Dylan McCabe delivered a breakout summer for St. Charles East in baseball, and it all started with the confidence he gained when he received some varsity time as a freshman in the spring.
The sophomore first baseman came into high school ready to be challenged, and he was challenged midway through the spring season when he got called up to the varsity.
“I did have high expectations as a freshman, really high,” McCabe said. “It was stressful at first, all the pressure. It was really fast, coming up from JV to varsity. I felt like I caught up very fast.
“I felt like I took control of the opportunities.”
Armed with that confidence, McCabe’s timetable for success accelerated. He channeled that into a dominant performance in the Phil Lawler Summer Classic, leading the Saints to their first summer state championship since 2001.
McCabe was named the Jack Kaiser MVP of the tournament, hitting .533 with four runs and six RBIs out of the leadoff spot for the Saints.
“It was a learning curve at first, but it was a quick one,” St. Charles East coach Derek Sutor said. “He found his stride and was able to help us out. I think this summer it just kind of took off.
“He had his time in the spring, and he’s starting to feel comfortable with the speed of the game.”
Those are the kinds of conversations McCabe has had with Xavier recruit Joey Arend. Arend was an early arrival to varsity as well, so he has been through a lot of what McCabe faced.
“We all took him in,” Arend said. “Personally, I tried to help him understand that being on varsity there’s no difference when it comes to competing. Keep your heart rate under control and everything else will take care of itself.
“You don’t want to disappoint anybody. That plays into it as well. Once you start, the guys are supporting you and you start to become part of the family. It makes things 100 times easier.”
Sutor didn’t hesitate adding McCabe to the roster in the spring. He had seen enough of the youngster to know that he could add something to the mix for the Saints.
“Any time you bring up a freshman to varsity, it’s a huge step,” Sutor said. “Dylan, from day one, has shown something. He still has a whole lot of room to grow, but he brings a lot to the table.
“Having that time in the spring, he had the confidence that he could hold his own in the summer. It just started to click. He did what he does.”
The high school summer season isn’t what it used to be as travel ball continues to take hold, but winning the summer state title is still something that helps build momentum for next spring.
And McCabe put himself on the map with his performance.
“Starting in my first playoff games, it was just something special,” McCabe said. “We’re really trying to prove a lot next year as a program and as a team.”
Doing it at a program as rich in tradition in St. Charles East isn’t lost on McCabe either.
Every time he goes to the field, he’s reminded of the history. The lists on the sides of the press box of past championships and former players who went on to play professionally, including former MLB players Wes Benjamin and Matt Reynolds, get to him.
“It is very cool,” McCabe said. “It’s very special, seeing all these guys that came through and proved how good they could be. It shows how good I could be, how much I could contribute to the program.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
