In the history of high school athletics in the area, many great athletes have come and gone across all sports and made their marks. Two have long stood above the rest: Danny Wuerffel and Tom Hammonds.

Wuerffel led Fort Walton Beach to an undefeated season, a state title and a No. 2 national ranking in 1991, earning national football player of the year honors before his career at Florida. Hammonds led Crestview boys’ basketball to a state title in 1985 and became the only area athlete to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, an overture to a career at Georgia Tech that ended with him being selected No. 9 overall in the 1989 NBA Draft.

• For decades, it would seem that no other local athlete reached that level. Until Coleman Borthwick.

Gatorade announced Monday that the South Walton senior is the 2025-26 Gatorade Florida Baseball Player of the Year, joining a legacy of past winners that includes Clayton Kershaw, MacKenzie Gore and reigning national winner Seth Hernandez.

To call Borthwick’s career generational would be an understatement. The area has never seen a player of his caliber on the diamond, and the numbers back it up.

The 6-foot-6, 255-pound right-handed pitcher and shortstop led the Seahawks (30-4) to their first Class 3A state championship this spring. On the mound, he went 10-0 with a 0.21 ERA, striking out 121 batters against just seven walks in 65.2 innings, and did not surrender an earned run until the district championship against West Florida Tech. At the plate, he hit .460 with nine home runs, 34 RBIs, 30 runs scored and a 1.498 OPS.

He led the Seahawks on a dominant postseason run that ended with a walk-off suicide squeeze bunt from Hudson Quinn in the state championship game, delivering the area its first baseball state title and breaking the internet in the process.

Borthwick had already piled up accolades before his senior year. He helped South Walton to three straight state championship appearances and won gold with Team USA at the 2025 18U Baseball World Cup, capped by a two-way effort in the final against Japan on Japanese soil: a complete-game shutout with 12 strikeouts and three hits allowed, while batting .300 across the tournament.

• National scouts have taken notice. Borthwick is ranked the No. 7 prospect in the Class of 2026 by Prep Baseball Report and was named a 2026 Baseball America Preseason First Team All-American.

“I love everything about Coleman Borthwick,” Pace head coach Jason McBride said. “He’s a competitor. He plays the game hard. He has great stuff on the mound. If he’s not a first-rounder, then I don’t know what a first-rounder looks like. He can beat you on the mound as well as at the plate. I would definitely consider taking him first to build a team. I think he’s the right guy to consider for the award. I haven’t seen anyone better around here.”

Off the field, Borthwick has maintained a 3.72 weighted GPA and given back through Hawks baseball camps, mentoring youth players and coaching a 13-and-under team.

He has signed to play at Auburn this fall, but is projected as an early-round selection in July’s MLB First-Year Player Draft. Whether he honors his commitment to Auburn or signs professionally remains to be seen.

What’s clear: his high school career has been generational, and in Florida’s 2026 high school baseball season, Borthwick was the best player.