention a “player of note” in any of these years please note is as such in the comments. I was going mostly off of memory for these names and may have missed players who had good collegiate or pro careers.

I’m going to try to dig up some of the older links, perhaps by digging through WP archives.

Nationals Arm Race

All-Met Baseball Players of the year; what happened to them?

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