Coronavirus Can't Cut This Wisconsin Ballplayer's Dream Short

OAK CREEK, WI — When the coronavirus pandemic stretched its tentacles across America's heartland, 22-year-old Matt McCarty saw his collegiate baseball career cut short — possibly for good.

McCarty, 22, a right-handed pitcher for the UW-Milwaukee Panther baseball team, remembers the 48 hours that turned the 2020 season on its head.

His last game came in a three-inning start against Miami of Ohio on March 8. Under sunny skies and 56-degree weather, McCarty gave up seven hits and five earned runs before exiting the game after facing two batters in the fourth inning. His team lost that game 16-7 to fall to a season record of 1-14.

The young team's travails on the field would pale in comparison to what came next.

"We were on our last long trip of the spring," McCarty told Patch, referring to the trip to play Miami of Ohio. "We got back on Sunday night, held a couple practices, and we were going to leave for our first conference trip."

Then coaches told the team the upcoming trip was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, Matt said the coaches hoped they could make up the postponed games later in the season. Two days later, their season was over.

"It was a really compact 48 hours where nobody knew what was going on," McCarty said. "We went from 'we will let you know as soon as possible what the best course of action will be' to 'you guys can go home, we're not going to have a season.'"

McCarty graduated in spring with a degree in biochemistry with plans to go to medical school and study orthopedics. He hopes his studies in bones, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles intersect with his background in baseball to help keep more ballplayers on the field have healthier careers.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic left McCarty looking ahead to a possible future in medicine, and a premature end to his days as a ballplayer.

"I was graduating, and I really didn't see any way I could come back," he said.

Ballplayer And Valedictorian

McCarty's journey as a ballplayer began when he was five years old. With an uncanny amount of hand-eye coordination, he blossomed into a star pitcher and batter, eventually leading to accolades as a student at South Milwaukee High School. He graduated in 2016 as the class valedictorian and vice-president of the National Honors Society.

He also dominated on the diamond, earning 17 victories against nine losses with 235 career strikeouts as a high school pitcher. At the plate, he batted .367 and earned honors on the Milwaukee Now Newspapers All-Suburban team as a junior and senior.

As one of the top prospects out of Wisconsin, McCarty's phone was flooded with phone calls from college recruiters. He traveled to Columbia, Penn, Northwestern, Air Force Academy and St. Louis before committing to play at Louisville.

After a year-and-a-half at Louisville in which he did not appear in any game action for the Cardinals, McCarty decided to transfer to UW-Milwaukee, where he could play right away.

"It seemed to work out very well," he said. "Definitely more family-oriented program. Everyone's got each other's back."

Just Make A Good Pitch

Coming out of high school, McCarty's fastball was clocked at 87 miles per hour, but the key to his success was how well the pitch moved as it headed toward the plate.

McCarty says he throws a two-seam fastball, named for the way the pitcher's fingers rest across two seams of the ball as its thrown. The way he throws his fastball, it curves in flight, making it harder for the batter to track and hit hard.

"I try to mix it up to keep hitters off balance," McCarty said, adding that he relies on skill and deception to disrupt a hitter's timing at the plate.

The artfulness of that deception begins with a slider — a pitch that looks just like a fastball when he releases it. McCarty's slider darts both downward and laterally as it approaches the plate, giving the hitter the appearance that the ball "slides" from view.

He rounds out his pitching arsenal with a changeup, a pitch that also is tailored to look just like the fastball but is thrown about 10 miles per hour slower. When he throws the changeup, McCarty's goal is to have the hitter commit to swinging the bat long before the ball reaches the plate.

The psychology of his approach to pitching puts the pressure on the hitter. "I just try to take it one pitch at a time, and just make a good pitch," McCarty said. "Typically the hitter will get himself out."

Answering The Question

The NCAA gave all spring athletes an extra year of eligibility after the COVID-19 pandemic forced athletic departments across the U.S. to cut their spring seasons short.

It immediately raised a dilemma for McCarty. He could easily move on to medical school to further his career in medicine, but what about giving his dream of being a ballplayer one last shot?

"I was looking way to come back from one more year, but would it even make sense for me athletically?" he asked himself.

His parents, Patrick and DeAnna McCarty encouraged him to give baseball one more year of his life, pushing him to savor every last moment of the family-oriented program at UW-Milwaukee and his camaraderie with players and coaches he's gotten to know over the last two seasons.

He enrolled in a one-year graduate certificate program at UW-Milwaukee in Interpersonal and Public Population Health. The course will allow him to get more experience in the public health field while bolstering his medical school resume.

"I think this is kind of it for me," McCarty said of his upcoming season at UW-Milwaukee. "After this year I'll be 100 percent in the medical field. That's why I convinced myself to go back for one more year."