CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Growing up, every kid dreams about their first home run. For Max Cassle, the moment lived up to the hype.

Nine-year old Cassle stepped into the box, swung hard and let it rip.

He knew he hit it hard but didn’t know how hard. As he looked to the third base coach while rounding second, the situation became clear to Max. The third base coach was Max’s father, who was jumping up and down in excitement after the ball cleared the wall.

“That was a special moment,” Cassle said. “That’s probably one of my most memorable moments.”

The special moments are not done for Cassle yet, as he is now a junior at Clarksville Academy who is on the cusp of college baseball.

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound pitcher/shortstop hybrid has attended a mixture of showcases and camps thus far at schools such as Austin Peay and the University of Tennessee. While showcases are a great opportunity to flash your talent to college coaches, it is difficult to display the consistency needed as a baseball player.

“Showcases are a tough scenario,” Cassle said. “You get one opportunity to show off and sometimes that’s difficult. In baseball, you can’t really tell if you’re a good player off of one day.”

Despite showcases not being Cassle’s favorite, it has given him a platform to show off his velocity from both on the mound and off the bat. Cassle has been listed on various articles from Prep Baseball Report as a player to watch.

Cassle had gaudy numbers on the mound his sophomore season with a 0.78 ERA and .169 BAA. Even with his success on the bump, Cassle has spoken to some college coaches, but has not really gotten to experience the recruiting process yet. This is something that will more than likely be in his future.

“I’ve always wanted to play college baseball,” Cassle said. “I want to go and I want to play. Anywhere that gives me a shot, I’m gonna take it and do what I can with it.”

With the maturity to max out what he can do physically and mentally, Cassle is going to make sure he puts himself where he needs to be to make this happen.

“I’ve always worked hard trying to compete with people I see,” Cassle said. “I talk to guys who I know that have had success and then try to replicate or even do more than what they’ve done.”

Cassle’s three biggest goals for the remainder of his high school career are to hit 90 mph on the radar gun, a .350 batting average in a season and a state title.

Even if Cassle can get two of the three, the college offers should start rolling in for the Clarksville native.

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