Nitro pitcher a unanimous choice to receive state's top individual baseball award

There have been runaway choices for individual honors many times in the history of high school sports in West Virginia, and J.R. Bradley added to that tradition thanks to a dominating 2010 baseball season.

Bradley, who graduated from Nitro High School a month ago, went 13-0 with 109 strikeouts and a 0.61 earned-run average to lead the Wildcats (33-4) to the Class AAA state championship. He hit .483 with a state-leading 13 home runs, and hit .483 with a state-leading 13 home runs, and added 15 doubles and 52 RBIs to his resume in winning state player of the year honors.

No other player received a vote in the selection process. In fact Bradley's dominance was so overwhelming that he was the only player nominated by members of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

"That's amazing. I can't even describe how it feels to be thought of that way,'' said the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Bradley, who made his professional debut with the Missoula Osprey of the Pioneer League over the weekend.

West Virginia University-bound Noah Cottrill of Logan ran away with the voting for the Evans Award, given to the state's best boys basketball player, last spring. In 2005, Nitro running back Josh Culbertson received all but one first-place vote in balloting for the Kennedy Award.

Harrison Musgrave of Bridgeport, Max Nogay of Madonna, Maverick Myers of North Marion and Josh Harlow of Lincoln are all headed to WVU to play baseball. None of those names was uttered when it came to player of the year discussion.

Neither were Class AA all-state captain Patrick Ryan of Herbert Hoover or Hurricane senior Noah Blackhurst, who led Class AAA with a .573 batting average.

"There's a lot of good players in the state. It feels great to win, but ... unanimous? That's amazing,'' Bradley said.

There have been runaway choices for individual honors many times in the history of high school sports in West Virginia, and J.R. Bradley added to that tradition thanks to a dominating 2010 baseball season.

Bradley, who graduated from Nitro High School a month ago, went 13-0 with 109 strikeouts and a 0.61 earned-run average to lead the Wildcats (33-4) to the Class AAA state championship. He hit .483 with a state-leading 13 home runs, and added 15 doubles and 52 RBIs to his resume in winning state player of the year honors.

No other player received a vote in the selection process. In fact Bradley's dominance was so overwhelming that he was the only player nominated by members of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

"That's amazing. I can't even describe how it feels to be thought of that way,'' said the 6-foot-4, 185-pound Bradley, who made his professional debut with the Missoula Osprey of the Pioneer League over the weekend.

West Virginia University-bound Noah Cottrill of Logan ran away with the voting for the Evans Award, given to the state's best boys basketball player, last spring. In 2005, Nitro running back Josh Culbertson received all but one first-place vote in balloting for the Kennedy Award.

Harrison Musgrave of Bridgeport, Max Nogay of Madonna, Maverick Myers of North Marion and Josh Harlow of Lincoln are all headed to WVU to play baseball. None of those names was uttered when it came to player of the year discussion.

Neither were Class AA all-state captain Patrick Ryan of Herbert Hoover or Hurricane senior Noah Blackhurst, who led Class AAA with a .573 batting average.

"There's a lot of good players in the state. It feels great to win, but ... unanimous? That's amazing,'' Bradley said.

Bradley, a right-handed pitcher, was taken with the 56th overall pick by the Arizona Diamonbacks in the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft on June 8. He is the fourth-highest draft pick taken directly from a West Virginia high school in the draft's 46-year history.

Pitcher Josh Cenate was taken 34th overall out of Jefferson High School by the Baltimore Orioles in 1999, and Elkins pitcher Stan Fansler was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 34th pick in 1983.

Pittsburgh took Oak Hill outfielder Tim McMillan 43rd in 1984.

There are only 10 players that have been drafted out of high school and taken with a pick within the top 100. The others include Anthony Whittington of Buffalo (No. 60 overall, 2003, Angels), Robert Smallwood of Martinsburg (66, 1966, Senators), Don Robinson of Ceredo-Kenova (68, 1975, Pirates), Terrell Jones of Parkersburg (82, 1967, Cubs), Dana Berry of Morgantown (95, 1977, Athletics) and William McBrayer of Williamson (96, 1967, Pirates).

Scouts followed Bradley in droves in April and May, camping behind backstops at baseball fields throughout the Kanawha Valley. The appearance of regional directors and scouting coordinators did nothing to slow Bradley's 90-plus mph fastball and command of three other pitches (changeup, curve and slider) that have several talent scouts projecting him as a No. 3 starter at the major-league level.

"He's had guys from teams come out here all year, and that's a lot of pressure on a 17-year-old kid,'' Nitro coach Steve Pritchard said. "Every time they've come out, he goes about his business, and actually seems like he doesn't even notice.''

Bradley, who turned 18 the day after being taken by the Diamondbacks, was the winning pitcher in two Class AAA state title games. He shut out Fairmont Senior 10-0 in the 2008 final, and threw six innings of shutout ball against Bridgeport in a 6-0 win.

On Thursday Bradley was named a second-team All-America pitcher by the USA Today.