Baseball: Who is the City Section player of the year?

I am seriously without an answer to the following question: Who is the City Section player of the year in high school baseball?

Luckily, the sportswriters no longer pick the All-City team. A group of coaches will do the honors on Wednesday. But I have been trying to come up with a recommendation for player of the year and have been stumped.

Birmingham won the Division I title, but the team’s two best players in the playoffs, pitchers Adrian Rodriguez and Jonathan Russomano, didn’t make first-team all-league. In the old days, that would disqualify them for All-City consideration.

The player of the year usually comes from the winning team unless someone is so good during the regular season. Catcher Ryan Mendoza of Birmingham didn’t hit very well during the regular season, but he was the best catcher defensively and had a big hit in the City final, so he maybe he’s the choice.

Riley Conlan of Chatsworth deserves consideration, too. He had two hits in the final and was co-West Valley MVP.

I have a much easier time picking All-City.

If I was doing it, here’s my selections. Pitcher was the strongest position.

Pitchers_Daniel Rocha, Narbonne; Alonzo Garcia, San Fernando; Jeremy Polon, El Camino Real; Tommy Palomera, Chatsworth; Jonathan Russomano, Birmingham; Gilbert Hernandez, Kennedy; Gino Brockway, Banning; Holt Maybank, Palisades; C_Ryan Mendoza, Birmingham; Dalton Blumenfeld, Hamilton; Juan Gallardo, Banning; Jake Ryan, Chatsworth; INF_Nick Rodriguez, Kennedy; Estevan Rodriguez, Kennedy; Sam Shaikin, Chasworth; Isac Lepe, Narbonne; OF_Hayden Rappoport, El Camino Real; Riley Conlan, Chatsworth; Gerry Macias, Van Nuys; UT_David Lamas, Dorsey; Adrian Padilla, Narbonne; Kai Gomez, San Fernando; Isaac Yoshinaga, University;DH_Justin Rorick, Birmingham.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer