Waldichuk competing for spot in A's rotation
It's easy now to look at A's starting pitching prospect Ken Waldichuk, marvel over the 6-foot-4 lefty's funky arm angle and mid90s fastball and see him taking a big step forward this season.
MLB.com ranks Waldichuk, 25, as the third-best left-handed pitching prospect in baseball but once upon a time he was just another high school pitcher throwing a low-80s fastball.
Among the small handful of people who foresaw big things for Waldichuk was former major league pitcher David Wells, a 239game winner and two-time World Series champion who threw a perfect game with the Yankees in 1998.
After his retirement, Wells became the head baseball coach at Point Loma High School, his alma mater in San Diego. It was during a 2015 game against another San Diego high school, University City, that the paths of Wells and Waldichuk first crossed. University City coach Rick Frink remembers Wells coming to him.
“`Who is that lefty you`ve got? He's ridiculous,'” Frink recalled.
Waldichuk was “lights out” that day, Frink said, and Wells let the kid know.
“It was at the end of the game, I was walking to the car and I saw him in the
parking lot,” Waldichuk remembered. “I was like, `Oh, that's David Wells.' In the game, I was focused, trying to win. But afterward, he was like, `Good stuff.'”
Said Frink, “David Wells has a better eye for talent and played at a higher level than
most people who coached high school baseball. Some of the comments he made to him were powerful.”
Attempts to reach Wells through his agent and other avenues proved unsuccessful.
Waldichuk was throwing a mid-80s cutter and a wipeout curveball at University City, where he went 6-2 with a 1.22 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 69 innings his junior year, according to MaxPreps.
“At that point, I was putting the ball wherever I wanted,” Waldichuk said. “I knew I needed to throw
a little harder. (Wells) was just like, `Keep filling up the zone. You have good stuff.' He just gave me the confidence to keep doing that.”
Despite his success, Waldichuk generated little interest from D-I programs.
University of San Diego coach Brock Ungricht was an assistant at Stanford at the time. He remembers recruiting Waldichuk, but said the academic piece didn't align.
In three seasons at Saint Mary's, Waldichuk posted a 2.70 ERA with 275 strikeouts in 230 innings.