If the career paths of Jack Flaherty ’14, Arden Pabst ’13 amd Tyler Urbach ’14 follow those of the past six Harvard- Westlake baseball players to participate in the Area Code Baseball Games, then the trio of Wolverines are officially on the fast-track to the MLB draft.
Surrounded by 250 of the top high school baseball players in the country and many scouts from professional and college teams, the three Wolverines proved they have what it takes to compete at the highest level by participating in what ESPN calls “one of the highest regarded high school talent tournaments in the country.”
“The tournament was a great experience,” Flaherty said. “I had an unbelievable time there and met a lot of great guys.”
Flaherty, Pabst and Urbach joined six other former Wolverine baseball players who participated in the showcase: Jon Schaeffer ’94, Josh Satin ’03, Brennan Boesch ’03, Nik Turley ’08, Austin Wilson ’09, Max Fried ’12 and Lucas Giolito ’12. All six went on to play professional baseball.
This past summer, Fried and Giolito passed up scholarship offers to UCLA to play professional for the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals franchises, respectively.
Players needed a recommendation from an MLB scout to be invited to a regional tryout. At the games, the players were divided into eight teams, each represent a region of the U.S., that compete against each other throughout the week before collegiate and professional scouts. Both Urbach and Flaherty played third base while Pabst played catcher. Flaherty, who was one of the Wolverines’ three starting pitchers last year, did not take the mound at the showcase.
Pabst and Flaherty helped lead the Southern California team to a perfect 5-0 record while Urbach played for the 1-3-1 Northeast team, which typically incorporates one Southern California player each year.
Flaherty said most players had already committed to Division I baseball programs and that almost all scouts at the showcase were from MLB teams.
Flaherty and Urbach have not decided on colleges yet. Pabst committed to Georgia Tech last year.
“I would say every single guy there could definitely go Division I in college and a lot of those guys could get drafted,” Flaherty said.
Pabst led the Wolverines last year in RBIs with 35 and hit .375. Flaherty went .397 with 13 RBIs. Urbach hit .287 with 18 RBIs.
The Wolverines won the Mission League Championship and advanced to the second round of CIF Division II playoffs before losing to Placentia Valencia.
