Sunset High School's Kruz Schoolcraft winds to throw a pitch during an Apollos game last season. School craft was honored for the second straight year as the state's Gatorade Player of the Year. (Wade Evanson/Valley Times)

Sunset High School’s Kruz Schoolcraft is Oregon’s Baseball Gatorade Player of the Year – again.

The Apollos’ senior pitcher and first baseman was announced as the state’s honoree on Tuesday, June 3, and joins an impressive group of alumni that includes former major leaguers such as Gary Sheffield, Clayton Kershaw and Konnor Griffin.

The honor is the second straight for Schoolcraft who was the state’s 2023-24 honoree as well.

Through two rounds of the state playoffs, the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Schoolcraft had accumulated a 0.53 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 40 innings on the mound this season. He also compiled a 0.70 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched), and at the plate, batted .521 with 10 home runs, 30 RBI and 26 runs scored.

Schoolcraft is ranked as the nation’s No. 4 prospect in his class by Baseball America, and this past week was predicted by ESPN to be chosen 25th in the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft.

“Kruz Schoolcraft is a unique talent whose size and two-way ability put him in a very small group of players,” Baseball America national writer Carlos Collazo wrote. “The ease with which he’s able to generate upper-90s velocity as a left-handed high schooler puts him among the hardest throwers we’ve ever seen from that demographic. If he weren’t a pitcher, he’d be a legitimate draft prospect as a hitter thanks to his ‘plus’ raw power. Considering he reclassified from originally being a 2026 graduate, that makes all of his accomplishments even more impressive.”

Schoolcraft is also an outstanding student, maintaining a 3.9 GPA, and is committed to attend and play baseball for the University of Tennessee this coming fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – 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.