High school baseball: Pine View's Littlewood named Mr. Baseball

With his performance in the Youth Pan-Am Games last September, Pine View shortstop Marcus Littlewood established himself as one of the best middle infielders in the world in his age group.

No, not in the nation. Not in the state. Not in 4A.

In the world.

Littlewood was named to the All-Tournament team in the international competition after helping Team USA's 16-under team to a gold medal. He hit a bases-clearing double in USA's 7-3 gold medal-clinching win over Mexico, and that was just icing on the cake. It was a tremendous accomplishment just making the team.

Littlewood followed up his performance as a member of Team USA with a brilliant junior season at Pine View. For his efforts, Littlewood is the 2009 Deseret News Mr. Baseball award recipient. He is the second player to earn the honor. Former Judge Memorial pitcher Joe Pond was the inaugural winner last year.

"It's a great honor," Littlewood said. "Mr. Baseball — that's a good title."

And it's a deserved one for Littlewood, who grew up in the dugout while tagging along with his dad, current Dixie State coach Mike Littlewood, to various baseball diamonds throughout the state pretty much since he was able to walk. Littlewood put up eye-popping numbers at the plate, and showed he's the best defensive player in the state during the 2009 season.

Littlewood started the season on fire, hitting five home runs in the first two weeks. He batted .531, had an on-base percentage of .634, hit 14 doubles, five triples and finished with six homers. He slugged 1.047 and drove in 22 runs. He was walked 32 times, eight of which were intentional passes.

Numbers don't lie, and they also don't tell the story of Littlewood's ability and the season he had. As good as he is as a hitter and pitcher (he had a 2-1 record with a 1.53 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings), Littlewood is even better defensively at shortstop. He made a spectacular pair of plays at shortstop in the Marshall Gates Foundation/Deseret News all-star game last week, ones that few others in the state could make look as easy — or even make.

"Defensively, he's a man amongst boys," said Pine View coach Randy Wilstead. "His knowledge and ability are levels and levels above other high school kids."

That didn't happen by accident. Littlewood gleaned a tremendous amount of baseball knowledge from his father and his father's assistant coaches through the years, and he has studied the game like a pro ballplayer. One Major League scout said prospects' baseball IQs are rated between 20 and 80. He said Littlewood's is 80-plus.

"As a player, his knowledge is far superior to anyone else's," Wilstead said. "He truly drinks and sleeps baseball."