Columbus’ Cruz and Doral’s Santana are the Dade 7A-6A Baseball Players of the Year
For Columbus pitcher Gabriel Cruz, the main goal was to get back on the mound healthy and dominate the way he knew he could.
For Doral Academy shortstop Adrian Santana, it was about building off an already sterling career and taking it to new heights.
Both players accomplished this during the 2023 baseball season.
And as such, Cruz and Santana are the Miami Herald’s Class 7A-6A Miami-Dade County Baseball Players of the Year.
Cruz, a senior and Stetson University signee, earned Pitcher of the Year honors after helping Columbus make it back to the Class 7A regional final and compile a 24-5 record.
Cruz went 8-1 with 90 strikeouts and posted three shutouts while compiling a 1.35 ERA over 57 innings. Cruz was unbeaten until he and the Explorers ran into eventual national champion Stoneman Douglas where their season ended in a tough 11-1 loss.
But for Cruz, the journey was what meant most since he was able to recapture the form he had before suffering a minor UCL tear which forced him to miss his junior season.
“Coming off the injury, I wanted to dominate on the mound,” Cruz said. “I really worked hard in the offseason and used it as motivation to get back. It was definitely one of the hardest times of my life.”
Cruz stood at the forefront of a deep Columbus rotation, which entered that game against Douglas on a 16-game winning streak and helped secure both GMAC and district titles.
“The postseason was what really mattered to me and that’s where I didn’t come through, but that’s something I’m going to work on when I get to the college level,” Cruz said.
Santana, a University of Miami signee who projects as a potential early-round pick in next month’s Major League Baseball Draft, earned Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive season after hitting .435 with four homers and 30 RBI and stealing 20 bases as a junior.
But he felt he had more power to display heading into his senior season and proved it by belting a county-high 11 home runs while hitting .364 with 33 RBI. Santana also kept his base stealing game in top form, swiping 18 bases along the way, as Doral made it back to the state final four in Class 6A.
“As the leader of the team, you’re expected to come through and I feel like I was able to do that this season,” Santana said. “We had a lot of fun this year. I’m very excited about UM and there are a few people I played with that are there so it will be kind of like high school ball all over again.”
