Three of them are still playing professionally, two were 1,000-yard running backs in high school, one remains his school's all-time basketball scoring leader, and another got the first hit on U.S. soil off the much-hyped Japanese pitching sensation known to baseball fans simply as ‘Dice-K’. In 2004, six hitters spent the spring tearing through Northern Virginia high school pitching, flexing their muscles to the tune of a combined 51 home runs and 181 RBI. Herndon’s Brandon Guyer, Westfield’s Brandon Snyder, W.T. Woodson’s Mike Bianucci, Yorktown’s John Crone, Madison’s Johnny Ayers and Oakton’s Jared Kubin were each named all-state selections that spring, all of them earning All-Met honors by The Washington Post. Five of the six were physically imposing sluggers, and the sixth was one of the best three-sport athletes to come through the area. Guyer, a senior, was 6-foot-1, 200 pounds and had two 1,000-yard seasons as a running back for the Hornets before going on to play baseball at the University of Virginia. Currently an outfielder with the Tampa Bay Rays, he hit .483 with eight homers and 23 RBI during the 2004 season for the Hornets and coach Al McCullock. He was a fifth round pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2007 before being traded to Tampa Bay as part of the Matt Garza deal in January 2011 (Note: that trade also netted the Rays their current All-Star pitcher Chris Archer). He has hit .259 with 14 homers and 58 RBI in 247 games with Tampa Bay since making his debut in 2011. Snyder, a junior, was 6-foot-2, 205 pounds and would be a first-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles the following June, choosing the professional route over a scholarship offer to Louisiana State University. The son of former big league pitcher Brian Snyder and older brother of two current Minor League prospects, Mike and Matt, Snyder hit .456 with nine homers and 31 RBI that season as coach Chuck Welch’s Bulldogs won Concorde District and Northern Region championships before falling to Western Branch in the Group AAA state final.
"Brandon Snyder is one of three hitters I’ve seen in my 30 years of being a head coach where players and fans stop what they are doing to watch him take BP," Welch said, identifying current Miami Marlins first baseman and Westfield grad Justin Bour and former Minnesota Twins first baseman and Robinson grad Steve Dunn as the other two. "Their bats made a different sound." An example of that ability was put on display in April 2004 when, in front of several Major League scouts and while swinging a wood bat, Snyder hit 20 of 24 balls over the Westfield fence in a round of batting practice. He finished his prep career with school records in hits (122), homers (27) and RBI (106), though many of his single-season school records were broken in 2006 by Bour and later by his younger brothers. Snyder won a World Series ring as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and is currently playing with the Atlanta Braves’ Triple A affiliate in Gwinnett, GA.
“In addition to being immensely talented, Brandon was a pleasure to be around on and off the baseball field," said Chris Warren, who was the W.T. Woodson coach at the time and coached Snyder during the summer months with the Virginia Barnstormers. "As a player, he was extremely hard working and focused on getting better every day. He always challenged and pushed himself to be the best."
Bianucci, a junior in 2004, was 6-foot-1, 215 pounds and would later star at Auburn University after leading Warren’s Cavaliers to their first district title since 1990 the following year. He hit .526 with 10 homers and 27 RBI in 2004, and went 9-1 on the mound en route to a 16-3 mark as a pitcher over his final two seasons with the Fairfax school before becoming a three-time All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection at Auburn.
“Mike was easily one of the hardest working players I have ever coached at any level,” Warren said. “He brought it every day and did all a coach could ever ask of a player.” Bianucci was an eighth round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2008 and has recently retired after eight minor league seasons. He played last year with the Kansas City Royals’ Double A affiliate, Northwest Arkansas of the Texas League, and finished with 152 homers in 756 career minor league games. Crone, a senior, was 5-foot-11, 215 pounds and hit .511 with seven homers and set a school-record with 42 RBI for coach Mike Allen’s Patriots that spring after rushing for over 1,000 yards in leading Yorktown’s football team to the state playoffs the previous fall. He would later become a captain for the football team at the University of Richmond, briefly joining the Spiders’ baseball team in 2006. Kubin, a senior that spring, was 6-foot-3, 225 pounds and would play at the University of Florida after hitting over .400 during his four-year varsity career under coach Scott Rowland at Oakton. The son of a former Washington Redskin Lawrence Kubin, he hit .328 with 10 homers and 28 RBI in 2004, finishing his tenure with the Cougars with 26 homers and 135 RBI. He was also a standout on the basketball court, setting a school record with 1,658 points and also earning All-Met honors on the hardwood. The sixth slugger, Ayers, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior, was less-physically imposing, but possibly the best athlete among the six. A scrappy shortstop who was a member coach Mark ‘Pudge’ Gjormand’s state championship team as a sophomore in 2002, he went on to play both baseball and football at Boston College. An all-state selection in both baseball and football, he was the region’s Player of the Year that spring after hitting .577 with seven homers and 30 RBI. He also eclipsed 1,200 career points for the Warhawks’ basketball team. In 2007, Ayers led off Boston College’s annual spring exhibition game with the Boston Red Sox with a double off Daisuke Matzuska, the Red Sox’ prized offseason $103 million signing who was making his debut with the team. He was the starting punter for the Eagles for four years and spent one offseason in camp with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Photos of Bianucci courtesy of W.T. Woodson baseball, and Snyder courtesy of Getty Images
