Palm Beach 4A-1A baseball player of the year: Jack Wilhoit, St. John Paul II senior

Few in Palm Beach County were as skilled at the plate and on the pitcher’s mound as Jack Wilhoit.The St. John Paul II senior dominated opponents on the mound, and he was a key bat for the Eagles as they reached the regional semifinals this year.

Wilhot is the Sun Sentinel’s Palm Beach County 4A-1A player of the year.Wilhoit attributes his strong season, particularly at the plate, with a carefree approach. Counterintuitively, worrying less about his hitting helped him play better.

“I kind of went into the season just kind of like carefree with the bat just because there was no pressure on me at all,” Wilhoit said. “I was starting like at the bottom of the order. I was kind of like an extra at bat.

But I think the fact that I was loose and that I didn’t care about the outcome is what helped me.”Despite focusing less on hitting, the Eagles pitcher hit .410 with a home run and 15 RBIs.

He posted a 1.081 OPS and also stole seven bases.But it was on the mound where Wilhoit truly excelled.

The senior went 7-2 with four complete games and a pair of shutouts. He notched a 1.63 ERA — the best among Palm Beach County small-school pitchers with more than 50 innings pitched.

Wilhoit struck out 85 batters — the most of any pitcher in the country — in 68 2/3 innings.Wilhoit pitched gems against some of the top teams in South Florida, holding eventual 3A runner-up North Broward Prep to one run in six innings of work early in the season and striking out 11 batters in a shutout against West Boca Raton.Wilhoit is staying in Florida for his college career.

He signed with North Florida.“I love the coaches,” Wilhoit said. “They’re really big on development up there and hands-on work.

The pitching coach there is phenomenal. That was a big part of it. He’s had guys go in the draft like the past five years, which is super important for me because I want to be able to develop and then get drafted.”