McClatchy baseball star Malcolm Moore is SBLive’s Sac-Joaquin Section Athlete of the Year

Moore, who has signed with Stanford, hit .500 with 15 doubles and 13 home runs this past season.

Author:
Connor Morrissette
Publish date:
Jun 19, 2022 12:00 PM EDT

Welcome to a continuing tradition at SBLive California – honoring the male and female athletes of the year in every CIF Section.

Because the SBLive crew gets so immersed in specific sports seasons, it is nice to take a step back to pick a Section honor on a broader scale.

The criteria isn’t too expansive: The starting point is finding athletes who are all-league/all-state performers. Totality of career is also a factor as is winning. Administrator/coach/fan recommendation plays a role as well.

Enjoy as we honor some of California's top athletes!

Malcolm Moore is a Sacramento high school baseball legend. His home runs remind McClatchy head coach Mike de Necochea of Bryce Harper's. Moore plays defense at catcher like Iván "Pudge" Rodriguez. He's the complete package.

"He hits those moon shot balls and they just go," de Necochea said. "They have the lift and the carry. After he hit a home run against Ramona, one of their softball coaches came over and said 'how did this ball get over on my field? That's never happened before.'"

Moore won the California Gatorade State Player of the Year award for the second straight year this spring. He hit .500 with 15 doubles and 13 home runs this season leading McClatchy to the Division 1 Sac-Joaquin Section championship game and the state playoffs.

"I know we came one game short, but we had a great season," Moore said.

In addition to his stellar play, Moore also took on a considerable leadership role within the McClatchy program as a senior.

"He's been really awesome with the development of our underclassmen with catching," de Necochea said. "There's not a day or game that went by where he wasn't trying to help a younger guy with technique and drills. I love that part about him."

Next month Moore will have a big decision to make. Should he play college baseball at Stanford or begin his professional career when he's selected in the MLB Draft?

Moore and his family spent this past weekend at the MLB combine in San Diego.

"It was really cool," Moore said. "I was just doing meetings down here. No baseball stuff even though I kinda wanted to. But it was good."

Whatever Moore decides, he'll forever go down as one of Sacramento's all-time greats and for that, he's been chosen as the 2022 SBLive Sac-Joaquin Section Male Athlete of the Year.

BIO

School: McClatchy

Sport: Baseball

Next step: Stanford Baseball or the MLB Draft

Season highlights and accolades: Gatorade State Baseball Player of the Year for the second year in a row. SBLive's Baseball Player of the Year, Metropolitan Conference League MVP, Sacramento Bee's All-Metro Player of the Year

GPA: 4.0