Fox Chapel grad Jake Pilarski excited to be home with Wild Things
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The last three years have thrown some curveballs at Jake Pilarski.
Now, the Fox Chapel grad is home and ready to toss some of his own.
Pilarski, 23, was acquired by the Washington Wild Things via trade from the Lake Erie Crushers on Oct. 4, bringing the right-handed pitcher a couple of hours closer to his O’Hara Township family.
“I’m excited,” said Pilarski, who went 3-4 in 14 starts with the Crushers last season. “If anything, for my parents, it’s going to be nice. My family can drive 40 minutes down the street to see me play.
“It’ll be nice, being in the area, somewhere I’m familiar with. Obviously, Washington’s got a good team, too. … I’m excited to play for a team I watched a couple of times growing up.”
Washington should provide Pilarski a better chance to win. The club reached the Frontier League Championship Series this season, falling in five games to the Schaumburg Boomers.
Lake Erie, located about 20 minutes outside of Cleveland, went 41-55 this summer. Pilarski posted a 5.32 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 66 innings of work. He’d like to build on that in his second year of pro ball.
“I talked with my new manager (Tom Vaeth) the other day, and I expressed my interest in wanting to stay as a starting pitcher,” Pilarski said. “He said, ‘I’d like you to come in and try out for a starting pitching role, and if it goes well, you’ll be a starter. If not, you’ll be in the back end of the bullpen somewhere.’ ”
Washington is the next stop on a wild journey for Pilarski. Since graduating from Fox Chapel in 2016, he has played four seasons with NCAA Division III Virginia Wesleyan, including a 2020 season shortened by covid-19. After that, he transferred to The Citadel, a Division I military academy in Charleston, S.C.
“(The Citadel) was a big step up from Division III baseball,” said Pilarksi, who struck out 93 in 87 innings during his one season there.
“We got to play at the Charleston RiverDogs stadium. So we got to play at a gorgeous stadium with great competition and a great environment.”
But what made his time there interesting is he was not involved with the military duties of the school, though many of his teammates had to go through the rigors of military training.
“It was interesting learning what they have to do every day, compared to what I didn’t have to do,” he said.
“I see why they are a little more slack when it comes to baseball practice, because they have to do all of this stuff all day long.
“The freshmen can’t wait for practice to start. They would beg our coach to start practice earlier so they could get out of that.”
Pilarski, who has a degree in civil engineering, was an all-conference player for Fox Chapel under former Foxes coach Mike Frank.
“I loved playing high school varsity at Fox Chapel,” said Pilarski, who still occasionally catches up with some of his old teammates. “Coach Frank was a great guy. He and his dad coached the wrestling team, so they kind of brought that wrestling mentality.
“We had a pretty good team and made a couple of decent playoff runs. My class was pretty dominant. It was a great time.”
Now, some of those old friends, coaches, as well as his family, will surely help fill the park to watch Pilarski and the Wild Things play next spring.
“Every time (Lake Erie) played Washington, they came to all three games,” he added. “So they’re excited to be able to go to almost half of the games now. A lot of my family and friends are excited to come out to some games.”