Warren junior right-hander Braylan McCarthy has always had a lower arm slot than most.
A couple of years ago, a pitching coach convinced McCarthy to drop down even further.
“By throwing from the side, I get a lot more movement on my pitches,” McCarthy said. “I can still throw over the top, too, so I try to mix it up to keep batters guessing. It’s a different angle for the batter to work at, the ball coming in from a different slot. I find that it’s a big advantage.”
Finding advantages is always important in baseball, as McCarthy was reminded when he was thrust into a prominent role as a sophomore last season. After 18 seniors graduated in 2023, the Blue Devils had to overhaul their varsity roster and called upon McCarthy to pitch regularly.
Growing pains were to be expected, but McCarthy emerged stronger.
“I love to pitch, and I always want to be the guy going out there to pitch,” he said. “I knew I had something to prove, that I belonged at this level. Getting to pitch last year gave me the opportunity to pitch against better competition. Now I know I’m one of our top guys.”
In fact, the 6-foot-1 McCarthy is the top guy for the Blue Devils (6-2). He’s the pitcher that Warren coach Clint Smothers wants starting conference series, as he was slated to do before the team’s North Suburban Conference opener against Lake Forest on Monday was postponed.
McCarthy has already proved this season that he can deliver in that role. He has a 1.17 ERA with two wins in three starts, as well as a save, which he earned by throwing three scoreless innings in Warren’s 7-2 victory against Grayslake North on March 31. Seven of the nine outs he recorded came on strikeouts.
Smothers isn’t surprised after what McCarthy did last season.
“It wasn’t easy for him, but that was the hand that he was dealt, and he really competed for us,” Smothers said. “He ended up throwing a lot of big games in conference, and he kept a lot of those games close. Now we know that we can hand him the ball and we’ve got a good shot.”
McCarthy was especially emboldened after a start he made against eventual conference co-champion Libertyville last year. The Blue Devils didn’t get the win in that game, but he felt like a different pitcher afterward.
“I hadn’t pitched too much before that, but that was one of the best games I threw,” McCarthy said. “It gave me a big confidence boost.”
By the end of the season, McCarthy was atop the Blue Devils’ rotation, and he carried that positive momentum into a strong summer of travel ball. Although he had already taken a significant step forward over the preceding 12 months, McCarthy believed that increasing his velocity was essential.
To do that, McCarthy wanted to get stronger. He showed his conviction with a workout program designed by Milwaukee-based BRX Performance, which specializes in creating baseball-centric training regimens. He also started consuming about 3,000 calories and 165 grams of protein per day.
“I always want to get better, and mostly I wanted to get bigger so I could throw harder,” McCarthy said. “I went to the gym almost every day for four or five months and added about 20 pounds.”
McCarthy now weighs about 160 pounds, and his velocity has increased from the upper 70s to as high as 84 mph this season.
Oh, and then there’s his unique delivery. Further adding to the cat-and-mouse game with hitters, McCarthy often holds back while he warms up before a start.
“I hear guys talking about watching me and like that,” he said. “Sometimes I make sure to show them me going over the top too.”
McCarthy did many of his workouts with Warren junior pitcher Peyton Balanag, who is also part of the rotation. As someone who spends considerable time trying to master the art of pitching, Balanag has a hard time wrapping his head around McCarthy’s varied delivery.
“It’s very difficult what he’s doing,” Balanag said. “Even with his velocity up, he’s still able to hit his spots really well. I can’t even locate it when I’m just playing catch. Switching it up like he does basically freezes the batter.”
McCarthy’s success is one of the promising signs for the Blue Devils, who have just four seniors on the roster and a lineup bolstered by sophomore Braxton Goodfellow and freshman Connor Nissen.
For McCarthy, who wants to pitch in college, the months ahead are important. But he’s self-assured that he’s up to the challenge.
“These tough conference games coming up, they’re the ones I’m most excited about and the ones I want to win the most,” he said. “I know I’ll go out there and do my job.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.
