By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — It was a banner season for Rowan County pitchers, two of whom are likely to be drafted in a few weeks.

Carson graduate Hayden Simmerson isn’t expected to hear his name called in the MLB draft, while East’s Chance Mako and South’s Haiden Leffew are almost certain to be selected early, but Simmerson, a Catawba signee, was Rowan’s best pitcher for the 2023 high school season.

Carson head coach Kyle Bridges and pitching coach Jesse Park pleaded Simmerson’s case eloquently, and they had a strong one. The numbers don’t lie. They definitely are on Simmerson’s side.

“Hayden had no down games, was good in every conference start and we played in one of the best conferences in the state,” Carson head coach Kyle Bridges said.

Also outstanding and worthy of consideration for the award were West’s Corbin Bailey, who, like Mako, went undefeated, and East’s Morgan Padgett, who led the county with eight wins.

Simmerson (7-2) will receive the Patrick Snider Memorial Award that has been presented every year since 2011, with the exception of 2020 when COVID shortened the season to a handful of games.

There were two Snider Award winners in 2017 when two Owens — East’s John Owen and Carson’s Owen White — shared the honor.

East’s Cameron Padgett, who pitched for UNC as a freshman, won the award in 2021 and repeated in 2022.

Snider was a North Rowan and Rowan County American Legion pitcher who died from cancer in the summer of 2010 when he was 17. An AAU national champion when he was 14, Snider would have turned 30 this year. He is honored by his jersey number on the wall at Newman Park and he is remembered every year by Rowan County baseball fans through an award that has been generously sponsored since its inception by Gary Ritchie.

South’s long losing streak and a muscle strain that shut him down late in the season took Leffew, a lefty slinger who signed with Wake Forest, out of the running for the award.

There was a lot to like about Bailey’s season, and if there was a Comeback Player of the Year Award, he’d win it, hands down, after missing all of 2022.

But Bailey didn’t pitch as many innings as Mako and Simmerson. He was somewhat easier to hit and he didn’t dominate with strikeouts like Mako and Simmerson did. Bailey had 57 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings. Simmerson struck out 105 in 63 innings, while Mako fanned 102 in 60 2/3 innings. There were times when Simmerson and Mako could take matters into their own hands  when the going got tough and just play catch with their catcher.

Opposing batters hit .233 against Bailey. They hit .189 against N.C. State signee Mako — which is barely hitting at all — and .193 against Simmerson.

So it came down to Mako or Simmerson.

Mako was voted Pitcher of the Year in the South Piedmont Conference and he and Simmerson pitch in the same conference.

But it’s important to remember that conference awards are based solely on the conference games. In the SPC that was 14 games. The conference tournaments and state playoffs take place after conference awards are voted on by the league’s coaches, and they also don’t factor in non-conference games.

Mako is a great pitcher, a dominant 6-foot-6 right-hander with an unlimited ceiling who is highly thought of by every MLB representative who has scouted him or interviewed him, but he had his struggles for the Mustangs down the stretch. While he was 7-0 for the season, he was mortal in four of his last five starts.

He walked seven in five innings in East’s 7-6 loss at West Rowan, a pivotal game that was a season-changer for both teams.

Mako also was hit pretty hard by Northwest Cabarrus late in the regular season, by South Rowan in the SPC tourney semifinals and by North Davidson in the third round of the 3A playoffs. East was still able to win those three games with the bats and Mako swung one of the bigger ones. The scores were 9-8, 12-8 and 8-7.

That’s what is known as serious run support.

Mako pitched for a 23-6 offensive juggernaut that slugged 26 homers and 65 doubles and batted .370 as a team. East scored 267 runs.

Carson was a 13-12 team that scored 122 runs, with Simmerson providing the most dangerous offensive threat. Carson batted .261 as a team with eight homers (five by Simmerson) and 29 doubles. Mako obviously played for a much stronger team, but wasn’t necessarily the stronger pitcher. Given Carson’s lack of offensive firepower, Simmerson wasn’t going to escape with a no-decision in 9-8, 12-8 or 8-7 games.

East and Carson made a similar number of errors, but East had Cobb Hightower and Logan Dyer operating in the middle of the diamond, so the difference in double plays between the teams is huge. East turned 28. Carson had 10. So Mako also had more help in the defensive aspect of the game.

Simmerson and Mako have similar numbers when it comes to innings pitched, hits allowed, strikeouts, homers allowed and opponent’s batting average, but Simmerson owns a significant  advantage as far as fewer runs allowed for the season (29 to 16) and fewer earned runs allowed (24 to 9).

Simmerson’s ERA for the season was a tidy 1.00. Mako checked in at 2.77.

Allowing nine earned runs for the season, considering the league he pitched in, speaks very highly for Simmerson, who relies on a fastball that is usually in the upper 80s and a nasty slider.

Simmerson said the toughest lineup, by far, he faced this season was East Rowan’s. That was a classic game with Mako and Simmerson both at their best. Mako pitched eight innings and struck out 14 in East’s 1-0 win. Simmerson shut out the Mustangs for seven innings, striking out 11 and allowing only two hits but he reached his pitch count limit after seven, and the Mustangs scored against Carson’s bullpen.

“East has some tough guys who were able to foul off pitches and I also walked three so my pitch count got up there,” Simmerson said. “East’s lineup was very difficult to navigate through. Top to bottom, they can all hit. I had to use everything I had and I had to make every pitch count to keep them scoreless for seven innings.”

Simmerson admitted to one “bad” game this season. He allowed 10 hits against Northwest Cabarrus in the SPC tournament, but this teammates provided run support and relief help in that one and the Cougars won on the road, 9-3.

“I guess that was a high school quality start, but I wasn’t happy with how I pitched,” Simmerson said. “My teammates came through in that game and in a lot of other ones. In the first round of the playoffs, we put up a 9-spot in the top of the first inning, and I only had to throw 57 pitches for a win.”

The toughest loss, besides the 1-0 loss to East was a 1-0 setback against West Rowan, which beat East twice and tied the Mustangs for first place.

“Hayden did all a pitcher can do against West,” Bridges said. “West scored a run because we had a catcher’s interference, a dropped fly ball and a passed ball in the same inning.”

Simmerson is playing American Legion ball for Rowan County for the first time this summer. He’s played showcase ball in the past, but Legion gives him a chance to play for Jim Gantt, who will also be his college coach. Simmerson swings the bat with enough authority that he could be a two-way player — a Hunter Shepherd type of guy — for the Division II Indians.

“Legion has been a great experience and a whole lot of fun after traveling all over the place to pitch the last few summers,” Simmerson said. “Early on, the coaches took us out on the football field and had us run 60-yard dashes and they decided that maybe I could play left field to get my bat in the lineup every day. I don’t have much outfield experience, but I’m learning. Maybe I’ve found my college position.”

But most of Simmerson’s value for Catawba and for the American Legion team when the playoffs arrive is going to be on the mound as an ace pitcher.

He can swing it and he can get the job done in left field, but it’s on the mound where he’s really special.

Simmerson’s senior school year included a tragedy. He lost his mother, Sally Andrews Simmerson, a 1991 North Rowan graduate who died in December at 49.

His mom was his biggest fan, but Simmerson was able to turn his final high school season into a lasting tribute to her constant support.

* The All-Rowan County team and Rowan County Player of the Year will be in Sunday’s edition.

 

 

Patrick Snider Pitcher of the Year Award

2011 — Bradley Robbins, East
2012 — Dillon Atwell, Carson
2013 — Dillon Atwell, Carson
2014 — Connor Johnson, East
2015 — Omar Bautista, West
2016 — John Owen, East
2017 — John Owen, East and Owen White, Carson
2018 — Owen White, Carson
2019 — Cole Hales, Carson
2020 — COVID, No award
2021 — Cameron Padgett, East
2022 — Cameron Padgett, East
2023 — Hayden Simmerson, Carson