Corona’s Seth Hernandez is set to become next great pitcher

Through 48 years of covering high school baseball in Southern California, watching numerous prolific pitchers become famous pro players has been among the funnest parts of being a prep sportswriter. I’ve discovered to always look for someone who can throw strikes.There was Jack McDowell of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Bret Saberhagen of Cleveland in the 1980s. They became Cy Young Award winners for the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, respectively.Advertisement In the 1990s, there was Jeff Suppan of Crespi, Russ Ortiz of Montclair Preparation and Randy Wolf of El Camino Real. In the 21st century, there were Cy Young winners Gerrit Cole(Orange Lutheran ), Shane Bieber (Laguna Hills)and Trevor Bauer (Hart); and standouts Paul Skenes(El Toro ), Hunter Greene(Notre Dame), Jack Flaherty (Harvard-Westlake) and Max Fried (Harvard-Westlake). Bringing up these names is to advise everyone how amazingly good Seth Hernandez of Corona has been this season as he gets ready for the Southern Section Department 1 playoffs and heads off to be the next fantastic pitcher from the Southland.In 42 1/3 innings, he has actually struck out 88 batters while walking only 3. Never ever has there been someone throwing a 98 miles per hour fastball as a teen with so much identify control. In reality, he’s only hit one batter all season. Teens who include the 90s normally strike and stroll great deals of batters.Not Hernandez. His command is freakishly good.Advertisement”That was his goal,” coach Andy Wise stated of enhancing over his junior season. “What are we going to do to improve and that was his No. 1 thing to do.”Hernandez has actually never ever suffered a pitching defeat because he began

playing high school baseball. He went 9-0 and had 15

strolls in 56 innings last season. This season he’s 8-0 with an 0.17 AGE. Displaying his athleticism, he has likewise struck 5 home runs.As contrast, probably the pitcher closest to having a season with this much control was Flaherty in 2013, when he strolled 10 in 89 innings, started out 112 and went 13-0 as a junior. However he didn’t come close to Hernandez’s velocity. Greene was tossing 101 miles per hour fastballs and had 10 strolls in 55 2/3 innings in 2016, his junior season.Advertisement Greene’s coach at Notre Dame, Tom Dill, said of Hernandez,”You take an arm like that with the ability to throw strikes and the advantage is fantastic.” The Washington Nationals have the first pick in this summertime’s amateur draft. Their basic supervisor attended a Corona game to see Hernandez pitch.Attending high school baseball games is totally free, so the best ticket around might be

going to enjoy Hernandez pitch when he’s expected to be on the mound next Tuesday in Corona’s playoff opener. The pairings will be launched on Monday, and Corona is anticipated to have a first-round bye when the playoffs start on Thursday.It’s not only his control and fastball that are excellent, it’s his poise and his breaking pitches. He actually does have all the qualities scouts desire in a pitching prospect, from work principles to competitiveness to the ability to handle pressure situations.Advertisement If opponents desire him to sign a ball throughout the playoffs, that would not be acting silly. That would be someone understanding they are in the presence of somebody they’ll be

enjoying from their living room one day pitching at a big league stadium.Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get ratings, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.