Presenting the 2019 All-Covington News baseball team

Eastside's Cade Mitchell named Pitcher of the Year

After being named the 2019 Covington News All-County Pitcher of the Year, what does Eastside High School southpaw Cade Mitchell have in store for an encore? - photo by Brett Fowler

A year of new coaching faces in the dugouts and young, emerging talent getting a chance to shine dominated the local baseball scene in 2019, and thus, also the 2019 Covington News All-County baseball team.

If this year’s superlative accolades are any indication, the future looks bright for local squads, as all three of our main individual accolades went to either freshman or sophomore athletes, and our coach of the year snagged the honor in his first year.

The Eastside Eagles were the area’s standard bearers once again, and it shows with their 10 all-county selections. Alcovy, although finishing with an 8-20 record, showed great improvement during coach Jimmy Hughes’ first season. Considering Alcovy played in a region that included multiple Division I prospects, particularly on the mound, and produced a state champion in Heritage, the jump the Tigers made was particularly impressive.

Sophomore Ryan Spikes took home player of the year honors, just nipping Eastside's Colby Shivers, after batting .486 which was tops in the area. Spikes, a Tennessee pledge, also knocked seven home runs, scored 31 runs and drove in 20 RBI to go along with a .944 slugging percentage.

Another sophomore, Eastside’s Cade Mitchell, was tabbed pitcher of the year, narrowly edging out his junior bullpen mate Jackson Feeney. Mitchell burst onto the scene to lead Eastside in strikeouts (51) while compiling a 5-2 record and 2.70 ERA in 32.2 innings of work.