Seton LaSalle freshman reaching new heights
When speaking on the record about their best players, most high school baseball coaches tend to temper expectations a bit so as not to put too much pressure on them — especially when the player being discussed is just a freshman.
After witnessing Drew Lafferty’s complete-game effort in Seton LaSalle’s 11-2 win against Serra Catholic in last week’s WPIAL Class 2A championship game, though, Rebels coach Mike Wagner was in no mood to hold back his praise.
“Drew’s got a bright future,” Wagner said. “He could be one of the best WPIAL pitchers of all time if he continues on this track and stays healthy.”
If that sounds like a bold proclamation, it’s because it is. But if his freshman season is any indication of what’s to come, Wagner may have been selling Lafferty short.
Early success
Pitching in a WPIAL championship game as a freshman might seem like a daunting task for some, but not Lafferty. Even with more experienced pitchers at his disposal such as senior Nic Vari, there’s a reason Wagner entrusted Lafferty to take the hill in the biggest game of the season.
Wagner has been coaching Lafferty along with fellow freshmen Gabe Finale and his son, Brett Wagner, on and off since they were 7 years old. He has seen Lafferty develop firsthand from a Little League outfielder with a cannon throwing arm to the finely tuned pitching machine he has become today.
Along the way, Lafferty pitched in his fair share of high-stakes games, and more often than not, he left the mound victorious.
At age 12, while competing with the Beaver Valley Red travel team, Lafferty was the winning pitcher in the finals of the prestigious American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., a tournament which featured 104 of the top youth baseball teams in the country.
The following summer, Lafferty took home two more national championships in a span of less than three weeks — one in Omaha, Neb., during the College World Series, and another one in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
“I always do better in bracket play than regular season,” Lafferty said.
Of course, Lafferty was no slouch in the regular season in his first year of high school baseball, either. Although his command was a bit shaky at the start of the season, it didn’t take long for him to settle in and find his groove.
“He loves pitching in hot weather,” Wagner said. “His curveball just didn’t have as much bite on it early in the season, and that’s not unusual. It’s cold outside and you don’t have a good grip on the ball.”
With an 88 mph fastball and a changeup that he knows how to locate, Lafferty would present a huge problem for hitters at the high school level even without throwing a breaking ball. Unfortunately for his opponents, his breaking ball is even nastier than his fastball, and it’s only getting better as the season goes on.
“His curveball is devastating when it is on,” Wagner said. “That is the pitch that changes the day for him out on the mound. When
his curveball is on, he’s virtually unhittable.”
Plenty of horses
As Seton LaSalle prepared to take its 14-game winning streak into the opening round of the state playoffs, the Rebels had to like their chances in the single-elimination tournament, with or without Lafferty on the mound.
Lafferty, who is already verbally committed to play for the University of Kentucky, entered Thursday’s PIAA quarterfinal matchup against Laurel at 7-1 with a 2.13 ERA and a team-leading 52 strikeouts.
But Seton LaSalle has three other pitchers on its roster who are more than capable of filling in if he needs a rest.
Vari, last year’s ace, is 4-0 with a 3.43 ERA and 39 strikeouts. Sam Georgiana, another star freshman with Division I scholarship offers, is 4-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 31 strikeouts. Meanwhile, junior Jake Verner is also 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA while being used mostly as a reliever.
“Honestly, I’ve got three aces, and Verner kind of comes in and cleans up and finishes,” Wagner said. “I’ve got three legit aces on any other team.”
Lafferty isn’t going to Kentucky just to be a pitcher, though. He bats third in the Rebels’ high-powered lineup and is batting .422 with 18 RBIs after going 4 for 5 in the WPIAL championship game. He said the Wildcats are recruiting him to be a two-way player in the mold of Brendan McKay, who starred at Blackhawk High School and the University of Louisville and is now playing for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Triple-A affiliate.
Although he loves to hit, Lafferty knows most people will remember him for what he does with the ball in his hands rather than a bat. Ask him how he wants to be remembered, though, and he might just throw you a curveball.
“Baseball, it’s just a part of life. It’s not everything,” Lafferty said. “Always having fun, a good kid, respecting everybody — that’s how I’d like to be remembered. Because that’s the big parts of life. Baseball is just a game within life.”