Player Name: Will O’Brien
Position: RHP
School: Wantagh
Will is a big, 6’1″ 200 lb pitcher that graduates in 2016 and is committed to St. Thomas Aquinas in the fall.
He has a couple quirky aspects of his delivery. He begins with a big step back along the rubber with his hands held just above the belt. At balance point, he has a firm back leg, his leg kick is just below the letters, his front foot is pointed down and his eyes are locked on the ground. As he begins his falling action, he picks up his target. His leg kind of hangs in the air, as opposed to going directly towards the plate. This definitely effects the velocity by a couple ticks, but he has so much power that he can still compensate for it with his arm strength. He has an abbreviated arm circle–not quite bringing it in the typical full path that pitchers do. He lands with his front foot in line with home plate, but he lands a bit off-center, which gives him that Jake Arrieta-like cross-fire aspect to his delivery. Hitters do not enjoy that especially from a hard thrower. He has a high 3/4 release point and he gets good extension on his pitches. He falls off slightly to the first base side.
In his May 2nd start, he worked mainly in the 82-86 MPH with his fastball velocity. He admitted after the game that he had no feel for his fastball command. Even so, he was able to go seven inning against a potent lineup that featured a couple of the top hitters in their respective classes. O’Brien entered the game with an unblemished 5-0 mark. He was very nearly handed the loss in this game, but his offense mounted a comeback which got him off the hook. Through three innings, he had thrown 72 pitches and allowed four ER. It really appeared he would be out of the game, but to his credit he started pumping strikes and he was wearing his emotion on his sleeve. He was fiery and definitely got through the game with his emotion and guile.
His curveball is a real weapon. He threw it in the mid 70s and also utilized a cutter in the high 70s. That is not easy for college hitters to hit, so needless to say, high school hitters have not been able to figure him out.
In the first inning, he walked two batters, hit a batter and allowed a two-run single. He was erratic with his command. He got out of the inning when the runner that hit the single tried to advance a base and the catcher made a strong throw to nab him. In the second inning, he walked another batter and allowed three hits to let two more runs score. He also allowed a hard-hit ball right back at him that hit his wrist and deflected to the shortstop for an inning-ending out.
After that moment, he was lights out. He retired 16 of 17 batters and it began with his striking out the side in the third inning with a fastball swinging and two curveballs looking. He struck out two in the sixth inning as well.
This outing said a lot about O’Brien. While he is used to cruising through every inning, he had to really work hard just to get through two innings. Rather than wave the white flag, he battled and got through seven innings and got the game to the bullpen with a chance to win. He is a competitor and he will be successful in college.
