‘There’s an angel looking over you’
After his father’s sudden death, Hamburg’s Hunter Shuey has transformed into a pitching prospect
A year ago, Hunter Shuey was a 6-4 sophomore on the Hamburg High School baseball team and the Hawks’ sixth pitching option.
A right-hander with a top speed of 87 mph, he had no victories and no command. In his only two starts, which he made because of rainouts, he struggled mightily to find the plate.
“I was everywhere,” Shuey recalled. “I threw four innings against Blue Mountain and I think I hit six batters. I walked a bunch of kids against Schuylkill Valley.”
He pitched 11 2/3 innings last season, walking 14 batters, hitting 10 and allowing three hits and two runs.
As ridiculous as it might sound, Shuey is now considered a bona fide prospect. He’s receiving attention from at least six Major League Baseball organizations and some of the top Division I college programs in the country.
“It’s incredible,” said Nick Evangelista, the Hamburg High and Legion coach. “You need at least 15 or 20 minutes to tell someone the entire story because it almost doesn’t sound real.”
Everything began to change for Shuey two weeks after the Legion season ended last year. His world turned upside down on the morning of Aug. 18 when he found his 40-year-old father, Ashley, on the floor of his bedroom in their Shartlesville home. He had died of natural causes.
Ashley had primary custody of five children after a divorce many years ago. He and Hunter, the oldest boy in the house, were especially close.
“They had a very strong relationship,” said Amber Shuey, Hunter’s 21-year-old sister. “They were always joking around. My father always pushed Hunter harder than what he thought he could go. He wanted to see him do the best he can.”
Shuey, as expected, took the loss of his father very hard, but he rarely has opened his soul to talk about his grief.
“I can promise you it hasn’t been easy,” he said. “I know I can’t go back and fix the situation. I have to make it work. I try. It’s hard not to think about it. It still seems like it’s not real in a way.”
Shuey somehow continued to play football for Hamburg and took his spot at defensive end in the Hawks’ opener at Halifax, five days after his father died and the night before the funeral. He stood out with two sacks and four tackles for loss and played well enough the rest of the season to be named to the All-Berks Division 2 first team.
A week after football season, his mother, Lakisha Peter, registered him for a baseball showcase in Hanover, York County, because she wanted to do something for her son in an attempt to strengthen their relationship.
Nobody knew what would happen there on that Saturday afternoon.
“I thought I did OK,” Shuey said. “But as soon as I was done, I saw like five coaches stand up and start walking towards me. I figured I was throwing in the mid-80s or something. My mom said, ‘You did amazing.’ I wasn’t sure if she was just saying that because she’s my mom.
“Then I found out I was throwing in the 90s and hit 93 (mph). That was the first time I reached the 90s.”
Even more amazing was that Shuey hadn’t picked up a baseball since the first week of August.
He impressed a bird dog for one MLB organization who was at that showcase and introduced himself to Shuey. A couple weeks later, he was invited to work out for that organization’s area scout and others at a facility in Garnet Valley.
That night, the scout set up a Rapsodo high-tech pitching machine, which provides instant data on such things as velocity, spin rate and break.
Shuey threw about 25 pitches, starting at 86 mph, climbing to 94 and topping out at 97 with his final throw. That was eye popping, but even more surprising to Evangelista was that every pitch was on target. Catcher Austin Gromlich, Shuey’s former teammate, barely had to move his mitt.
“I didn’t think I was throwing that hard,” he said. “Austin told me, ‘You shocked them on your last one.’ I had command, but I think I should have done better. I don’t think I did anything special.
“Then I found out a few days later that I threw 97. I can’t even explain to you how I felt. It was life-changing. When I found out I threw 90, I was like, ‘Holy crap!’ When I found out I threw 97, I was like . ... Wow!”
Before Shuey began to throw, the MLB scout, who asked the Reading Eagle that his name or his team not be used, said he quickly noticed that he did not have a prepitch routine, common with so many prospects.
“He literally picked up the baseball, stepped on the mound, threw the ball a couple times and said he was ready to go, which, to be honest, scared me a little bit,” the scout said. “The last thing I wanted was for the kid to hurt himself.
“As soon as he started throwing, you couldn’t help getting excited. He’s very raw. He has a ton of work to do. He’s nowhere near the complete pitcher he can be in the future, but the ingredients and the clay, so to speak, are there.”
Word spread quickly about Shuey’s showcase and workout. In late November, Penn State coach Rob Cooper invited him to the Nittany Lions’ home football game against Rutgers and offered him a scholarship. Mount St. Mary’s also has offered.
Cross-checkers from several organizations stay in touch with Evangelista, who planned to invite them to preseason workouts with Shuey before the spread of COVID-19 shut down the state in mid-March.
Remember, this is a 17-year-old who has never played travel ball, who does not have a high school or Legion win in his career and who saw his junior season canceled because of the pandemic.
“Thank goodness for him going to that showcase in York (County),” Evangelista said, “even though his arm wasn’t ready. If he never went there, he’s just another high school kid with zero interest. Zero.”
Because some scouts and recruiters wanted to see more, Evangelista arranged for Shuey to throw last month at a friend’s indoor facility in Lebanon County. Video of that session shows him throwing free and easy, hitting 92 mph with his fastball and also displaying a nasty slider and pretty changeup.
The pitching coordinator for another MLB organization took away several impressions from watching the video.
“If I’m at any Division I school, it’s a nobrainer to recruit the kid,” said the coordinator, who also asked that his name and organization not be used. “I think there are some issues from a professional standpoint.
“For a major Division I program, it’s your dream. He’s a big, strong kid, a multiple-sport athlete and a good student. He has an idea about what he wants for his future, so everything adds up.”
So, how and why did Shuey’s transformation happen? Jeremy Kamp, an assistant coach for Evangelista and one of Ashley Shuey’s best friends, has known the family for about 10 years. With Ashley, he coached Hunter in youth baseball.
“I don’t think you could have written a script like this,” Kamp said. “Honestly, I think Hunter was forced to grow up on Aug. 18. All of a sudden, there wasn’t a father figure anymore. He felt he needed to be the man of the house.
“His focus wasn’t there (before his father died). You could call him up and ask him to play Frisbee golf. He would do anything. Now his focus has become, ‘I need to do something with my life because I just lost a big part of it.’ “
Amber Shuey often took care of her siblings while her father was running his business, Shuey Supplies. She was a catcher who played four years at Hamburg and who would often throw with her brother.
She’s watched how he’s blossomed out of nowhere over the last nine months.
“It (her father’s death) made Hunter want to do better,” Amber said. “He knows he needs to do right for my younger brother and sisters. He needs to be someone they can look up to. He’s hard-working and very motivated right now.”
But how can her brother’s sudden increase in velocity and improvement in command be explained? Can her father have something to do with it from his grave?
“Of course, yes,” she said matter of factly. “I believe in that 100%.”
Ashley Shuey loved sports and found a way to get his children to their practices and games with the help of friends and other parents. On some days, he would watch Amber play a softball game at Conrad Weiser or Twin Valley and get back to the Hamburg area in time to see Hunter pitch a youth game.
“Ashley was a great guy, but he was a great father before he was a great guy,” Kamp said. “His kids were the No. 1 priority in his life. He made sure he was there for his kids all the time.
“I used to ask myself, ‘How does this guy do this all the time with five kids? He seems to be at all their sporting events and gets them there on time.’ “
Shuey especially kept his father busy because he played four sports: baseball, basketball, football and hockey, the first one that he played and his favorite. He also worked with his father at his business, selling supplies and tools to mechanics and truckers.
Ashley would throw a baseball or a softball with his children or play basketball with them, even after suffering a minor heart attack in 2017, Shuey said. He also had diabetes and smoked, but his death still shocked his family.
“My little sister Tayler said, ‘Why is Dad laying on the floor?’ ” Shuey said, recalling that morning. “I looked in there and said, ‘Hey, Dad, wake up’ I thought maybe he just fell or something. He didn’t answer.”
Shuey wears his father’s hoop earring and his gold chain every day as remembrances. He said he felt his father’s presence during football games last year.
“I didn’t really talk to people on the sideline when our offense was on the field,” he said. “I stood by myself and I’d always hear his advice. ‘Stay calm. Play your game.’ “
Shuey knows his best chances at a pro career are in baseball, even if that means going to college first.
“There are lots of low-hanging fruit to improve his delivery and his ability to spin the baseball,” the MLB pitching coordinator said. “But good coaches will work through that pretty quickly.
“Whichever route he ends up going, someone’s going to be really lucky to have the kid.”
Hunter Shuey wishes his father could see what’s happening to him these days. Maybe he can.
“Coach Nick (Evangelista) always says, ‘There’s an angel looking over you,’ ” Shuey said. “It has to be. My dad always wanted the best for me. He always said good things were going to happen to me.
“I never expected this stuff that’s happening now. I really do feel like it’s him.”