Graduating Ateneo Blue Eaglet Matt San Juan will haul the majority of the individual awards in the UAAP Season 82 Juniors Baseball tournament.
San Juan, a first baseman, is set to win the regular season Most Valuable Player award to go along with the Best Hitter and Best Slugger honors.
The awarding ceremony will be held after Game Three of the Finals on Tuesday, October 29.
He had a batting average of .471 while slugging a .706. Moreover, San Juan powered Ateneo to the top seed after the elimination round with a 4-2 slate.
“Being in my final year in the UAAP juniors it is extraordinarily special for me to deliver what is expected of me by my teammates. They expect me to do what I have been doing the whole tournament,” said the 17-year-old, who tallied the most RBIs a season ago.
“Especially now in the championship in the final game of the season, they need me to do what I can or exceed what my teammates expect of me to lead them to back-to-back championships. “
Also garnering awards are his teammates Zach Urbina and Kean Agcaoili. Urbina was adjudged as the season’s Best Pitcher, allowing no earned runs in all of the games he played, while Agcaoili had the most stolen bases for the season with three.
Their personal achievements though will all go for naught if the Blue Eaglets could not bring home the championship.
“Since this is my last year in UAAP Juniors, I would like to leave in the most memorable way possible which is winning that gold medal,” said San Juan, who was part of the NCR team that won third during the 2019 Palarong Pambansa. “The whole team has been working hard to be able to get where we are now and has been working hard to be able to get the win against UST to become back to back championships.
“So I would like to help lead this team towards our end goal since eleven of us will be graduating.”
Tallying the most RBIs this season was Regie Omana of National University with five.
