Varela’s Colon and Doral’s Torres are the Dade 7A-6A Baseball Players of the Year
Both Doral Academy’s Michael Torres and Varela’s Edgar Colon are keeping an eye on next month’s MLB Draft.
But if things work out a certain way, the two could find themselves teammates in Coral Gables this fall.
Torres and Colon, both of whom are University of Miami signees, showed off their talents this past season to lead their teams to the regional playoffs.
And they end their careers as the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Class 7A-6A Baseball Players of the Year.
Colon, a righthander, is the 7A-6A Pitcher of the Year while Torres, a two-way player, is the 7A-6A Player of the Year.
Colon, who came to Miami from Puerto Rico in recent years, dominated on the mound the past two seasons for Varela and was a major factor in that program’s rise to become one of the top teams in Dade.
Colon grew up playing shortstop and third base in his hometown of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico located northeast of San Juan. He began training to be a pitcher in recent years and developed a solid mix of pitches which made him one of the more dominant arms in the county.
This season, Colon went 6-1 with 74 strikeouts in 42 innings and was nearly unhittable heading into the playoffs. He finished with a 1.00 ERA after leading the Vipers to the Region 4-6A quarterfinals.
“The biggest thing I learned (at Varela) was never to get complacent,” Colon said. “I always keep working hard and trying to get better.”
Torres, a lefty pitcher and outfielder who is ranked among the top 200 prospects in the nation by Baseball America, did a little bit of everything this season for powerhouse Doral Academy.
Despite the Firebirds suffering an upset loss in the regional quarterfinals, Torres was one of the best players in the state, hitting .365 with four home runs, seven doubles and 25 RBI. He also scored 38 runs and picked up five saves on the mound for Doral.
“It was fun being a two-way player at Doral and helping the team in three different ways and I wouldn’t change that experience for anything,” Torres said. “Although it wasn’t a ‘wow’ year hitting for me, I feel more confident in my approach and I feel like I’ve improved my swing and I can’t wait to show it at the next level.”
