As a junior at Lone Peak High School, two-sport star Seth Corry suffered a torn ACL during a state semifinal football game in fall 2015. The injury put his baseball season in jeopardy, but he returned to the mound in late April, despite his knee being at only 60 percent.
“We went to the main physical doctor at BYU,” Corry said. “He said that if I wear a brace that I’ll be fine and that I won’t be 100 percent, but that it’ll take a long time to get back to 100 percent. If I want to play, I wouldn’t get hurt. I just had to wear a brace. I wanted to go out and help my team.”
Committed to BYU for baseball, Corry ended up playing in 13 games as a junior during the baseball season, before participating in national showcase events last summer.
Corry took part in the prestigious Perfect Game All-American Classic. In his brief appearance, Corry walked the first batter he faced before getting the next hitter to ground into a double play.
“That was the greatest experience I’ve been a part of,” Corry said. “It was special to go out and play with all those great guys. I was really grateful because at the end of football I wasn’t able to walk. To get to that point where I was able to play in that game was huge.”
Corry said he wasn’t even 100 percent at the Perfect Game All-American Classic. But his performance on the showcase tour last summer got scouts’ attention.
A 6-foot-1, 184-pound left-handed pitcher, Corry throws a mid-90s fastball, a devastating 12-6 curveball and circle changeup. Regarded as one of the top prep left-handers, Baseball America ranks Corry as the 47th-best high school prospect in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
At first, dealing with professional scouts was nerve-racking, but Corry now relishes the opportunity to pitch in front of scouts during his senior season this spring, he said.
With his goal to pitch professionally, Corry decided to not play football this past fall and to solely focus on baseball.
Content with his decision to quit football, Corry soon got the itch to play again. A first-team all-state safety in 2015, Corry rejoined his high school team in time to help them make a run in the playoffs, which ended with a loss in the state championship game.
“Football is a passion of mine,” Corry said. “I love it just as much as I love baseball. Having to sit out was too hard for me. I love the game way too much. I knew that if I would come back and play that I’d be alright. I was the biggest, fastest and strongest I had ever been. I didn’t want to wait any longer. I just wanted to play with my friends.”
With football over and the baseball season quickly approaching, Corry is hoping for a memorable final high school season on the diamond. He’s spent the off-season getting healthy and working on his pitching repertoire.
A competitor on the mound, Corry is determined to make an impact for his high school team before potentially making the jump into pro baseball.
“I want to win a state championship,” Corry said. “We got close last year, but fell short. I want to win a state championship. For me personally, out of high school I want to be a first-round draft pick. That’s my goal in mind right now.”
(Video of Seth Corry from FanGraphs)
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