After year of growth, Freeport grad Heilman has breakout season for Mercyhurst baseball

Is it possible for a pitcher to throw too many strikes? That’s what Mercyhurst baseball coach Joe Spano thought about Freeport grad Jarrett Heilman.

Through his freshman season, the right-hander spent most of the time pitching in practice — he appeared in only two games — and Spano noticed his tendency to always pound the strike zone.

Spano saw a lot of potential in the freshman, so he encouraged Heilman to stop being so accurate.

No, really.

“He learned how to throw pitches out of the zone a little bit and get people to chase them a little bit,” said Spano, who just wrapped up his 24th season in charge of the Lakers (31-18, 16-12 PSAC). “He has the command. It was a matter of him just — as crazy as it sounds — being out of the zone a little bit in key spots.”

Heilman took Spano’s words to heart and produced numbers this past season that were stellar by almost anyone’s standards. He went 8-0, including a complete-game win in the PSAC Tournament, with a 3.05 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 62 innings.

He was a quick study, but that seems to be typical of Heilman, who dissects the game with the meticulousness of a surgeon. It was his experience as a hitter, he said, that helped to make him a better pitcher.

In his travel ball days, Heilman said he was a better hitter than a pitcher, and he knew what other pitchers did to irritate him in the batter’s box. He turned around and used some of those same tactics on opponents when he was on the mound.

“I didn’t like whenever pitchers changed their arm slot. I didn’t like it when pitchers changed their rhythm, and I didn’t like it when pitchers would take their time or quick-pitch me,” he said.

“So whenever you can see that and you see a batter getting too comfortable, you can mix those in and it makes for a harder at-bat.”

Heilman also took note of lessons he learned from two fellow PSAC players to help accelerate his growth.

Last summer, he spent a month in California playing in the Power Summer Collegiate League in Palm Springs. One of his teammates was Deer Lakes grad and Cal (Pa.) standout Jake McCaskey, whom Heilman knew from high school.

His coach was Vulcans hall of famer Sam DiMatteo, who is the coach at College of the Desert, a junior college in Palm Desert, Calif.

Watching McCaskey every day, he said, helped him recognize his tendencies and made him understand why Spano had Mercyhurst’s pitchers being so cautious with him at the plate. He hoped to carry that into this past season for when he faced McCaskey, and though the Cal standout went 2 for 3 with an RBI against him, Heilman gave up only four other hits in a complete-game, 10-3 Lakers victory April 15.

The experience of playing in California, Heilman said, helped refine his game.

“I was able to see what elite hitters do at the college level, and I kind of took notes on that,” he said.

“That helped me going up against kids in the PSAC because if you’re seeing one of the best hitters — if not the best hitter — in the PSAC every day and you get comfortable with him, that’s a mentality you need to carry on during the season so you can get comfortable with the other batters in the league as well.”

As for DiMatteo, Heilman called him “the man.” He was able to soak up even more knowledge from one of the best hitters in PSAC history.

The next step for Heilman is to build on his first full college season. Despite his spotless win-loss record, he said he wasn’t completely satisfied. He felt he walked too many (21) and wasn’t consistent enough.

He is focusing his offseason on getting stronger. There’s plenty of room to add what Spano calls “good muscle” on Heilman’s 6-foot-2, 185-pound frame.

Added strength should enable him to juice up his fastball, which, Spano said, is between 89 and 91 mph.

If Heilman continues to progress, Spano has high hopes for him next season and beyond.

“He’s super crafty, smart, just works location and works different pitches,” Spano said.

“He’s an all-around great pitcher. He’s a front-end guy. He’s a No. 1 pitcher. I think he’s going to be a pro prospect next year.”