CHICAGO — In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade announced on Tuesday that Batesville native Mark Brissey of Fayetteville High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Arkansas Baseball Player of the Year.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best athletes’ success on the field, in the classroom, and the community. The award distinguishes Brissey as Arkansas’ best high school baseball player, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Gary Sheffield (1985-86, Hillsborough High School, Florida), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Konnor Griffin (2023-24, Jackson Preparatory School, Mississippi).
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior right-handed pitcher and first baseman led the Bulldogs (25-6) to the 6A state championship game this past season. Brissey posted a record of 8-0 on the mound with a 1.09 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 64 innings pitched. He also hit .347 with 36 RBI and five home runs, including a three-run shot in the 6A state semifinals.
“Mark Brissey is always a threat at the plate who could send the ball out of the yard at any time,” said Todd Abbott, head coach at Bentonville High School. “What sets him apart is what he does on the mound for his team. He’s one of, if not the best pitcher we saw this spring.”
Brissey has maintained a 3.91 GPA in the classroom. He signed a letter of athletic aid to play baseball at the University of Arkansas this fall.
Brissey has worked with the EAST (Education Accelerated by Service and Technology) Initiative and First United Methodist Church youth group.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts, including coaches, scouts, media, and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners, or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, and X (Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
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