By Mark Gregory | @Hear_The_Beard
When Joliet Catholic Academy hosted East Suburban Catholic Conference rival Chicago Carmel a few weeks back, it pitted a pair of Illinois’ top players in a head to head clash.
With Carmel catcher Cooper Johnson the No. 1 player in the Class of 2016 by Prep Baseball Report in town to face No. 3 ranked Drake Fellows there were several Major League Baseball scouts around watching the two do battle.
The hype, however, does not faze the 6-foot, 5-inch, 215 pound Vanderbilt recruit.
“I am used to driving around the country and I am used to 100s of radar guns being behind there with the All-American game in San Diego and stuff,” Fellows said. “It is a fun experience I just don’t pay much attention to it right now. They have been around since my sophomore year.
Drake Fellows of JCA is one of the top players in the state.
“They are trying to make an offer and try and make you not go to college. They will watch you sophomore and junior year and then senior year they will hit it hard because the end of the season leads into the draft.”
Even having another player of his caliber in the opponent’s lineup isn’t something he thinks too much of, however, he does take pride in winning the war the scouts came out to see.
“I just look at him as another bat in the lineup,” Fellows said. “I busted him inside and he couldn’t really do anything with the fastball. My fastball was getting up to around 94 (miles per hour), so he couldn’t do much against me.”
While facing other draftable classmates and having the pro scouts in the stands is old hat for Fellows, it is not the case for his Hillmen teammates.
“It brings a lot of energy, Drake is used to it (Cooper Johnson) is used to it, but for the rest of these guys it is a new experience,” said Joliet Catholic Academy coach Jared Voss. “When Drake is in Florida in the fall, there are 200 radar guns, so the 20 here is nothing compared to what he has seen, but the other guys, they haven’t.”
Voss knows when scouts come out to see a player like Fellows, it can also have an impact on other players like Texas Tech bound junior KC Simonich.
“KC, for example, everyone is here and we made sure we snuck him in another round during batting practice in front of all those guys,” Voss said.
This season, Fellows is 5-0 on in five starts on the mound. He has an ERA of .575 and a 1.315 WHIP. Fellows has struck out 42 batters and walked 12, allowing 20 hits in 24.1 innings pitched. At the plate, the Hillmen clean-up hitter is batting .395 with 14 RBI and seven runs scored.
Voss just hopes Fellows doesn’t need to push for extra bases or anything else that may get him injured.
“As much as we welcome Drake’s bat in the lineup in 80-degree weather, you do get nervous about him running the bases and rolling around in the dirt because if he does what he usually does on the mound, one or two runs might win it,” he said.
If he stays healthy, the Hillmen know they have one of the state’s best arms to lead the team into the playoffs.
And when several teams in history have won with a pair of strong arms, JCA is just looking for a consistent No. 2.
“At the end of the day when the playoffs roll around, we have to find someone to go with Drake and anything can happen,” he said. “We need someone that we can play behind with the same confidence that we play behind Drake with.”