Chesapeake hitter finds his swing en route to an ALWS championship.
It may be hard to believe now, but the 2025 George W. Rulon American Legion Baseball Player of the Year was battling with his confidence less than a month ago.
“In the state tournament, I was really struggling,” said Chesapeake (Va.) third baseman Wes Stubbe, who was voted the prestigious award by a select panel of observers at the ALWS on Tuesday night after Post 280’s 5-0 ALWS title game win over League City (Tex.). “I think I was 1-for-7.
“So I was feeling down on myself but my teammates kept picking me back up. I changed one thing in my swing and by the time I got to the regionals, I was able to help them out a lot.
“Everybody on this team picks everybody up.”
Stubbe hit .368 with two home runs and eight RBIs in the regionals, then hit .615 with one home run and five RBIs in the ALWS.
“The entire team struggled in the state tournament,” Post 280 head coach Larry Bowles said. “So it was tough mentally for everybody, including Wes.
“When we got to the regionals, I remember one at-bat where he hits a home run halfway up the hill in Maryland. And I could see it in his eyes that he was back. And he’s been out of his mind the last two weeks with his hitting.”
Stubbe’s best game came in Chesapeake’s ALWS opener as he had four hits, including a home run, and two RBIs in a 9-2 win over Greece (N.Y.).
He also had what proved to be the game-winning sacrifice fly in a 5-4 victory over Asheville (N.C.) and had two hits and one RBI in Monday’s 7-3 semifinal win over Portland (Ore.).
:We had a lot of guys hit good for us here in the World Series but Stubbe was giving us hits and RBIs almost every day,” Bowles said. “So he deserves every bit of that player of the year award.”
A recent graduate of First Colonial High School, Stubbe reports for his initial baseball meeting on Wednesday at the University of Lynchburg, a NCAA Division III school in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.
“There’s probably five other guys on this team that deserve it as much as me,” Stubbe said. “I’m honored to get this award.”
- Baseball