In conjunction with national feature currently up on ESPNRISE.com, we are proud to present the CalHiSports.com All-State All-Decade Team for baseball. Thirty players have made it and many are current MLB standouts, headed by Player of the Decade Delmon Young. Check out the All-Decade All-American Team by CLICKING HERE.

By Mark Tennis, Executive Editor

As a 14-year-old, Delmon Young of Camarillo already had made a name for himself by an appearance at the annual Area Code Games in Long Beach. Young, the younger brother of major leaguer Dmitri Young (who went to nearby Rio Mesa), was one of the state's top players as a sophomore and by his junior year in 2002 he was the Mr. Baseball State Player of the Year.

Combined with a more than solid senior season in 2003, Young has now been named as the CalHiSports.com State Player of the Decade.

In that 2002 season, Young pitched, hit, played outfield and led Camarillo to the CIF Southern Section Division I title. He nearly set a state record for home runs with 17 and also drove in 65 runs.

Young's senior season culminated with him being selected as the No. 1 pick in the annual Major League Baseball draft, but his numbers in some areas were not as strong as when he was a junior. He was still a candidate for Mr. Baseball State Player of the Year, but infielder Ian Stewart from La Quinta of Westminster edged him with eye-opening totals in home runs (16) and RBIs (61) and led La Quinta to a 30-2 record.

Still, as a senior, Young hit for a .523 average and scored 40 runs. He also capped his career with totals that were among the best-ever in the state, such as 35 homers, 180 hits, 150 RBIs and 158 runs scored.

Three years after going first in the draft, Young earned notice for an unfortunate incident when he threw a bat at an umpire while playing for the AAA Durham Bulls. He was suspended for 50 games, but seemed to learn his lesson.

By the 2007 season, Young had cracked the starting lineup of the Tampa Bay Rays and he was actually second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind fellow Californian Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox.

Young was traded from the Rays to the Minnesota Twins prior to the start of the 2008 season and for the last two seasons he has maintained a batting average near .290. Last season, Young missed more than 60 games with injury, and batted .284 for the Twins with 12 homers and 60 RBIs.

Here is the complete All-State All-Decade team for baseball, chosen in the same format all of our all-state teams are chosen, which is 30 players in all. Consideration was made of how these players have done after high school, but high school accomplishment was a priority.

Catchers
Charlie Cutler (Lowell, San Francisco) Class of 2005
Kyle Skipworth (Patriot, Riverside) Class of 2008

Pitchers
Trevor Cahill (Vista) Class of 2006
Cole Hamels (Rancho Bernardo, San Diego) Class of 2002
J.P. Howell (Jesuit, Carmichael) Class of 2001
Phil Hughes (Foothill, Tustin) Class of 2004
Ian Kennedy (La Quinta, Westminster) Class of 2002
Mike Leake (Fallbrook) Class of 2006
Tyler Matzek (Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo) Class of 2009
Dontrelle Willis (Encinal, Alameda) Class of 2000

Infielders
Ryan Braun (Granada Hills) Class of 2002
Matt Bush (Mission Bay, San Diego) Class of 2004
Matt Dominguez (Chatsworth) Class of 2007
Aaron Hill (Redwood, Visalia) Class of 2000
Mike Moustakas (Chatsworth) Class of 2007
Dustin Pedroia (Woodland) Class of 2001
Ian Stewart (La Quinta, Westminster) Class of 2003
Troy Tulowitzki (Fremont, Sunnyvale) Class of 2002
Brett Wallace (Justin-Siena, Napa) Class of 2005

Outfielders
John Drennen (Rancho Bernardo, San Diego) Class of 2005
Aaron Hicks (Wilson, Long Beach) Class of 2008
Mike Stanton (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) Class of 2007
Delmon Young (Camarillo) Class of 2003

Multi-Purpose
Matt Hobgood (Norco) Class of 2009
Sean O'Sullivan (Valhalla, El Cajon) Class of 2005
Trevor Plouffe (Crespi, Encino) Class of 2004
Greg Reynolds (Terra Nova, Pacifica) Class of 2003
Tyler Robertson (Bella Vista, Fair Oaks) Class of 2006
Mike Stodolka (Centennial, Corona) Class of 2000

State Player of the Decade: Delmon Young (Camarillo)

Comments or corrections? Email mark@studentsports.com and be sure to leave a comment so others can check out what you have to say.