In these pages, we tend to focus on what happens on the field. However, the players who come to the Valley League each summer are much more than just baseball players (we hope); they are college student-athletes who are developing as people as well.

ATVL’s #2 starting pitcher from the 2017 season, Charlottesville’s Sean McCracken, is an excellent reminder of that fact. Sean, majoring in Chemical and Bio-Molecular Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Business at Johns Hopkins, was able to fulfill an internship with the Charlottesville firm of HemoShear Therapeutics during the day while playing for the Tom Sox in the evenings. Sean spent the summer researching non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH).

So while Sean is obviously dedicated to his education, he also was one of the top two starting pitchers in the 2017 season. Let’s take a look at his stats:

Among pitchers considered for this list, Sean finished 1st in ERA, tied for 10th in strikeouts, tied for 1st in batting average against, 2nd in WHIP, 5th in BB/9, and tied for 10th in K/9. Whoa. Sean also threw a shutout inning in the Valley League All-Star game, and was named first team All-Valley after the season.

He turned in his best start on June 10th against Waynesboro, when he threw 7 shutout innings while allowing 3 hits, 0 walks, and striking out 5. He earned a game score of 76, which ended up tied for the 2nd best of the entire season. And it was Sean’s first start of the season!

He also shut out Woodstock over 5 innings on June 28th, while allowing 5 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 3.

But do you know what the Tom Sox might like the most about Sean? He’s planning to return in 2018.

Here are his stats for the Division-III Blue Jays:

Congratulations on your excellent summer, Sean!