West Mifflin, Visnesky happy to reunite
Smith, who played baseball at Slippery Rock and used to work for the Pirates in operations and marketing, has been a coach for 15 years, and a head coach for six. He used to teach at New England Elementary, where he taught a young Visnesky.
“He went through the middle school and come ninth grade, understandable, I guess [Visnesky’s parents] wanted a Catholic education for their child,” Smith said. “Going into his senior year he decided he wanted to come back and play with his friends. We were happy to have them.”
Visnesky spent a few weeks of the fall semester at Serra before deciding to return, meaning he missed out on fall ball with the Titans. The transition has gone well.
“A lot different than last season,” Visnesky said. “Different baseball, in a good way. More competitive here. We play as a team.”
Moving from Class 2A to Class 4A forced Visnesky to face deeper lineups. No longer could he overpower the bottom of the order with a mid80s fastball and slider.
“Earlier in the year we were playing a team and they had three hits off him, but two of them were home runs, because they were up in the zone and it was windy that day,” Smith said. “I think he got a little taste of why he needs to be able to throw the offspeed, to keep them off balance, and why he needs to come down in the zone.”
It seems that Visnesky adjusted. He had a 1.24 ERA in 50⅔ regular-season innings and struck out 76 batters. He also had a .452 on-base percentage, a .519 slugging percentage, seven walks compared to three strikeouts, and a .389 average as a hitter.
He prefers pitching. He likes watching Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer, likes how Scherzer hits his spots, and the way he talks, it sounds like he appreciates Scherzer’s mound demeanor as well.
“I just like to control the game,” he said. “I just have fun with it. When I’m pitching, I’m happy. Let’s go, let’s do this.”
Visnesky will have a chance to play both ways at Gannon University in Erie, where he committed in January.
“Erie’s a nice spot by the bay there, I like the coach a lot,” he said. “I went up, threw a bullpen, got a visit and I liked it ever since.”
Several Titans have been on the varsity team since their sophomore year, Smith said, but only those who made it freshman year tasted the playoffs. The rest asked Visnesky, who pitched in a WPIAL championship game, what they were like.
“I just say you’ve got to keep playing your game,” Visnesky tells them. “It’s a little bit of pressure but it’s still just playing another baseball game, just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Those same teammates, Smith said, carried a different level of belief into each game this season, whether Visnesky was pitching or not.
“Instead of losing those one-run games or those close games, we’re finding a way to win, and it’s not that these kids have become way better than last year,” he said. “It’s just, their confidence is built. That’s a big thing in baseball. Their mental attitude is a lot different.”