Miami Springs' Roque and Estevez are Miami-Dade Baseball 4A-1A Players of the Year
Kevin Roque and Magdiel Estevez are best of friends.
They have been since childhood.
So it was only appropriate that they would be the Miami Herald's Class 4A-1A Pitcher and Player of the Year respectively, as they graduate together and move on to the next steps in their lives.
After winning the award a year ago as a pitcher for Mater Academy, Roque turned the trick again this year after transferring to Miami Springs last summer. Only this time he had some extra hardware to go with it, a state championship medal around his neck and a ring on the way as well.
Thanks to an outstanding season that saw him go 12-1 with a 1.54 ERA, Roque, along with his pal Estevez, led the Golden Hawks to a 28-3 record and made some history as they brought the school its first state championship in any sport since 1988.
'A state title and pitcher of the year, what a way to end my high school career, like right out of a dream,' said Roque, who recorded 88 strikeouts against just 28 walks and was the winning pitcher in the team's state semifinal win over Fort Myers Bishop Verot. 'I love pitching and I'm going to keep chasing. It's a dream and when you have a dream, you chase it. I'm looking forward to the next challenge and take a bigger step.'
That challenge recently changed for Roque. He committed to Nova Southeastern more than a year ago but switched gears a few weeks ago and will now follow Estevez to play for coach Lazaro Llanes at Miami-Dade College in the fall.
For all of Roque's season-long heroics, Estevez contributed on both the mound, as the team's No. 2 pitcher but also, even more importantly at the plate. When he wasn't pitching, 'Mags' as his teammates like to call him, was playing left field and, on a team that struggled offensively during the regular season (.273 team average), was coming through in a big way with his bat.
Estevez hit .418, and while he hardly hit for power (only 13 of his 38 hits were extra bases), he constantly came up with key hits at key moments. He only had 19 RBI but batting No. 2 in the lineup can hold down RBI chances.
'I didn't really look at what others did and tried not to worry about it,' said Estevez when asked about the pressure of carrying his team's offensive load. 'I just went out there and did my best. You really can't control what everybody else is doing. It was a matter of keeping the faith, doing my best and hoping the rest of the team would catch up to me which they did once we got to regionals.'
Ironically, if it hadn't been for Roque, Estevez could've made an argument for Pitcher of the Year himself as he finished with a 9-1 record, 1.41 ERA and struck out 74 against just 19 walks.
Asked how Miami-Dade College's coaches are projecting him, Estevez said that hasn't been determined yet but admitted that his heart might be on the mound.
'I'm not sure, we're still going to have to figure that out,' said Estevez who was brilliant in the championship game against Santa Rosa Beach South Walton firing a complete game 2-hitter. 'At some point, it's a fork in the road and you have to go one way or the other. As a lefty, I feel I have a big advantage and I think with a lot of work and concentration I could do very well as a pitcher.'
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