By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Nate McFall still has half of his high school baseball career ahead of him.
And yet, the Mahomet-Seymour junior catcher has a good idea of where he’ll spend the four years following his high school graduation in 2021.
McFall committed to Division I Western Carolina, in Cullowhee, N.C., earlier this month even though it will be another year before he can sign his national letter of intent.
“I liked the coaching staff and the area (near the Smoky Mountains),” McFall said. “You can’t get much better than that.”
McFall was at the university for a camp. Afterwards, he was offered a scholarship.
Though he had also received interest from Illinois, Illinois State, Purdue and Belmont, McFall didn’t need long to make a decision.
“I knew I wanted to commit right then and there,” he said. “I looked at my parents and said, ‘Yep.’”
Greg Immke, from St. Joseph, was one of McFall’s summer coaches when he was a member of the Champaign Dream. Immke said McFall and his family did what was necessary to put himself in the position to be recruited.
“He needed to go to camps and get out and about to let the college coaches see him,” Immke said. “That’s the main thing. His mom and dad did it right.”
The starting point, of course, was a good mastery of the fundamentals.
“When he came to us, we knew he definitely had the skills and could go places,” Immke said “He had the physical tools, a strong arm and his accuracy was good.”
As a sophomore at M-S in the spring of 2019, McFall was behind two senior catchers, Jon Latham and Jordan Veldman. McFall found a regular spot in the lineup as a left fielder for a 17-10-2 team.
He is projected as a catcher for the next two high school seasons.
“His arm strength and how well he gets rid of the baseball are his strengths,” M-S coach Nic DiFilippo said.
“His pop time (from the time he catches the ball until it is caught at second base) is 1.84 seconds. They say if you’re under 2.0, you can catch in college.”
And beyond.
According to MLB.com, the average pop time for catchers in 2016 was 2.01 seconds. In 2017, the fastest MLB pop time was 1.86 seconds by San Diego’s Austin Hedges.
Of course, not all pitches are created equally.
“Does he get a good pitch to throw off of,” DiFilippo said. “That makes a significant difference.”
McFall has tools in addition to his throwing ability.
“He is very fast, and a good hitter,” DiFilippo said.
McFall, who has played on travel teams ranging from the Mahomet Mavericks to the Champaign Dream to the Illinois Dream, has been a catcher since he was 10 years old.
He is glad that the college decision is finalized.
“Now that the recruiting process is over,” he said, “it has definitely taken a lot of the pressure off.
“My goal was always to commit my junior year, but I didn’t think it would happen this early.”
Immke said the path that McFall followed is one other aspiring college athletes should keep in mind.
“You have to be proactive,” Immke said. “You rarely see college coaches go to high school games.
“He and his family were gone for weeks and weeks to showcases and camps. All it takes is for one coach to see the talent and potential in you. A lot of kids don’t make it because they don’t get put in the right situation and that means you might not get to where you want.”
As a sophomore with the Bulldogs, McFall batted .274 and 12 of his 20 hits went for extra bases. He drove in 15 runs and stole eight bases.
The Western Carolina coaching staff includes a familiar name to McFall.
Former Parkland College head coach David Garcia is an assistant with the Catamounts. Garcia works directly with catchers.
The head coach is Bobby Moranda.
“I liked how much (the coaches) know about baseball,” said McFall, who plans on majoring in criminal justice with a goal of becoming a canine police officer.
