DeKalb County baseball ready for action

DeKalb County high schools are gearing up for baseball season after the county held its annual Media Day at Tucker High School Jan. 9.

Coaches and players from 17 DeKalb County high schools were present at media day and gave a brief preview of what they hope is in store for their team this season.

Decatur High School finished in Georgia’s top 50 last year and the Bulldogs have multiple players on this year’s roster who will be playing at the high major level next season.

That group is led by Jordan Walker, who is committed to Duke. Other Decatur players who have signed with colleges include Jaylen Paden who signed with Georgia Southern, Drew Jordan who signed with Rhodes, Jaxson Sprull who signed with Tougaloo College, and others.

“We have eight seniors this year and most are two to three-year starters,” said head coach Roddy Gilbert. “We have a great group of kids. I’m looking forward to getting after it and seeing what the season holds.”

On the other side of that spectrum is Chamblee, who lost a lot of players from last season’s team.

“We graduated eight seniors from last year’s team,” said head coach Brian Ely. “We’re hoping to improve throughout the season and play our best baseball at the end of the year.”

Redan is another team with a big-time committed player on its roster. Donye Evans will be going to play for Vanderbilt, the reigning College World Series champion, next season.

Lakeside head coach Donald Hayes said his team will have to rely on its pitching to improve because the team can already hit but will only go as far as their pitching takes them.

Arabia Mountain is another team that wants to improve, and Eric Hoxie is excited to do so because he said that he wants Arabia Mountain to reclaim its spot as one of the best teams in the county.
“The sheriff is back in town,” Hoxie said. “We’re back to reclaim our region. Arabia Mountain is back.”

Coaches and players from Clarkston, Columbia, Cross Keys, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Miller Grove, MLK, Southwest DeKalb and Stone Mountain were also in attendance.

DeKalb County high schools will begin the baseball season between Feb. 10 and Feb. 18 with most teams beginning play the week of Feb. 10.