Columbus’ Zapata, Doral’s Santana are Miami-Dade Baseball 7A-6A Pitcher, Player of Year
Federico Zapata made the most of his one year as the Columbus Explorers’ ace.
Adrian Santana had a breakout junior that helped the Doral Firebirds win their first-ever state baseball title and has one more year to build on that success.
They are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Baseball Pitcher and Player of the Year for Classes 7A-6A, and for good reason. Both were key to the success of the two Dade teams that advanced the farthest in the playoffs in the FHSAA’s highest two classifications.
Zapata, a Barry University signee, emerged as one of the county’s most consistent pitchers this year. He’s not overpowering with his stuff, but his command and ability to mix multiple pitches kept hitters off balance.
The result: Zapata finished the season with a 0.76 ERA over 73 2/3 innings, striking out 66 batters and allowing just seven walks. He threw seven complete games.
“I’m really proud of how of I played this season,” Zapata said. “I feel like I demonstrated I can do good things in the future. I’m excited to go to Barry and play for them and see what happens.”
Zapata had to bide his time before getting on the mound consistently.
Zapata only pitched five innings in relief as a junior last season with Columbus featuring a senior-heavy roster in 2021.
But with the majority of Columbus’ roster from that season graduating, Zapata and his fellow classmates had their time to shine as seniors. The pressure would be on a group that, by Columbus’ standards, was inexperienced.
They were up for the challenge.
“We came in this year knowing that we were going to battle and fight,” Zapata said.
The Explorers finished 27-5, falling in the Class 7A regional finals to eventual state champion Stoneman Douglas, and never lost consecutive games.
“We had a lot of ups and downs,” Zapata said, “but when we were down, we were able to pick each other up and hop back on a winning streak. ... We were hot in the playoffs and able to make it far.”
Santana, a junior, was one of Doral Academy’s most consistent players during their march to their first ever state championship.
The shortstop and University of Miami commit had a .433 batting average with four home runs, eight triples, seven doubles, 26 RBI and a team-best 41 runs scored.
He started playing the sport when he was 4 years old.
“It’s basically my life,” Santana said. “Wake up. Got to school. Baseball. Repeat.”
And while he appreciates the individual accolades, there was one key goal Santana and the rest of his teammates had this season.
“For [coach] Ralph [Suarez], we wanted to make it to state,” Santana said. “He hasn’t been able to do it with us at Doral. Being around him for a couple years with how hard he works, you want to do it for him and get the job done for him.”
The Firebirds did just that. They went 25-4-1, closing the season on a 15-game winning streak and winning a pair of 5-4 games against Tampa Sickles and Pace in Fort Myers to win the Class 6A state championship.
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