ALL-SCV BASEBALL
Player of the Year: Valencia’s Chase Farrell
The epilogue to Chase Farrell’s Valencia High baseball career held true to its overarching narrative.
“I think what I take away the most (from high school ball) is that you can’t give up,” Farrell said Tuesday. “You’ve got to grind. Even if you don’t think you’re in the spot you want to be, at the freshman or JV level, you have to use that as motivation to work your way up.
“And when you get to where you think is the top, that’s where you have to say, ‘That’s not it’ and keep working hard and pushing hard.”
Farrell didn’t blow people away as a freshman or sophomore.
Even his varsity debut as a junior was more solid than spectacular.
Still, Farrell put in the work and trusted the process, and the reward was a dominant senior season in which he posted a 1.43 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 73 2/3 innings en route to All-SCV Baseball Player of the Year honors. But, like he said, this isn’t it. He knows that at UCLA he’s once again the guy at the bottom, a whole lot of work standing between him and where he wants to be.
“I’ll never walk in as the best guy,” Farrell said. “I’ll have to earn that.”
In 2017, Farrell earned the respect not only of his league but of his section and, to an extent, the nation.
Farrell was named the Foothill League’s Pitcher of the Year after he struck out 50 batters in 50 league innings. He then went on to earn All-CIF Division 1 honors and second-team All-American honors, according to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
“He came in as a junior and he was good and he overpowered people at times,” said Valencia coach Mike Killinger. “Something switched over the course of the summer and the fall and instead of trying to pitch around people, he went after everyone and the results showed a great change.”
Last month, the Houston Astros selected Farrell in the 40th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft.
It was an honor, Farrell said, but he never really expected to be drafted high enough to forgo playing at UCLA.
“College is so much more important to me at this point in time,” Farrell said. “My dream is to play pro ball, be a big leaguer, but right now I still have work to do.”
Any worries that a poor showing at UCLA might mean not being drafted, again? “Not at all,” Farrell said. The way Farrell sees it, if in three years he isn’t good enough to be drafted, he wouldn’t have made it now anyway.
He’s confident, though, that if he continues to put in the work and trust the process, that won’t be a problem.
So, not wasting any time, he’s been lifting with his teammatesto-be at UCLA at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, along with taking sociology and geography classes.
The process begins anew.