Palm Beach 7A-6A baseball player of the year: Ethan Mattison, Park Vista junior

Park Vista left-handed pitcher Ethan Mattison had a solid sophomore season, but he added a new pitch to his repertoire for his junior year, and it turned him into one of South Florida’s top hurlers.

Integrating a slider into his pitch mix helped him improve his ERA by more than a run, and the junior southpaw dominated his opponents. After helping lead the Cobras to the state semifinals, Mattison is the Sun Sentinel Palm Beach County Class 7A-6A player of the year.

“I didn’t really have a slider last year,” Mattison said. “I only went with a fastball, changeup. Fastball played up really well this year when I used the slider effectively. … The slider, it was just devastating this year. It played really well with the fastball.”

Mattison was a dominant force on the mound for Park Vista. Using a fastball that ranged from 89 to 91 miles per hour and the new, sweeping slider, he went 9-2 with a 1.39 ERA, striking out 71 batters in 65 1/3 innings.

The Park Vista junior dominated most of the teams he faced. He surrendered more than two earned runs only twice all year — once in a 4-4 tie against Dwyer and in the Cobras’ state semifinal loss to Tampa Plant.

But Mattison frequently controlled games from the mound. Against Park Vista rival Santaluces, the junior pitched a complete game and gave up one unearned run. He struck out a season-high 12 batters in the win.

“Last year, they beat up on me,” Mattison said. “I think last year they scored 11 earned runs against me. Eleven or 12. So I was actually kind of worried about facing them this season because I didn’t know how my work was going to go during the offseason training. … Going into the Santaluces game, I felt really confident because the velocity was up, the changeup felt really good, the slider was working really well throughout the year.”

Mattison is not committed to a college yet but said he is being recruited by Alabama, East Carolina and Kansas State, which appeal to him because he thinks they can help him get picked in the MLB draft.