Paul Tillotson named player of the year

In its 31 st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Paul Tillotson of Lewis-Palmer High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year. Tillotson is the first Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Lewis-Palmer High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Tillotson as Colorado’s best high school baseball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year, Tillotson joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Roy Halladay (1994-95, Arvada West HS, Colo.), David Price (2003-04, Blackman HS, Tenn.), Chipper Jones (1989-90, Bolles School, Fla.), Derek Lee (1992-93, El Camino HS, Calif.) and John Lester (2001-02, Bellarmine Prep, Wash.).

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound senior right-handed pitcher compiled an 8-1 record with a 1.02 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched this past season, leading the Rangers (15-6) to the Class 4A district finals. Also an outfielder, Tillotson batted .562 with four home runs, 19 runs scored and 40 RBI. The Denver Post’s returning Class 4A Player of the Year, he worked 16 walks and belted 19 extra-base hits, recording a .678 on-base percentage and 1.058 slugging percentage.

Tillotson has maintained a 3.46 weighted GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating his time as a member of Lewis-Palmer’s spirit club, he has volunteered locally on behalf of Children’s Hospital Colorado and as part of food drives to benefit residents displaced by the Waldo Canyon fire. “I’m in my 22nd year coaching varsity baseball, and this kind of kid doesn’t come around very often,” said Mark Swope, head coach at rival Cheyenne Mountain High. “He’s one of the most dominant pitchers I’ve seen in a long time, and you don’t want to pitch to him on the offensive side, either, as he’s without question the best hitter in our league.”

Tillotson has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Nebraska this fall.