Toward the end of his high-school baseball career at Mount Carmel, Aiden McGovern put the bat away.
His mind was on the mound.
“It was hard, but I knew that it was kind of what I needed to do,” McGovern said of giving up hitting. “I knew my best chance to play at the next level was to pitch. So I put all of my time and effort into pitching.”
For probably 99.9% of baseball players who make a decision like that, it’s not all that noteworthy.
But what makes McGovern’s decision ironic is that at the ripe young age of 10, his swing was the topic of an MLB Tonight segment in which Hall of Famer Jim Thome analyzed — and gave the thumbs up to — his swing.
“I actually really like this,” Thome said after watching McGovern’s first cut on the Jan. 24, 2018 broadcast. “There is really not much here to critique.’’
Thome, like McGovern, is a left-handed hitter and did critique McGovern’s leg kick and suggested to smooth it out.
Thome added the McGovern has a “really, really good swing. This kid is going to be one heck of a hitter, for sure.’’
Now McGovern wants to be a heck of a pitcher on the collegiate level. He is a sophomore at Quincy after spending his first year as a redshirt there.
“They want to develop me and I give credit to my pitching coach (Shane Herschelman),” he said. “They got me from 76-78 mph to 84 with a a top of 86. It was a really good development year for me.”
McGovern has a goal of pumping that up to 90 mph in the coming years.
This summer, he is playing his second season in American Legion ball with the Palos Post 1993 Coyotes.
Coyotes coach Mike Jeffers has been impressed with this year’s version of McGovern.
“He’s definitely throwing a lot harder, and he’s really been working hard,” Jeffers said. “That kid … he’s got a plan and he’s doing something seven days a week. He always likes to know when he is pitching a week in advance.
“He prepares himself with his body and his mind. He’s very routine-oriented.”
McGovern had mixed results in his first two starts this season, but Jeffers said that’s because the team needed him to pitch a little longer than planned.
“We had a lack of a bullpen early, so I had to extend him a little bit,” Jeffers said. “If I would have cut him off at about 85 pitches, which is his magic number, he would have given up two earned runs or less.
“He’s been good, but he’s been taking it for the team.”
McGovern hopes to take the team far in July when the American Legion postseason gets rolling in Illinois. The Coyotes have back-to-back third-place finishes in the state.
“I want to get my innings in,” McGovern said. “I want to throw good competitive innings and hope we can get to win the American Legion championship.”