Marble Falls baseball’s Whittle shows his shills at showcase

CAPTION: Marble Falls senior baseball player John Alan Whittle made the Mustangs proud as he played for Texas Red during the annual High Plains Shootout. Courtesy photo

Marble Falls High School senior John Alan Whittle turned heads at the 2026 High Plains Shootout July 13-15 at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.

That’s according to Team Texas director and 1994 Marble Falls High School graduate Brad Harman.

Whittle, along with teammate Crawford Mattox, competed in the showcase for Texas Red. They were two of 42 players selected out of 450 nominations. The two were nominated by Mustangs head coach Tyler Porter, who included statistics as part of the applications.

Whittle scored the final run for Texas Red in the 2-1 victory against Kansas Purple to end the contest. He came up to bat with one out and no one on base.

Then he did for Texas Red what he does for the Mustangs.

“My goal was to get on base,” he said. “I got a base hit, stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball, and then my teammate hit a single up the middle to score me, which ended up being the winning run.”

Whittle summed up the experience.

“I was honored to be one of the players selected and saw the hard work I’ve put in get recognized by coaches in Texas,” he said. “It was fun being part of a team where everyone was equally talented. I started out batting last in the lineup, proved myself, and then got moved to lead-off batter for the last game. I didn’t know anyone prior to the games but met some really cool people during the tournament.”

He said he didn’t think he’s ever been the ninth batter in the order until this showcase.

“I got to face really good competition, and I was reminded that I can compete at a high level against anyone,” he said.

Harman said Whittle and Mattox made the community proud in every way.

“You couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “You can tell they’re very high character, they’re very hard-working, they were always smiling, yes sir or no sir, they made an impact in their dugouts. They got to play on the same team together for Texas, Red and their coaches raved about their personalities. They were always smiling and bouncing around.”

As for what he saw from Whittle, Harman pointed out plenty. First, the Mustang was 5 for 9 at the plate and also drew some walks.

“So he batted over .500 at this event, and which was impressive,” he said. “He ran the bases well. Anytime we needed a runner and he wasn’t in the game, he’d grab his helmet and he’d go run the bases. John Alan defensively is very, very smooth.”

Harman said this Marble Falls infielder reminded him of one he saw about three decades ago, who shares the same last name. John Alan’s dad, Stan, who graduated in 1996, was teammates with Harman. And Stan Whittle also was a shortstop.

“I saw it on the field and then I watched his first at-bat,” the director said. “And it took me back over 30 years ago. Because it looks identical to Stan’s – his mannerisms, obviously his physical build looks identical to Stan’s. But his mannerisms on the field, his mannerisms in the batter’s box – it is a splitting image of his dad, and that was a really cool moment for me.”

Harman, who is the first vice president of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association, became the Texas director. This is the fourth year he’s been apart of the showcase, which also includes athletes representing Oklahoma and Kansas. Each team plays in five games during the three-day event.

The director’s job is two-fold – find coaches to serve as managers of the two Texas teams “and try to find the best players you can find to take to the event,” he said.

“The talent level up there is very high each year,” Harman said.

The other attraction for the families are the number of college programs that send representatives to sit in the stands and watch. Though Harman didn’t have an official number of reps, he believes it was in the 40s.

“Some of these kids that go to this event are already committed to colleges, but the majority are not, which is why the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association got involved with this,” he said. “Goal No. 1 is we want to go up there and we want to play baseball hopefully better than anybody else from these other states. But the main thing we want is to get these kids exposure, we want to get them out on the field in front of these college scouts to where some of these guys can catch somebody’s eye and start conversations and hopefully get these kids offers.”

He noted the vast majority of the players have summer jobs and may not have the exposure or play on select travel teams. Therefore, this event serves as an opportunity and a first step toward a baseball scholarship.

“There’s so how many success stories from this event and from coaching it for three years and now directing it, it is extremely rewarding to sit back and watch this stuff happen,” he said.