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| Photo Credit: James Escher |
Baseball can be a humbling game as we all know. The feeling of invincibility can quickly turn on you.
Just one year ago, Adam Heidenfelder was on the mountain top. He was coming off his second straight Diamond Award, given to the top player in Nassau County. He compiled all the gaudy numbers–6-1 record, 0.42 ERA and 95 strikeouts. That followed up his junior campaign in which he also went 6-1, with a 0.91 ERA and 85 strikeouts. For his achievements, he was named All-County, All-Long Island, All-State and even honorable mention All-American by Perfect Game.
“Winning the Diamond Award back-to-back years was my best memory,” said the 6’5″ right hander. “There was a bit of cockiness but sometimes you need that for your confidence and that goes a long way,” he added.
With his combination of size, confidence and on-the-field results, he could’ve went to nearly any college he wanted. He chose to stay local and pitch for Hofstra University.
“I chose Hofstra because of Head Coach Chris Russo and the conference that we play in,” he said. “It’s a very challenging conference which gives us a great opportunity to play great competition throughout the spring. Coach Russo wants what’s best for the program and has done an amazing job with Hofstra Baseball.
There was talk that he would be selected in the MLB Draft in June 2014.. That did not materialize, but nevertheless he was a no-brainer to get picked in three years as long as he continued dominating on the mound.
Things don’t always go as planned, however.
Heidenfelder entered the season as the Pride’s No. 2 pitcher. He started against No. 11 ranked UCLA in Los Angeles–no easy task for a freshman.
He allowed three runs over three innings with three strikeouts but walked five batters and was tagged with his first loss of the season.
That left him with an ERA over 9.00 after one outing–or roughly eight runs higher than the previous two seasons.
The good news is that he did lower his ERA, but the bad news is that it wasn’t by much. He finished the year with an 8.76 ERA over 37 IP and 29 walks with an 0-5 record.
It was not the type of season anybody anticipated from the No. 3 ranked player in the 2014 graduate class on Long Island.
Years like this can often spark drastic improvements the following season, however, especially from a player with a work ethic like Heidenfelder, who is poised to rebound in 2016.
“I need to be more consistent in my delivery,” he said. “I’ve been working very diligently on being more consistent in my motion. Being able to repeat your motion is a huge part of pitching. I have been watching a lot of video and can’t wait to see the results of my hard work,” he added.
For a young pitcher like Heidenfelder there is still time to turn around his career trajectory. Look no further than Mets reliever Bobby Parnell, who compiled an 8.66 ERA during his senior season at Charleston Southern but was still selected in the ninth round.
Heidenfelder plans on playing professional baseball and returning to the level of success he had while pitching for the MacArthur Generals.
If he does make it, he will never forget the ones that shaped him to be who he is today. He credits his father, who played collegiately at Queens College, and his HS Coach Steve Costello to help him become the ball player he is today.
