Luke Barch '24 Recruiting Profile

As a baseball player, my proudest accomplishment so far has been receiving Region 2 AAAAAA Pitcher of the Year and All State Pitcher awards last year, my junior year. I've been playing ball for the last 14 years of my life, the first 9 of which, were spent catching. I grew up working and striving to be the best catcher I could be, just to be told that I was a natural born pitcher, my 8th grade year. It was difficult, but I accepted this role and worked my hardest to be the best pitcher I could on any team.

Baseball has taught me how to work through adversity. My family has relocated several times over the years, due to my dad being prior military, and my parents drifting apart from one another. As a smaller pitcher, I have had to work harder to prove myself to new coaches and teammates at the new places I had moved to. Being only 5'11" 165 pounds in my senior year of high school has made it quite difficult to be seen by coaches. Moving through my baseball career, not being quite as big as all the other sought-after pitchers has made earning my spot as a starting pitcher much more difficult than it could have been. This has done nothing but motivate me to focus on strength and conditioning and reinforcing my commitment to developing my individual skills while remaining team oriented. It has also given me the opportunity to experience different coaching styles and perspectives. In addition, as a pitcher, I have learned to trust my knowledge of the game, think on my feet, trust my decisions, and keep a cool head in extreme game situations.

Along with pursuing a collegiate baseball career, my academic goals include finishing high school with at least a 3.75 GPA. Although I hold baseball to be a huge priority in my life, it falls just short of my responsibilities as a student. Academics has been my top priority, in order to follow a path in which I can major in biology while playing ball at the collegiate level.