Shorecrest Pitcher Marc Brakeman a Big Reason Chargers Are Strong - The Stanford-bound junior is one of the top pitchers in Florida and a dominant player locally. Brakeman possesses a blazing fastball, a biting curve and a change-up that leaves many batters' knees buckled.
The junior recently verbally committed to pitch for Stanford after a sophomore season in which he was named Pinellas County Pitcher of the Year and where he struck out 115 batters in 76 innings.
The interesting thing about Brakeman is that he was the Chargers starting catcher.
"He was on the team as an eighth grader and he won the job as staring catcher [as a freshman] in the fourth game of the year," Shorecrest coach Don Reed said.
But Brakeman's catching duties didn't last too much longer as his pitching talents became too obvious to ignore.
Brakeman possesses a blazing fastball, a biting curve and a change-up that leaves many batters' knees buckled.Then there's his mental approach to the game, and to his studies, which is what led him to verbally commit to Stanford.
"I couldn't pass up the mix of academics and athletics," Brakeman said of Stanford. "I want to major in economics and they have one of the top five schools for economics... and they have a top-10 baseball program too."
Brakeman confessed picking Stanford was purely genuine and for academics, though he could use Stanford as some major leverage with a prospective Major League Baseball team, if he is drafted high in next June's amateur draft.
"I hope I am drafted high but education is important to me," Brakeman said. "Obviously if someone would offer me enough money, I would turn pro."
The Chargers' last season came one win away from winning a state title. With the team virtually intact, Shorecrest is a leading candidate to win the state title. Brakeman said he and his teammates welcome the pressure.
"We try not to turn the page completely," Brakeman said. "We know since we did it last year we can do that this year as long as we don't trip up. We have depth, we have hitting, we have pitching and we have one of the best lineups one-to-nine around."
