South Carolina recruit Owen Washburn dominated his senior year of baseball
WEBSTER, Wis. (BVM) — High school baseball is over and Owen Washburn is now South Carolina bound, but the former Webster High School player finished his high school career in dominant fashion.
“I really didn’t believe it at times,” Washburn said.
The shortstop and right-handed pitcher put up video game-like numbers both at the plate and on the mound for the Tigers. As a pitcher, he went 7-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 94 strikeouts and only two walks in 39 innings pitched. At the plate, he had a .746 batting average with 71 RBIs and OPS of 2.313.
“Everybody says they don’t pay attention to stats and everything,” Washburn said. “I didn’t try to pay attention, but it’s hard not to when you’re having a great season.”
When you’re striking out 66% of the batters you face, it is understandable that you might glance at the box score after a few games, but that still isn’t what Washburn set out to do this year
“Going into the season, our one goal was trying to get back to the state championship game,” Washburn said.
After winning it in 2019 and losing the opportunity to defend their title in 2020, it was the goal of every Tiger player. Unfortunately, after going 20-0 and making it to the sectional finals, Webster lost to eventual state champion Boyceville.
It was a tough loss and way to end the season, but Washburn was still named the 2020-21 Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year, an honor that he was thrilled to receive.
“It’s a huge honor,” Washburn said. “I was very excited.”
Even more so because his older brother Jack, who is now pitching at Oregon State, won it back in 2018.
“Ever since I was a little we’ve always played together, we’ve always been either on the same team or with the same organization,” Owen said. “Always been playing together, practicing together, working out. For me to win this award after he won it previously, it means a lot.”
Owen is also following in his brother’s footsteps as begins the next chapter of his baseball career. Although he is not heading to Oregon State to play with Jack, he will be playing Division I baseball for the University of South Carolina.
“It should be a lot of fun; that conference (ACC) is by far one of the best in the country,” Owen said.
Owen made the decision after a recruiting process that he was well prepared for after seeing his brother go through it before him. In the end, he chose to be a Gamecocks because of the coaching staff, the facilities and the atmosphere in Columbia, but he enjoyed the entire process.
“It was really cool,” Owen said. “I got to go through that with my brother too. I went on a few college visits with him when I was younger. He helped a lot with that, he and my dad helped a lot with the recruiting process and trying to find a school that would best fit me. It was a lot of fun going through that whole process.”
Owen will look to continue his impressive play in South Carolina and keep working towards his goal of making it to the MLB like his father did. Jarrod Washburn was a pitcher at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh who went on to pitch in MLB for 12 years, most notably with the Angels in 2002 when he was fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting and helped the Angels win a World Series.
Jarrod now coaches the Webster high school team where he has helped both Jack and Owen make it to Division I baseball. Owen credits his dad with getting his pitching to where it is today and based off of this past season it is in a great place.
“I got to give a lot of credit to my dad,” Owen said. “He’s really helped me my whole life with knowing what to throw in what situation and how to pitch to certain spots and really the command part he’s teached me different ways to get my mechanics right. I got to give all my credit to my dad pitching wise.”
For Owen, it has always been baseball and he takes pride in following in his brother’s and father’s footsteps. He has learned so much from both of them while also making his story his own. With the next chapter beginning for the young ball player he is ready to put in the work to achieve his dreams.
