NEW ULM — New Ulm High School senior Maddox Mortensen has been named to the Under Armour Baseball Factory Academic All-American team.
Mortensen was one of 75 high school baseball players from across the United States to be selected.
Players selected must have a 3.5 GPA and a Top Tier Baseball Factory rating.
Players selected were then invited to the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida, for a two-day, three-game tournament from December 10-12.
Mortensen played for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
“I went to a try out in Minnetonka this past summer and did pretty well there,” Mortensen said. “They then check out to see if you have a good enough GPA. Luckily for me, academics are important and about a week after the tryouts I was invited to the event. It was nice getting out of the Minnesota cold and into some warm weather for baseball.”
Mortensen said that there were high school baseball players from all over the United States at the event.
“I was the only kid from the midwest, so it was interesting playing with a bunch of the kids from the south who play baseball year round,” Mortensen said. “Got to hear some stories from them. Up here we have a lot of multi-sport athletes, but down there it is one sport only and that is what they focused on. Most of the players on my team were from California, Florida, Texas and New Mexico and played baseball year round. A lot of good ballplayers there.”
Mortensen felt that he did pretty good in the tournament.
“You saw some good pitching, but my biggest accomplishment down there was that my arm velocity increased a lot from 81 miles per hour to now 87. And I increased by exit velocity.”
Mortensen said that his future after high school includes both academics and baseball.
“I would like to stay close to home — I am kind of a homebody — but coach Matt Sammarco from Lasell University in Boston is part of the Baseball Factory program and has been in contact with me. Super good guy and if I leave, it might be towards the east coast. But otherwise I would like to get a shot at some local colleges, perhaps Minnesota State.”
He plans on majoring in Architecture.
Mortensen added that he’s appreciated all the support and help he’s gotten from his coaches and family.
“I am grateful for the coaching I have gotten here and am super thankful to my parents, especially for my dad, for supporting me.”
