Cherry Creek’s Wyatt Rudden wins inaugural Roy Halladay Award as ace pitcher, community steward, exemplary student

On a late winter day in sun-soaked Arizona Wyatt Rudden labeled himself an ace It was March of last year and Rudden started for Cherry Creek in a movement tournament against Valley Vista An elbow injury cut short his sophomore season so the then-junior was still looking to establish himself within Colorado s the greater part achieving big-school activity Rudden threw a complete challenge one-hit shutout in a - win dominating with his fastball-slider combo in a preview of what was to come as the right-hander became a central force in the Bruins back-to-back Class A championship seasons He revealed us his bulldog mentality Cherry Creek pitching coach Dave Veres recalled It was one of those ah-ha moments No pitch clock needed for this guy He s a get-it-and-go type of guy Puts all the pressure on the hitters And once we got that one-run lead he was like That s all I need That s plenty And as that battle went on he got tougher and tougher to hit which foreshadowed what he would do the next couple years Once he got the ball you couldn t take it out of his hand Rudden came up clutch for Cherry Creek in the biggest moments Last year he delivered under do-or-die circumstances in the penultimate tournament of the state tournament against Regis Jesuit setting up Creek s ninth ring And this spring he sealed the initiative s th title with a masterful start again against the Raiders in the championship battle Along the way the Michigan commit excelled in the classroom GPA and set a high standard with population arrangement and school club involvement For all of that Rudden is the winner of the inaugural Roy Halladay Award to be presented annually to Colorado s top senior ballplayer scholar and public steward To have my name in the same conversation as Halladay is such a blessing Rudden declared The kind of sportsman he was and the status he had is something that every Colorado baseball performer hopes to achieve So I m lucky to get this honor I believe this has a ton of promising to be a big-time award in the years to come And I hope it motivates more high school players in the area to not just be good players but good students and good people Intensity is one of Rudden s best intangibles that led to his impressive prep career on and off the diamond In this year s title meeting where Rudden threw five innings of one-run ball in an - Cherry Creek win Regis Jesuit threatened to take an early lead with two runners on in the first inning But Rudden struck out a pair of batters to escape the jam then yelled toward the Raiders dugout Cherry Creek starting pitcher Wyatt Rudden reacts after striking out Regis Jesuit Raider Carter Rathbun in the first inning during the Class A State Baseball Championship Championship at All-Star Park in Lakewood Colorado on Saturday May Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post That was our chance and then he slammed the door on us after that Regis Jesuit head coach Matt Darr noted That first inning epitomized how there s a competitiveness to him that s another level compared to bulk You feel like you re up against somebody who s almost invincible even though we ve seen guys with better stuff but they re not as tough as him Rudden s competitiveness translated to leadership in the dugout Cherry Creek head coach Joe Smith reported the senior routinely pulled fellow players aside for chats if they weren t playing up to the undertaking s expectations of effort and hustle Rudden s edge seeped into his schoolwork too where even as a senior he refused to let up in his final high school semester despite having a scholarship to Michigan in the bag Wyatt had just come home from a tournament this spring and he had pitched well declared Rudden s dad Nick who won a pair of baseball championships with the Bruins in the late s Postgame he lifted Then he gets home at about and I go What s going on He goes I ve got to go inquiry for an AP test This was routine for him He would often be up until like in the morning studying That night my wife Megan and I just looked at each other Even with college already set he was going up to examination because he believes it s his obligation to be the best he can be He s not the kind of kid who is going to leave anything on the table Rudden s younger brother Cherry Creek junior second baseman Walker Rudden saw that in Wyatt from a young age When Walker was and Wyatt was they played a tournament together in Cooperstown When Walker hit a homer before Wyatt the older brother was peeved So then he came up the next at-bat and crushed one of the longest homers I ve ever seen a little kid hit Walker mentioned with a laugh Then he just smiled at me when we got back into the dugout Cherry Creek s Wyatt Rudden pitches against Chaparral during Class A State Baseball Tournament at All-Star Park in Lakewood Colorado on Friday May Cherry Creek won - Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post Outside of baseball and school Rudden s desire to give back didn t waver Since childhood Rudden s been heavily involved in the Bags of Fun Foundation which puts together backpacks with toys and games for children fighting life-threatening conditions Since middle school he s volunteered about weekends a year for Boys Group Charity with projects such as cleaning up farms that target food scarcity serving at food kitchens and greater part of late painting planter boxes for a senior living facility And this winter and spring he s been an assistant coach for a U Little League band Inside the walls of his school he s also involved in Link Crew National Honor Society DECA and Leadership Club A quote I come back to a lot is Who you are when you do anything is who you are when you do everything ' Rudden stated Going through the motions at school will never better you and neither will doing that in the society If you want to be a great contestant and a great person every time you have an opportunity to better yourself and better others you have to take it As Rudden heads off to Michigan the -foot -pound hurler s hyperfocus in all aspects of life won t sway And as Cherry Creek senior teammate Mason Scott explains neither will Rudden s confidence on the mound although he ll need to further develop his curveball and changeup to be a more dynamic pitcher at the Division I level There is no hitter that Wyatt is ever scared to pitch to Scott declared He ll throw inside He ll throw any pitch in any count That s what makes him make so challenging to hit off of he s not scared of you and you know that Wyatt s favorite pitch is a two-seam on your hands and I think that says everything you need to know about him Cherry Creek High School pitcher Wyatt Rudden the Roy Halladay Award winner poses for a portrait at the school's baseball field in Greenwood Village Colorado on Wednesday June Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post The Roy Halladay Award Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on May in Philadelphia Jim McIsaac Getty Images The Roy Halladay Award honors the top senior baseball performer scholar and group steward in Colorado The award named after the late Hall of Fame pitcher who attended Arvada West before becoming a Cy Young winner with the Blue Jays and Phillies factors in on-field performance as well as grades and district function The award is backed by a non-profit the Colorado High School Baseball Sportsman Award Corporation led by board president Ed Henderson treasurer Alan Bossart and secretary Justin North The winner is decided by a -person selection committee which votes on the winner and finalists based on a system that gives candidates three points for a first-place vote two points for a second-place vote and one point for a third-place vote The trophy for the award named The Mighty Casey is made by the Lundeen Sculpture company in Loveland It is an approximately -inch-tall bronze sculpture of an old-time ballplayer leaning on his bat The winner also receives a scholarship and an honorary luncheon put on by the non-profit in downtown Denver Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible donation to the award should email reporter Kyle Newman at knewman denverpost com