With the 2026 Arkansas high school baseball season in the books, it's time to announce our 2026 Prep Baseball Arkansas Player of the Year. In 2025, the honor went to Mark Brissey of Fayetteville after a remarkable season. This year, the award goes to C/SS Shaun Cover (Conway, 2026, Southern Miss Commit), who finished his high school career with a phenomenal season at the plate.

Cover has been a name to remember since he represented Team Arkansas at the 2024 Future Games, where he would soon after commit to the University of Southern Mississippi. This spring, Cover showed exactly why he has been a top name in the class for years as he was a sparkplug at the plate for the Wampus Cats where he put up numbers that you have to see to believe showing have some insane power to all fields.

Cover delivered an eye-popping offensive season, hitting .500 with a .642 on-base percentage and an .909 slugging mark. He finished with 44 hits, including 8 doubles, 2 triples, and 8 home runs, driving in 31 RBIs. His discipline and contact were on full display with a 23-to-10 walk-to-strikeout ratio with 10 HBPs, showing he made pitchers work for every at-bat. On top of the power and patience, he also contributed with 12 stolen bases, adding real speed to his all-around production.

Congratulations to Shaun Cover on winning our 2026 Prep Baseball Arkansas Player of the Year Award!

H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
44	8	2	8	31	23	10	12	.500	.642	.909	1.551