Sickles’ McDonald named Saladino Award winner

Sickles senior Caden McDonald has been named the 2023 Tony Saladino Award Winner, the Saladino Family announced this week.

McDonald, who also was named the Florida Dairy Farmers’ Class 6A Player of the Year and an honorable mention selection for the Wade Boggs Award this week, lead Sickles to its first-ever state baseball title as the senior hit .383, with 33 RBI, 12 home runs, seven doubles and 24 runs scored. The right-handed pitcher also posted a 11-1 record, including a complete-game shutout against Winter Springs in the Class 6A state semifinal game. He finished with a 0.87 ERA and 97 strikeouts.

The Saladino Award is presented annually to the top graduating senior has been awarded since 1971, McDonald is the second winner of the award from Sickles High School, joining 2019 recipient Dylan Eskew. The Saladino Family said that an awards dinner is being planned for later this summer for McDonald.

McDonald adds the Saladino Award to an impressive list of accolades, and an exciting week as he recently announced he has signed to continue his playing career at the University of Florida. The two-way standout was previously committed to UCF, but after the Knights dismissed head coach Greg Lovelady, McDonald made the switch to the Gators.

TONY SALADINO AWARD WINNERS
1971 – DAVIAN MENENDEZ (TAMPA CATHOLIC) & RICK FAULKNER (PLANT)
1972 – ANTHONY LAZZARA (TAMPA BAY TECH) & DAN BAZARTE (LETO)
1973 – MIKE HEATH (HILLSBOROUGH)*
1974 – NICK RAY (ROBINSON)
1975 – JOHN SHOUSE (CHAMBERLAIN)
1976 – SAMMY SPENCE (BRANDON)
1977 – DANNY PICKERN (PLANT CITY)
1978 – LENNY FAEDO (JEFFERSON)*
1979 – RICK FIGUEREDO (PLANT)
1980 – DAVID MAGADAN (JESUIT)*
1981 – VANCE LOVELACE (HILLSBOROUGH)*
1982 – RICHARD MONTELEONE (TAMPA CATHOLIC)*
1983 – JOHN RAMOS (PLANT)*
1984 – CHUCK DONAHUE (ROBINSON)
1985 – TINO MARTINEZ (JEFFERSON)*
1986 – GARY SHEFFIELD (HILLSBOROUGH)*
1987 – CHRIS MYERS (PLANT)
1988 – MIN PARK (LETO)
1989 – KIKI JONES (HILLSBOROUGH)
1990 – SALVY URSO (PLANT)
1991 – BRUCE THOMPSON (BRANDON)
1992 – TROY KENT (JESUIT)
1993 – TROY CARRASCO (JESUIT)
1994 – SCOTT GLASER (BRANDON)
1995 – MIKE VALDES (BLOOMINGDALE)
1996 – GREG HOWELL (BRANDON)
1997 – JASON ROMANO (HILLSBOROUGH)*
1998 – JEREMY GOMER (DURANT)
1999 – RYAN GLOGER (JESUIT)
2000 – PAUL WILLIAMS (GAITHER)
2001 – RYAN ANDERSON (GAITHER)
2002 – JOSH SAWYER (BRANDON)
2003 – BRANDON McARTHUR (ARMWOOD)
2004 – RYAN STRAUSS (BLOOMINGDALE)
2005 – CALEB GRAHAM (GAITHER)
2006 – CARMINE GIARDINA (DURANT)
2007 – TOMMY TOLEDO (ALONSO)
2008 – ALEX PANTELIODIS (ALONSO)
2009 – ROBERT BENINCASA (ARMWOOD)
2010 – JAMES RAMSAY (BRANDON)
2011 – JOSE FERNANDEZ (ALONSO)*
2012 – LANCE McCULLERS (JESUIT)*
2013 – TYLER DANISH (DURANT)*
2014 – ALEX FAEDO (ALONSO)*
2015 – KYLE TUCKER (PLANT)*
2016 – ANTONIO VELEZ (BRANDON)
2017 – DREW EHRHARD (WHARTON)
2018 – ROBBY MARTIN (JEFFERSON)
2019 – DYLAN ESKEW (SICKLES)
2020 – No award given (COVID-19)
2021 – SEAN HERMANN (DURANT)
2022 – JACK OWENS (BLOOMINGDALE)

*  = winner reached the MLB.