Hoover's Will Adams. Photo courtesy of Parisa Dudley.
Adam Moseley has seen a number of baseball players come through the Hoover High School program. He knows what greatness looks like, and he knows how rare it actually is.
What he saw from Will Adams every day was something different.
"He has an elite level of preparation in all facets of the game," the Hoover head coach said. "He takes it to a level that is just unusual and you don't see all the time. A lot of kids today choose to do the socially fun thing over their participation in their sport. Will is not that way in any form."
That standard — the one Adams set for himself and kept every single day — produced one of the finest individual seasons in Hoover baseball history. Adams was named the Alabama Sports Writers Association Mr. Baseball award winner, the Class 7A Player of the Year and the Gatorade Alabama Baseball Player of the Year for the 2026 season, becoming the first Buccaneer to claim the Mr. Baseball honor.
The numbers backed up every word Moseley said. Adams hit for a .489 average this season with 52 runs batted in, 13 home runs and 37 runs scored in 36 games. On the mound, he posted a 4-2 record with a 2.33 earned run average and 55 strikeouts in 36 innings, holding opposing hitters to a .163 batting average.
He maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom and has signed to play at LSU, though he is projected as an early-round selection in July's MLB Draft.
Adams, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-handed pitcher and first baseman, learned of the Gatorade nomination at the Buccaneers' end-of-season banquet, where Moseley told him and teammate Jaxson Wood that both had been nominated. He awoke to the news June 1 that he was the recipient of the prestigious award.
"Finally seeing the Gatorade story and getting sent that I won it for Alabama, it was amazing," Adams said. "I know the stature of that award, and I'm honored. The reaction was pretty surreal. It took me a minute to process it, but I was over the moon."
A USA Baseball 18U National Team training camp invitee, Adams has been tested at the national level throughout his career. Moseley said those experiences never changed his player's approach when he returned to the Hoover locker room.
"The greatest concern is always that someone is going to let something go to their head or be a different person after that experience, and I've never seen that from him," Moseley said. "He sees it all as an opportunity and a challenge to be embraced. He's just an elite competitor."
Part of what made Adams so difficult to prepare for was the two-way element. Moseley acknowledged the challenge of being genuinely excellent at both hitting and pitching.
"The difficulty is, if you're trying to get high levels of reps in both, it just takes so much time to be really, really good at both of those," Moseley said. "He just embraced the mess out of that. He would not accept not getting that work done. He knew he had a standard for himself and he was always going to get his work in. That's why he's able to do both at such a high level."
For Adams, being recognized individually always came with a mental asterisk. He thought of his teammates first, but he did not pretend the awards meant nothing.
"I always try to push it to my teammates," Adams said. "I would be lying if I said it wasn't a great feeling to receive recognition as an individual player. I appreciate all the recognition I've received so far."
The Gatorade Player of the Year program, now in its 41st year, recognizes one state winner in each of 12 sports across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The award considers athletic excellence, academics and community involvement. Adams has volunteered at the A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club, served as a Hoover High School Peer Helper and participated in the Teens Need Teens Club, speaking at Hoover schools about the dangers of substance abuse.
The Mr. Baseball honor is a first for the Hoover program. When Moseley tried to put into words what it meant to coach a player like Adams, he kept coming back to the same thing.
"What I took the most satisfaction in watching was how he went about his stuff every single day," Moseley said. "It set the tone for the group he was around. When you show up and anything you say about hard work, this guy will actually try to do it. He's going to try to prove to you that he can crush whatever it is you're trying to work on."
As for what comes next, Moseley thinks the best may still be ahead. Adams has a significant decision to make first. He said he is “very excited for the opportunity to play at LSU,” but his high school coach believes his professional prospects will force him to consider that avenue as well.
"I think he has a real decision to make," Moseley said. "And I think he will approach that decision just like he approaches everything else. Really study it, plan it out and then execute whatever the plan is that he's put together."
A professional opportunity could be on the table when the time comes. Moseley said he has no doubt his former player will handle the moment the right way.
Adams said the feeling of a career coming together is not making him slow down. It is pushing him forward as he works to “keep training and stay in shape” over the summer.
"It's a feeling of relief, but there's also a feeling of, I've got to keep going," Adams said. "Yes, the recognition is amazing and I'm super grateful, but there's also a feeling of let's keep doing this."
