PHOENIX — Brendan Summerhill initially wished to comply with brother Colin to Loyola Academy and didn’t grow to be a possible first-round choose within the 2025 MLB Draft till his junior season on the College of Arizona.
However the seeds that helped him turn into strong-minded and fearless have been planted at Whitney Younger Excessive College.
‘‘It was such an important alternative as a result of I used to be going to be a 14- or 15-year-old taking part in with 18-year-olds,’’ Summerhill recalled final week in a video interview. ‘‘And I knew that I’ll not have gotten that probability at Loyola. We clearly would by no means know, however I feel it was truthfully the very best determination for me, going to Whitney.
‘‘I’m so glad that I went there. I cherished my time there. I realized rather a lot there as a baseball participant, as a pupil, and it was, fairly truthfully, most likely the toughest faculty I’ve needed to [attend]. My senior 12 months was actually robust academically, and I feel that set me up rather well for my freshman 12 months right here.’’
A number of native scouts watched the 6-3, 195-pound Summerhill dominate as a left-handed hitter and middle fielder however agreed his professional inventory would profit enormously from school seasoning.
That transfer has paid off, as Summerhill may turn into solely the second participant from the Chicago Public Colleges since 1989 to be chosen within the first spherical of the draft.
Outfielder Corey Ray, who starred at Simeon, was a first-round choose of the Brewers within the 2016 draft out of Louisville and is in his second season because the supervisor of the Cubs’ affiliate within the Arizona Advanced League. (Simeon shortstop Shawn Livesey was a supplemental first-round choose of the Astros in 1991.)
In its latest mock draft, Baseball America projected the Cubs — who play a half-mile from the place Summerhill grew up — to pick out him with the seventeenth total choose.
‘‘That’s fairly cool,’’ stated Summerhill, who’s projected by MLB.com to go to the Orioles with the twentieth total choose. ‘‘That might be such a dream come true, possibly a little bit bit greater than the subsequent crew [White Sox], simply due to how I grew up going to video games at Wrigley Subject. And watching them win the World Collection, watching them suck and watch them do all that.
‘‘I used to be one of many largest Cubs followers. Javy Baez was one in all my favourite Cubs.’’
However Summerhill, who is suggested by the Boras Corp., emphasised he could be giddy to be picked by any crew within the first spherical. He additionally realizes there’s unfinished enterprise because the Wildcats enter the Large 12 Event this week and attempt to enhance their standing for when the NCAA Event pairings are introduced subsequent Monday.
Summerhill completed the common season with a .390/.500/.642 slash line in 32 video games, regardless of dealing with an array of accidents within the final 10 months. His 2024 Cape Cod League season ended abruptly after he made an over-the-shoulder catch and crashed over a fence within the all-star sport in late July, then he missed a month this season with a fractured proper hand suffered March 23.
Draft professional Jim Callis of MLB.com reported on X that Summerhill suffered the fracture after slugging a water cooler within the dugout.
‘‘I’m not going to talk to that,’’ he stated.
Summerhill hit a house run on the primary pitch in his return to motion in opposition to Texas-Arlington, however a hamstring damage in his subsequent sport brought on him to overlook six begins. However, he maintained his hitting stroke and was batting .411 till a 2-for-11 rut final weekend. He displayed his fearlessness by legging out a double with a headfirst slide in Arizona’s regular-season finale Saturday at Houston.
One longtime American League scout appreciated Summerhill’s array of abilities however questioned about his latest spate of accidents. An area major-league scout stated that he wouldn’t be stunned if Summerhill was drafted within the first spherical due to his bat-to-ball abilities and strike-zone self-discipline and that many groups put a premium on school hitters.
‘‘School bats are arduous to seek out,’’ the native scout stated.
Summerhill spent his sophomore season at Arizona in middle subject earlier than transferring to proper this season.
‘‘Wherever coach [Chip] Hale . . . places me to play, I’ll go do it,’’ stated Summerhill, who additionally stated he would alter if he’s moved out of the leadoff spot.
That versatility can’t damage his inventory. Nor will the expertise he gained by watching 2023 first-round choose Chase Davis as a freshman and by taking part in within the Cape Cod League final summer season.
‘‘I’d inform each school sophomore that will get the prospect to play there to do it as a result of it’s the toughest baseball you’re going to play,’’ Summerhill stated, citing the less-than-perfect fields with no batter’s eye. ‘‘The perfect school gamers within the nation [play in the league], and each competitor desires to be round the very best. I feel that’s after I realized, ‘Hey, I can take the subsequent step this summer season.’ ’’
Summerhill already has had a sneak peek of professional baseball. Brother Colin is a catcher at Inland Empire, the Angels’ Single-A affiliate.
‘‘I gained’t be blindsided by it,’’ stated Summerhill, who added that he talks together with his brother as soon as a day to share their experiences. ‘‘Clearly, I’m attempting to remain very current with my crew and hopefully in an enormous postseason run arising. However with my future, he’s been actually necessary.’’
Summerhill wasn’t drafted out of highschool, partly as a result of no crew was prepared to match what it might have taken to purchase him out of his dedication to Arizona. He credit the Wildcats’ teaching employees and crew tradition for serving to him mature as a participant and individual.
He estimated he talks with Younger coach Chris Cassidy about 5 occasions a 12 months and treasured being round fellow alums who excelled, whether or not it was in basketball, chess or the classroom.
‘‘Being at Whitney Younger actually made me admire the various quantity of expertise and the way persons are good at no matter they’re doing,’’ Summerhill stated.
‘‘Clearly, I’ve performed properly and put myself in a reasonably great place to hopefully have my title known as fairly early [in the draft]. And with that, I perceive there’s some strain to that. However I feel I embraced it one of the best ways I may have [by] simply persevering with to play, persevering with to play to win, as a result of that’s an important factor.’’
