HOLMES GROWN
McClancy CF has speed and skillset to become first NYC high schooler taken in MLB first round in two decades
One by one, Quentin Holmes’ fellow players approach him in single file just outside the dugout opening, which leads to the all-dirt infield of their home diamond. They each engage their star teammate with a personalized handshake, a different one for every member of the starting lineup, before the first pitch of every game. This ritual was followed again on Wednesday afternoon on one of the first true sweaty days of the year at Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School in East Elmhurst — in the shadows of LaGuardia Airport, about four miles from Citi Field — before the start of the regular-season finale for the playoffbound Crusaders. Holmes prefers to be thought of as just “one of the guys,” as just another teammate from the type of high-school existence that has forever bonded teenagers for the rest of their lives in various sports across New York and across our country for generations. But in so many ways, it is obvious that Holmes — a player his coach Nick Melito unabashedly calls “truly one in a million” — isn’t exactly like all of the others in uniform. Not in every regard, not when it comes to baseball, anyway. Not judging by the dozen or so scouts on hand — with stopwatches always at the ready — this week, and not after listening to several of them talk, even if anonymously, about the speedy centerfielder’s untapped upside and potentially bright future in professional baseball. Holmes, affectionately referred to as “Q” by his coaches and teammates, has a decent chance to become the first player from one of the five boroughs to be drafted directly out of high school in the first round in more than 20 years when Major League Baseball holds its annual amateur draft beginning on June 12. It is a potential feat that the impressive 17-year-old is reminded of regularly — by classmates, by teammates, by reporters, and even by at least one college coach eagerly awaiting his pending decision — albeit one that does not consume him as the days count down to his name inevitably being called.
In the meantime, Quentin Holmes has things to do, games to win, memories to create, for his neighborhood high school in Queens. With his friends. “The guys, they have fun with all of it. That helps me a lot, when they have fun with it,” Holmes told the Daily News after homering, doubling and driving in five runs in an 11-1 run-rule victory over Archbishop Molloy. “They don’t get uptight about anything or jealous about it. They’re my friends and my teammates, and it’s definitely been fun for all of us.
“With all the support from everybody, it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve really been able to enjoy whatever pressure that’s been on me. We’ve been winning, too, so that’s definitely been the best part.”
lll McClancy (13-5 in conference play) opened the CHSAA playoffs on Saturday with a 6-0 victory over Xaverian at Richmond County Ballpark, the home of the Single-A Staten Island Yankees.
The locale perhaps was apropos for Holmes, since the previous city high-school ballplayer to be selected in the opening round of the MLB Draft was right-handed pitcher Jason Marquis out of Staten Island’s Tottenville HS, as the 35th overall selection by Atlanta back in 1996.
Before Marquis, there only was George Washington outfielder Manny Ramirez (13th overall in 1991) and Christ the King pitcher Steve Karsay (22nd in 1990) since shortstop Shawon Dunston had been selected first overall by the Cubs out of Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson in 1982 – four picks before the Mets took a Tampa pitcher you might remember named Dwight Gooden.
Holmes, who wears No. 70, currently is listed at No. 33 in MLB.com’s most recent prospect rankings, and Baseball America’s latest mock draft has him going at No. 30 to the World Series champion Chicago Cubs.
“Just being drafted in general would mean a lot to me, but if I’m able to do that for my city, and hold the city on my back, that would mean so much to me,” Holmes said. “I definitely know people in the city are rooting for me.”
Sure, there have been other notable city products to be drafted after attending college – such as 2008 No. 2 overall pick Pedro Alvarez, out of Vanderbilt, via Horace Mann in the Bronx. But Alvarez originally was a 14th-round pick by Boston before moving up the board while at Vandy.
Holmes has zoomed into first-round range in the past year, entering the Catholic League playoffs batting .460 with seven home runs, five triples, six doubles and 24 RBI in 24 games — all while using a wood bat.
“Right now I’m a gap-to-gap guy, get on base and wreak havoc, and I like to think I can score whenever I need to,” Holmes said. “And in the field, if the ball is in the air, it’s going into my glove.”
Notably, Holmes also has swiped 21 bases in 22 attempts this season, including one with ease on Wednesday, for a school record 77 for his career. One scout gushed that his speed “definitely projects as legit on the big-league level,” and another noted that Holmes “just might be the fastest guy” in
this year’s draft.
In fact, Holmes – who also ran and thrived at the 55-meter and 100-meter sprints on the school track team before turning his full attention to baseball this year – says he also had multiple Division I offers to run track in college.
“He’s a special kid, special athlete. He’s the first four-year varsity player I’ve ever had,” Melito said. “Freshman year, he was up with us, and he’s just worked and worked and gotten better every year. He’s got an unmatched work ethic. He’s got what it takes to get to the major leagues.
“It’s someone’s opinion, obviously. But you can see all the scouts that are here, and they’re not just area scouts. So hopefully they liked what they saw.”
Indeed, one NL scout in attendance noted that there were some “serious decision-makers” also roaming the sidelines on Wednesday. Among them was Yankees VP and director of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer, who made the trip from Tampa to watch Holmes, even though the Bombers are picking 16th overall this year. lll
In his 17 seasons coaching at his alma mater, where he notched his 200th career victory earlier this season, only one of Melito’s former players had been drafted by MLB – infielder Danny Lopez, selected by Seattle in the 17th round out of Pitt in 2010.
But get this: in addition to Holmes, Melito remarkably might have a second player drafted this year.
Senior pitcher Charlie Neuweiler, whose twin brother Ryan also is on the McClancy squad, was projected by two of the scouts in attendance on Wednesday to be chosen anywhere between the fourth and 10th rounds.
“I’d like to take credit for it, but it’s God-given ability and their work ethic. It’s all about work ethic,” Melito says. “As a coach, when your best players set the example for everybody else, it’s easy.”
Holmes certainly has accomplished that much on and off the field during his time at McClancy, where he followed his older brother’s footsteps on the track and on the diamond.
Quentin says his parents – his father Steven, a retired Nassau County Police detective, and his mom Delia, a humanresources administrator — “leave me no choice” but to also hit homers in the classroom. An honors student, as well, Holmes appeared more excited in revealing that he posted a 100 average this quarter in his business law class than he did in discussing his athletic prowess.
As for that fallback option of going to college if the draft doesn’t go to his or his family’s liking, Holmes did commit early as a junior to play baseball next fall at Mississippi State, where he says he’d major in business management.
“The coach actually just texted me that classes start July 3 for summer session,” Holmes said. “I said, ‘We’ll see what happens after the 12th.”
While Melito knows “that’s solely a family decision,” the current signing-bonus slotting system is such that even the 30th pick, for instance, comes with a value this year of $2.184 million.
“If he gets drafted high, it’s going to be very hard to turn that down,” Melito said. “But Major League Baseball now promises these kids to pay for their education, too. And the way he is as a student, he will be one of those guys who still gets his degree, even if it’s down the road, without a doubt in my mind. Because he’s a winner.
“And that’s why his teammates love him. There’s no bigheadedness about him. He’s about humility, ability and accountability. He’s the real deal.
“But I can say this, whoever takes him, they are not going to get a better kid, a harder working kid. He’s a top citizen. Four years, never even close to an ounce of trouble. An honor student, as well. A kid with that ability and everything he’s doing and everything that’s ahead of him, it’s truly one in a million.” lll
So how does a city kid like Holmes get noticed to the extent that he could be on the verge of making history?
One AL scout said his stock “really soared” after a strong showing while playing on the AAU circuit and with the U-18 U.S. National Team last summer, holding his own against stiffer competition than he typically faces in the Northeast, where the top players usually are at a disadvantage since they don’t generally get to play or be seen year-round like they do in other parts of the country.
“Definitely a big deal, definitely important for me as a player,” Holmes said of the Team USA experience. “That was like a different world to me, going from playing New York baseball, and then all of a sudden facing the best kids from California, Florida, Georgia. It was a completely different game, much faster-paced, a lot of bigger and stronger guys.
“So it was an eye-opening experience for me, definitely, especially going to Mexico and seeing how they live and the fields they play on down there. It showed me how grateful we should be for what we have here, as compared to there. That was definitely a good experience.”
As for his closer-to-home baseball roots, Holmes notes with a smile that he grew up in a “divided house” in terms of baseball loyalty with his mom a Yankees fan and his father rooting for the Mets. Asked for players he patterns his
game after, Holmes perhaps offered a hint into his local fandom by saying “How can anyone not love (Derek) Jeter? But I definitely emulate my game after the best outfielders” in baseball.
“Adam Jones is one I get a lot. People say I play like him, and look like him, so definitely he’s one of my favorite players,” Holmes said. “Jackie Bradley Jr., I love how he plays center field. And of course, Mike Trout, the intensity he brings to the field every day, same with Bryce Harper, so I really love all the top outfielders.”
Who knows? Perhaps Holmes might share an outfield with one or more of those stars at some point in his career.
The first step is to be drafted, maybe even in the first round directly out of a New York City high school, which would make him the first to do so in more than two decades.
“I’m definitely anxious,” Holmes said. “Everybody’s asking me every day, coming up to me, ‘Are you ready for the draft? Where do you think you’ll go?’ I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m ready,
but let’s see what happens. “(To be picked in the first round), that would be unbelievable. It would mean a lot to everybody around here. It would mean a lot to me and my family, if I ever was able to represent my city like that. But honestly, anywhere I get drafted, I will be happy.”