By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — South Rowan senior Marshal Faw’s days as a wide receiver are behind him now, and he probably will play the outfield for the last time this spring when he suits up for the Raiders.

But Faw’s future as a pitcher looks extremely bright.

Faw signed recently with the Catawba College Indians, who added three prospects this month. The others are a big lefty pitcher and an outfielder from Kentucky who can fly.

“Marshall is everything you’re looking for when you sign a guy,” Catawba head baseball coach Jim Gantt said. “Great person and a great student, and that’s where it has to start. Doesn’t matter how well they can play baseball, if a prospect doesn’t have those things. Marshal can run, but I think he’s going to fit best for us on the mound. His athleticism will help him on the mound, and he’s got a very good arm. He’s going to keep getting better. He’ll add muscle and size.”

Faw (6-0, 165) bats right and throws right. He has known for a long time that his future would probably be as a pitcher.

“I was 11 years old in the youth leagues, and I was starting to figure out that I had a chance to be good at it,” Faw said.

When Faw was a freshman at South Rowan, the Raiders won the 3A state championship with a memorable team that included UNC outfielder Kane Kepley, Wake Forest pitcher Haiden Leffew and a couple of guys who are now Catawba’s middle infield — shortstop Austin Chrismon and second baseman Ty Hubbard.

“Those were the guys I always looked up to,” Faw said. “I’ll have a year to play with them. I’m excited. Can’t wait.”

Faw had a strong high school career in three sports for South Rowan, as he’s also a swimmer.

He caught some deep balls and helped the Raiders get back to the football state playoffs this season for the first time since 2009.

As a junior on the baseball field, he had some memorable moments.

“Being Easter Tournament MVP stands out because I hit a home run and also had a really good pitching performance against A.L. Brown,” Faw said. “I think the best game I pitched last year, though, was against Carson. I added a cutter last year that our pitching coach (Brandon White) taught me, and I had good games against strong teams like West Rowan.”

Faw impressed Catawba recruiting coordinator Jeremy Simpson and pitching coach Greg Brown when he attended a prospect camp.

Faw’s velocity was solid — he has played on highly competitive summer teams and has thrown as hard as 88 mph — but it was his spin rates that blew the Indians’ coaching staff away.

No one talked about spin rates not that long ago, but it’s become a big thing, as the use of baseball analytics has gained traction. Analysts have figured out the correlation between high spin rates as far as generating swings and misses and also how high spin rates suppress the quality of contact when contact is made.

Without going too deep into all the math, Faw has tremendous spin rates, pro-level spin rates.

Gantt goes way back with Ernie Faw, who is Marshal’s grandfather and was a long-time head baseball coach at South Rowan as well as assistant football coach.

Ernie got South Rowan’s Legion program started in 1996, and he was coaching when South won against Gantt’s Rowan Legion team for the first time.

“Ernie has always been a great supporter of Catawba, and it’s going to be nice to see a bunch of South Rowan people in the stands here,” Gantt said. “We’ve also got eight on our team from Carson. There’s some good baseball played in that part of the county.”