How Lyle/Pacelli's Hunter VaDeer became the Gatorade Minnesota Baseball Player of the Year

LYLE — Hunter VaDeer’s parents kept his nomination for Gatorade Minnesota Baseball Player of the Year under wraps until he graduated from Lyle High School on May 23. During the ceremony, he was surprised to learn he was a finalist for the award.

On Tuesday, June 3, VaDeer received another surprise: He was named the winner of the prestigious award for the 2024-25 school year. VaDeer, now a graduated senior pitcher/outfielder from Lyle/Pacelli High School, will play for Division I Creighton University next season.

“Definitely has been an exciting day,” VaDeer said Tuesday afternoon. “I knew that I had great people that submitted recommendation letters for me, and I knew they put in good letters, so I hoped to win, but I wasn't quite expecting, I'd say, but it definitely was a great feeling.”

VaDeer was chosen for the award , which dates back to 1985 and celebrates “the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community,” not only for his strong arm on the mound but also for his 4.20 GPA and volunteer work.

In his final high school baseball season, VaDeer, who stands 6-foot-1, led the Athletics to the Section 1, Class 1A quarterfinals and a 20-4 overall record. VaDeer was 5-2 on the mound with a 0.86 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 49 innings pitched as a senior, finishing his career with 406 strikeouts. He also batted .418 with nine home runs, 43 RBIs, 30 runs scored and a 1.345 OPS.

VaDeer graduated as a two-time First Team All-State selection in baseball, a two-year varsity captain and the National Honor Society president at Lyle High School. He was also on the prom committee and volunteered to support local cancer fundraising auctions, according to a press release announcing him as the winner.

“I think a lot of it goes with what he does with the younger kids, and his leadership on and off the field,” Lyle/Pacelli coach Brock Meyer said. “He's looked up to … everywhere he goes, everybody knows who he is. I'm going to miss him. He's just a great kid.”

VaDeer took just two classes at the high school this year, weightlifting and serving as a teacher’s assistant for elementary P.E. The rest were Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) online classes through Riverland Community College in Austin. Those credits will help VaDeer in his plans to pursue a degree in accounting at Creighton. Once he gets to campus, VaDeer will room with future baseball teammate and recent Lourdes grad Nick Bowron.

VaDeer dedicated countless hours to baseball from the time he joined the varsity as an eighth grader. All of it paid off as he became one of the top pitchers in southeastern Minnesota and the state, and he earned an offer from the Bluejays. In VaDeer’s opinion, it’s his curveball that’s the strongest of the bunch. He has his pitching coach with MacStrength out of Eden Prairie, Alex Twenge, to thank for that.

"He helped me just be a more mature pitcher, for sure, not necessarily just throwing hard and good offspeed pitches, but knowing the game and the batters and how to attack them," VaDeer said.

Meyer coached VaDeer at the 12U and 13U levels and saw his potential to make it at the Division I level back then.

“You could always tell that he had the skills to be great, but he was a little erratic and just hadn't grown into his body yet,” Meyer said. “You could see that he had the arm talent to do it, it was just being able to kind of harness that power.”

Once he started focusing solely on baseball, the sky was the limit. By his sophomore year, VaDeer was throwing 90 miles per hour. He focused on his secondary pitches this season and his changeup reached 83 mph.

“It's just a joy to watch. … He's a five-tool player that can do about anything,” Meyer said. “Probably (in) ninth grade, he knew that he was something special and something we might not see ever again.”

In addition to his skills on the diamond, Meyer said the way VaDeer demonstrates habits such as proper nutrition, arm care and a positive attitude left a lasting impression on the players coming up in the Lyle/Pacelli program.

“The younger kids see that, and they follow suit,” Meyer said. “He's been a big, big part of this program, and he's helped it grow tremendously over the last couple of years. … We have more kids in the program than we ever have before, because he's kind of made it that way. He's made it exciting for kids to see what they could be.”

The accolades are piling up for VaDeer as he is also a finalist for Minnesota Mr. Baseball. The winner will be announced on June 15. He was also selected to play in the high school baseball Play Ball! Minnesota Senior All-Star Series , June 19-21 in Chaska, Minn.

VaDeer joins a group of southeastern Minnesota players from small schools who were recently recognized for their talents on and off the field, including LeRoy-Ostrander’s Camden Hungerholt, who picked up Minnesota’s Mr. Football last fall – the first-ever Class 9-Player athlete to do so.

Growing up in a small town, playing for a smaller school is part of what VaDeer said helped him stand out as a finalist.

“I feel like I'm a lot closer with all of my teammates than I probably would be if I was from a big school,” VaDeer said. “I think it's definitely helped build a better culture around the team over the years, not just one year, but all the years. …

“(Also) not only being a teacher's assistant for the elementary kids, connecting with them in that way, but I also was a part of National Honor Society for quite a few years, and volunteering with that definitely has helped me connect with my community. And I feel like that definitely set me apart, compared to some other people, just how strong of a sense of community that I have.”