Thomas Daly '16 Recruiting Profile

I have been a three sport athlete until this past year.  I have played soccer, baseball and swam.  This past year I decided to put all of my energy and focus into baseball.  Fortunately, I love the game and the challenge of improving. I am always the first person to the field and last one to leave.  After a skills evaluation, one college coach referred to me as a "dirtbag player".  After looking it up, I think that describes me pretty well.  Working hard encourages others to do so as well and leading by example in invaluable. 

I faced some academic challenges in elementary school.  I found out that I was dyslexic.  I had to work harder and longer than everyone else.  I had to apply the work ethic I had for sports to academics.  I am happy to say that I have taken all college prep classes in high school and will be taking  honors Spanish my senior year.  I’ve learned that if you want something bad enough and are willing to work hard and be persistent that you can accomplish much more than you might think possible.  This hard work was recently awarded by my teachers as I was selected to be an American Legion Boys State Delegate.

 As a freshman in high school I decided that I wanted to catch, having played multiple positions over my baseball career.   I was the starting catcher for the freshman team.   The following summer I went out for our local American Legion team.  I earned the starting catcher position for the Junior Legion team.  I learned more and more from anyone that I could about the position of catcher.  As a sophomore in high school I was called up to be the starting catcher for the Varsity team.  It was a great opportunity.  One that I knew I had to take advantage of.  Our starting pitcher committed to Duke, so catching for him has taken my game to the next level. We made it to the semifinal round in our state tournament.  The summer after my sophomore year my American Legion coach gave me the opportunity to try out for the Senior Legion catching position.  That season I was the starting catcher for the Senior Legion team, I was the youngest player on the team, catching for pitchers that had already completed a year of college ball.  Our county has some very good teams, including Brooklawn. Brooklawn is always a strong team and has won the American Legion World series two years in a row.   We went to the Binghamton, New York tournament and won. That whole season was a great experience for me.

My junior year, I’ve again earned the starting position for my high school team.  I became the leadoff batter, batting .460 with a .600 OBP.  We not only won our conference but also went on to become the SJ Group I Champions, an experience I will never forget.   I was asked to play for the Mid-Atlantic Show showcase team this summer and look forward to that new experience, and again improving my level of play.