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BOCA RATON – FAU catcher Pedro Pages is using his mind, followed by his fingers, to do what few players have done under veteran coach John McCormack: He’s calling pitches.
“Pedro’s pretty good at it,” McCormack said. “You’re talking about a high-level guy.”
Conference USA’s Defensive Player of the Year, Pages began the season relaying the pitch call from pitching coach David Kopp to the mound, but McCormack said that now Pages calls the pitches “for the most part.”
Kopp and McCormack allowed Kevin Abraham to call some pitches last season. Kopp’s predecessor, Jason Jackson, allowed Levi Meyer to call pitches from time to time. McCormack couldn’t recall another FAU catcher who called his own games.
McCormack expects Kopp to call the pitches when Blake Sanderson takes the mound against Florida St. on Friday in the opening game of the Athens, Ga. Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The following day, however, with Mike Ruff scheduled to take the mound, those duties will likely shift back Pages. McCormack believes having Pages call the pitches allows Ruff to work more quickly, which produces better results for the junior right-hander.
“We wanted to take the whole look over [to the dugout for the sign] out of it to kind of keep Ruff going,” McCormack said. “Let’s just keep it going, keep it going, try to get a little better pace to the game for him.”
By adding game calling to his resume, Pages presents an even more enticing target for MLB teams looking for a catching prospect in June’s first-year player draft.
Pages is hitting .313 with six homers and 43 RBI, and loads an accurate cannon of an arm behind the plate.
The draft, however, isn’t Pages’ focus now. It’s the Seminoles.
“They are a big name,” Pages said. “Everyone knows Florida St., who they are, but we know who we are and we know we’ll come out there and compete and we’ll win and we’ll just give them the best we’ve got.”
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