The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE his team coming up short in the 2012 Florida Boys State Baseball playoff bracket, Ashton Butler made an impact playing with a top-tier team in only his sophomore year.

Butler and the Bolles International School Bulldogs fell 9-3 to Fernandia Beach in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) playoffs. Bolles finished the year 22-6, 4-0 in league play. They were ranked 59th in the state of Florida and 477th nationally.

In 12 games, Butler hit just .143 but scored 11 runs with two RBI. His breakout performance came in March against Bishop McLaughlin when he started at second base for the first time on the season.

Butler led the Bolles' offensive threat as he got on base three times in the game, scored two runs and had one RBI. His single in the fourth inning started the Bolles' onslaught en route to a 10-0 victory. Ashton also had two stolen bases.

On the defensive side, he had one double play but two errors were charged to him.

Butler has had limited playing time but has been used frequently as a base runner.

According to Bolles' coach Mike Boswell, Butler is one of the most talented athletes on the team.

Boswell is hopeful that as the season progresses and Ashton increases his knowledge of the game, he will get more playing time.

The Florida high school's regular season encompasses approximately 30 games and then baseball players play another 80-plus games during the summer.

This will be Butler's first summer playing summer league baseball and he expects to get even more looks from Division 1 baseball coaches and MLB scouts.

North Florida has some of the top baseball prospects in the US.

The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, is one of the top 10 athletic schools in the entire US.

At home, Butler was one of the Bahamas' top athletes. He led the St Andrew's Hurricanes to two consecutive junior boys' softball titles (2008 and 2009) and was the national under-15 long and triple jump champion prior to heading off to the US to further his high school education.

As a freshman last year, Ashton played JV baseball for the 2009 and 2010 back-to-back Florida state baseball champions.

In 2011, after they lost their coach, they fell to a 15-11 record.

Since then, Butler said his goal was to make the varsity team which is stacked with talent.

There are presently two players from the US U-16 squad on the team, two Under Armour All-America team members and one perfect game USA All-Star team member.

Butler switched between shortstop and second base.

Also a dual threat in track and field, the Bolles School sophomore set a new high school record in the triple jump with a personal best (PB) of 14.48M last month.

Butler is one of the top-ranked triple jumpers in the state of Florida and has been getting a lot of attention from the top Division 1 universities in the North Florida area, including Florida State and University of Florida.