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It’s About Baseball and Family

By Tom Haley
RUTLAND HERALD
Kaiden McCarthy is just wrapping up his eighth grade year and is already flirting with 90 mph for his fastball.

That’s not the most important part of pitching resume. Far from it.

“Believe it or not, 90 miles per hour at his age is not that uncommon,” said Matt Frey who coaches McCarthy in the summer. “Although it does not happen a lot in Vermont or in my area (Latham, N.Y.)

“The hard part is putting it all together.

“It is one thing to throw 90 in the bullpen. Now, you do it with a batter up.”

McCarthy, who has topped out at 88 mph, has a goal of hitting 90 this summer with Frey’s All Stars Academy team in New York State.

But like Frey said, it’s about more than speed.

This is where it gets more impressive in McCarthy’s case. Pitching for the Green Mountain Union High School varsity baseball team this spring, he piled up 70 strikeouts against only two walks.

That uncommon speed and control allowed him to ring up a 5-0 record with a save and a 0.66 ERA.

Kaiden, though, is only one member of the McCarthy family, a family for which baseball a way of life. It’s as much a part of dinner as the meat, potatoes and vegetables.

Kaiden’s father was the Green Mountain Union High School varsity baseball coach the past six seasons and Kaiden’s older brother Dylan McCarthy was a standout pitcher for Vermont Academy who will be a freshman Division I college pitcher at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in the coming school year.

Then, there is Kaiden’s grandfather Mike McCarthy who played high school baseball for Springfield and then became a zealous fast pitch softball player in the area who went to numerous national tournaments in places like Atlanta, Alabama, Drifton, Pennsylvania and Binghamton, New York.

Matt recalls going to his father’s softball games in Windsor, Springfield and Chester. Matt was just a little guy but he was already bringing his bat and glove along and creating his own action. The indoctrination to the great game had begun.

And we have not even come to the most fanatical baseball person in the family — Matt’s wife Shanna.

“She probably loves baseball as much as I do, probably more,” Matt said.

As soon as he said ‘probably more,’ Dylan and Kaiden nodded instantly in agreement.

It is a family bonded by baseball. They pull for one another. The grandfather makes all the games. It is life.

The bond is particularly strong between Kaiden and Dylan.

They each played a high level of baseball during the summer months. Dylan went down to Georgia to do so, playing for an elite team called East Cobb Prime in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta.

“The first year down there (at 15) was pretty hard. It was definitely a challenge being without my family,” Dylan said. “It made me a lot more mature.”

The social part of adjusting to life without family 1,110 miles from home might be difficult for anyone that age, but the adjustment to the elite level of baseball was seamless for Dylan. In 2021 with East Cobb Prime, he had a 5-2 record with 67 strikeouts in 55 innings.

Kaiden plays his summer baseball closer to home with Frey’s team.

“The team is made up of kids around the (Albany) area,” Frey said. “Kaiden is an exception but he is still not too far away. We practice three days a week and he makes all the practices.”

Kaiden made a successful jump to a much higher level of ball the same way that Dylan did. Kaiden was ranked as high as No. 16 in the country while playing for the All Stars Academy in 2022. It was with that team over the fall and summer that he rang up 106 strikeouts in 60 innings.

Frey compares Kaiden to Michael Kennedy from Troy (N.Y.) High School who recently signed a $1 million contract with the Pirates.

“Kaiden looks every bit as good,” Frey said.

Kaiden will follow the same path as Dylan inasmuch as he will be playing baseball for Russ Williams at Vermont Academy this coming year.

“I definitely look up to him,” said Kaiden of his older brother. “I do a lot of the same stuff he does to prepare and we almost have the same mechanics.”

Kaiden might be a little more advanced as Dylan was at the same age because of having his brother to emulate.

“Dylan didn’t throw a change-up until he was 14 and Kaiden was throwing it at 10 or 11 years old,” Matt said.

Dylan was asked to play for the Vermont Lake Monsters (a summer collegiate team) this year but had to decline because he tore his ACL running to first base this spring with Vermont Academy during the Wildcats’ spring trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Upper Valley Nighthawks have also approached both Dylan and George Mason coach Shawn Camp about playing for their team next summer.

Camp played in the Majors for 11 years with Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Toronto, the Chicago Cubs and the Phillies.

He has quickly infused George Mason baseball with a winning culture in his first year. The Patriots were 36-27 this spring and Dylan said he is excited about being a part of a Division I program on the rise.

“I wanted to go south and Fairfax is south while not being that far from home,” Dylan said.

George Mason just had the right feel during Dylan’s visit.

“Coach Camp has sort of been like family. I knew it was the right decision,” Dylan said.

This week, Matt, Dylan and Kaiden sat on a picnic table near one of the two Little League diamonds at Chester’s Recreation Center as they reminisced. It was the same field where the brothers began playing and learning the game.

It was the beginning of a baseball odyssey that will see Kaiden pitching for Vermont Academy and Dylan for George Mason University for the coming season, but they are also terrific two-way players.

Kaiden batted .443 for Green Mountain this season with seven doubles, three triples and a home among his 27 hits. Dylan was batting .325 with 19 RBIs for Vermont Academy when he was injured.

“I love to hit. Hitting is fun,” Dylan said.

Kaiden feels just as passionate about that part of the game but both seem to feel their ticket to where they want to go will be their arm.

Matt has resigned his coaching position at GMUHS. Now, he he will be able to follow his sons’ exploits.

They have the goods to take the game beyond college but the baseball gods can be fickle. You can be kissed by good fortune or be derailed by injuries, something that Dylan got a taste of in Myrtle Beach.

No matter what happens, this family will have no regrets. It has been more than a game. It has been at the center of family and that will go on forever.

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